I sadly don't own the Phantom or any other characters created by G. Leroux, S. Kay and A. L. Webber, but they always have a place in my heart.

LETTERS AND NEWSPAPERS

After a long and relaxing bath, Joséphine went finally downstairs for some breakfast. Mathilde had informed her that Clara had gone out and would not be expected back before dinner. Grateful for the peace she was going to have for the day, she installed herself on the desk in the library for some long-neglected correspondence.

She wrote a letter to her friend Louisette, who over a year ago had moved to Indochina with her husband, who was in the military. She had written her of her situation when Clara had started imprisoning her, asking for help, but there had not been much that she could do, being so far away.

Joséphine had some other friends in Paris too, but Clara had tried from the beginning of her confinement to intercept all communication, explaining that the illness she had come down with had also affected her mental stability and she therefore was incapable to write or to receive visitors.

Isolated from the rest of the world, Joséphine had become very close to her maid Mathilde, who tried everything within her limits to help her, but she feared too much for her position and did not dare to openly support Joséphine.

The main problem had been that she did not know what to do once she would have escaped from the house. Given the rumours Clara had spread about her sanity, she could not have just arrived at the doorsteps of one of her unmarried acquaintances begging him to marry her. Months had passed without finding a way out of her predicament.

When she had secretly left the house after dinner two nights ago, she had not really had an idea what to do or where to go. She saw her only option in the many workhouses spread throughout the town, and to seek out a man who preferably did not reek of alcohol or was addicted to any other drugs, and to offer him a fair amount of money in exchange for marrying her.

But, gathering strength in a church for the task that lay before her, she had encountered Erik. He himself had admitted being a murderer, and he certainly had a violent streak, which she had experienced herself first hand last morning, but still, she did not consider him outright dangerous.

She could only imagine how people had treated him in his past because of his deformation, making him misanthrope and distrustful towards mankind. But besides his sometimes rude and taciturn behaviour, he had more or less treated her with the utmost respect. He certainly was incredibly intelligent, and talented in various arts. Mathilde had told her all the rumours of the past months about the opera singer and her tutor, a genius with a dangerous obsession for the young girl. She could see that Erik was completely broken-hearted and she really wanted to hear his side of the story and hoped that one day he would trust her enough to confide in her.

At last, she wrote a letter to her father, as she had done regularly since he had left three years ago. She would never give up hope that he would one day return to her.

Cher Papa,

I have the most interesting news. Two days ago, I got married, fulfilling the contract we made all those years ago.

You ask yourself how I finally met someone when I was not permitted to leave the house or receive visitors? Well, since my 25th birthday was almost upon me, I sneaked out two days ago, in search for help or a possible husband. I found Erik.

He is an architect and musician, and quite complicated. He suffers from a broken heart and agreed to marry me to start anew.

Do I love him? No, but we get along. I actually prefer him a thousand times to someone dull who would only agree to marry me because of my money. Erik has enough on his own. He even gave me access to his account!

Papa, I wish you were here in Paris again. Maybe then Clara would become nicer again. She changed so much since you left!

I really hope that you are well and that you will soon find a way to return safely to us.

Your loving daughter,

Joséphine

She had thought first of telling her father of the true identity of her husband, but even though she gave no promise to Erik, she did not dare to reveal his secret.

Getting up from behind the desk, she looked at the clock upon the mantelpiece of the fireplace. It was a little past two o' clock and she still had the whole afternoon to spend.
She wanted to go out in the park, or do some shopping, since it had been a long time she was able to do as such.

Passing by the vestibule, her eyes fell on the newspaper on the small table near the staircase. Her father used to take it from there to read it wherever it pleased him, and even though he wasn't here, the servants would always leave it on its foreseen place.

The front page had a big picture of the burning opera house and Joséphine's interest was instantly peaked. She grabbed the newspaper and headed to the salon.

Plunging herself in an armchair next to the unlit fireplace, she unfolded the paper and began to read.

Above the picture of the opera stood in big letters:

CATASTROPHE AT THE POPULAIRE, 6 PEOPLE DEAD! MONSTER KIDNAPS PRIMA DONNA. Read more at page 2 and 3.

Opening the journal, the first thing she noticed was a sketch that should probably portray Erik. The coloured drawing showed a heavily disfigured man. The corpse-like face had sunken, burning golden eyes and missed the nose, only a few strands of black hair covered his head. It resembled more a skull than the picture of a living man.

If everybody thought that the Phantom of the Opera looked like this, Erik had a good chance to stay undiscovered, Joséphine thought somewhat relieved.

But the more she read of the article, the more she wanted to hear Erik's version of the events. Did he know that his actions had caused the deaths of so many people? Was he even affected by the murders he had committed? What had happened between the kidnapping from stage and the reappearance of the singer and the Vicomte?

Both, Mademoiselle Daée and the Vicomte de Chagny had refused to give a statement to the press, but the police had confirmed that the opera ghost was still alive and they were looking for the monster throughout the town and the area surrounding Paris. People were warned to get closer to him for he was very dangerous.

Placing the newspaper with trembling hands on a table next to her, she fell back in the chair, breathing heavily. She knew at least some of the information in the article had to be true, but what had really occurred that night only three people seemed to know. Erik was one of them and she tried hard to get control over her curiosity and not seek out Erik immediately and demand answers.

Why did this article shock her so? Erik had told her of his dark side from the beginning, she had always known that he had committed murder, but the person described in the paper seemed a dark, cold-blooded monster, and the Erik she had come to know in this short time was most of the time a perfect gentlemen.

Stilling her trembling hands, she tried to clear her mind, and chose to speak to Erik after dinner.