Family Secrets (A Phantom of the Opera Fan Fiction)

Chapter 8

 Aria POV

I found my self walking down a small, dark hallway. I didn't know where I was heading or what was at the end of the hallway. 

I felt like I walked forever and ever. My feet started to hurt, and I felt like I couldn't take another step, but I put my foot forward, because there was something, I couldn't tell what, but there was something in the dark that I wanted to get.

As I set my foot down, the floor disappeared, and I was falling head-over-heels into the darkness.

I reached my arms out to catch on to something and stop my self from falling, there was nothing. Two portraits came out of the darkness, with a mysterious, blue light cast on them. The one was of my father. He was staring at me with cold eyes. He was wearing the suit he was buried in, and his blond hair was slicked back.

The other portrait was of a woman in about her 40's. She had blond hair in a high up-do, with two small, tight curls surrounding her face. Her eyes were the same piercing blue as my fathers. Her lips, and nose seemed familiar, though. I touched my face and realized they were mine. I gave a small gasp. I looked at the name under the portrait.

It read 'Christine Daaé'!

“Aria, why didn't you listen to me!” my father bellowed in his booming voice.

“Aria, leave this place!” cried my grandmother “Leave before he gets you!” her voice was ghostly and eerie.

I tried to stay up right as I fell through the continuous darkness, the wind, throwing my hair and my night gown all around me. “ Who?! Who are you talking about!?” I screamed at her.

“WHY ARIA, WHY!?” My father screamed

“RUN AWAY, ARIA!!!” My grandmother repeated

I covered my ears to block out the sound of their screams, but the sound got louder and louder. I felt like my ears would explode from the noise.

I fell and fell, and the noise got louder and louder, the voices ringing in my mind.

Just as sudden as the portraits appeared, they disappeared, and I found my self falling into a pool of grimy water.

I felt the walls, for a possible way out, but there was none. All of a sudden, I heard something drop into the water behind me. I turned and saw a rope, looking up, there was a dark shadow looking down on me, presumably holding the rope.

He beckoned to me to grab hold of the rope, I did so and felt my body rise out of the water. My arms felt weak, as I held the weight of my body against the rope. They grew weaker and weaker as I neared the top, and an over-whelming sense of dread over-took me as I drew closer to the dark figure.

Just as I was contemplating dropping back to the water to escape the man, two strong hands grabbed me and pulled me back to solid ground. I looked back down the hole, and saw the walls cave in and cover the hole, filling it with rubble and dust. The two hands kept hold of my arms, I turned to look at my the figure and gasped.

The man who held me, wore a thick, black, silk cloak that was large enough to cover his whole body. He had thick, jet black hair, slicked back to the point where it was actually shiny. His face was covered with a white mask that started at his forehead, and ended around his nose. I could see from the part that was not covered that his skin was a pasty white, and his eyes were yellow and were sunken into his skull.

I struggled, but his bony hands dug into my arms. I opened my mouth to scream, but no sound came out. I heard him laugh at my feeble attempt to run away, cold and sinister. He pulled me close to his face, we were a millimetre away from each other. I felt his finger nails ripping into the skin on the arms.

“Hello, my angel.” he whispered close to my ear.

And then, everything went black.

I heard a loud knocking on my door. I woke in a panic, gasping for air, feeling like I just ran 2 miles. My forehead was wet, and I realized that I had gone into a cold sweat.

“Aria Dubois! Wake up and into your tutu! Your first day as a ballerina is about to start!” I heard Ms. Giry’s voice call from the hall and listened as her feet clicked away from my door to wake the other girls.

I got up slowly, recovering from my dream. How could I have a dream that felt so real? I never had a dream like that before, and I never wanted one again.

I walked over to the ballet costume that Clara had helped me pick out the night before, and started to remove my night gown. I flinched in pain as the sleeves rubbed my upper arms.

I stood in shock. No, I thought, it was a dream! I couldn't have gotten hurt in my dream!

I ran to my mirror to examine my arms and there they were. Ten fingernail marks, where the man had dug his nails into my arms.