The Phantom And Me?

Chapter 2 The Mysterious Lair

I woke up the next morning a little lightheaded, thinking it was all a dream, a hallucination. It had to be. I look down to see if my hand was injured, and sure enough, there was a bandage on it. Dried blood made a small stain in the middle of the palm where it was bandaged. I took off the bandages and inspected the wound. The thorn had made a pretty deep puncture, so I went back over to the cabinet and applied fresh anti-bacterial solution on the wound to clean it again, then applied a fresh bandage on it. I was about to go out of my room to get breakfast at the dining hall when I saw an envelope with a red skull of wax sealing it, was in front of the mirror. I went over, picked it up carefully, and tried to stand up, almost falling over from still being lightheaded. Then I sat on my bed and opened the note. When I opened the seal, the note was written in very tidy cursive writing. I held it up to see it in the daylight and read aloud "I have advised Madame Giry of your incident last night and she has excused you from your lessons today. Take care of yourself today please, my angel. I am sorry about the rose and your hand, it won't happen again, I promise. - O.G." I looked at the note in astonishment. Who was "O.G."? How did this note get into my room? I saw that strange man leave my room last night, there was no note there when he left. He must have came back to check on me while I slept. I set the note in my dresser drawer, brushed my long, wavy, dark-blonde hair; put a nice and comfortable dress on, then went to eat. Everyone was wondering about my hand and the bandages. I had to tell them I was alright and that I must have hurt it in my sleep. After a nice breakfast, I wandered around the hallways since I had nothing to do because of being excused from lessons today. After about 15 minutes of wandering around, I went back to my room to hang around in there. As I opened the door, I saw another rose on my pillow, freshly cut, and tied with another black ribbon. This one definitely had no thorns on it. I smiled, then smelled the rose, satisfied by its sweet fragrance. I took the ribbon off of the rose's stem, and used it to make a bow in my hair after I braided it. I then put the rose in a vase with some water and put the other rose in with it, being cautious as to not stab myself again with it again, and took the ribbon off of that one to put in my drawer with the note from earlier. About an hour has passed when I heard the familiar voice sing "Angel of music, come and join me. Angel, my sweet, I need you with me. Come to your strange angel." Then the voice sang very hypnotically "I am your angel of music. Come to me angel of music. I am your angel of music. Come to me angel of music." I had no control over my body anymore, I was in a trance. Sub-consciously I was heading towards the mirror, it had been opened by him. He held out his hand covered in a black glove. I took it without thinking, and stepped through the mirror. The floor was a little wet and slippery somehow, EVEN THOUGH its behind a mirror that connects to my bedroom? It didn't make sense but before I knew what was happening, the masked man picked me up and carried me down 3 long hallways that went downwards like a ramp, but each hallway larger than the rest. When we finally got down the last hallway, there was a boat tied up on the dock surrounded by what seemed like a lake, almost as if the boat was there waiting for us all this time. The man got in, took a long pole, and rowed the boat across the lake to another huge room that connected to the previous one by the lake. As we entered this new room, candles floated upwards upon long candle-holders and lit as soon as they emerged out of the water, although there was no one to light them as they came up, they lit by themselves. Soon enough, we stopped on the other side of the lake. What stood before us seemed to be a home. I hadn't seen anything like it before. When he got out, he took of his cape and laid it on the floor next to him but out of the way. Then he began to sing and walk around his home, still near me in the boat "I have brought you, to the seat of sweet music's throne. To this kingdom where all must pay homage to music. Music, you have come here, for one purpose and one alone. Since the moment I first heard you sing, I have needed you with me to serve me to sing, for my music. My music..." I stand up in the boat and he helps me out and onto the steps of his home. Then in a seductive and captivating voice he sings a melody that hypnotizes me and melts my heart "Nighttime sharpens, heightens each sensation. Darkness stirs, and wakes imagination. Silently the senses, abandon their defenses... Slowly, gently, night unfolds is splendor. Grasp it, sense it, tremulous and tender. Turn your face away, from the garish light of day. Turn your thoughts away from cold, unfeeling light. And listen to the music of the night. Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams. Purge all thoughts of the life you knew before. Close your eyes, let your spirit start, to soar. And you'll live, as you've never lived before. Softly, deftly, music shall caress you. Hear it, feel it, secretly possess you. Open up your mind, let your fantasies unwind. In this darkness that you know you cannot fight. The darkness of the music of the night. Let your mind, start a journey through a strange, new world. Leave all thoughts of the life you knew before. Let your soul, take you where you long, to be. Only then, can you belong, to me. Floating Falling, sweet intoxication. Touch me, trust me, savor each sensation. Let the dream begin, let your darker side give in. To the power of the music, that I write. The power of the music of the night." He leads me around his home as he sings to me, his sweet, seductive melody. When we walked around, there was a slippery patch on the floor where cement was. I slipped because I was wearing stockings and didn't see the wet patch on the cement until it was too late. I hit my head on the ground and was knocked unconscious...