Chapter XIII

Punishment

My eyes immediatly snapped open to full extent. I searched Milly's face, wondering what in God's name had happened now. "What is it, Milly?" I knew my words were a bit slurred together in my haste to get them out of my mouth.

Milly looked as though she were about to cry as she shook her head. Her eyes filled with dreaded tears as she chokingly replied, "It's Madison...she's hurt...really bad..." With that Milly broke into a sob.

My heart felt like it dropped to my stomach. "Milly, tell me what happened," I gently coaxed.

Again, Milly shook her head, still crying. "I don't know...she's not talking...we thought perhaps she'd talk to you. Oh, Rose...I don't know what's wrong with her..." Milly then began crying histarically.

I leapt out of my bed and hastily put on a fresh day gown, then ran out the dorm and made my way down the stairs.

Everyone, I found, was in the ballroom...the one that was always left empty. This time, the room was lit up with people everywhere. Mostly there were just girls from the chorus who were my, Milly, and Madison's friends. I looked around to find where Madison would be. As I walked around, some of the girls looked at me, their eyes red with tears, others stood in corners, their eyes wide with fear. I found Madison lying on the floor with Madame and Mr. Milson hovering over her, frantically trying to get Madison to talk.

As I moved closer, I saw Madison, her eyes open wide with horror as if she could still see something terrible. There was a red mark around her throat where it looked as if a lasso had been tied about her neck. She had what looked to be a knife wound, splitting open the left side of her cheek. It wasn't a huge cut, but the bleeding didn't seem to ever stop. She was wearing her nightgown, and I could see her legs, bruised terribly from thigh to ankle. Her arms were also bruised and looked a bit bloody, as if someone had thrown her about. Her lip was bloody and there was a distinct hand mark bruised across the right side of her face. I began crying even before I ran to Madison's side. I got on my knees and held her face in my hands.

"Madison!" I cried...wishing that this had happened to someone else...even me..."I'm so sorry, Madison...oh, my God, Madison..." I looked at Madison and saw her face had relaxed a bit, even though her eyes still looked petrified.

"Rose..." she mumbled...I barely made out the words.

"What happened?" I asked...praying to the Lord Almighty that Aeron had nothing to do with it. I highly doubted it was him. Aeron was with me all last night...and from the looks of it, this had happened during the night.

"I can't say..." Madison whispered, looking at me with fearful eyes. She looked around her, as if looking for someone...making sure no one else was listening who wasn't supposed to.

"Tell me, Madison...it's okay." I let go of her face and looked her square in the eye, pleading with her to tell me.

Madison's words were quiet and hard to make out as she said dazedly, "I couldn't find you...last night." Again, Madison looked around before she continued, "I was worried that you still hadn't found your things. Then, it was Lights Out, and so I went to the dorm, but when I saw you still weren't there...I began to panic." Madison coughed slightly, squeezing her eyes shut as though even coughing was extremely painful. "I waited for a few hours...but you still never came...so I thought I should go look for you. I didn't tell anyone. I was afraid that...you might have been with...him..." Madison looked up fearfully, again, checking to see that no one was listening. "It was dark...I couldn't see anything. I thought that you might have gone into the ballroom because I saw you go that way before Lights Out...so I walked into the room. I should have been more careful...I didn't think..." Madison stopped. I thought she was simply going to stop talking.

"Think what?" I asked her pressing for an answer.

"That anyone would be in here..." Madison said. Her answer chilled my blood, and my bones felt like they went completely stiff.

"What happened in here?"

Madison coughed again, wincing at having to force air out of her lungs. "I called out your name...hoping you'd be in here...but no one answered. After a while of just standing there, I turned to go to find Madame for help...but...but..." Tears welled up in Madison's eyes, and she looked away from me. I lay a hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her. "Th-there was a...a man...just standing there...right in front of me...I could see his eyes...it looked as though fire itself burned inside of them...he said my name...then asked me who I was looking for. I didn't know who he was...I didn't know why he was there..." Madison drew in a deep breath, a tear leaked from the corner of her eye and slid down the side of her face with the bruise on it. "I told him I was looking for my friend, and he asked for the name...so I told him...then I asked him why he was here...I thought it might have been the Phantom...so...so I told him to leave us alone. He laughed...he told me that I was an arrogant...an arrogant rat who needed to stay out of other people's business. I told him that my friend was none of his business...that's when h-he grabbed my shoulders and lifted me up...and told me that everyone who lived in the opera house was his business..." Madison began to cry...her shoulders shook and as she reached up to wipe away her tears, I saw a nasty hand bruise on her wrist. "He threw me...threw me across the room. I pleaded with him not to hurt me...I begged him...I had fallen on my back, and thought that I had broken it. He told me to get up, but I couldn't, so he got on top of me and held my hands above my head with his one hand, I saw him reach down...and then...I saw him with a knife...so...so I started to cry...begging him not to do this...he let go of the knife and hit me. He hit me s-so...hard...I tried to stop crying...he took up the knife and held it to my face and asked me why I shunned him. I didn't understand what he meant, and he cut my face...holding the knife there 'til I bled." Madison choked on her words, then raised her eyes to look at me. "He asked me why I shunned him..."

"What else happened?" I pressed.

Madison whimpered. "I-I told him I'd do anything if he'd let me go. He said I was a liar, then moved his knees so they were on top of my legs...it hurt so bad...and he wouldn't stop...he told me that he was going to kill me because I didn't deserve life when I took one away. He...he said he was going to take lives to give back what was taken from him. He took out a rope...then put it around my neck and tightened it 'til it was choking me...I couldn't speak...I tried asking him to stop...but I couldn't say anything...everytime I tried to speak, he tightened the rope..." Madison drew in a breath. "He had let go of my hands and I tried to pull the rope away from my neck...he was laughing...laughing at every attempt I made to get away. He loosened the rope, and I began to beg him to stop...I didn't want to die...I didn't want to die..." I began to cry again as Madison continued. "He beat me...told me to shut up...he began to rip my gown...I thought...he was going to...to...so I cried for him not to...he told me he wasn't going to...he just liked to see me...suffer...like I was his play thing. He took the rope off my neck, and got off of me. Then picked me up and carried me to the center of the floor...here. He told me to never come out at night again...and that he didn't want to hurt you by killing me...I knew it was him...it had to be, Rose..." Madison looked at me again...her face expression no longer terrified, but petrified. "After he lay me down, I began to cry...he shushed me, putting a finger over my lips...told me that if I cried, he'd have to kill me...so I stopped crying. He changed my gown...put a new one on me...I don't know why...I thought he was trying to be nice...but I don't know. I saw him walk out of the room. He was wearing a cloak...and a mask...I remember the mask...it was black...I couldn't see his face. It was the Phantom, Rose..." Madison's voice was deathly quiet. Then, she closed her eyes, and I knew she was sleeping. Her chest rose and fell slowly.

Angry, upset, and feeling unbearably distressed, I stood up, tears still wet in my eyes, and looked around. And there...in the shadows next to one of the pillars on the upper floor of the ballroom, stood the Phantom. He looked at me briefly before turning away and walking back into the darkness. My first thought was to follow him, but I knew I'd draw attention by running up the stairs to follow something no one else saw. They'd find it suspicious. My second thought was to go back upstairs and draw the Phantom's attention by doing the unthinkable.