As Kathy’s plane prepared to land, she began to feel such excitement that she nearly jumped out of her seat to dance up and down the aisle. But she didn’t, as the motion of the plane’s descent began to make her sick. As she stepped off the airplane, some family friends who had offered to let her stay with them greeted her. They had lived in the States, but had moved to Paris several years before. Julie, who was about two years younger than Kathy hugged her before she had even had a chance to catch her breath and say hello.
“How was your trip?” Asked Mrs. Longmont. Kathy turned to look at her and said that though she had felt quite sick during the descent, but other than that the flight had been fine.
“Well, let’s get your luggage and be off. I’m sure you want to rest and freshen up.” Kathy most certainly did NOT want to rest. How could she? With thoughts of the Phantom going though her head, there was hardly room for anything else! But as Julie linked her arm in Kathy’s, and began talking about all the things they were going to do, Kathy resigned herself to the fact that she had come this far. It would not be too much longer before she could at last uncover the meaning behind her dreams.
Kathy was insistent! “I HAVE to see the Paris Opera House first!” The faces of her hosts were staring at her bewildered at the passion with which she was expressing herself.
“My dear”, crooned Mrs. Longmont, “ there is so much else, so much more interesting to see. Would you not rather go to the Louvre or to the Eiffel Tower, or even Notre Dame?” Kathy shook her head emphatically, “No, I want to see Garnier’s Opera House.” Julie, who was listening to the conversation with a great deal of amusement, decided to explain to her mother, ”Mother, didn’t you know, that Kathy is in love with the Phantom of the Opera?” She smiled at her friend, who promptly kicked her under the table.
“Oh, oh I see, well if that is really where you would like to go first Kathy dear, then that is where we shall go.” Kathy resisted the strong temptation to throw her arms around Mrs. Longmont, as she didn’t want to appear any more eager than she already was.
As they approached the steps of the infamous opera house, Kathy looked up at the exquisite architecture and held her breath. She felt certain that the answers to all of her questions lay within those walls. She felt very weak and shaky as she walked up the steps and into the grand entrance hall…
As she looked around her, a queer spinning sensation began in the pit of her stomach, then gradually rose into her chest then into her head, till the whole room seemed to be spinning out of control! She could no longer see her friends, nor indeed anyone around her. She closed her eyes until the spinning slowly came to stop, as if she had been on a merry-go-round. But the true shock had not yet come…
For when Kathy opened her eyes, there was no sight of her companions. They had gone. But not only them, but so had everyone else. They had vanished into thin air! Kathy looked around frantically, and made her way towards the outside door, when she tripped, and fell to the floor. “What on earth….” Kathy never finished her question, for she looked down and realized that what had caused her to trip were the yards of fabric in her long 19thcentury dress! Her jaw dropped, as a doorman came over to offer his services. She thanked him and continued to walk towards the stairs into the auditorium.
She was in complete awe of everything around her! The Opera House was so beautiful and so, so new! As she approached the entrance, she caught sight of a poster for some opera in Italian, and below, the date was June 16th, 1880! Kathy’s eyes grew wide with the recognition of where she truly was, and she was standing in that spot, incapable of movement. Deep inside, she was panicking! “What am I going to do? How could this happen? Am I hallucinating? Perhaps…” But just then, Kathy heard music, but it was not coming from the orchestra pit in the auditorium, but from somewhere else, down the hall…
As she walked down the hall, the music slowly grew louder. It was a melody as haunting as anything that Andrew Lloyd Webber had written, and yet, it was much more than that. Just as Kathy was about to reach the end of the hallway, she recognized the sound as that of a violin. She approached some stairs and as she was about to descend them to discover who was playing that entrancing melody, she suddenly felt as though she had been whacked over the head. Slowly, as she opened her eyes, she saw Julie’s face hovering over her.
“Mother! Mother, she is waking up, come over here.” Kathy tried to sit up as she saw Mrs. Longmont approach with a man in his mid 40’s and who looked so distinguished, that he could only have been a doctor.
“Ah! Kathy, you are alright?” Kathy certainly didn’t feel all right. Her head was bursting! It was then that she realized that her head must have hit the floor. For nothing short of cold hard marble could have induced such a bump on her head. She looked quizzically at the doctor, as he came over to examine her and make sure there was no concussion. Kathy waved him away, and as she attempted to get up she explained that she felt fine, and wanted to continue to see the rest of the Opera house.
“I am afraid that that is quite impossible, Mademoiselle. You should return to your home and lie down.” Now addressing Mrs. Longmont. “I shall visit later this evening to make sure that no permanent damage has occurred.” And with that he made a slight bow, and walked off.
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