Thank you so much Artimes Sherwood (I really hope I spelled that right) for being my first review, I'm glad you like creepy because there's more to come. Sorry my chapters are all so short keep reading anyway please. And review!. this is one of my favorites of the chapters I've written so far, so I hope you like it. *C.E.L

Chapter Five

It was difficult to fall asleep that night for obvious reasons. I tossed madly in bed, shaking and sweating at the same time. The note's threatening tone made my blood run cold, but at the same time I knew that whoever had taken the picture was not threatening me.

With a note like that I knew there were two options for whoever had sent it; It could be a cast member who thought it was funny to send jealous notes to the girl who plays Christine, or an unknown stalker who really was jealous.

Neither option seemed to fit. So far my cast members seemed friendly enough and none of them struck me as having such a cruel sense of humor. And I wasn't famous enough to have a stalker. These thoughts chased themselves around in circles in my head. I didn't know enough people for it to be anyone that I knew. All I could do was hope that no one was crazy enough to actually hurt me. Or Rom.

Eventually I drifted off into a dream of me running through a dark passage with someone chasing me. In the dream I was terrified; the man behind me had betrayed me. He had seemed so nice! I kept on running, until I ended up onstage at the Grant. Voices were shouting "Sing! Sing!" I didn't want to, I was afraid. The man who had chased me would punish me if I failed. Fear coursed through me as I drew breath and opened my mouth.

I sat up, shaking like a leaf in a strong wind. Yesterday came back to me in a rush; Rehearsal, staying late, and the note.

I decided to take the note with me. I don't know why I didn't want to leave it in my apartment. It was like I thought it would disappear, leaving only the fear it had awakened in me as a reminder of its existence. I locked my door firmly behind me and headed downstairs.

I heard the original recording of 'Phantom' coming from Mr. Dashaven's apartment. As I approached his door the music shut off suddenly and I could hear him muttering angrily. He emerged from his apartment suddenly, hitting me with the door.

"Miss Dayson! I'm so sorry, I didn't realize you were there," Mr. Dashaven sounded really alarmed, considering he had barely brushed me with the door. "Please excuse me for that."

I laughed a little, "Only if you'll forgive me for nearly running you down the other day." I smiled but Mr. Dashaven kept his head down, shyly.

"O-of course, it was already forgotten." He muttered.

I glanced down at my watch, I had time before rehearsal. "So," I said, gesturing to his apartment, "You aren't a Sarah Brightman fan?"

"Ah, no I'm not. Of course, I wasn't overly impressed by Rossum's portrayal either." I took offense to this; I thought that the Rossum portrayal was perfectly acceptable. She at least brought some depth to the role. "Overall, I have not yet come across a perfect Christine."

I didn't say that what he had said put a lot of pressure on me. I simply said goodbye and made my way over to the theater and ditched my stuff in the dressing room. I gave my bag, which contained the picture, one final glance as I walked away. Eric was trying on the different masks he would have to wear during the show. Even with the mask on it was hard to believe that Eric was disfigured or evil looking, but as I passed the look he gave me was so… penetrating… that I felt my heart speed up.

Rom was waiting for me by the costumes department room. "Hello, Little Lissie." He said, raising his eyebrows; daring me to shut him up.

"Morning, Rom." I felt safe with Rom around. Past experience told me that he wouldn't let anything happen to me. But, then again, the note wasn't really threatening to me. Rom smiled that I hadn't gotten mad about the nick-name.

"You look tired, are you alright?" Rom's voice was suddenly concerned.

"Yes, Mother" I replied, "I just didn't sleep well that's all. Gosh, chill out." I didn't want Rom to freak out about the note, so I didn't tell him. I felt bad, brushing him off like that, especially since I was starting to think of him the same way that I used to, but he would freak out and abandon the part completely. And I was a little confused about the sender of the note.

I was starting to identify with the character Christine, and the part of me that was in character wanted to feel sympathy for this guy, even through the fear. The part of me that was me thought Christine was crazy, and she should stick to fear.

On the whole the day was successful. We all got measurements for our costume alterations. I was informed that my hair would be arranged in graceful, ringlet curls that were pinned slightly away from my face. It was a somewhat new look for Christine, as it moved away from the wild curls that were usually done for the musical. But the ladies in hair and make-up agreed that it would be a sin to cover my waist length fawn hair. I was less than pleased about my costumes though. Every one of them was either huge or extremely low cut and several were both. I was a small girl in all respects. At five foot two and less than a hundred pounds large gowns made me look like a cupcake. And low cut gowns didn't make much of a difference on me. My costumes for the last couple of scenes were the only ones that seemed manageable. Rom had it worse than me though, way worse.

"I do my best to make a foppish character a hell of a lot cooler and those women seem intent on making me look like a girl! Wasn't it enough that I grew my hair out?"

I reached up and fingered the ends of his hair, "You wish," I said, Rom should have known what he was getting into. "But hey, most of the time you're wearing evening clothes anyway so at least you can look classy." I was laughing inwardly at him. Rom hated formalities and evening clothes were not his thing.

"Yeah sure, but when I am not wearing evening clothes I'm wearing either a frilly shirt or a leather trench coat that makes me look like a cowboy pedophile!" At this I couldn't resist laughing out loud. I pitied Rom, who preferred cargo pants and old t-shirts, now having to wear frilly shirts.

"Well at least you don't have to wear tight pants." I said smiling

"Not yet." He muttered, darkly. I laughed out loud and looped my arm through his. We were heading back to my place to practice.

"I took the liberty of grabbing your bag for you" he said handing it to me.

"Thanks," I smiled, taking the bag, the picture it contained all but forgotten.