Opera Ghost
A Thriller by J. Jackson (Punjabchild)
Based off the characters and situations of Gaston Leroux's novel "The Phantom of the Opera"
Disclaimer: I do not own Phantom, as we all know. But I did create the original characters featured in this work.
Summary: Three college students are privilege enough to study aborad in Paris. Daniel Payne is excited to lead his expedition into the bowels of the Paris Opera House to find absolute proof that the Opera Ghost of Gaston Leroux's famous novel really existed. But when strange things start to occur everyone starts to realize that they might be in for more than they bargained for. And when all the right clues lead into the wrong paths, one reluctant girl's instincts and past might solve the mystery and save them all.
Prologue
It was the last thing he was looking for. The last thing he wanted to get tangled up in. The last time had been a disaster. He was still trying to get over with. He came to college to study and it had been a long hard road getting accepted to this particular university. And he did have certain long term goals he was intent on achieving. So he had to keep his mind set and steer clear of distractions.
Especially women. He didn't have much luck with them and he wouldn't be looking for a girlfriend any time soon..
So whatever compelled him that first day of classes to walk across the crowd cafeteria to a far table where a girl sat alone reading her book, he wouldn't know. But she seemed friendly enough and the worst thing she could do was not let him sit down. He stood before her, the books under his arm slipping as he waited, until she finally noticed him. She looked up from her book, confused, but he greeted her with a shy smile.
"Hi, can I have a seat?" he asked.
"Sure, doesn't bother me." She replied, and then returned to her book, which she kept faced down on the table. She didn't even bother looking up at him. He picked at his mashed potatoes, but couldn't help himself from looking at her more closely. He was not one to judge, but the girl who sat across from him was not by any standards a classic beauty. Her attire said "tomboy" if it said anything about her. She wore a baseball cap, with strands of blond brown hair cascading over her face, which he couldn't even see that well. A pair of dark frame reading glasses rested low on the bridge of her nose. She was dressed in a simple gray college sweatshirt and jeans. He decided not to stare at her any longer for fear she would think him rude and ask him to leave. It was better just to finish his lunch and head to his next class.
Until he noticed the book she was reading as she lifted the cover ever so slightly to turn the page. He got a chance to read the title. Dropping his spoon of rice pudding, he pointed across the table forgetting himself.
"Hey you're reading Phantom of the Opera aren't you?" he exclaimed. His sudden outburst made her jump, staring at him as if he where a mad man, clutching her paperback to her chest. Probably not his best approach or introduction he realized backing away slowly, cursing himself mentally.
But he watched her crack an understandingsmile at him, lowering her glasses off her face."Actually, I'm re-reading it." She said.
"Really?" Relived that she was still wanting to talk to him after that.
"Yes, see my friend recommended me the musical when I was back in middle school. She the one who got me interested and so I decided to do a book report on it." She placed a bookmark in her place and closed it. "Just revisiting the classics, you could say."
"Well it is a great story, timeless really." He said agreeing. She looked him in the eye, and he could see that he misjudge her. She wasn't as plain as he thought and her blue eyes regarding him rather cynically.
"Excuse me, but who are you and why are you asking me questions about this?"
He wanted to shoot himself for being so stupid. "God I'm sorry. Please allow me to introduce myself." He held out his hand across the table. "Daniel Payne, History major, classic literature minor." She shook his hand in turn with a firm warm handshake.
"Jessalyn Greene, Theater major and Vocal minor."
"Pleased to meet you. Miss Greene."
She laughed "Please call me Jess."
"Okay then Jess." He went back to eating, not really sure what to say next. But she made the next comment.
"So it sounds like you are one of those history buffs that try to prove fictional characters really existed. You know like Dracula and the Three Musketeers." Daniel smiled.
"You must be a mind reader, you couldn't be more right if you tried." He reached across the table and picked up her book, tapping the cover. "But it is this story I'm more interested in."
"Oh so that's why you got all excited." She commented "So do you believe that the Phantom was real?"
He started to open the book. "Of course, I mean Leroux says so at the first." Finding the page he wanted he read out loud, ignoring the fact that she probably knew what it said. "See says here, 'The Opera Ghost really existed. He was not as long believed a creature of imagination of the artists." He paused "'He existed in flesh and blood'. I mean how could it not all be true all the research and inquiry that Leroux did. The letters from the police all mixed up in the case, and the memoirs of the managers and the Persian." Daniel stopped for a moment, realizing he was getting ahead of himself a no doubt bothering his new companion. "Leroux had all the evidence and the proof. It was all right here in the novel. If only he had elaborated more, expanded the details of his findings"
"Well perhaps he simply just didn't have the audience for it?" Jess interjected.
"Excuse me?" Daniel was mildly stunned, he considered himself and expert on this subject and no one before had dared to argue with him. What did this girl, this stranger mean by that comment?
"People didn't want to hear facts, they wanted to hear fiction. Back then it was a sensation they delighted in having their horror stories. Telling them the story was real would be like telling them it's not real, disillusioning them from the characters. Like telling a kid Santa Clause isn't real" she explained.
She had a point, Daniel thought "Oh, I guess I never thought of it that way." He paused again trying not to look embarrassed. "But, did you like the story?"
"Yes very much." She said sighing, taking her book back from him.
"Really what was your favorite part. If I can ask that?" he offered.
She held her glasses in hand, toying with them. "It's hard to decide. There are many interesting parts in the story. What's yours?"
"Oh I like the ending. It finally gives proof that the story was real." He offered. She adverted her gaze from him.
"It seems that you are only concerned with that, aren't you?" she said coldly, still not facing him. There was a long silence between them and Daniel was afraid that he again had lost another conversation to his obsessive book smarts. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be so rude." She apologized turning back so her face was in his line of sight once more. "I just didn't care for the ending that's all."
Eagerly, he asked. "How come?"
She just sighed, running her small hand through her hair. "It's just so sad."