Beauty Of Music

Chapter 16

The Opera House descended into chaos. There were some casualties from the Chandelier's fall, some members of the audience members rushed to help them while others fled the building, screaming. The atmosphere on stage was no better and to add to the panic the lights had gone out, descending the whole stage into darkness. This gave Erik the opportunity to grab Catherine by the arm and drag her towards the left-hand side of the stage. They didn't get too far before Carriere approached them and tried pulling Catherine from Erik's grip. Erik fought him for a moment then with a growl of frustration he pushed Carriere away from them and continued pulling Catherine along.

Carriere fell against a set wall and collapsed to the floor.

Erik placed his cloak over Catherine's head to hide her from view as he led her down some stairs and the two disappeared.

"Catherine! Catherine" cried out Phillippe as he pushed his way through people.

"Cathy, where are you!?" cried out Christine as she followed close behind him.

Phillippe saw Carriere being helped to him feet. He grabbed Christine by the hand and dragged her towards the older gentleman.

"Where is she?" he asked Carriere as he helped him stand up a bit more.

"Please Monsieur, where is my sister!?" asked Christine in a frantic tone.

"I don't know" said Carriere, feeling slightly winded from the fall.

Phillippe and Christine turned away from him.

"Catherine!?"

"Cathy!?"

They cried out and ran off to look elsewhere.

XXX

The casualties were freed from beneath the Chandelier and were carefully taken out of the room.

XXX

"Inspector!" called out a policeman backstage as he pushed his way through members of the company, towards Inspector Ledoux who had just arrived backstage.

The policeman saluted him.

"Inspector we've got him" he said in a triumphant tone.

"Where is he?" asked the Inspector.

The policeman turned to stand beside the Inspector and with his left hand he pointed in the direction he came from.

"Over there" he said.

But it wasn't the Phantom at all. It was the actor who played Mephisto in the Opera.

"I am not the Phantom. I am Mephisto" he said to the policeman who were detaining him.

Other members of the company tried freeing him from the policemen's grasp.

Ledoux was seething with frustration at his men's stupidity. He turned to the policeman beside him, grabbed the front of his hat, pulled it down over his eyes and then stormed away.

XXX

After searching around the stage and backstage, Phillippe and Christine ran up the stairs towards Catherine's dressing room, hoping she would be there.

"Catherine!?"

"Cathy!?"

They cried out.

As they ran up the stairs, they caught a glimpse of Catherine and Erik further up the stairs and this urged them to run up faster.

XXX

Erik pulled Catherine into her dressing room and quickly shut and locked the doors. Catherine was exhausted from running up the stairs, her head was so sweaty that when she tilted her head back the wig she was wearing fell off, before she could pick it back up Erik had walked around in front of her, pushed a secret button on the wall which then opened a secret passageway through the full length mirror. He grabbed Catherine by the wrist and pulled her through. The mirror closed behind them almost instantly.