Look With Your Heart and Not with Your Eyes- Phantom of the Opera Fanfiction

Chapitre Vingt Quatre: La Mort D'un Patron

I lead Madame Giry out of the lair without another word.  I feel Erik's eyes pinned to me when I return to the lair.  Now he knows everything I have been up to and now that I have been watching Evan during the week I left Erik by himself.  Yes, I may have watched and messed with Evan and one might say quite handsome but that does not mean I like him.  I more like envy him, he was the prized one, the best one and the center of Madame Giry's attention.  Even though he came after I left he got all of the attention.  Madame Giry never cared for me like she cared for him.  I wished I was Evan, the prized and treasured one.  Instead I was the one everyone hated, always getting blamed for things and preferred to be alone then with the rest of the workers.  If only Carlotta was gone when I was working there, then I would not have been like I am now.  But if she was gone I would have never met Erik the way I had, or even at all.  I feel Erik come out of the shadows as I walk back to the organ and sit down.  I know he is going to ask about Evan and I will not lie to him.  I could not bring myself to it, not about this.  This was something silly and misunderstood to lie about.

"What was she talking about?  What did she mean that they are scared of the Phantom again and who is this Evan boy," asks Erik his voice deep.

"I will not lie to you Erik, especially something as foolish as this.  I ended up snapping at the managers, they now think a Phantom has returned... as for Evan.... he was my replacement, yet he is the prize boy, the treasured one.  He is treated kindly and has friends.  He is not scolded and lonely like I was, am," I say to him looking at my feet instead of looking at Erik.

"And why should I believe you," asks Erik defensively.

"Why would I lie about such a foolish thing as this?  Erik I do not care if you believe me or not because deep down you know I am telling the truth," I say to him looking back up to his golden eyes  which were inches away from me.

"What else are you hiding," asks Erik eyeing me suspiciously.

A chill goes down my spine and I mutter, "Nothing of importance." 

I abruptly stand up adjusting my mask and tell Erik I am going to watch rehearsals before I exit the lair.  I wanted to see if my orders were being followed and how the rehearsals were going, not to mention to see how the new leading lady was doing with her role.  I despised Christine, she was perfect in every aspect and I was far from it.  She had smooth skin, perfect thick curly brown locks, a voice like no other, and was gorgeous.  I on the other hand had half a face, long brown hair that was hard to tame and now half was thin because of the fire from the bakery boys, and was far from being perfect.  Yes I liked to sing but my voice was not a soprano, it was deeper than Christine's and had a dark, hypnotizing feel to it. 

I made my way through the tunnels quickly, and quietly, no noise echoed through the tunnels.  There was an occasional rat or bone lying around but I just dismissed it since I was use to it now.  Most girls would shriek and run in fear, but not me, for I was use to all of this stuff.  Years of living on the streets did in fact pay off, while suffering from not getting enough food and warmth you learned not to be afraid of such ridiculous things since there was much worse things the larked in the dark corners of the alleys of the town.  

I push against the door covering the entry way to the tunnels leading to the lair and am faced with the catwalks above the stage.  I stand and watch from the shadows the preparations for the upcoming show unfold.  Christine was center stage talking to Meg and the managers. Meg's face was of utter shock and had a hint of fear behind it and Christine's was of triumph.  I wonder what had happened while I was away.  Has Christine turned into Carlotta.  Whatever was going on down there I had to get a better view.  I walked a few paces forward and heard the conversation below.  I guess Meg had gotten the lead dancer in recommendation of Christine, nothing exciting or special, just rather boring.  Madame Giry came into the scene presenting the letters to the managers, and Christine; all going pale.  

I took my eyes off of them and noticed Raoul looking at the catwalks for a few moments before disappearing out of view.  I began to walk to try to find him but stopped when I noticed that he had come up onto the catwalks where I was.  I sunk deeper into the shadows out of his view as he walked around.  He stopped after a few minutes and looked down to the commotion on the stage.

"Everyone calm down!  We have dealt with something like this before and we will again.  For now we shall listen to their orders so no one gets hurt, we do not want another chandelier falling and destroying this place.  Especially since we just finished renewing this place to its full potential," Monsieur Firmin shouts above the crowd, everyone nods and quickly gets back to work.

Raoul still sits on the catwalks watching Christine sing.  On my left was my dagger and on my right was a noose I had grabbed out of the lair just in case I may need it.  I subconsciously brought my hand to the noose when Raoul got closer.  Raoul and I have met before but he may not remember, since it was so long ago, when I was merely a child.

Raoul was not inches away from me and I quickly made up my mine and flung the noose around his neck quickly tightening it to a point where his face was already turning blue from lack of oxygen.  

"Hello Raoul," I whisper into his ear, well more like growl.  If you may have guessed our past was not a pleasant one.

"H-Hailey, w-what a-are y-you d-doing," Raoul struggled to say.

"I thought it was quite clear," I say tightening the noose a little more making him choke.

"P-please d-don't, I h-have a w-wife.  We are y-yet to have c-children," he said his face now blue.

"Well too bad for Ms. Christine," I say quickly pushing Raoul off of the catwalk.  His now lifeless body hanging.  I half smirked at the horror on everyone's faces before turning around and walking back to the lair.  Raoul deserved when he got, he had it coming.

~~~ À la main du mort. ~~~