Phantom's Bride

Prologue: My New Life

It is a very interesting tale I have to tell about how I came to know Erik. I have many interesting details about our life. He was a lonely soul living in the catacombs of the Opera Populáire, and I was just a new girl who came to make her home and learn to act and sing in the opera house. I came when my half-brother and stepfather went for a job in the opera house. You see, I am Korean, and so were my parents. My father had to move to France to follow his work, and my mother and I went with him. We were there only a few days, when my father became ill, and died. My mother, had to live on her own, and support me at the same time. That’s when she met my stepfather, and they got married. He was a widower with a son named Dominic, a relatively young man, but still older than I. He looked after me then, and still does now, just like we were under the same father. When my mother passed, I was left alone with Dominic and his father. My stepfather, Anatolle de Cherie, was offered a job to aid Monsieurs Firmin and Moncharmin as assistant manager of the opera house. Apparently, they needed help managing the opera house on account of some “incidents”. We had absolutely no idea what would happen to us in future. My world was about to be shattered, forever.

                                          Chapter 1: The Opera Ghost Again
We entered the Opera house on the evening of March 12th, 1872. It was still quite cold, even though spring was about to hit us in the face. When I first entered the opera house, I thought I was in heaven, seeing all the marvelous golden statues, the huge grand staircase before me, the brilliance of the lamps all around. I was almost overwhelmed.
“This is where you're going to be working?” I asked Father.
“Yes, this is it. Welcome to your new home,” said Father. My mother may have been Korean, but my stepfather didn’t mind our nationality at all, and so he stuck with her and me until she died of smallpox. I was devastated, but my half brother Dominic was there for me all the way. We have been friends for a very long time, and I love him just as if he were my brother by blood relation.
“It’s quite big isn’t it Margarita?” Dominic asked looking at me.
“Perhaps a bit too big,” I answered. I clung to him for support. Just then, the two managers, Firmin and Moncharmin came down to greet us, beside them, a tall brunette lady accompanied by her longhaired husband strode in silence.
“Welcome to the Opera house. I am Monsieur Firmin, and this is Monsieur Moncharmin. We are happy to welcome you to your new home,” said Monsieur Firmin. I backed up behind Dominic some more.
“Thank you, I am Monsieur Anatolle de Cherie, and this is my son Dominic and my little step daughter Margarita,” said Father pushing me forward. I came without hesitation and put my hands behind my back shyly.
“She’s quite shy isn’t she?” asked Moncharmin.
“Yes, even though she’s going on 22, she’s still shy,” Father explained.
“It’s not my fault,” I said.
“No one said it was. She’ll take some time to get used to her new surroundings,” said Dominic.
“Oh yes, this is Christine Daae, she’s the one who you will be understudy to,” said Firmin gesturing to the brunette woman with the longhaired man.
“Hello,” she said happily. I curtseyed to her
“This is my husband, the Viscount Raoul de Chagny,” said Christine gesturing to the longhaired man.
“A pleasure to meet you,” said Raoul. Since I hate long greetings, I knew at that moment I wanted to see the rest of the Opera house, but my stepfather wasn’t finished talking to the managers.
“We're very glad you accepted this job,” said Moncharmin.
“Why wouldn’t I?” asked my stepfather.
“Well, there were many incidents in the past,” said Firmin.
“Such as what?” asked Dominic?
“Well, a couple years ago, the ghost inhabited our Opera house,” said Moncharmin.
“Ghost?” asked my stepfather with an amused look.
“Oh yes, he did many strange and ghastly deeds in the past,” said Firmin. My stepfather laughed. Oh stepfather, if you knew then what you do now, you wouldn’t have laughed so.
“You shouldn’t laugh at the idea, he may come back again,” said Moncharmin. Christine and Raoul started. Dominic raised an eyebrow.
“We all feared him. Especially Miss Daae,” said Firmin.
“Can we please change the subject?” asked Raoul.
Finally my chance came to see the rest of the Opera house.
“Would you like to see the rest of the Opera house now?” asked Christine.
“May I Father?” I asked. He nodded, and Christine led me away from the others along with Dominic. Raoul stayed to talk with my stepfather.
“I think you’ll like it here, it’s very welcoming, except for the cellars,” said Christine along the way to the dormitories.
“What’s wrong with the cellars?” I asked.
“Well, very interesting things have happened down there once. I don’t want to remember,” said Christine. I wondered what she meant, and thought she was probably speaking of the “ghost” again. We kept on walking, and later met up with a young blonde girl, about no older than myself at the time.
“Oh, Margarita, this is Meg, a dear friend of mine,” said Christine.
“Hello, you must be Christine’s understudy,” said Meg.
“Yes, I am,” I replied.
“How have things been?” asked Christine.
“Normal, thank goodness,” said Meg. I was getting a little nervous.
“What connection do you two have with the “ghost”?” I asked. Meg and Christine shuddered.
“He was in love with me at one point. Now Raoul lives to forget him. However, I never want to forget his voice, the voice of an angel,” said Christine with a far off look.
“You're not just telling us this as a joke are you?” asked Dominic.
“Why no! We’d never joke about the things he did. He made our prima donna la Charlotta sing just like a frog!” said Meg.
“No one could stand her though,” said Christine.
“Even though you were her understudy,” said Meg. Christine frowned.
“Well, should we see the rest of the Opera house now?” I asked eagerly.
“Oh yes, we shall show you the rest. Come, let us go,” said Christine. Before we left, I thought I saw something move in the shadows. I hurried to follow Christine and the others. Christine and Meg showed us everything, all the different rooms, the stage, and Christine’s old dressing room, which no one seemed to want to occupy. One place we did not venture to was the cellars, for obvious reasons.
“Where will I be staying?” I asked. Christine and Meg exchanged glances.
“We're not sure exactly, whichever room you choose,” said Christine.
“May I stay in your old dressing room?” I asked. Christine went white.
“Are you sure you would?” she asked.
“Of course, why not?” I asked.
“Never mind. You may, I guess,” said Christine. We walked back to her old dressing room, and I went in alone. Dominic, Christine and Meg waited outside the door. I looked around. There was a nice bathroom, a make-up desk with three mirrors, a door leading to a bedroom, and on one wall was a full-body mirror. I stared at it for a while, and then walked back to the door.
“Yes, this will be a fine place to get dressed,” I said. Christine and Meg exchanged nervous looks. Just then, Dominic yelled.
“Opera Ghost! Opera Ghost!” he shouted pointing to a dark corner. Christine, Meg, and I all huddled together and screamed. Dominic lowered his finger and laughed.
“I’ve always been able to scare Margarita!” Dominic laughed. I went up and hit him.
“That was a nasty trick!” I yelled at him. Just then, Meg screamed again.
“It’s all right, my brother was just being a twit,” I explained, but Meg didn’t calm down.
“There, there in the corner! Look!” Meg pointed. We looked, and we saw what looked like a death’s head with a pair of flaming eyes. Christine nearly fainted, Dominic came in front of us, and I just stared wide-eyed. As quickly as they came, the eyes and death’s head disappeared.
“This is terrible! He has returned!” Meg cried looking very frightened.
“This cannot be! I don’t want to go through that whole incident again! Raoul will never want to return here again!” Christine yelled.
“So there really is a ghost,” I said dumbstruck. I had no idea what we were going to get into.