The Phantom and the Ballerina

Down Once More

Erik was furious as he pulled Christine through the passages. She had pulled off his mask in front of everyone in the audience. It was just like the gypsy fair again. People had been terrified. Down once more to the dungeon of my black despair...

Down we plunge to the prison of my mind...

Down that path into darkness deep as hell!

Why, you ask,

Was I bound and chained

In this cold and dismal place?

Not for any mortal sin,'

But the wickedness of my abhorrent face!

As Erik ranted a mob could be heard in the distance following behind. Erik continued to sing.

Hounded out by everyone,

Met with hatred everywhere,

Not kind words from anyone,

No compassion anywhere...

Christine...

Why?

Erik felt tears of betrayal in his eyes. When they reached his home he took the wedding dress he had made her and stuffed it in Christine's hands, telling her to put it on.

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Before heading down Juliette and Meg pulled off their dance shoes and put on two spare boy's costumes. It would be too difficult to try and run down there wearing their costumes. Upon reaching the tunnels, Juliette grabbed Meg's hand. "Stay close, I don't want you to get lost."

"What are we going to do?" asked Meg as they hurried through the passages.

"Delay the mob. Almost all the passages lead to the lair in some way, but if we can get them to go into one of the longer passages it may slow them down." Said Juliette.

"What about traps?"

"I'm gonna try and set a few off. At least the non-lethal ones." Juliette's heart was pounding.

Lucky for the pair of them the two girls ran into the mob soon. "Where did the monster go?" asked a random man. "We caught a glimpse of him going this way." Said Juliette pointing to a passage off to the left. Meg nodded in agreement. "Alright men, this way." Said the man who seemed to be in charge. "What now?" hissed Meg. "There is a set of steps coming up. One of them will cause a hole to open up and dump the person who tripped it into some water. Accidentally push as many people as possible in when we reach it." Juliette whispered back.

Sure enough, a minute later the stair was tripped. Meg and Juliette had slipped around towards the back and as the hole opened up the girls subtly pushed about five men into the hole. The loud splash surprised everyone. Carefully Juliette and Meg leaped across the hole and got to the front again. As the mob continued the two girls kept finding ways to secretly sabotage the crowd's progress.

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Christine stumbled out into the main room of the lair. Erik looked at her. She was absolutely gorgeous in the dress. The white satin and lace fit her perfectly. However, she was most certainly upset.

Have you gorged yourself at last

In your lust for blood?

Am I now to be prey