6/21/10 - 6/25/10

Time for part two. Yay ... simple person. Let's Blow Away. :) Once again, this is dedicated to good friends. Haruto Kawano & Shounen Ai. Can you guess who is who in my story? Hey. I like this song. :) All Around Me by Flyleaf is playing on KTV ... (: yey. Music video!

Time for bashing, yes?

beginning of part two

Briana and Anna made their way down the dark hallways of the .. place, unsure of where they were exactly. To Anna it seemed that it was Dracula's castle, though she wasn't sure because she hadn't read the book; but Catlin had. Kind of. She had read the first ten pages. But it was close enough to knowing exactly what happened, right?

"I'm tiiiirrreeed," Anna began, whining loudly. Her voice echoed down the hallway.

"Quiet," Briana hissed, "He could hear us." That immediately shut her up. But she found another way to complain. She held her hurting arm and gritted her teeth.

"Briana," she said in a low voice, "my arm hurts."

"Maybe you shouldn't have acted stupid."

"You think I'm stupid!"

"Shush, your voice is rising ... "

"Hmph."

They walked in silence for a little while before coming to a dead end.

"BRRRIIIIANNNNAAA!"

"I didn't do it!"

"I don't care! I'm blamin' you!"

"That's not nice!"

"I don't really care about that either!"

As the two bickered like underage school children trapped in a maze of dark walls and ill-lit corridors, there came a knocking sound that echoed behind them. They fell silent and turned to look down into the black that seemed to be swirling towards them. The knocking became louder and paired up with a scraping sound that seemed to belong to Freddie Krueger.

The two clunged to each other like pieces of rice and squealed.

"Get away from me!"

"NOO!"

They seemed to be channeling both Spongebob in the episode "Graveyard Shift" and Nancy Travis as Joyce Reardon in "Rose Red" near the end of the movie. Their screams got louder as the noise came closer. Finally it seemed to be right in front of them; as well as beside them and behind them. It was closing in ... closer and closer and closer ...

"AUUGH - " Anna began but stopped shortly and stared in unamusement forward. Briana continued to scream until the redhead pinched her arm; she pulled her hand away and frowned, "Ow."

Her face seemed to read, "What was that for?"

"LOOK."

"No," the dark girl said, staring, wide-eyed, at her friend. "I'm too scared."

"Weenie."

"What!"

"Baby. Cry baby."

"I-I'm not a - "

"Then look."

Briana gripped onto Anna's arms tightly and squinted her eyes, turning her head slowly. When she saw the thing that had made the noise she sighed and dropped her hands.

"A cat?"

"Yah," Anna replied almost angrily.

The two sighed and shook their heads. The elder (now that makes it sound like she's ancient, and she's not!) began to laugh a bit.

"Heh. I feel silly."

"Yeah, well I don't." Anna started, "I'm gonna kick that cat in the pants."

"Don't!" Briana cried, grabbing her by the uninjured arm, "That's silly."

"Why? How?"

"Cats don't wear pants," Briana said and began giggling at her own joke.

" ... I don't get it."

The other sighed, "Okay, Anna, let's just find another way out of her - "

"What?"

Briana stared in silence towards the black behind the cat. Anna glanced over, feeling afraid. "What .. what's wrong?"

"I hear something," she said in a low voice, tightly gripping onto Anna's upper arm. "Something close ... "

Indeed, soon after she said that there came the pattering of footsteps and then a scraping. It came up close ... until there was the faint outline of a man in front of them. Briana screamed.

"IT'S THE STRANGLER!"

"DON'T WORRY! I'LL GET HIM!" Anna screamed, though she wasn't quite sure she could get over her fear, and started to gear up her kicking leg.

The man quickly stepped into the dim light that leaked into the hall. His swooshy hair and moustache were the first things Anna noticed.

"OHMIGOSH."

"What?" Briana shouted, afraid of the sudden noise.

"IT'S RAOUL."

The man raised an eyebrow and stared at the redhead, "Pardon; have we met?"

"Who's Pardon?" Anna asked, staring at him seriously. He blinked.

" ... I must go."

"Go where? It's a dead end! The only way out of here would be the way you came, bub."

"Who is Bub?"

Anna facepalmed. "Let's just get outta here!"

"Yes! ..R-Right! This way!" The man ran towards them. They squealed and separated just in time to see him smack into the wall. He fell onto his back, clutching his face in his hands.

"I told you - it's a dead end." the redhead replied in an unforgiving tone.

The, ahem, man sat up and let out a groan. He removed his hands from his face. He wasn't bleeding. Which was good. Better than the luck of Catlin. (Yeah, you forgot about her didn't you? I did too ... )

He quickly jumped to his feet, as he was a sailor, and turned on his heels to face the young ladies. He stood up straight and puffed out his, um, chest?

"You do not seem to think that I am capable of knowing this; but I am to test the knowledge of myself - and of the Phantom! He thinks these walls can hold me, but they .. they can not!" He kicked the walls with his foot and immediately hugged it to his chest, jumping up and down.

Anna was silent, staring at the person. "Ah; my sister lied. You DON'T look like Mr. Toomey. I'M DISAPPOINTED!"

He turned to her. "Whom?"

"Mr. Toomey."

He was silent. Staring.

"He's from a movie."

"A moo-vee?"

Anna snorted. "YEAH, a moo-vee." She began giggling. Briana stared in silence. She wasn't sure what was so funny. It was, what they called, her "Catlin moment".

"Okay, Rupert, show us the way out of here."

"Raoul."

"Whatever Ronald."

"I-I thought you said it was Raoul?" Briana asked, " ... and you said it like you knew him?"

Anna turned to her. "Don't ever assume the worst."

"What?"

"Worst .. w-u-r-s-t. Haha. Like sausage? HAHAHA! I'M SO FUNNY!" No one said anything. She sighed and closed her eyes. "Can we please just get outta here?" She paused quickly, throwing her hands up, "Wait!"

They waited.

" ... Rupert was from The Ruby Ring (which was on today, June 22nd)!"

" ... "

" ... "

"... you're useless!"

"I'm sorry - "

"Not you, Bri. HIM."

"I apologize - "

"Too late."

"Um, well, Anna ... uh ... Raoul ..?"

He nodded.

" .. c-can we PLEASE try to get out of here? I'm, I'm kind of worried ... "

"I know. I am too. We can't all help worrying about me," Anna stated, cupping her own face and sighing, "It is, after all, such a beautiful face ... "

"No; I meant about Catlin. She is too fragile to be left alone. She could, like .. die of sadness?"

The redhead was silent before bursting out into laughter, "HER? DIE! WAHAHAHAHA - Yes, that is a serious problem."

Raoul stared at them in silence. These strange women .. in strange clothes .. with strange accents and a strange mannerism ... He turned and sprinted off into the dark.

Anna finally calmed down enough to turn over to see that the man was gone. The cat stood there, staring. She frowned. "That .. that .. "

"He's gone," her companion stated.

" .. THAT POO-HEAD! AARRRGGH!" She turned and raised her foot to kick the wall but she stopped quickly, "No. Bad idea... bad... " She sighed and shook her head. "That mean, ugly man left us here ... TO DIE." Her voice got deeper and rougher. "Ugh."

Briana patted her friend's shoulder and smiled weakly, "It's all right. We'll find a way out of here."

"You're not very reassuring."

"How do you mean?"

"First of all because I can hear it in your voice."

"Wha?"

"No, that- that was a lie. But, you ... you ... "

"I .. I .. what?"

"You ... you're pinching me!"

"Oh!" The African-American girl pulled her hand back, "Sorry!" She went to pat her friend's shoulder to apologize but decided not to, laughing a bit. "I guess I'm just nervous."

Anna stood up: "Great, thanks; that's reassuring."

"Sorry. Let's get back home."

"Yeah, sure."

They turned and walked down the path which Raoul had appeared (and disappeared). They hoped that it would lead to a way out. As they walked, they pondered how Erik had gotten out. He couldn't have gone down the path Rat-owl had gone down without running into him; there had to have been a secret passage. Somewhere.

They just weren't in the mood to look for it. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Lazy .. But, I suppose it was best; after all, curiosity killed the cat.

"Heh, good thing Cat's not here with us," Briana said suddenly.

"Why's that?"

"I .. dunno. I just got this strange urge to say so .. like a weird metaphor was placed in my mind that had to do with her nickname .. Hmm."

"Hmm, indeed," Anna began. She sighed, "Well, whatever; Cat not being here is why we're stuck! If she were here then maybe we'd get home.."

"Or maybe we'd NEVER get home."

"What do you mean?"

"She likes this Erik dude, right?"

"Yeah, man," the redhead said, channeling Hudson from "Aliens" (which is on today, June 25th!).

" ... Right, well," Briana inhaled, "if she does really like him, then think about it .. this is a dangerous place for her."

"Huh?" Anna was lost.

"One: she'd bring us here, fall in love and then be trapped forever, leaving us without knowledge of how to get out."

"... hmm."

"Two: she could fall in love and try to follow him and get us even MORE lost ... and then we'd be.. well, lost."

"Mhm."

"Three: he could take advantage of her - "

"Ewwie."

" - not like that! I mean, he could take advantage of her love for him and then trick her into tricking us ... "

" .. uh, okay."

"Four: - "

"Wait, how many of these are there!"

"... I'm not sure."

"... carry on."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

" ... well, four: she could meet that Christy lady - "

"Christine."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah .. Stephen King book." She did a nod, a wink and used her fist to double pound her chest, "respect."

" ... anyways, she could meet her, fly into a jealous rage - "

"HAHAHAHA! CATLIN! A JEALOUS RAGE! YEAH RIGHT! I'D SOONER KISS AIZEN - and that's sayin' a lot."

"CAN I CONTINUE, PLEASE?"

"Whoa, just take it easy man. ... I mean, yes .. ma'am ... " Anna shrunk back into a tiny ball. "Sorry."

Briana exhaled sharply, "Thanks - NOW, she could meet her, fly into a jealous rage and kill her or all of us!" Her scream-y voice echoed down the hall and back towards them. She panted heavily, glaring in front of her.

Anna was pressed up against the wall, shaking. "Yeah. Totally," she said in a tiny, squeaky voice.

The black-haired girl sighed and smiled. "Sorry ~ "

"Creepy."

"What was that?"

"Tee hee, nothing."

So the two - one burnt out and angry, the other scared, yet happy - skipped down into the dark, damp and depressing hallway that wound around the underground of the Opera House, never to be heard of again ...

Just kidding. No, seriously, they have to get back somehow or else this is the last chapter. And it's not. It's just not, okay?

somewhere else ... aka, the house in which they left in the first chapter

Catlin sat on the couch in silence, watching the TV. Somewhere between the open portal and running into the glass, the DVD player had been turned off. The screen was black and no music played. She sighed and pulled her legs up onto the couch. She hated begin along in the house. It was like a scary horror movie that she had been sucked into.

She flipped through her notebook until she reached the page where her list had been scribbled down.

1. Find Erik

2. Confess love for Erik (to Erik)

3. Hopefully not get rejected because of Christine

4. Try not to get too heartbroken over it, since I will most likely be kicked out

5. Go home

Yes, well, that was HER list. Briana had helped with A list, but that wasn't it. No, she wouldn't have let her put that; she wasn't going to let Catlin be a downer her whole life. A wishy-washy, goody-two-shoed, kind-hearted baby with no real backbone. Never! Unfortunately, her efforts hadn't worked. Catlin was still like a small child who needed her mother nearby; Briana was pretty much a mother figure. Not that she was old enough to be her mom, she was just kind and caring and nice and sweet; in short, she was like a mom.

She sighed heavily and thought over what she really would have done, should she have actually made it through the magical TV with Bri & Anna. She wouldn't confess anything to him; the only thing she'd be able to say would be "Ah" and then she's swoon, fainting immediately. She was the nervous type.

Pushing her long brunette bangs out of her face, she clutched her now closed notebook to her chest. Oh, if only things would work out right. Yes, the mysterious masked man did belong to Christine (No! He did not! She was a horrible singer! Catlin was better!), and she could not bring herself to destroy their unusual relationship, not even in a fanfiction.

So, with a sad and heavy heart, she stood up from the couch and turned, expecting to see no one standing just behind her ... (Jeez, that's not obvious.)

When she looked up she shrieked and fell back, nearly hitting the TV stand.

"Who are you!"

The man stood there in silence. He walked around the couch and stood in front of her, "I am here to help you!"

Her eyes widened. "Oh my gosh ..."

"What?"

"You're from the IRS, aren't you?"

"The what?"

"LIARS! YOU CAN'T HELP ME! OH, THE LOANS! OH, OH, THE MONEY! I CAN'T BELIEVE SHE TRUSTED YOU!" She turned and covered her eyes, weeping. "BECAUSE OF YOU, I'VE HAD TO EAT DIRT CHEESEBURGERS FOR LIFE!" Sobbing, she cried, "I don't even like cheeseburgers..."

"Um. I am not from the .. 'I am ess'?" He sounded uncertain, but continued anyway, "I am - "

The short man did not get to finish before Catlin jumped to her feet, "Oh, well, then, um, please forget everything I said about the IRS..."

"Forget what?"

"The .. oh, ahaha. I get it .. " she snorted, "Good one ... ?"

"I am .. Gaston Leroux!"

" ... what."

"I said, 'I am .. Gaston Leroux!' " This time he pointed one of his pudgy fingers into the air as if triumphantly winning something. Catlin said nothing, just stared. This short fat man was .. M. Gaston Leroux? The M. Gaston Leroux? The one who wrote Phantom of the Opera? The one who recounted the tales of Christine (blegh) and Erik (hooray!)? And Christine's father? (Catlin had searched "Madame" on her dictionary on her computer and under it was a book title written by a Gustave Flaubert. Oh, what an unfortunate name.)(1)

"... Mademois - "

Catlin, needless to say as she was, in fact, a weak-hearted young girl and easily disappointed, fainted.

Leroux, or at least the man who claimed to be Leroux (hey, if the Phantom ain't dead, then why should M. Leroux be?), just - as was his, um, nature? - stared.

Pft. Useless.

end of part two

(1) It's true. I just did, so I added that. Haha.

How come "Gustave" isn't a name/word, but "Flaubert" is?