From Present to Past (Phantom of the Opera)

Prologue

"Remind me never again to volunteer for the late shift." I said as Sarah, my best friend, and I walked out of the hospital.

Sarah laughed and pulled out her keys to unlock the car. "Come now, it wasn't that bad."

"We had two car wreak emergencies, tonight." I said as I opened my door.

"It's because of the weather." She said as she climbed inside and started up the car.

"Yeah." I whispered as I looked outside. What used to be just a sprinkle of rain, had turned into a downpour. "At least we saved them all."

"Don't think about it." Sarah whispered as she began driving down the road.

"It's hard not to. It all happened on a night like this." I said as I looked out the window.

"I know it did, but we can't change the past." She said as she made a right turn at the stop sign.

"I wish we could though."

"But, we did, then we would have never had met," She said as she glanced over at me. "I would have never had met my best friend in the whole wide world."

I smiled and nodded. "Yeah, but we would both still have our families." I whispered as my smile turned into a frown.

"Yeah." Sarah whispered in agreement as to drove up into the apartment complex. She quickly parked and we both got out and ran into the lobby.

"Let's get some rest." I stated as the elevator came to a stop on our floor.

She nodded and walked to her door as I walked to mine. "Goodnight, Carly." She said with a small smile as she opened her door to her apartment.

"Sleep well." I smiled as I opened the door to mine and walked through. "Man,it's really coming down." I said as I wrapped a blanket around my shoulders and walked over towards the window. It thundered and I jumped back in fright. "Sarah!" I called as I ran out of my apartment and knocked on her door. "Let me in, please."

(Sarah's POV)

I smiled and walked to the front door, opening it. "Want to spend the night?" I asked as I stepped back, letting her in.

"Yes, please. I don't like the thunder." She said as she walked into my apartment.

I nodded and pulled my own blanket closer around my body. "I don't much like it either. Why don't I make some hot chocolate and we read for a while? I doubt we will be able to go to sleep with all the noise."

She nodded and sat down on the couch. "Sounds good to me."

I bustled around my small kitchen and soon returned with two cups of hot chocolate. "Just like we like it." I said as I sat down on the couch.

"Thanks." She smiled as she took the cup from her and took a small sip. It then thundered loudly and she closed her eyes. "I strongly dislike storms."

I took a sip of mine and nodded. "They are noisy. The lightning is pretty but I wish the thunder didn't have to come with it." I reached forward and picked up a favorite book of ours, turning it over in my hands lovingly.

"Yeah." She said as she sat back in the couch and waited for me to start reading. I turned to the part of it where we had left off and started to read.

She listened and sipped on her hot chocolate. But, it was getting worse outside by the minute. The thunder was getting louder and the lighting was getting closer. I shivered and stopped for a moment.

"This sounds like it's getting bad." I whispered.

"Yeah," She whispered, "it do-" She didn't even get a chance to finish her sentence before a huge flash of lighting flashed against the windows and the whole room went pitch black. All I saw for a moment was the blinding light of the lightning bolt and everything went completely dark. I shivered slightly and held my eyes shut, fearful.