The Phantom Ascending |✔| [Phantom of the Opera Fanfiction]

... And Red Again

Not counting Sophia, my current household employed a butler, a cook and a maid, hired by Teatro's management. All of them planned to visit their families and relatives for Christmas, and then possibly start a new employment elsewhere, so upon returning home, I insisted that they should proceed with their original plans regardless of the change in my circumstances. After dismissing them all for the night, I climbed upstairs. It was very late, anyway, and my wrecked emotions welcomed solitude.

"Signora," a voice called behind me.

"You should sleep, Sophia."

"I know, but... I wanted to ask if you'd like me to stay for Christmas after all, now that you're not leaving."

"No. Worry not, I am self-sufficient. You are free to go as you planned."

"Signora... Si, signora. Good night."

I couldn't bear the pity in her eyes, and I didn't even know if I could afford to keep her afterwards. There was no need for me to have a personal maid now that I wasn't a future vicomtess. It would also be wise to sit down and calculate just what I can and cannot afford from my salary. Now that I needed La Fenice as much as they needed me, Manelli might want to stop paying for my household. Although, he did tell me that I am free to use this house as long as I please.

Walking down the hallway toward my bedroom, I saw a fresh bouquet sitting in a vase on the small table near the door. There wasn't one there when I left the house, and since my tired servants obviously forgot to mention it, I was curious to see who sent it.

Red roses again. Truth be told, they were my favorite. I smiled and picked through the flowers to see if there is a card, and sure enough, there was one.

In the music room.

How odd. Uneasily I looked around and started to descend the staircase. Oh, I always was too curious for my own good. Perhaps it was Raoul's final attempt to sway me. Part of me hoped it was, part of me dreaded it.

When I entered the music room, to my surprise I found it gently illuminated by candlelight. The candles were already short, their wax melted as if they burned for hours.

I noticed a rose on the piano. And then a rose on the sofa, and then a rose on the table, and then one on the old bookshelf in the corner.

Having crossed the room as if I was following breadcrumbs, my mind only now registered what I refused to acknowledge in that very first instant.

Each and every individual rose had a black ribbon tied around its stem.

No! Not that again.

There was still time to go to Raoul, to leave for France, away into safety. And then a sob hitched in my throat. There was no real escape, not until I knew for sure what this is about.

I slowly approached the bookshelf, and felt a weak breeze of cold, damp air that seemed to come out of nowhere. To my surprise, I realized the bookshelf was detached from the wall, like a door left ajar. I pulled at the edge and it slid smoothly around, revealing a dark passage that yawned before me.

It led into a small, dark room.

And in the room there was a man...

Cloaked and turned away from me, he sat on the edge of an opening that seemed to lead somewhere below. It looked as if he's about to jump down any moment, and yet something in his posture told me that he's been sitting like this for a long, long time.