User blog:ExdeathsBagel/A opera haunting (WWYD by Spazerz)

WWYD by Spazerz: http://monstergirlencyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Thread:721289

Each day I walk passed that abandoned, decrepit, opera house, which was long since left to rot after a brutal murder took place years prior. One involving the murder of an actress and her killer escaping capture. Unfortunately, the actress must have been some rising star from the slums, for no one knew who she was. Not that she could’ve been easily identified, as it was said by those who came across the poor’s woman’s body that it was presented and flayed in the center of the stage, a spotlight presumably casted by the killer to proudly show his work to those he could.

Much like the blood that was permanently said to stain the stage, the unresolved murder stained our town. Our guardsman became corrupted and lazy, and a cloud of gloom has since never left our town. Each day to escape this gloom I take walks to clear my head of the daily grind, and each day I pass that opera house. Despite its ageing state, much like an ancient, dead tree it stands, never to be forgotten. It soon became the thing of legend, and a test of one’s manhood. Friends would dare others to spend the night in its moldy walls, particularly ballsy ones dare on the night of the murder, with recompense not only being ‘confirmed’ a man, but also money or a night with a mamono.

The result was always the same, they would either refuse or run out a few hours into the night, screaming of shadows, voices, and an ever present metallic smell. They were the lucky ones, as some who went in never came out. Manhunts would search for the young men and women, but only during the day of course. Yet they never found a body, and in due time, guards simply stopped searching. It made me sick, the poor parents and friends would be forever wrapped in guilt and regret, and no one cared.

That’s why, when a boy came to me and begged me to look for her sister in the opera house, claiming they were playing hide seek and he saw her looking panicked through a window, that despite the setting sun I ran in without hesitation. I called for her name, yet the aside from my own voice the mansion as silent. A silence so encompassing that I could not even hear noises from outside, it was as if aside from my own breathing that sound did not exist within the decaying walls.

A scream erupted from beneath me, it sounded to be from a young girl. I’m not familiar with the opera house’s layout, and as such found myself frustratingly making circles looking for a set of stairs leading down, all the while the screams beneath me grow more and more frantic.

Worse yet, once incomprehensible babbling from the screamer is now begs of mercy.

“Please, let me go! I don’t want to play! Help!”

It was perhaps due to my ever growing worry and frustration and being unable to find a set of stairs that another method of descent became appealing. Behind the stage, indeed stained with blood, was a dumbwaiter, perhaps used to transport props from beneath to the stage. I figured I could lower it down to the girl, and maybe then we could escape. My hopes were dashed however when the dumbwaiter refuse to go down.

In my stupidity, I leaned in and pushed, trying to apply a slight pressure assuming it was simply stuck. It was only when most of body was in that I heard a creek, groan, and the straining of rope. Not fancying becoming a paraplegic, I dove in, just in time for the dumbwaiter to careen down to the bottom floor with a loud crash the rocked me around its cold insides.

Though certainly bruised, and ears ringing, I knew I was unharmed. That when I saw her, the young girl stepping into view. We locked eyes and she bolted to me, as the distance closed I saw her face was stained with tears and her clothes were stained with dirt.

Worse yet was the sight behind her. A man, a large one. His clothes too were disheveled, yet they appeared rotten rather than dirty. The man’s face was covered by a red hood, only his long, gray beard was visible. Yet his apparent age was betrayed by that which he was carrying, a large, rust stained machete. As the girl dove into the dumbwaiter with me. He approached us slowly, dragging his machete across the floor, knowing we had nowhere to go.

“Perfect, a full cast. Stay right there love.”

His pace quickened when I reached to slam the doors shut, slamming the just in time to hear metal banging against metal. As he began prying the door open, a surge of adrenaline gave me enough strength to hold them shut. But that was fading fast against this man’s seemingly herculean strength.

Prying them ajar ever so slightly I could see a single eye peering within, and from rotten teeth and foul breath the man spoke with a mighty roar.

“A full cast! I need a full cast!”

As the girl clung close to me and the doors pried more and more open, I was certain this was the end. I now knew what happened to those foolish enough to go into the opera house after dark. The man pried the doors open just enough to reach his hand in, his rotten tooth grin in full display, a mad glint in his eyes.

<p class="MsoNormal">The door suddenly slammed shut as I felt the man’s hand fall to my feet. I howl of pain echoed from outside, a howl so loud that if it weren’t for the door muffling it I would’ve gone deaf and not heard a soft, feminine voice from above.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Finally, a full cast.”

<p class="MsoNormal">In a sudden lurch I felt the dumbwaiter being pulled up, the girl who was with me I noticed became silent, aside from whimpers and sobs. Now at the top, to doors gently opened, and a woman, dressed in a red and white dress, smiled down at us. Though it was when I looked down at her dressed and noticed a ghostly tail that I realized that this was a Phantom.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Are you… Lenore? The actress murdered here a few years ago?” I asked

<p class="MsoNormal">The Phantom gave me a look of surprise, then a light smile, “So you know who I am? That pleases me young man, pleases me to no end. But we have other things to attend. A show is about to begin and I expect you to play your part.”

<p class="MsoNormal">With a sudden tug from an invisible force were pulled out to the stage, the girl crying as she was pulled from my grasp. I ran to her, only for the floor in front of me to open up, a trapdoor, and for people to walk out onto the stage. Yet they could hardly be called people, for they had mangled bodies with large slices and those that glanced at me had faces in various states of decay. Yet even in their states I recognize them, they were the missing men and women who did not escape the opera house.

<p class="MsoNormal">I felt my self being pulled to the front row seats and forced next to Lenore. Then the large man from the basement came up from the trapdoor, clutching the stump of where his hand once was. I felt a cold hand on mine.

<p class="MsoNormal">“That man was the man who killed me. His name is Leonard. And now that we have enough actors, I can show you how he did it.”

<p class="MsoNormal">“Why?” I asked. Though she simply shushed me and with a snap of her fingers Leonard was suddenly tied to a board, his arms and legs out stretched and bound to the wooden stake.

<p class="MsoNormal">“What’s going on Lenore?! I gave you a full cast! Now set me free!” Leonard yelled.

<p class="MsoNormal">“You will be.” Lenore said as she floated to the stage. She took Leonard’s large machetes and with another snap, his clothes vanished, exposing his decaying body and spreading the stench of rot throughout the theater. A spotlight shone on him

<p class="MsoNormal">She held the machete to his bare chest, “Once you suffer the same fate as I had, you will be free. And all of you,” She spread her arms out, motioning to the people on the stage, “Will all see it!”

<p class="MsoNormal">She then turned to me and gave me a wink, “And you, you just enjoy the show.”

<p class="MsoNormal">What followed was something no man should witness, and what no man should hear. Yet I suddenly became stiff, even unable to blink and judging from the others on the stage they were under the same spell. Leonard was flayed, flayed with such rage and intensity yet slow, sadistic precision it would make even the most barbaric, heartless men beg for Leonard to be put out of his misery. And he was, after what felt like hours but was certainly less than one I mist emitted from him and sank to the ground. Presumably he went to hell, as a murder like him should, yet being sent in such a manner was not right.

<p class="MsoNormal">“End scene.” Lenore said as she bowed.

<p class="MsoNormal">“C-can you send us now?” A trembling voice from one of the men asked.

<p class="MsoNormal">Lenore shot up and glared at the man in question, “Of course not, this was simply this was simply to first act. Now to the second! Worry not! I’m sure you’re quite familiar with the script!”

<p class="MsoNormal">She floated back to and sat next to me, draping an arm over my shoulder.

<p class="MsoNormal">With another snap the man lurched and open his mouth, but the voice was not his own, but rather Mayor Dennis, “We will not rest until this killer is found! I swear it by my mother’s grave!”

<p class="MsoNormal">A woman on stage shudder and out came a masculine voice, one from detective Brain, “It is with a heavy heart that I express my short comings on finding any evidence, it’s like the killer vanished without a trace.”

<p class="MsoNormal">The other undead began to shudder and lurch, retelling the events surrounding Lenore’s death in voices that weren’t their own. Once it got to the part where guards began to forget about her, and of voices from people daring others to spend a night in the mansion. Lenore stood up and shouted.

<p class="MsoNormal">“That’s right! You bastards forgot about me and treated my place of murder like it was a game! The shame, the disrespect, you all deserve the same fight I did!” With another snap they were all bound to stakes just like Leonard. Now in control of themselves again they began to strain against the ropes and beg to be set free, saying they were sorry.

<p class="MsoNormal">But Lenore did not hear them, and instead turned to me with a smile, “But you, you remembered me. And for that, I offer you a choice: be my husband, or be sent to the next world.”

<p class="MsoNormal">I was speechless for a moment, before finding the courage to speak, “Please, just let us go.”

<p class="MsoNormal">Lenore smile turned into a vicious scowl, “You would rather be dead than be with me?!”

<p class="MsoNormal">I got and quickly pushed her down before bolting to the exit, only to be stopped by an invisible force, “You! You’re no different than them, you care not for me and seek only to save your own skin! Well soon you will have no skin to save!”

<p class="MsoNormal">With a sudden shatter of glass I saw a bottle fly through a nearby window, it exploded into a sea of flame. Outside voices began to shout.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Death to the undead!”

<p class="MsoNormal">“Let us purify our streets!”

<p class="MsoNormal">“Someone send for a priest! Foul undead and spirits lurk within the walls!”

<p class="MsoNormal">As more Molotov cocktails flew in, turning the opera into a sea of flames, Lenore howled, “No! My vengeance is not complete! You will not forget me! I will never let you forget!”

<p class="MsoNormal">The front door suddenly burst open and two large men followed by a priest came rushing in. Lenore charged, but collapsed in a screaming heap as the priest splashed holy water on her. As more people came rushing in, many fainted at the sight of the flayed remains of Leonard and the undead men and women on stage, yet one woman rushed passed the flames and scooped up her girl, the one I meant to rescue, from the stage.

<p class="MsoNormal">One of the large men grabbed hold of me and everyone began to clear out, many carrying the ones who fainted. My last look at the undead showed serene looks on their faces as the priest bravely blessed them and sent them up amidst the flames. Shortly after the even, one of the men told me a large group was orchestrated when the young boy told his mom I bravely ran into to rescue the girl. That single act of bravery convinced the town to put the opera house out its misery, and to move on.

<p class="MsoNormal">And moved on we have, it’s been a year since then and the town has cleaned itself up. The cloud of gloom as lifted, and mostly honest and upright guard patrol the streets now. The opera house has since burnt down, the spirits, including Lenore’s have been put to rest.