The Phantom of The Phantom of the Opera

Chapter 3: The Masked Man

Catherine went straight to her dressing room, looked around, and gave a sigh. There didn't appear to be any sort of new notes or gifts, with the exception of the half-finished box of chocolates from the day before. It sat on her vanity, though she swore she had placed it on the sofa.

Catherine was about to sit down at her vanity and check her phone for text messages, when an eerie whisper filled the room. "Catherine."

"What was that? Who's there?" Catherine asked in fear.

There came no reply, but the stranger's presence was plainly felt, though not seen.

Cath gracefully and warily moved a hand to her phone. She'd call for help if she had to.

Suddenly, Catherine heard the voice again. It whispered, "Come to me, Angel of Music."

Catherine repeated her question. "Who's there?"

"A friend," the voice replied bluntly. While it's manner was brief, the voice was deep and mellow, comforting and entrancing, like honey to the ear. "A friend."

"How do you know me?" Catherine asked. "What do you want with me?"

"All in time," the man's voice laughed, amused by her eagerness. "You do not fear me then?"

"Why would I fear you?"

"There's a disembodied voice in your dressing room. It calls to you by name, yet you do not even begin to tremble."

"I guess I'm just eager to make your acquaintance. Tell me, what is your name?"

"Hey, Cath?" Caleb's voice called from behind the locked door. "Can I come in?"

Catherine didn't hear her boyfriend. She persisted in asking the voice what his name was.

Once again, however, the voice had dissipated back into the walls, a final sigh ricocheting from the vent to the vanity.

Caleb knocked harder on the door. "Cath? Cath!" He called frantically.

This time, Catherine heard her boyfriend, but she ignored him. Instead of responding, she searched her room, looking for where the voice had come from. She pushed a small spring she found in her mirror and the glass slid away, revealing a dark passageway.

"This is all too familiar," Catherine whispered to herself as she stepped inside.

A man sprung from the dark corner of the passage, apparently jumping down from some ladder that led to a second level. He turned his fully masked face to her in complete shock.

"What are you doing here?" He exclaimed with wide, unguarded eyes. "You can't be in here!"

Catherine stared at the man blankly. "Of course I can. That's my mirror and I just went through it. I have just as much of a right to be here as you do."

He raised his chin ever so slightly, as if to assert dominance over her. "Not. Yet," He spat. The masked man firmly raised a hand to one of the crumbling bricks and pulling it down.

Catherine stumbled backward as a large wall divided them, slicing like a knife through the thin air and setting itself down immovable before her.

Caleb finally burst through the door, rushing to her aid. "Ah," He laughed breathlessly, holding a hand to his chest and bending over as he joined her side. "I see you discovered your storage space. Why didn't you answer? I thought something was wrong!"

Catherine punched the wall angrily.

"Darling, what did the wall do to you?" Caleb asked with a laugh.

Catherine thought it best not to mention the masked man or dark passageway. She knew how this went in the stage performance. Christine told Raoul about Erik and his lair underneath the opera house, and Raoul told Christine that she was crazy. Well, that wasn't going to happen to Catherine.

"I...messed up on a part," Catherine lied.

"Oh," Caleb laughed nervously, looking her over. She could have such a temper sometimes. "Well...I'm looking forward to marrying you again tonight," he smiled, softly giving her cheek a kiss. "You'll be the Angel I know you are."

"Very funny," Catherine laughed.

"Oh, Cath," he sighed leading her away from the mirror and sliding it closed behind them. "I wish you could see yourself through my eyes. I wish you could understand-"

"Shh, Caleb," Catherine said, briskly cutting off her boyfriend. "I just heard something."

"No really, Cath, listen," he said sternly, his face grave for perhaps the first time in their entire relationship. "Life is like a book right? Full of chapters some good, some bad, some exciting. But unless we turn the pages, unless we choose to savor every word, we'll never know. I know you can do this. You are smart and beautiful and talented and- Cath? Do you hear me?"

"Yes, I hear you. What are you saying?" Catherine asked in exasperation.

Caleb sighed and gave a small look of dismay with his large, pleading eyes, "Only that I love you, Cath, and you'll do amazing. I know you will."

"I'll do amazing with what?"

"Christine Daaé," he laughed, giving a small shake of his head. "Sometimes I swear you are from another planet."

Caleb glanced nervously at his phone and listened carefully to the overture music that was on the speakers in the dressing room ceiling.

"I think I'd best be heading out then. Wish me success," he grinned, making his best impression of Raoul's scowl in an attempt to draw a smile out of her.

It didn't work.

"Go," Catherine said, pushing her boyfriend out the door.

Once Caleb was out the room, Catherine called out to the voice she heard before.

She realized that she was going to be needed on stage in less than three minutes, and she ran backstage.

"She's a persistent little brat, isn't she?" The man chuckled to himself, watching from behind the mirror. With a small, soft smile, he placed his hands in his pockets, and followed after her in the walls, eager to observe the performance from a distance.