Swan Song (Phantom of the Opera)

Swan Song: Part One

Swan Song: Part One

I heard your groans of anguish and the shattering of glass, but by the time I reached the room at the top of the stairs with the great swan bed, you had vanished. On the table lay your white mask. 

I picked up your mask and looked at it for a moment in wonder. At first its shininess looked like ceramic, but it was actually glossy, polished leather. This was on your face, I thought, and I am going to see that face no matter what. Christine left with Raoul in the boat. That could mean only one thing, that she left you. But where did you go? 

My head swam with possibilities, all tumbling one atop the other. I couldn't see you, but I knew you were there, in the same way I knew when you crept in the rafters. Where are you? I called out, silently. I could hear the shouts and curses of the mob. Oh help him, please, someone. Please help him. 

Glass covered the stone floor. Why was there so much in front of that curtain, where there seemed to be no mirror? Something pulled me toward the thick red velvet drape. and I ran toward it. He's behind there, I thought, not knowing how I knew, but knowing I was right. 

A sound came from behind the curtain, a curse, followed by one thump, then another, and then the sound of boots receding into the distance. I flung the curtain aside and peered into a long, dim tunnel lit by a few tiny blue gas flames. Then, like an arrow that flies straight into the heart, I ran down that murky corridor, kicking up shards as I went. 

The black distance of tunnel seemed to be endless, and up ahead I heard the scrapes of stone upon stone. Faster I went through the dim light, until in surprise and frustration I came to a blind end, and you had gone. 

My heart filled to bursting. To come all this way, only to lose you once more, to lose you like the shadow you were. There was some trap door, some secret passage somewhere, but where? In frustration, I pounded helplessly in all three directions around me. 

Then strong arms grabbed me and pulled me through a crack in the wall that opened suddenly. It snapped shut with a click, and there stood before me with your face all on fire and wet with tears, your shirt sticking to you with sweat. 

You leaned your head against the rough stone of the tiny, narrow corridor and hid your face with your hand. Gently I grasped your hand and lowered it, taking your hand tentatively in mind, waiting for you to snatch yours away. Your warm muscular hand pulled me down the corridor. Mine felt so small, clasped inside your rough, dry palm. 

My boots clicked on the stone floor. Clicks changed to thuds as we crossed onto a wooden walkway. In places boards were broken or loose and I was grateful for that night's breech role, because in trousers and boots I could pick my way over the bad spots easily. The walkway turned into a narrow bridge, and down beneath I noticed a deep gouged pit of three or four meters, full of broken pieces of stone. Suddenly I quailed, imagining being dashed to pieces on the stone below. 

You turned to me with a look of anguish. I looked over the edge, resolutely, and then looked at your mask. Hateful thing of lies, I thought, and I threw it down into the rubble below. It bounced several times, then landed among the broken stones. I turned my face up to yours and flipped back my long hair, and with your hand in mine, we walked across the bridge. 

When we reached the other side, you pulled a knife from your pocket, and a flicker of fear went through me. Were you going to cut me for throwing your mask away? Instead you cut the ropes of the walkway, and the bridge collapsed into the pit below. 

You started to walk away quickly, and I followed as fast as I could. You linked your arm in mind and through a maze of tiny passages we slunk. Over and under, farther and farther down the passage went, until at last we came to a rough wall made of the natural stone under the earth. You climbed the wall, hooking your feet into the rough edges. When you had ascended about two meters you reached your hand down to me, and up I went as well.