Mirrors

Ballroom

A/N: Ok guys, so I've decided to try to continue this story, and to see how it goes! Please feel free to tell me what you think of this story at any time, and what you think i should change or add more of! Lots of constructive criticism is accepted! Anyways, i hope you guys enjoy! Don't forget to favorite, follow, and leave reviews!

(I do not own the Phantom of the Opera)

While there were these simple interactions with this opera ghost, I couldn't help but long for more. I wanted to know what his name was, what he looked like, what he sounded like, or even what he wore. I just wanted to know him. Of course, the fact that he was a "ghost" made communication more difficult. I continued to sense his presence, though, in the Prima donna room, but no words were ever exchanged. I always wondered what he sounded like. What would a normal conversation with a phantom sound like? Would I ask him how his day was? Would he reply with a simple "fine" and then go on and talk about how the new managers were annoying him? Maybe what I longed for was simplicity: a simple relationship with the ghost. It didn't have to be a romantic relationship, or even a friendship- I just wanted to know him.

Obviously I realized that I couldn't be the only person in this phantom's life. He had to have at least one person who he thought of as a friend, or perhaps an enemy. Either way, there had to be someone else he knew. I figured that if the ghost were ever acquainted with anyone, it would have to be someone from the opera house. I'm convinced that the other person is the new head soprano, Christine Daee.

Just recently, the head soprano, Carlotta, had quit in the middle of a rehearsal of the production Hannibal. I was sweeping one of the aisles in the rows of velvet chairs when she stormed off stage. That was when Christine Daee stepped forwards and revealed her true talents. She was an amazing singer. The notes she sang were executed so effortlessly and gracefully, anyone would stop to listen to this angelic voice. The first piece of evidence of Mlle. Daee and the phantom's relationship was the fact that a nameless man tutors Christine. Now, this nameless man could be anyone, but I've noticed that this Christine hardly leaves the opera house. Unless her tutor regularly visits the Opera Garnier, he must be the only other person that lives in the opera house without a known name: the phantom. I've also walked past the dormitories, where Christine lives. Sometimes I would hear her practicing and having small conversations with someone in the room. Then, she would walk out of the room with no one behind her.

Now, the fact that there is a phantom, or rather a man, that lives beneath the Paris opera house would often give anyone shivers up and down their spines. It is a curious situation, but for some unknown reason, the idea never fazed me. I grew up with superstitious parents. Well, a superstitious mother. She would often tell my sister and me tales in which she "encountered" ghosts at some point in her life. Being a realist, I never believed these stories, but I did get used to them, so when I heard there was a ghost that pranked annoying Italians, and air-headed managers, I was hardly terrified.

Last night, I was assigned to cleaning a grand ballroom. The opera house is very big, and is very short staffed, so I'll often have the responsibility of cleaning many large rooms by myself. And, because I am the youngest of the maids, it is assumed that I can do more work, and can take over the jobs that the other maids are too lazy to do. As it was the night of Christine Daee's grand debut, the party held in this particular ballroom left quite a few wine stains on the marble floor. I let out a sigh when I saw the mess. The sigh echoed off the golden walls and floated back to me. It had been a long day with hardly any good surprises, and I just wanted to go back to my dormitories in the maids' quarters, and sleep. Unfortunately, I could not sleep until I had finished cleaning this ballroom.

I shuffled to the back of the massive room, deciding to commence there. After about a good fifteen minutes of dusting the detailed engravings on the back wall, I started to hear something. It was a voice- a man's voice- and it was singing. I couldn't hear any of the words being said, as the voice was too muffled by the many thick walls in the opera house, but I could hear the distinct melody that floated around the ballroom. The echo in the high-roofed room made the song sound haunting yet beautiful. I stopped dusting, and froze. I was afraid that if I moved, I would make a noise, and wouldn't be able to hear this alluring melody. Somehow, I knew it was him. It had to be. I knew nothing about the opera ghost, yet I was absolutely positive that this ghostly melody was coming from him. Somewhere in the opera house, the phantom of the opera was singing. And for some reason, I thought that was beautiful. I'd never heard his voice before. I could hardly even hear it then. The muffled words blurred together like a soft hum, but the melody remained prominent and glorious. I wanted to go and find the phantom to hear the words he was singing, but at the same time, I was afraid I would miss a note of this angelic song. I slowly slid down the wall I was dusting, and sat still, my legs sprawled out in front of me. Each note came like a surprise: a wonderful, beautiful surprise. I didn't even think of the one thing that all songs had in common: that they all had an ending. So, when the melody stopped, I held my breath. I waited. I waited for probably ten minutes, taking quiet breaths, afraid that the small sound would frighten away the music. I blinked, and only then did I realize that I was crying. I wasn't sad, no. I'm actually not sure what I was.

The melody still floated around my head as I finished cleaning that ballroom. I hummed to it on my way back to the dormitories, and I dreamed of a masked figure singing to me the music- the music of the night.

A/N: So, as you guys probably figured, the song that was heard in the ballroom was Erik singing "Music Of the Night" to Christine. So what did you guys think? Is it too corny? What do you guys want more of? What do you guys want less of? Please let me know! Thank you guys so much for reading this story! I really appreciate all the support you've all given me!3

I MADE AN EDIT FOR YOU GUYS. I'm actually pretty excited and I think the edit I made is quite close to how I was imagining how it really sounded. I tried for a long time on iMovie to get rid of the orchestral background so you could only hear the vocals, but it didn't work too well so it kind of drifts in and out, but i'd like to think that the maid pretended to hear an orchestral piece along with it? I don't know about you guys, but sometimes if I hear a song that's just vocals I'll kind of make a little background music to go along with it for no good reason at all. In "reality" of the story, the maid didn't hear any orchestral music and it was just the singing (like how POTO would work in real life- everyone breaks out into song with no background music). If you're interested, go to 8tracks dot com slash waytoomanyfandoms and click on my most recent playlist titled "Mirrors". It's the first track on there, but because it is 8 tracks, i had to put up 8 other songs so i just did random ones that kind of made me think of this story. YOU ONLY HAVE TO LISTEN TO THE FIRST SONG. please please please listen to it and tell me what you guys think! I'm actually really excited! Don't forget to listen to it with both headphones in to get the full effect;) Enjoy!