[The Phantom of the Opera] The Beast and the Canary

When the voice fell, I woke up suddenly.

Although the person woke up, the palpitation of being driven to a desperate situation step by step still lingered in the heart for a long time and could not dissipate.Touching the hair on the temples, it was already soaked, it seems that I was crying outside the dream.

Outside the window was cloudy, and there was faint thunder coming from a distance, as if the deep black sea was brewing and roaring.

At the same time, there was a knock on the door.

"Meg, open the door." It was Mrs. Geary.

I rubbed between my brows, walked over to open the door, and was immediately hugged tightly by her.The hug came so abruptly that I couldn't help being stunned on the spot.

Since Kristen came to the theatre, she has rarely hugged me like this, because she is really busy-in addition to Christine and me, she has a whole ballet school to look after.

My eye sockets felt hot, and just as I was about to say something emotionally, she pushed me away heavily.I saw her open the door with a slender cane, picked up a golden candlestick on the table, and carefully looked after all the dark corners in the house, even under the bed.

"What's wrong, Mom..."

She glanced at me, then threw off my quilt abruptly.On the snow-white bed sheet, a red rose tied with a light yellow gauze ribbon, blackened by withering, lay quietly on it.

She took a deep breath and threw the rose at my feet: "Meg Gilly, tell me the truth, have you met 'him'?"

Hearing this sentence, my mind buzzed: "He? What him?"

"Meg Geary, are you going to play tricks on me?" Mrs. Geary said in a sinking voice. "You and I both know who he is. If you hadn't seen him, how could you sing so well all of a sudden, and how could you let him know?" Christine sings in public—you don't do that to a good friend."

"That's because Christine she told me..."

"That's enough, Meg! I don't want to hear you lie any more! Listen, I don't care what he tells you, or what you get from him, but listen to me—don't talk to him again, he It's not someone you can get in touch with!"

It would be too fake to pretend to be stupid at this time, I was silent for a few seconds, and asked with difficulty: "Then, why can Christine..."

Maybe it's because my expression is too ugly, Madam Gilli's tone eased a little: "Son, you have to believe that as a mother, I will not harm you."

Lightning is a sharp shark fin, quickly cutting the night.

The sea-like black clouds finally turned into raindrops and fell.The angel pattern on the stained glass window was quickly blurred by the raindrops thrown by the strong wind.

I looked at it for a while, lowered my eyes, and said softly, "I remember you said that Christine is also your child."

"She is my child, of course," said Mrs. Geary, "but she is not like you, and if her father's death had not struck her too hard, she would be a fine musician now. She is a genius, Meg, and he Also... have I told you his story?"

She is a genius, and so is he... These words echoed in his mind over and over again.The talents buried under the flesh and bones were cut out inch by inch by a blunt knife, and put together to weigh them.Never have I felt ashamed of myself like this.

My heart constricted and I almost lost my breath.

"He was a beast I rescued from the cage with my own hands. At that time, he was not as tall as the iron cage, his ribs were protruding, and he had a sack on his head. He was so weak that he was hanged with a hemp rope. A strong man who is several times taller than him..." Mrs. Geary sighed softly, walked to my side, and put her arms around my shoulders, "Meg, I know how dangerous he is, and I don't want you to be in such danger among."

For the next month, I was somber, depressed, and rehearsals made frequent mistakes.For Mrs. Geary's sake, the owner of the theater politely offered to give me a vacation.

Mrs. Geary of course agreed, and she said: "Meg, you are going to take care of the little girls at the dancing school these days."

Christine cast envious eyes at me. She especially likes those little girls who look like flower buds, and she goes to distribute candy to them every day.

In the past month, Phantom came to me several times, but I pretended to ignore him.Once, he got impatient and directly locked my hands and feet with an iron chain—God knows where he got the iron chain, and then locked me in an iron cage in the underground labyrinth.

"When will it be normal, and when will it come out." Outside the iron cage, his tone was full of force and control.

It seems that I am a disobedient little pet who is having a temper with its owner and needs to be put in a cage and reflect on myself.

If it was said that before, it was just the difference between the two of them who felt inferior, but still secretly held a little fantasy, hoping that he would accidentally fall in love with me, now even the fantasy is gone.He doesn't like me, and he won't like me. No one will trample on someone he likes like this.

A few days later, I walked out of the iron cage, so weak that I couldn't stand still.

He looked at me coldly for a while, then handed me the key to the iron chain with some irritability: "What's the matter with you?"

Nothing, just discovered some unchangeable facts.Of course, it is impossible to tell him this, because it is useless to talk about it.In his view, my status is probably equivalent to an interesting plaything. Who would pay attention to the idea of ​​a plaything?

What a pity, I thought that if I lived a new life, I would be able to get close to him, understand him, and let me be in his eyes... I didn't expect it to be impossible.The gap between the two is too great.

After walking out of the gloomy underground labyrinth, I was in a coma for two whole days.The moment I woke up, I saw a fresh yellow rose covered with dew on the bedside, and a letter with a red skull was pressed under the rose.

I hesitated for a moment, then took it apart and looked at it.But there was nothing in the letter, it was a blank letter.

For the next three years, I never dealt with the Phantom again.

If it wasn't for everything running according to the trajectory of the previous life, and during the rehearsal, some yellow rose petals would fall from time to time... I almost thought that the phantom was just a dream that suddenly woke up.

That evening, Mrs. Geary came to me: "Meg, the new owner will come to take over the theater tomorrow. Remember to dress ugly."

I see what she means.In the eyes of some wealthy people, ballerinas are like ripe peaches on the side of the road, which can be picked and tasted at will.Mrs. Geary has taught dance lessons in the theater for decades, and most people will try to save her face, which doesn't bother me much, but who knows if the new boss is "the majority"?

This year is an eventful year, the famous female singer Carlotta will be replaced by Christine, Viscount Shani will come to her side with the new owner of the theater, and start a battle with the Phantom...

When I was reborn, I often thought about how to keep the Phantom away from these disputes without a trace.Now that I think about it, I was so stupid back then.

In Phantom's view, Christine is his music angel and the whole meaning of his life, but why should I keep him away from his angel and meaning?

I'm the one who should stay away.

Leave him alone and quietly watch his and Christine's story - that's all I can do for him.