My Blue Rose (Phantom of the Opera)

Chapter 2 - Erik

Carly's POV:

I tapped my pencil against the table and sighed. My whole family was gone to one of their friends houses and I had stayed behind to work on school. I was hoping to get an early start on collage. To do that I had to work myself dizzy. I couldn't concentrate no matter what. I normally loved math but I couldn't get that stranger’s golden eyes out of my mind. He was a mystery and I hated mysteries. They drove me insane. I walked into the kitchen and poured myself a glass of water. I sipped on it while I thought on the subject. Suddenly our home phone rang. I walked over to it and picked it up.

“Hello, Carly Richmond speaking.” I said gently. An unfamiliar male voice answered me,

“Good afternoon, Ms. Richmond.” I hated to be blunt but this man gave me the creeps. Just a little. I mean, that voice was too beautiful to belong to a human.

“Excuse my bluntness, Sir, but who are you?” I heard a rich chuckle come through the phone.

“Forgive me for not introducing myself. My name is Erik and I went to your father's church last week.” Then I realized who I was talking to. This was the strange masked man. He looked like an Erik. I realized I was blushing. The voice fit him perfectly.

“Yes, I remember you.” I heard a sigh.

“I am hard to forget.” I couldn't decide whether or not that was good.

“Well, I know everyone there and I remember someone who doesn't normally come. Why did you call?” I heard another chuckle. I was beginning to enjoy those.

“Well, I heard you singing in the choir. You have great possibility as a singer.” I blushed again. I was grateful that he couldn't see me. I looked like a giddy school girl.

“Thank-you. You are too kind.”

“I wanted to ask you if you had a teacher of any kind?” I searched my mind.

“No, I was never taught about singing. I just sing.” I heard a gasp.

“Well, I am a voice teacher by profession. I would like to teach you. Your voice is worth a lot. Your voice could take your places.” Now it was my turn to gasp. I hadn't ever thought about my voice as a possible way for me to live. I mean, I had always thought I would find a guy, get married, and raise a family. That was my dream. But right before my eyes with the help of a total stranger I saw my dream start to change.

“You mean it?” I asked excitedly. He didn't seem surprised by my outburst and simply said,

“Yes.” I suddenly felt the uncontrollable urge to giggle. This was more than I had imagined. He continued to talk, “No doubt you will want to talk about this with your parents. I will give you my number and you can call me when you have an answer. How does that sound?” I hurriedly agreed. I wrote down his number and waited for my parents to get home. Mother set the table for dinner. We sat down. It was silent for a moment before I said,

“I had a phone call today.” Mother looked at me and said,

“From who, honey?” I took a deep breath.

“Father, remember the strange man with the mask who attended the last service?” Father nodded. “Well, his name is Erik and he is a voice teacher and he decided he wants to teach me. What do you say?” I saw Mother and Father thinking about it long and hard.

“Well, honey, you do have an amazing voice. It would be good if someone could help you get even better. I don't know though. Why don't he come over for dinner?” I nodded to myself and decided that after supper I would call Erik. Then it dawned on me that I didn't know his last name. I would have to ask him. Supper ended quickly and I hurried to the phone. I dialed his number and three rings later I heard the musical voice on the other end.

“Ms. Richmond, I didn't think you would call back so soon.” I didn't even notice that I was blushing until Mark gave me the weirdest look. It was then that I realized my cheeks were on fire.

“Erik, my parents want to meet you. They said you could come over for dinner. How does that sound? They like the idea of voice training for me.” I wished I knew what he was thinking.

“Well, I guess that will work. What day and time?” We talked about it and soon decided that tomorrow would be best. We ended the call and I realized that I had forgotten to ask his last name. Well I would get another chance. I would get to meet this strange man named Erik. I remembered his face and tried not to blush again. I couldn't believe myself. I had a boyfriend. But there was something about Erik that drew me in. those golden eyes were something I couldn't avoid. I shook my head and hurried up to my room. I would have to work on my wild emotions. And I really needed to control that blush of mine.