It's Just Begun, The Music Of The Night

Chapter Five.

The small girl before him stirred. His eyes widened in fear as he realized what would happen if she saw a strange man in her bedroom. Quickly, he took refuge behind the mirror and watched as her small frame rolled onto it's side, so she was facing him.

Her cobalt blue eyes, puffy and tear stained, never opened. A sigh of relief escaped his lips and he stealthily moved back over to her. Soon, someone would come to check on her, he would have to leave and quickly. Looking around as though to make sure no one was watching, the Angel of Music leaned down and kissed her forehead softly.

"Soon, my dear, you will learn to love this horrible monster who calls himself your Angel of Music." He whispered and left the room, his cloak billowing behind him.

The next morning, Emelia awoke to find herself in her bed, Madame Giry must have brought her here. She sighed and looked at the bright daylight flooding through her only window.

"Wait, daylight!" She jumped out of bed as she realized it must be late in the afternoon.

Panicking, she threw on a dress, tying the corset best she could, slipped on her ballet slippers and rushed out of the room. As soon as she reached the dining room, she rushed in to find Madame Giry and Meg talking.

They both looked up surprised to see the teenage girl standing before them. Exchanging a glance, Madame Giry silently motioned for her to take a seat at the table.

"I had the worst nightmare last night and I have a throbbing headache..." Emelia muttered as she graciously took a seat.

Once again, the women exchanged glances and then looked solemnly at Emelia.

"I wasn't dreaming was I?" She massaged her temples.

"No, mademoiselle, it was not. Here..." Madame Giry stood a and walked over to a make shift counter.

She grabbed a plate of food that had been covered to keep it warm. Meg looked at Emmy sadly as Madame Giry delicately placed the tray in front of her. Both women acted as though if they made any sudden movements, she would lash out and breakdown again.

"You need to eat, there is a performance tonight, remember?" Meg encouraged the girl.

Emelia removed the tray and examined the contents. After a moment she sighed and began to pick at her food. Once she had taken a few bites she set her fork down and pushed the tray away from her.

"I'm not really hungry..." Her voice was just above a whisper.

"Well, then I guess we have quite a bit to discuss." Giry looked at Emelia with a dead seriousness in her eyes.

"What is there to discuss?" Emmy groaned.

"First off, the matter of your father is at hand--" Madame Giry began.

"I don't want to talk about that!" She yelled pressing her hands against her ears.

"Emmy, you have to face it sooner or later, so why not sooner than later?" Meg tried to coax her into the conversation.

"Because, it hurts!" She cried out.

"I would hate to break it to you, but things don't always go your way. If you're going to act like this, then you won't even be able to handle some of the other things that will happen to you." Meg yelled back.

This caught Emelia's attention, and she slowly pulled her hands away from her ears and stared at the two women before her, waiting for them to speak. Madame Giry mouthed a 'thanks' to her daughter then moved back to the matters at hand.

"I think you should know that your father is in a critical condition. His skull is fractured in multiple places, his nose broken, fractured vertebrae, shattered ribs, a punctured lung and he is paralyzed from the waist down. The doctors cannot do much, but they are trying their best. If they can't help him, then they said he had a week at the most.

"But just for tonight, I need you to take your mind off him. If not you could jeopardize the whole performance. Tomorrow, on your day off, you may go visit him."

With this Emelia let out a pained cry and bit her lip to hold back the tears. Meg quickly rushed to her side to comfort her while Madame Giry merely remained seated, keeping a perfect poker face.

"Emelia, you know it's unladylike to bite your lip. That is a nasty habit we will have to work on breaking. Meg, why do you do this after I told her to stay strong and push the thoughts from her mind?" Mamma Giry stared blankly at the two.

"Pardonnez-moi, forgive me, mother. I was only trying to help." Meg begged for forgiveness.

"I know you only meant well..." The Madame let out a sigh.

"Can I please have something to take my mind off all of this?" Emelia pleaded.

"Child, we are not done talking about things yet. Meg mentioned your strange behavior yesterday, and your father said you were speaking of angels of music. Is this true?"

"Oui..." Her voice was small.

"What were you doing that was strange?"

"She was rushing to her dressing room and refusing to tell me what she was doing." Meg stated for her.

"Hush, I did not ask you...Emelia, what were you doing in your dressing room? Meg, could you go out for a little bit?"

Meg nodded and left leaving just Emelia and her mother to occupy the room. The air seemed to change and Emelia could feel them being watched by sharp, perceiving eyes.

"I-I... I was merely looking for my music and practicing my solo for the performance." She stammered, knowing the Angel was watching.

"I see...there wasn't anyone in there with you was there...perhaps you were getting lessons for your singing...Just a suggestion. You must be more careful since you now know about the Opera Ghost." She knew Madame Giry had sensed the shift in the atmosphere as well.

"No, just me. Can you...tell me about this Opera Ghost?" She quickly changed topics.

"I suppose, but I shall warn you now. I am not crazy, nor is this tale, everything I'm about to tell you is true. This creature is a very real danger."