That Confounded Book (Mr Y)

[Erik Lenoir]

All night Erik couldn't sleep. Somehow that confounded book was on his mind. That book he had tried several times...three at least...to pick up out of the library and read it. He had seen it first when he had awakened in the library and wondered at the publish date, 1911. Then he had seen it again and met the frightening ghost Josephine. That time he had left it lay too. A third time, Emilie and he had come to use the telephone and the evil Josephine had spoken to him on the phone. And still the book lay on the table.

He wasn't sure why the book fascinated him so. He hadn't read further than the title page. But in light of all the strange goings-on in the manor, the strange timelines, the myriad ghosts, the multiple people who seemed similar and the fact that he had been told by several ghosts that they were just characters from stories, made him curious to find out what was really in the book. Of course the ghosts must be lying about them being characters from books and plays.... that was ridiculous! Erik had not suddenly popped in from nowhere; he had a past life and he was certainly alive now...

Early this morning, Erik had enough of tossing and turning in bed. He got up, washed and dresssed and left the lair as his long case clock was chiming four. The library was his destination. He hesitated only because he had had an encounter with Josephine and she had spoken to him on the phone there. He would be careful though. Taking the lift to the storey where the library was located, he walked the long hall to the carved wooden doors. He paused a bit and noticed the carvings were of books and other things relating to a library. He had noticed some of the other public rooms had carvings relating to the room. Quite interesting, but he didn't linger.

Erik entered the room. The book was there on the table where he had left it. Apparntly someone had been in this room cleaning. It looked much better than it had the earlier times he had been there. He looked about him and everything seemed fine. There was no feeling of coldness or that feeling of fear, an evil that permeated the room when Josephine had occupied it. The fire place was unlit, but the room was a pleasant temperature. He glanced toward the wall where he had first entered the mansion. It hadn't been through the carved wooden doors leading from the corridor, it had been a door leading from an underground passage and now, there was only a wall, the door had disappeared.

Erik sat down in one of the chairs. It was a comfortable chair which someone must have exchanged for the original broken ones. An overstuffed leather chair, it felt good to sit in it. He picked up the book and started to read. There was a table of contents which he glossed over. Then he came to the Prologue and started to read:

Prologue: IN WHICH THE AUTHOR OF THIS SINGULAR WORK INFORMS THE READER HOW HE ACQUIRED THE CERTAINTY THAT THE OPERA GHOST REALLY EXISTED

Erik looked up momentarily as he heard a quiet footfall outside the door.

[Mister Y]

A library...This place was just getting bigger and bigger from the looks of it. Erik was not happy at all that he'd been brought here, and the fact that he kept discovering new rooms meant that there was less chance he'd make it out of here. Less chance that he'd see Christine again....

Fie it all! He was about to tell her that he was alive, that he didn't die when she thought he had! That the night they spent together was not in vain....that he still loved her...that he still wanted her...That he was TOO GODDAMNED FOCUSED on not seeing it before. And now she was gone. Vanished, before his eyes, as he was taken away to this realm of never-ending halls and doors.

Erik strode through the doors of the library, went over to a shelf and looked through the selection. There were a great many works, some in Latin, some in French, some in English. Well...most in English. There were a few books he recognized, and as he wandered toward the other occupant, he scanned titles without noticing the masked man in the chair right in front of him.

[Erik Lenoir]

Erik heard the footfalls stop outisde the library and the large wooden door started to open. Erik watched to see who might be coming in the library at this early hour. A tall man entered, wearing black evening clothes with an exquisite looking coat with ends that touched the floor almost like a train. Erik looked at it admiringly; it looked like something he might wear.

The man seemed unaware of Erik and did not speak. Erik kept his silence too and kept the book in place so it looked as if he were reading. He looked at the man, remaining still. The man was had a white half mask. None of the other masked men's masks were like Eriks...except this one. Slightly different, yes, but he had never seen anyone else wear a half mask before. The man had dark hair and eyes. Erik wondered fleetingly if the man's name were Erik.

Erik watched as the tall man looked over some of the books. He was so intent h e didn't even see Erik. If the man stayed in the room long enough, he was bound to say something, sooner or later.

So Erik held his peace and went on reading the preface of Le Fantôme de l'Opéra, concerning this opera ghost. Leroux wrote as one who had investigated the so called ghost, Yes, he existed in flesh and blood, although he assumed the complete appearance of a real phantom; that is to say, of a spectral shade. Even the first few words of the book sounded eerily familiar...

[Mister Y]

Erik picked a book off the shelf without even looking at it's title and looked up. There was a man, sitting in the chair in front of him, with the same half mask and...dear God...

"I take it you're the Monsieur Lenoir I've heard about...?" Erik swallowed nervously. He gripped the book, hoping to God that this wasn't real, that this whole place just wasn't real. What was he doing here...? What were any of the people in this manor doing here, now that he thought about it...?

[Erik Lenoir]

Erik watched the tall man pull a book off the shelf. He suddenly noticed Erik who saw shock perhaps, at the least surprise at Erik's presence in the room. it was quite curious. Erik had thought he was the only one with a half mask. This man had one also, and it was on his right face, as Eriks' was. An odd coincidence. But of course the mansion had many a strange coincidences up its proverbial sleeve.

The tall man then said, I take it you're the Monsieur Lenoir I've heard about...? Erik smiled and said, "So my reputation has preceded me. I dont' know whether that is a good or bad thing."

Erik remembered in a flash that he had been mistaken for another man...by several people. Namely the older Vicomte and Vicomtess de Chagny and one of the Megs who seemed like she had a rather cosy relationship with him. It was probably this man they were thinking of...but how could that be? Certainly on the surface there were some similarities but if one looked closer, one could certainly see that this man was considerably taller, had brown eyes, both the same colour and his lips were different.

Erik laid his book on the table and stood up, smiling. "I am indeed Erik Lenoir...and you are?"

[Mister Y]

Erik did not smile...this man had the same name that he once did. "My stage name is Mister Y...people call me by that." He swallowed hard. What was going on?! Why was he meeting with a man who so resembled himself?!

The other Erik walked in his direction, grinning away. Erik wanted to run, to turn tail and just run. To just get away from this place and this paradox, and all of this impossible nonsense! This was too much for him, he felt scared, stressed, like he wanted to die....He just wanted to go home, back to his room overlooking his park. Back to the solitude of the darkness of his room....

[Erik Lenoir]

"Why don't you sit down for a moment and relax. You look a bit stressful. "Oddly enough I've been mistaken for you a few times. There are a few outward appearances, namely the half mask. And we both dress formally. But outsie of that, there are many differences." Erik paused.

"Did you just arrive? I had quite a time of it when I arrived. It took me aome time to get used to the place. Have you found your suite yet? That is one thing I like very much about the mansion. My suite. A lovely place, just as I had created it five stories under the Opéra Populaire. I hope you are as pleased with yours as I am with mine."

Then he gave Mr Y a strange look. "Was something odd going on between you and Meg Giry? She intimated there was. And she was one of those who mistook me for you. And she sang and danced some sort of modern vaudeville routine, that I don't think I could ever put up with. I also asked her to be my assistant in the opera refurbishment project. But then we had a bit of an argument and I expect she won't be helping me anymore. In a sense, I was relieved, for as I said, I don't care for that type of music. However, I suppose there could be shows like that if they were separated from the opera. But I'd rather not."

Then Erik smiled again. "And don't mind me, I tend to go on a bit and bore tmost people to pieces. Let me apologise for that."

[Mister Y]

Erik sat, like the man suggested. Perhaps that would be best. He hated losing his composure in front of other people. Differences...true, there were differences now...but ten years ago, he would've been the same way...talkative, loud, boisterous, with a need for attention and a little egotistical. Now he was just shy, nervous, and he probably had a little bit of post-traumatic stress disorder. Or at least, that's what they were calling it nowadays. He gave a little scoff. Shrinks would pay HIM to get a look into the brilliant mind of Mister Y. The papers probably went wild about him. They already wrote about him in the tabloids, about his mask, his need to stay out of the park and up in his study...so many rumours....

"I just found myself here this morning...I have no idea what you mean about a suite. I'd no intention of coming here, there should be no place for me. I did not want a suite. I just want to go back home...I just want to go back to New York..." Erik slumped in the chair. Christine...Christine was back home, Christine was back on Coney, far from him. Far from all of this madness...and he'd never see her again at this rate. After all the trouble he'd gone through to get her there, and he was missing it! He'd nearly given up! And just when things seemed like they'd go his way, he was taken...taken away to this hell....Then Lenoir asked him about Meg.

"Meg?" Erik laughed a little. She was here...Good god...Were they all arriving here? "Meg Giry? No, no, no, she's just one of my employees. The main act in my amusement park, nothing more to me. Unfortunately, all people want to see nowadays is vaudeville. I have a disdain for such music as well, but it's what my public wants. But I have a secret that they know nothing of...an aria...a new aria." Erik smiled a little. To hear Christine sing it...Oh, that would ensure that he could die happy, if nothing else...To hear her sing again, even if it wasn't his music, would make him the happiest man on earth.

[Erik Lenoir]

"A suite...everyone who finds him or herself here has a place to stay, a suite of rooms. Most are in the dormitories, but some of us are considered to be special and we have larger quarters than most. You are in that category. Why it should be so, that I cannot answer. However, I must say that I am extremely pleased with my suite and I suspect you may feel the same way. It rather makes up for the fact that we can't... ah... oh never mind. That's no matter anyway." Erik decided not to tell this man if he could help it, that they were not able to leave the mansion's environs.

"And yes, of course, I am sure you had no intention of coming here. I didn't either. Certainly not. I just wanted to get out of Paris untill everything blew over." Erik closed his eyes. He was talking too much, telling too much. This man didn't need to know all of Erik's personal history. No one did.

"I believe there are some people from New York here," Erik said, trying to be helpful. "Not really New York per se, but they had been there when they were taken here." He started to wonder if Meg, Emilie and Edouard knew this man.

The man, who said his stage name was Mister Y, said he knew Meg. He seemed surprised that she was here. But he went on to say she was only one of his employess. Nothing more. Erik wondered what had possessed her to think that Mr Y cared about her then. She had mistaken Lenoir for Y. That didn't make sense to Erik. But nonetheless, he agreed with Lenoir that he also didn't care for vaudeville, but said that it is all anyone wanted to hear now a days.

But it waas very interesting about Meg Giry. Mister Y said there was nothing going on between Meg and himself. It must have been all in her head then. Unless he wasn't being totally honest.

"Come, Monsieur. I can show you where your suite is if you care to see what has been prepared for your arrival..."