Phantom Savior (Based on the 2004 Phantom of the Opera film)

Phantom Masked

      The time of day could not be known when the girl opened her eyes. Of course, she had no idea where she was. Her dark chocolate eyes looked down at her white night gown and clean hair and she gasped. Her face hurt and was bruised from the vile man's strike and from his death drip on her face and jaw. Her lip was swollen and was split where it had bled. 

      She sat up, being surrounded my closed bed curtains. The moved the black fabric aside, tentatively glancing through at the other side. It was an empty stone room, the walls paneled and thee were stone carvings of lions on every few panels. 

      She could hear the sounds of sweet music echoing from somewhere, but she didn't know where. On the wall opposite her, there were two long draping red curtains. She didn't think that there'd be any windows. The floor and air were cold, she must not be in Paris anymore. It was the end of summer, still warm and rainy, and this temperature did not belong. 

      The girl climbed out of the bed, chilled to the bone. She touched her face: she was clean. How had she gotten clean? She remembered the bad man, and then.. nothing. She went to the curtain closer to the bed and pulled it back. No windows, but there was a large powder room. A large gold-framed mirror hung on a wall above a stone sink. In the far corner, a tub of some sort than was so large that there were steps leading to it. Her tattered dress, discarded on the floor. 

      She went to the next curtain and pulled it aside. There was a dark tunnel running horizontal to the wall of the room. A pathway ran to the right parallel to the running water. The girl stepped out and followed the path, and the sound of music got louder. 

      The music was solemn, an organ crying out for help in this labyrinth of tunnels that seemed to go on forever, curving with the earth. The girl crept slowly, silently down the cold stone path. A draft of cold wind blew her hair around her shoulders, coming from the source of the water. There was light up ahead, ten steps and there was a corner where the cold tunnel wall ended. 

      She peeked around the corner with wonder. Tall towers of candles were everywhere, sending yellow light over stacks of books and musical instruments. Intriguing trinkets covered shelves, probably collected over many years. 

      Satin red curtains hung on the walls, maybe going to more tunnels or doorways. 

      The music was coming from a huge brass organ on he far side of the open room, a stone ledge surrounded by green water. A man sat on a bench in front of the instrument, lost in his sad music. He did not see the girl. She knew that to open her mouth and call out would hurt her face. She crept forward toward the man. 

      His dark hair was slicked back away from the face she couldn't see. He was wearing dark trousers and a loose white shirt, the bottoms tucked in. He barely sat on the bench, coming off of it with the energy of the music. 

      The girl crept forward and tapped his shoulder, jumping back when the man yelled and jumped up threateningly. The music was gone and the girl stared at the man's face. Over the upper right side of his face was covered in a smooth white mask. She could not see how it stayed on with all his movement. His features softened as he registered that it was just the girl who had startled him. Her face was cast with candle light on one side and shadow from the other.

      "I apologize monsieur, I didn't mean to scare you," she whispered in a cracked voice, her throat burning for water. 

      The man's face softened. She stared at it. He looked like in was in costume at a masquerade party, except the fancy cloths. "You're quite alright, madame. I am sorry for scaring you. How do you feel?" he stood still, staring at the girl's bruised face. 

      "I... water?" 

      "Oh," he moved, walking towards a cabinet several steps from his large organ. The girl stared at the call brass pipes, steaming with some kind of promiscuous fog. 

      The man returned, giving the girl a glass cup full of strange brownish-orange liquid. When she looked unsurely at the stuff, the man said, "It's not alcohol. Better than water. Drink," he put his hand on the bottom of her hands and lifted the glass to her face. 

      It was a kind of tea, mixed with some kinds of herbs and lavender. It soothed her throat with a few sips and rid her of the croaking voice. 

      "What happened?" she asked, sipping her drink. 

      "Come sit down." The man gestured to a corner where there was another draping curtain, this one black. He pulled it aside and hooked it on an unlit candelabra so that it stayed open. 

      Inside this new room, There were two plush sitting chairs. The girl sat down in one, curling her feet underneath her dress, comforted by the warmth. The man, who was very handsome, sat down in the other chair. 

      "That man, who was taking advantage of you, I killed him. I could see that you had no home, and you deserved a place to stay and a warm bath to be clean."

      The girl shivered. "You cleaned me?" 

      "I did. What is your name, mademoiselle?"  He wanted to reassure her that he didn't look, as that was the gentlemanly thing to do, but he could not say it honestly.

      The girl sipped on the tonic in the glass. "Lili" she said. 

      "I am Erik." 

      "Oh." Lili said. She finished her drink and sat the glass down on a low table with more burning scentless candles. "Do you have any shoes? The floors are cold, and I assume that since you have this dress, you might, you know, have some shoes also..." 

      Lili thought about where the dress came from. Wherever Erik lived, he may have lived there with a woman. He may still live here with a woman. She would be wearing her cloths. 

      The two of them set there for an awkward moment. 

      Erik stared at the girl, she fiddled with the hem of this new nightgown that didn't belong to her. "Where are we?"