Madam Giry led us out of the cold metallic smelling room. If Raoul hadn't been there with his over powering cologne I would've been able to find Erik easily.
I hoped he knew how angry I was with him. It was hard to glare daggers at someone when you were blind. Madam Giry led us into a room smelling of her and ballet chalk. I was seated on a stiff cushioned chair as Giry began to speak.
"You musn't kill him." She said.
"Will you explain why he is here? Why does he haunt this opera house?" Raoul asked fearfully.
Madam Giry sighed. "Many years ago, when I was young, there was a travelling fair of gypsies. A few of the girls who were studying decided to go to the fair. I joined them." She paused. "There were many fascinating things, people with skin that could stretch farther than any other, women who could twist their bodies into any form they chose... but the most popular attraction was the Devil's Child. When we entered the tent to see it one of the men who worked there began to beat the boy they called the Devil's Child." Madam Giry took a deep breath before continuing.
"Everyone simply laughed at this boy. He had been wearing a hood and when it was torn off for the world to see my heart broke a little. His eyes... they were so sad. His gnarled face was ghastly as a gargoyle." I could not imagine. I can sense when a person is sad but I've never been able to witness it. "People threw coins, food, and other various objects. And at the end of it all, the boy pulled his hood back on but something seemed to have snapped in him. I had been lingering while the others left and something compelled me to glance behind. While the man who beat him collected the tossed coins I saw this boy sneak up behind him." A shaky breath.
"He held a rope around this man's neck until the man died. I helped him escape from the police. I brought him to the opera house and told him to stay hidden. He began learning things. He would play such wonderful songs and play the silliest pranks. The opera house became his home and stage. He hasn't known anything else except this opera house. It's his world. You cannot take it from him, he's already lost too much." She loosed a shuddering breath. "He is a genius. An architect, designer, musician, and composer!" She cried.
Raoul spoke first. "Clearly his genius has turned to madness, Madam Giry." There was silence for a moment.
"What are you going to do about it, Vicoumt?" I inquire.
"I'm going to have him caught and killed during the very opera he presented tonight." He says determinedly.
I gasped. "You can't be serious?! Why do you want to fight this battle? What is the reason?" I demand, hopefully glaring in his direction. He can't do that to Erik... He just can't.
"It is of no concern to you. You will simply be playing in the orchestra, nothing more." He spat before storming our of the room, leaving me alone with Madam Giry.
"Mama, my blindness has always been a hindrance in normal society. But with music I can see... I can see. I know that sounds silly but I think Er- our phantom, is the same way. He, as you said, may be ghastly but he makes up for it in his music. Just the same as I." I explain.
"My dear, he is not like you. He has killed." Madam Giry sounds resigned.
"You do not see, Madam Giry." I say before leaving the same way I entered.
أنت تقرأ
Through Music We Thrive
قصص الهواةCecilia has been playing at the Opera Populaire as long as she can remember. She grew up there with many girls as her stand in mothers. She's known of the Opera Ghost that haunts the halls and stage. She never heard him. She never touched something...
