Of Masks And Roses

The Mirror

I groaned; my head swimming as I came to. There were sounds of whispers all around me as I blinked wearily. My vision was blurry, but after a moment it cleared and I was looking up into the face of Simon and Bayard.

"Mademoiselle, can you hear me?" Monsieur Bayard asked as Simon jumped up and rushed over to the balcony. I nodded, wincing slightly while Simon shouted to the managers that I was alright. Slowly I sat up and felt the back of my head. There was a slight bump where The Phantom whacked me and it stung a little as my fingers grazed against it. I closed my eyes, the memory of The Phantom kneeling down in front of me and reaching out to me replaying through my head.

I snapped my eyes open when the thudding of boots came closer to me and I looked up into Simon's freckled face.

"Scarlet, are you alright?" he asked as he knelt in front of me.

I nodded, "Yeah, just a little bump I guess. What happened?" I looked around. There were a few more stagehands looking down on me in worry. Monsieur Bayard had turned to one of them and spoke to him in a hushed tone. The stagehand nodded and quickly sped away. 

"The Phantom of the Opera attacked you, Mademoiselle," said Bayard as he turned back to me, "As well as La Carlotta. She has quit the show from the... ordeal." he huffed and rolled his eyes, murmuring, "I still say that it was an accident. If Buquet had just paid attention..." he turned back to the rest of the stagehands, "Back to work, the lot of ya." they all nodded and sped away, leaving the three of us.

Simon smiled and turned to me, "The Phantom knocked you out with this," he held up the empty candelabra and I took it from him, "And dropped the background on the diva. She threw such a fit, the managers were red in the face as she left."

I couldn't help but smile as well, "Well then, I'm sorry to have missed the fun. Oh, and you owe me five francs. I was right, Simon, Lefevre is retiring."

Simon rolled his eyes, but chuckled as he dug through his back pocket, then tossed me the coin, "Why do I have the feeling that I'm never gonna live this down?"

"Help me up and I'll never bring it up again." I replied, holding out my hand. Simon took it in his and hoisted me up to my feet. Immediately my head swam, and I swayed slightly.

"Woah there," Simon spoke as he steadied me, "You ok?"

I nodded, "Yeah, just got up too fast." 

There was a sudden thudding of footsteps as the stagehand that Monsieur Bayard had talked to rushed over to us and handed me a jar of ice. It immediately reminded me of when Christine had given me the exact same jar a few days ago.

"Oh, thank you." I said, nodding to him as I placed the jar against the back of my head; the stagehand rushing off again. The coolness of the jar quickly began to soothe the ache in my skull and I couldn't help but breathe a sigh of content.

Bayard turned to me, "Now, I know it's your first day, but seeing as you were just attacked by The Phantom of the Opera and how you had also sustained another head injury a few days ago, I must insist that you take the rest of the day off, Mademoiselle."

I spun to him, "Oh, but Monsieur Bayard, I couldn't possibly... I'm fine, really, I'm-"

He held a hand up to me, "No buts. Now, you go and get some well deserved rest. I will see you in the morning for rehearsal."