It Was Always Her

Chapter 3

Phantom's POV

I was sitting at my organ, trying to figure out something to compose. My mind had been quite empty lately. No inspiration, nothing new. I sigh and put my head in my hands and close my eyes.

"I dreamed a dream.." I jerk my head up and try and find the source of the voice. It's so soft and frightened, like it's afraid to let its full reign shine. I stand up from the organ and run into one of the tunnels that runs through the Populaire. I reach box five and sit down in one of the hidden chairs. I see a young girl walking through the balcony, singing. Her singing is good but it needs a little work. Her curly blonde hair spreads around her face like a halo of light.

She pauses and takes in the theater. It is quite a sight. After a moment, she starts singing again but with more confidence which made her louder. Her sweet voice filled the room. She started running down the stairs and jumped onto the stage. She certainly cared little about being ladylike, I almost laughed when she did that.

And still I dream he'll come to me
That we will live the years together
But there are dreams that cannot be
And there are storms we cannot weather!

I notice her cringe when her note went flat, but I was surprised when she didn't care than much and continued singing with the same confidence and power as before.

I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I'm living
So different now, from what it seemed
Now life has killed the dream I dreamed

She was breathing heavily, her breathing needed to be more controlled when she sang. I saw her move to the edge of the stage and sit down. Deciding to let her know that I was there and saw her whole performance, I stood and started clapping. She is shocked and jumps to her feet, her beautiful, emerald green eyes wide.

"Who is there?" she asks unafraid, trying to find me hidden in my box.

"Well done mademoiselle," I let my voice carry around the room "But let me ask you who are you and why are you in my opera house." She stands there, with her mouth open trying to find something to say. "Don't just stand there gaping like a fish, answer my questions." I say slightly louder to try and get a response from her. Her cheeks turn a shape of pink and she clears her throat.

"My name is Yvette and I'm here because my sister is an amazing singer. The patron heard her singing on the street and wanted both of us to work here, even though I have no talent compared to my sister." She fidgets and fixes her hair. Yvette...such an unusual name. And the patron...I'll have to look out for him.

"If you apparently have 'no talent'," I say with sarcasm dripping from my voice, "Then what are you going to do working here?" I'm very curious to hear her response. Her expression changes and she looks deep in thought.

"I could work as a backstage manager, monsieur." She says. I almost don't hear the last part that she says oh so quietly. "That way no one can see my hideous face." Is that why she was fixing her hair? Possibly...but it doesn't look like there is anything wrong with her face. She has clearly never seen anything as hideous as him. I suddenly become angry with her thinking that she is hideous.

"Your face is the opposite of hideous Mademoiselle Yvette." I love the way her name rolls of my tongue "I could show you things so hideous, you could faint from fear." I speak low and let the last word drip with poison. But she isn't intimidated by my words.

"Monsieur, clearly you cannot see my face up close from..." she pauses for a moment and looks around for me. "Wherever you are. Many people have ran in fear of my face, that's why I must hide it." She sounds sad and looks down to the stage. I know the feeling, people screaming in horror of you, screaming monster in your face and beating you...it is the loniest feeling in the world. This girl, Yvette, is very similar to me. Wearing a brown dress that looks like it had been worn for a very long time. Bits of it were missing or falling off.

"Yvette.." I start to say but turn when I hear people entering the theater. It's the Vicomte de Chagny and a younger girl, about sixteen. I'm assuming she is Yvette's sister. The two girls do look similar, but so different at the same time. Yvette's sister who I have now heard that her name is Charlotte, runs and gives Yvette a hug.

Charlotte is stunning. She has long chocolate brown curls, similar to her sister but just a different color. She has large brown eyes and freckles sprinkling her nose and cheeks. Her skin is as smooth as porcelain. Charlotte screams innocence and a careless soul, she truly is beautiful.

"This way ladies, I'll show you to your room." I hear the Vicomte say. The girls follow behind him. Charlotte runs up to walk next to him as Yvette lingers behind them. I stand at the edge of the box so I can watch them leave. Yvette turns around before she leaves and I see her eyes grow wide, she's looking right at me.

"Come on Yvette!" I hear her sister call and Yvette turns around and looks towards the door.

"I'm coming, I'm coming she says." And curtsies to me before she walks out. She is such a strange woman. I've never met someone like her before. So unafraid and curious. I dart into my secret passage and follow their voices to see where the Vicomte is letting them stay. He gives the sisters rooms right next to each other.

"I have also supplied you both with new dresses and a coat since yours.." He trailed off.

"We know they aren't in the best shape." Charlotte say laughing lightly.

"We appreciate all the work you've done for us. Really, this is the most kindness anyone has showed us in a while." Yvette speaks in she truly means it. How have people been rude and turned their heads from these amazing girls? I truly don't understand the world. I hear both of their doors shut and Raoul's footsteps traveling away down the hallway. I dart down another hallway to try and find Yvette's room.

I'm pretty sure that the rooms that Raoul gave the girls, both have the two way mirrors. I stop in front of the first room and look through the mirror. I see Yvette sitting on the edge of the bed, taking in everything around her. She gets up slowly and opened the wardrobe. She gasped and ran her fingers along all of the dresses in the closet. She pulled out a black dress with a large bell shaped skirt and walked over to the mirror I was standing behind. She help the dress up to her body and looked at her reflection in the mirror. It looked beautiful against her.

"You should put it on." I say and immediately throw my hand over my mouth. She drops the dress and looks around the room. She bends down and picks up the dress, brushing it off she says with a smirk.

"It isn't nice to spy on people monsieur. You should at least come out so I can see you." She looked around the room, trying to find me. I took a deep breath a pulled a switch that blew out all of the candles in her room. She yelped at the sudden darkness. I moved quickly while she couldn't see and opened the mirror. I moved past her silently and locked the door to her room.

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