Ice & Fire (Erik x OC)

Chapter 4

Juliette was sitting on her bed, dressed in her nightgown like the rest of the girls. Her back was pressed against the wall and her eyes closed. She felt sore and in pain by the training but she knew she had to endure it.

She had to train hard, she had promised it and she was intending to keep that promise. Leaving out a sigh, she left out a sigh and opened her eyes only to notice most of the girls forming a circle around Marie's bed.

"No matter where you are or what time it is. He is listening" she said,

"What are you talking about?" Juliette asked; her bed not too far away from the bully's.

"The story about the Phantom of the Opera" the redhead from last night, Rosalie, explained.

"Phantom of the Opera?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, he roams the Opera in the middle of the night. Dressed in all black he blends with the shadows. Half of his face is covered by a pale white mask because that half is deformed. It is deformed so badly that even the Devil himself is afraid to look at it. With skin that falls down, rotten to the very core and veins so visible you can touch them. It is said to smell like death and if you ever are unlucky enough to see it, you die in seconds"

Juliette rolled her eyes. "Don't you have anything better to do than scaring away others with stories?"

"It is not a story"

"Yeah"

"The Phantom is real. You can hear his haunting music in the night and hear the wood cracking as he walks" Marie said in a dramatic tone.

"If he is a phantom, a ghost; how do the wooden floors crack?" the white-haired girl asked.

"Some say it is a ghost and others say it is a man but he is real. He leaves messages, letters to the owners and gives them instructions on how to run his Opera"

His opera? Juliette repeated as she remembered the card on her vanity.

"In his letters, he points everyone's mistakes and if someone doesn't improve, they have to leave or die by his magical lasso" the brunette continued and made a motion of herself being hanged by an invisible rope. "Just like Bell"

"Bell? Who is Bell?" the albino asked.

"The ballerina before you. She occupied the same bed you are sitting on. She did many mistakes and the phantom threatened her badly and then he took her and she was never seen again"

"Do not lie, now Marie" Meg interrupted as she sat next to Juliette. "Bell left the Opera and she is as alive as all of us are"

"She left before the Phantom kill her. I mean, after all the threatening messages, the props disappearing and of course... the 'accidents'"

The girls shivered and some hugged each other from fear.

"What kind of accidents?"

"Sandbags and props falling, clothes getting ripped, ropes getting cut and in general incidents that could easily kill the poor girl"

Juliette blocked the outside world as she came into realization.

So I am here as Bell's replacement huh? If she hadn't left, I wouldn't be here. I know I should be thankful and happy but why do I feel so... empty? Bad? I should have been used by it but yet again... *sigh*

"Maybe you will be his next victim as a well pale girl," Marie said and drew the said girl's attention. "I mean, with how bad you dance; I wonder how long he will allow you to stay before he takes care of you"