Heart of stone—Phantom of the Opera fanfiction—Chapter 1

Instructions

Hey people and welcome to my Phantom of the Opera fanfiction. This is my first one and I really hope you enjoy. ++++++++++ Chapter 1 Ballerina’s danced across the floor, crew members finished putting the final touches on set pieces, a few of them grabbed peeks of the girls dressing room. “Don’t let Giry catch you” was the whispers in the hall. “She has eyes like a hawk.” “Who does?” A ballerina asked from behind two stage hands. “No one!” One dropped his wrench, sending a clatter though the room. “Shh!” “Erica?” Madame Giry’s voice called. “Oui?” The girl named Erica spun around. An older lady with a walking cane walked toward the worried stage hands, she glared knives at them and guided Erica away from them. “You should not associate yourself with men such as them.” She gently scolded. Her thick French accent rolled. “Oui Madame.” Erica lowered her head in slight shame. She didn’t know those men wee ruffians, she only heard them mention Madame Giry’s name and wanted to see why they were talking about her. Giry shooed Erica back to practicing with the other ballet girls, even though she knew all the moves Erica always practiced before a show. No matter how well she did Madame Giry always found something she could brush up on. But her daughter, Meg, was nice, she had golden hair and was an excellent dancer. “Erica, come help me.” A girl called, she was bent down and was trying to touch her toes. “Could you show me where to bend again?” “Sure.” Erica smiled, she could touch her toes with no problem. But bending backward was the issue. She reached her arms up and bent at her waist, her fingers brushing up against her toes. “See? Right there.” She pointed to her hips and then touched the girls to show where she was wanting. “Aha, thank you!” The girl smiled and Erica stood back up, but out of the corner o her eye she saw movement in the audience. She looked to where a curtain was swaying, even though there was no wind. Usually she would ignore it, the stage hands would occasionally spy on the girls practice, but what made Erica’s blood chill was the curtain was coming from Box 5. Later when all the girls were going back to their dormitories, Erica decided to walk up to Box Five and see if something was up there. She climbed up the staircase to the boxes 1 through 15 and made her way through the hallway. She finally found the bronze plate with a 5 engraved into it. She brushed aside the red curtain and looked out across the vast seating area and the huge stage. She stood silent for a moment, she had never seen the stage from the audience. “He has an excellent view.” She said to herself. She stepped back to leave but she felt something under her foot. She lifted her heel and saw a rose laying on the crimson carpet. It was a single rose with a black ribbon tied gently around the stem. Erica picked it up, fluffed the petals and set it on the seat. Hopefully the occupant tomorrow would understand. She left the box and rushed down to the dorms before Madame Giry counted them. As she passed the Primadonna’s room, she got a chill. She knew what was behind those doors. Yet strangely she wanted to look, how did he get that mirror to be double-sided? She shook her head and ran to her dorm. “Erica!” Meg whispered across the dark room. “Where did you go?” “I had to see something.” Erica said slipping off her jacket and slippers, she would have plopped on the bed but the others would be woken up. “What?” Meg prodded. “Nothing important.” Erica lied. It was very important if The Phantom had returned. She sighed as she slipped off into a deep sleep.