After a night of fitful sleep.

Not aided by walking alone through a forest last night.

(I swear I heard footsteps)

I woke, and dressed for the day.

Jeans again and a purple tee-shirt covered by my black hoodie.

I pulled my mass of curls back into a ponytail and decided to do a bit of makeup. Nothing super extravagant but it definitely brightened my face.

I packed a camera and recording device along with some notebooks and pens into my satchel and walked out the lobby of the hotel to an odd gathering of people at the front of the building.

More like an angry mob.

Somebody screamed and others gasped in horror as I wheedled my way through the crowd.

Police had sectioned off the front of the building and all the exits were monitored.

"What in the blazes is going on here?" I asked the thin blond woman next to me.

"There... there was a ..." she gasped, her face white. 

"A body hanging by a red rope tied to the top of a light post." Her... I assume husband judging by the rings, replied.

"It's the work of the phantom. He's upset again. That's the only possible explanation." An older man said adjusting his spectacles.

The blond woman was led to a seat by her husband. 

I looked from the older gentleman, to an Arabian looking man who was on his phone. He looked up at me and smiled.

Alarm bells started going off in my head and I moved away from the crowd back to the elevators.

The downstairs doors were locked and guarded so perhaps the only way to go... was up.

I pressed the button and waited to enter the elevator.

"Some crowd isn't it?" The Arabian man asked, sidling up to me.

"Yeah apparently somebody was hanged." I replied uncomfortably. 

"Apparently."The man agreed. "Are you going back to your room?"

"That's none of your business." I snapped. 

"My apologies. I didn't mean it that way."

"I accept your apology." I replied stepping quickly into the elevator.

"You wouldn't by chance be Alexandra Griffin would you?"

I stepped back in shock.

"I feel obliged to tell you I have a taser in my bag." I replied threateningly. 

"Sorry there really is to reasonable way to say this. It appears miss Griffin that we have a friend in common. My name is Nadir Khan, Erik sent me." The man smiled smoothly. 

"Why?"

"That man that was hanged, had been following you home last night." 

"So Erik hung him?"

Nadir looked up to the camera in the corner of the elevator, then back at me meaningfully.

"Shall we get off here Nadir?"

"Certainly."

We exited the Elevator on about the third floor and I walked down the long hallway.

"Where are you going?" Nadir asked, following behind me. 

"We need to get out of this building right?" I asked. 

"Well... Yes."

"So we'll take the fire escape!" I chirped. 

"It's locked."

"Don't worry I can get it open."

"And how are you going to do that?" Nadir asked in exasperation.

I smiled impishly and pulled two pins out of my hair.

"You-"

I fiddled with the pins and soon the door swung open blaring loudly.

"I can see now why he likes you." Nadir muttered as he followed me quickly out the door and down the fire escape.

"You need to follow me now." He said looking behind us. 

"How do I know you really know Erik?"

"Besides the fact that I know his name?"

"Yes."

"There are more men out to get you..."

I raised an eyebrow to him.

"Your name is Alexandra griffin."

"You could know that easily with the internet nowadays."

"The men that were out to get you were in the lobby they probably followed us. Please Alex trust me!" Nadir exclaimed. 

I bit my lip as suddenly the door above us was slammed open.

My eyes widened and Nadir grabbed my hand and pulled me along as shots were fired at us.

We took the back way to the Opera house Nadir pulling me along by the docks.

"Can you swim?" Nadir asked. 

"No!" I panted. 

"Damn."

Nadir shoved me towards a maintenance ladder that led to a ledge and followed me down.

"You need to go around the corner, and swim under the black grate into the storm drain!" Nadir shouted over the gunfire, from his precarious perch on the ledge.

"I already told you I can't swim!" I panicked as the shots of the villains hit the water near Nadir's feet.

"Go hurry!"

I looked uncomfortably at the murky grey water.

"Go on my Dear!"

I took a panicked breath as I felt Nadir put his hands on my shoulders... And then I was falling. The cold grey water made goosebumps all over my skin, as I grabbed for the grate and pulled myself under it.

Nadir grabbed my arm and dragged me to the edge of the storm drain.

I gripped onto the stone and took a deep breath in through my nose, looking up and coming face to face with two beady black eyes.

My scream echoed off the walls of the tunnel.

"It's just a mouse, get up!" Nadir sighed in exasperation. 

"You shoved me in!" I exclaimed as I pulled myself onto the ledge.

"It was that or get shot!" Nadir hissed, holding onto his arm.

"You got shot?!"  I exclaimed, my mouth going dry. 

"I'll be fine! Now help me close this!"

The grate was hooked up to a chain and a pulley.

Nadir and I pulled hard and the rusted grate slammed closed, cutting off the men from entering our tunnel.

"This way! Follow the sound of the music, but watch out for traps!" 

Nadir lead us through the traps as if he had been the one to build them, and soon we appeared to be in the cellars of the opera.

Ghoulish statues stared out at us through the fog that rolled off the lake.

"Go find Erik, I need to clean this wound." Nadir sighed looking over his shoulder. 

"Alright..." I replied. 

The place was massive, I walked around the ledge of the lake and reached into my bag for my camera. It was a good thing that I had planned to go spelunking today anyways. I'm glad I brought my waterproof camera.

I snapped a couple of shots of the water and then I heard it.

The most beautiful singing.

It was a man's voice that much I could tell, but the song...

I had never heard such a song before. It spoke of such loneliness and sorrow that I almost wept for the man singing it.

"I must see who is singing." I muttered. 

My only thought. My only desire was to comfort this man.

"Learn to be lonely..." he sang. 

I crept around a pillar and finally caught sight of the man.

He was sitting at an organ, playing as he sang.

"Life can be lived, and life can be loved..."

The slimy water from my previous dunk in the lake dripped around my feet, and as I moved to see the man better my feet slipped and I was plunged into the inky depths.

"Alo-" 

*Splash*