Free Phantom by Laura DeLuca Page B

vampire. Becca is with me now.”
     
    Tom’s part in the scene had ended, and he had come to find her. But the lull between scenes wouldn’t be much longer, and they all had to prepare for their next curtain call. She tried to use that as an excuse to separate the two boys before they could get into an argument. They glared at each other with such pure hatred that Rebecca had to congratulate herself on her quick thinking as she led Tom to the other end of the stage. Miss King would probably have a stroke if a fight broke out after all the dramatics they had already been through in the last few days.
     
    Rebecca didn’t think she had to worry about Justyn anymore as they moved through the next scene. Tom stopped her as she was darting to her spot on the stage with a serious expression on his face.
     
    “You don’t really like that vampire freak, do you, Becca?”
     
    She didn’t really have time to debate it. She was supposed to be on the stage with Wendy and Carmen. She quickly gave him the answer he wanted to hear, just so he would let it go. It didn’t seem to matter whether or not she really meant it.
     
    “No, of course not, Tom.”
     
    Tom happily let her go about her business. But what she didn’t realize was that Justyn had been standing just behind them, and overheard the brief conversation. When she finally noticed him there, and saw the sad look in his eyes, it almost made her want to cry out that she didn’t really mean it. But she didn’t have time. They were waiting for her. She decided there would be time to explain later.
     
    The music was already starting. Before she knew it they were already back to the love scene between Christine and Raoul. But before she could step onto the stage for the duet, Justyn caught her arm.
     
    “I’ll never give up, Becca.”
     
    She couldn’t have responded even if he had waited long enough for her to find her tongue. Justyn let go of her arm, and took his place hiding behind a gargoyle statue while Rebecca joined Tom. He hadn’t really sounded angry, just determined. Yet, Rebecca couldn’t help but think that his words had sounded like a threat—a threat worthy of the phantom.
     
    The love scene was a blur, but at least they made it through the whole song without any curtains falling on their heads to ruin the romance of the moment. Tom took advantage of the lack of disasters. His lips touched hers ever so gently as they came to the end of the ballad.
     
    The moment should have been perfect. She waited for the butterflies in her stomach to start fluttering, waited for the lightheaded feeling. There should have been ecstasy after so many years of dreaming of this exact thing happening. But her mind was still on Justyn, worrying that she had hurt his feelings. And even more worried about the fact that he was standing just a few feet away, watching Tom kiss her, just as the phantom had watched Christine.
     
    When Tom finally let her go, the look she saw on Justyn’s face was every bit as tormented as the phantom’s had been on the cold roof of the opera house when he realized he was losing his love to the gallant Raoul. As she and Tom moved to the sidelines, Justyn took center stage. That torment was echoed and magnified by the desperate, yet beautifully resonating tenor of the phantom.
     
“On my wings your song took flight.
But you betrayed me on this night.
Now as my hopes have been swept away,
So begins our real life play.”
     
    He huddled on the ground, completely in character and beyond. From the sidelines, Tom and Rebecca sang the echoed words of the love song that drove the phantom to unimaginable acts of violence. Justyn captured the essence of that fury as he stood up and stared directly at Rebecca and Tom. The final words of the act seemed as if they weren’t just lines from the script, but a serious threat. A threat directed at them.
     
“This day a curse is on your head.
 This opera house will live in dread.”
     
     As the