finding erik

The Place: Paris France... Where: The Palais Garnier (Opera House)... The year: modern day era... Summary: Mademoiselle Elizabeth Le Maitre is a very mature young woman for her age. One that is a fan of the phantom...

jan 2016

Dear Diary...

It's the start of the new year, and once more I watched my dvd collection on the phantom of the opera and re - listened to the music soundtracks that I have. Luckily they are digital and neither cd or tape or they would have long ago had to have been replaced. Having things digital when it comes to music is to my way of thinking so much easier. Today I made the reservations that would take me from home to the shining city of Paris France. I also made reservations at the hotel across from the Palias Garnier where the infamous story of the phantom was set. Ha! your all probably thinking that here's any other phantom fan? And guess what? You are so right. In two days I will be right there in that city! And since I am a wealthy woman who does not need to work for a living though I do like to occasionally I will be right there in that city for as long as it pleases me. I may even decide to settle there in France and take a leisurely time in my quest to find out if indeed the infamous phantom of the opera is Real. Wish me luck!

Dear Diary...

Day one...

I've arrived. I'm finally here! In France right across from the opera house! I've signed into my room at the hotel across the way and can see it when I look right outside the window. Of course I gave my real first name but decided to use his last name as my surname since I decided that I would change my last name to reflect his! God I am so excited I can't wait to begin investigating and see what I can uncover. I'll begin in the morning when I'm fresh and alert.

From the phantom's journal

I am so tired now. I have lived such a cold lonely life though I have kept it filled with many a business over the countless empty years, but most of all I have kept it filled with my music both published and unpublished. Though I appear to be a virile young fit man in his early 30's and fit this body is old. Old and tired, and ever so lonely. All I ever wanted was to be loved for myself. for some woman to look past this grotesque and horridly deformed face and see the man beneath. The man that only wants to love and be loved in return. A wife, A family? Is that so much to ask? Over the years I have read and collected everything that the human world has published in fiction about me though none of it is even remotely close to the truth. I too have seen the film and TV adaptions and the musicals by that upstart Webber that have been created along the legend that is me!

I must admit I do not know how I feel about all of this. Me the phantom of the opera a legend with countless fans out there across the world or phans as they have come to call themselves that love me for myself. If I am truthful I have to admit I do enjoy reading the stories people write about me and the music that has been created designed and produced with me in mind. And yes most of all those phans out there that love me though I have never met any of them. I guess I love them all most of all. Still I find it strange since from the day I was born all I was ever met with was fear and hatred and little to no compassion save for the few acquaintances that I once called friend's and who are now long dead and dust in their graves.

Elizabeth's Diary Day two.

( *writer: it should be noted here that a page falls out of Elizabeth's diary and falls to the floor and through the grating and out of sight. this empty page holds the depression of her hand writing which Erik finds and in turn begins to follow her all over as she tries to solve the mystery that is him aiding her in her endeavor where he can in the hopes that she is smart enough to find him. she becomes his new obsession. * )

I began of course with the phantom tour of the opera populaire that the theater puts on for the tourists that come to the city specifically to see the infamous box 5 on the grand tier that is said to have been his box. I can't speak for the other tourists that were on the same tour as myself but I believe that though he took box 5 for himself he very rarely sat in it. I believe that Erik (I do hope the phantom does not mind that I use his christian name, or that i changed mine to reflect his in honor of him.) had his very own special place where he could attend the opera whenever it pleased him without being seen or having to face those that he did not want to come into contact with. I wonder if I will ever find out if he is or was actually real! I must stop writing since the tour guide is taking us down the main stairwell to the grate in the floor that covers what the employees of the building call the lake but if you ask me they are hiding the truth of the actual lake that was said to be Eriks or perhaps La Roux who wrote the original story on him embellished things so much that the supposed lake never existed at all but was created to make it could more mysterious.

Hours Later...

The tour is long over now and I realize that I have lost a blank page out of my diary? well no matter I have lots more empty pages to fill as well as more empty diaries yet to be written in so one missing page doesn't matter. I sit here outside this astonishing and wondrous building and wonder how to begin to even look through the archival records to find the information I seek. One thing I must write though is that ever since I was inside that building I have felt unknown eyes upon me, eyes that are following my every move. Can it be that indeed the phantom is real and is somehow still alive here in the modern world and I have in some way captured his attention? Oh how I do hope so there is nothing more than anything than I would like to do than meet that infamous man and tell him he is indeed loved my many a faceless fan myself included.

from the phantoms journal

I've long past stopped being bothered by people and their incessant questions of tour guides about me but yet I am a creature of habit. Never once in all these years have I stopped wandering my domain

( * writer: It should be noted that indeed the opera house is Eirk's domain as he has long since owned the theater after buying it yrs previous when it went up for auction.* )

and listening in on the goings on of those in the world above me or causing little mishaps and disappearance's or even sightings just to keep up the ghost as it were.

(*writer: At this point Erik has an amused smile upon his malformed lips.*)

Today during my wanderings I found a white sheet of diary paper, blank save for the impressions of writing upon it from a previous page. I must admit it intrigued me to know what was written there and of course I could not leave it alone so returned to my lonely underground dwelling though I did have a house outside of the city i much preferred to remain below the opera house and set about making the writing visible for me to read. Shocked was what I came to be at what I read once the writing and in a womans small hand at that became visible to the naked eye and from that moment on I had to find out who the writer was that had chosen to alter her name in honor of me! yes me! my name was what she'd chosen to call herself though how she knew of it remains a mystery I will have to solve?

I sat there in shock for what seems like an age of time as it slowly passed by me. Then once I had gotten over it I grabbed my trademark cloak and hat with my infamous punjab lasso hidden inside and left my domain and went to find this young female to follow her every move from a distance in silence and shadow.

Elizabeth's Diary end of Day two.

I returned to my hotel room in despair. I was being blocked at every turn to finding the answers to my questions. This leads me to believe that indeed the phantom is not only real but still lives! yes lives in today's modern era. How that is or even why I don't know but I believe it with my whole heart, my very soul.

Erik Lives!

The eyes I feel upon me whenever I am out and about only grow stronger as time passes. I believe I have captured the attention of this elusive and infamous phantom of the opera and that he is just waiting for his chance either to end my life or better yet to capture and kidnap me as he once did to her Christine Daae and find out every answer to whatever questions he may have. Oh how I wish I knew how to help him find me alone. Tonight I will try and do just this I will wander the Rue Scribe route where the phantom is side to have his front door. Perhaps he may open it and invite me in. Wishful thinking on my part you may be saying to yourself and I agree with you and yet I cannot help myself I must do this not only for me and the millions of phans out there in the world but for Him most of all.

Wish me luck!

A few days later!

It seems that I have attracted a great deal of unwanted attention in my pursuit of the truth pretaining to the phantom of the opera. More than once I have noticed that there have been a few unwanted people dogging my every move and trying to make sure that I do not find the answers that I seek. I have also noted that on one or more occasion that there has been a note penned in red ink and signed with the phantoms signature your obedient servant O.G has been left for me in my room at the hotel with information that it seems he wants me to follow. I guess I should follow at least the one that dictates that I should arrive at the rue scribe once more since my first attempt was a failure a few days past where his front door is supposed to be and find out just what I will find when I get there..

Later that same night!

Elizabeth dressed in loose fitting clothing and comfortable boots so that if things should go wrong she would not be caught unprepared for it. Putting on her coat she left her room and locked the door behind her and made her way out into the darkness of the evening and headed to the Rue Scribe and followed exactly the instructions that had been written in the note which she hoped had come from him though that was not to say that it was it could she surmised have come from those who had been trying to prevent her from finding out what she had come to Paris to find out.

It didn't take her long to arrive at her destination after all it was just across the street and down always from her hotel and as she waited for whatever was to happen to actually happen she wrote in her diary. Hearing approaching footsteps she put her things away and stood up and out away from the wall as she just knew that this was going to go down hill and most likely there would be a small fight to contend with. Out of the darkness came some men which turned out to be the same ones that had been following her around since she had arrived.

Let the battle commence she thought to herself and got ready for it.

The unscrupulous and ragamuffin band of males that turned up stopped some distance from her each from a different direction so that she found herself surrounded on all sides.

'Should have left well enough alone missy, no one needs to know anything about that monster or that he still lives somehow. You should've listened when you got the warning notes and knew you were being prevented from gaining answers'

one man the leader of the group she assumed stated smiling with a mouth that held missing teeth here and there.

'Maybe.' She laughed. ' but he thinks otherwise. Your not the only ones that have been following me around so has He! And he wants me to find him'

she replied in return.

'Don't matter what he wants missy if we could kill him once and for all and make sure his remains were never found we would but it's not possible so we'll just have to take care of you instead. Our employers set up things long ago right from the start of it all and down through the ages to find a way to end him'

the man said. Erik listened to the conversation that was going on out of sight of them all studying the entire set up so that he would hold the advantage.

'What family?'

she asked with a frown but she had a feeling that she already knew the answer to that question.

'The family Chagny who else.'

He smirked as one of his boys moved closer towards her while he tried to keep her talking. Elizabeth had been right in her assumption and Erik hidden from view hearing this set of his infamous temper. Elizabeth knew the other man was approaching from behind her though she gave no sign of it till he was within reach. Instantly she moved and turning around fast kicked the man away from her.

'take you best shot boys Erik wants me to find him and find him I will. He left me a note asking for this meeting between us only for you lot to show up but either way it goes at least I know I tried.'

The man signaled his friends and they begun their attack. For a time it seemed that she would win the battle but she soon could see that she was outnumbered and would in the end be the one that would come off the worst though she was determined to see it through to the end whatever the result. Erik who had remained aloof till then had seen and heard enough.

'You gentlemen are in my domain and as such are subject to my will'

Came the soft deep sound of his hypnotic melodic voice as he moved silently out of the darkness. This distraction caused her to stop and turn to look at him her eyes wide. Erik gave her a silent nod of his head, his amber gold eyes shining in the darkness and as one of the men struck her from behind sending her dizzily to her knees his hand shot out and his Punjab lasso was around the man's neck and with a yank snapped it in two. Others tried to get past him either to hurt him or to finish the job of killing her but he was far too quick for them. The men either turned and ran leaving their dead behind or died in their attempts to fulfill the task they'd been hired for. With the battle ended Erik turned his attention to the woman that was barely conscious on the ground.

Bending down he reached out and picked her up giving her a quick look over to make sure that she was not about to die and said.

'Sleep Elizabeth. You have fulfilled your goal in finding me. We shall talk together when you are more alert.'

As his voice sent her into slumber still holding her Erik vanished into the dark recesses of the theater taking her through the building and down into the bowls of the theater and chose the route across the lake for her rather than going through his front door. Erik moved through the levels heading down past the fifth cellar and through the secret passage to the lake where his boat was moored. A passage he had built to hide the lake from people a long time ago. Placing her gently upon the boat he stepped aboard and poled across the waters towards his home.

Though he had all the mod cons of the modern world Erik still preferred the light from many candles and as he approached his lake entrance the gates lifted automatically so that he poled the boat through before the gates closed behind him once more blending into their surroundings so that it seemed that it was just another part of the foundation walls to anyone that would come that way and check. Docking moments later he tethered the boat and then picked up her sleeping form and walked up his small stone steps and took her towards his famous swan bed and placed her down upon it and lowered the black silk sheen curtain. Erik studied her for a moment before he turned away and returned to the main living area hanging up his hat and cloak as he did so then he dropped down into his throne chair to wait for her to wake and come searching for him.

( * this isn't finished yet but it's what i've done so far and hope you like it. I have 2 other parts to rewrite before I add them and a 4th that is partially written and must get round to finishing. i haven't decided how long/short this story might be will find out when the end finally happens i guess. * )