The Phantom's Melody (The Phantom of the Opera)

05. Late Night Encounters

The Opera Populaire was in a state of panic.

Firmin and Andre managed to control the chaos, keeping everyone in their seats while they quickly worked to get the curtains closed and Bouquet's dead body out of sight until the police arrived. Meanwhile, Madame Giry was busy trying to calm all of my fellow chorus girls and ballerinas from where we all stood backstage.

I kept silent from my position in the corner as I tried to figure out everything that occurred just mere moments ago. It all happened so quick. I closed my eyes, trying to scratch the image of Bouquet's limp body from my mind.

I pulled myself away from the group, needing a breath of fresh air so I could just have a brief moment of peace from all the chaos around me. I slid through the dozens of people backstage before spotting a panicked Christine leaving her dressing room with a red cloak tied around her shoulders.

"Lucille!" She found me in the crowd and grabbed my wrist, pulling me up the stairs that led onto the roof.

I followed her at a fast pace, glancing around nervously at the rafters above me. It wouldn't surprise me if the Phantom was still around watching the aftermath of his great disaster.

When we exited onto the roof, we finally came to a stop, a light snow sprinkling down around us. "Christine--"

"Lucille, I've been there, to his world of unending night. To a world where the daylight dissolves into darkness...darkness." She clutched the rose in her hands as she looked down, her eyes full of confusion and fear.

I bit my lip, knowing more than most but knowing nothing at all about this dark and dangerous man.

"Lucille, I've seen him! Can I ever forget that sight? Can I ever escape from that face? So distorted, deformed, it was hardly a face, in the darkness...darkness." Her breathing was uneven as she turned away from me, her delicate fingers tracing the petals of the rose as she walked across the snow covered ground.

"But his voice filled my spirit with a strange, sweet sound. In the night there was music in my mind. And through music my soul began to soar!" She closed her eyes, seeming to drift away into a memory as she continued, "Yet in his eyes all the sadness of the world. Those pleading eyes, that both threaten and adore," she said softly.

I pressed my lips together, not sure what I could say to her. For years she believed that this man had been her Angel of Music, had been her father teaching her from heaven. But he wasn't an angel. He was just a man. A man who had abducted her and killed all just for her. I couldn't even imagine how that made her feel.

I parted my lips to say something, but I was cut off by Raoul who came walking through the door onto the roof. Good, he was the one she needed to talk to right now. Not me.

"Christine!" Raoul breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that she was unharmed.

Christine turned around and seemed to relax when she saw him. I glanced between them before taking a few steps back towards the door. I almost envied the closeness they shared as I watched Raoul pull her into a close hug, his arms wrapped firmly around her body.

I sighed before turning away as I walked back inside the opera house, leaving the two of them alone. Christine had Raoul to protect her. That's all that mattered. I looked up for a brief moment and pursed my lips.

I only wondered who would be there to protect everyone else from the Phantom's wrath on the Opera Populaire and the people who lived inside it.

*~*~*

After the police arrived and the accident was taken care of, everyone left the opera house, leaving only the cast and crew left to occupy the halls. Quiet murmurs and whispers were heard everywhere I passed, speaking of the "Opera Ghost" and "the Phantom" and what the managers planned to do about it.