Love Never Dies

Chapter IV

"Meg!" I scream, racing through the halls. "Meg I've got amazing news!" I throw open her door without even knocking.

"Well, I don't really have time right now, darling." She picks up a brush and begins quickly pulling it through her tangles. "Maybe another time?"

"But Meg, you'll be thrilled! My-"

"Not now!" She slams her hand down on her dresser. I jump back and run straight into a person. A man, to be exact.

"Oh! Pardon me." He tips his hat. "Honey, you didn't tell me you had children." Meg walks over and places her hand on my shoulder. "I don't. She's-"

"Leaving!" I cut her off. I know exactly what's happening and I want no part of it. "My- mother- is around here somewhere." He nods, and I slip past him.

As I get closer and closer to my room, I notice something strange. Silence. My father almost never stops playing the piano. I creep closer to the door and listen, controlling my breathing.

"What is this?" Aunt Giry's voice is quiet, but danger coursing through it. "What is what, Antoinette?" Papa snaps back. "Christine!" Aunt Giry's voice rises higher than I'd ever heard. "Why is she coming here?!"

"This is something between my business and my business alone, woman-"

She left you! She left you for someone else!" Aunt Giry screams. I jump at the sound I'd never heard her scream in my entire life. "And yet here you are, inviting her back like some kind of old friend!"

"Watch it, woman. She lived under your roof, I'd expect some kind of compassion from you." My father's voice has never sounded so terrifying.

"Raoul. She left you for some money and a pretty face-!"

"Enough!" My father yells. I hear his piano bench scrape against the floor. "You will get what I owe you. Now, out!"

I back away quickly from the door and into the nearest corner just in time for Aunt Giry to fling the door wide open and go stomping down the hall, her heels making the loudest sound I've ever heard. I peak in the doorway and see my father rip his mask off. He uncovers a mirror and stares at it before he starts to whimper. I take off running, unable to see my father cry. I run all the way to the concert hall, all the way up to the third floor and straight to my secret room. I sit down at the piano and slam my fingers on the keys. I'm playing anything that comes to mind, I don't write it down. I don't even notice that the morning has shifted into late afternoon. As my anger quiets down, I listen to the sounds around me. My father was right. I do enjoy the peacefulness of it all.

Through the silence, a voice floats into my head. It's not something coming from the concert hall, this is something else. Something I wish I could dismiss as pure imagination. But it sounds so real as if someone is singing right above me. The voice is so pure, every note clear. I play what I hear, a song too lovely for any voice to sing. Then the voice says its first words.

Angel of Music.    

AN: Dun, dun, DUN!!! It's pretty cheesy lol, but just wait! Please keep reading and give me feedback y'all! Comment and vote too, love you guys!