What Lies Beneath the Mask Read online

  “So the first-time Christine and Raoul break away from the chorus dancers is when they’re singing about their engagement?” I beamed. He’d got exactly what I was trying to do in this scene without me having to find the words to explain it. Which was good, because I couldn’t see Merry going for anything that made her fade into the background.

  “Yes, I want them to drop their hold when they get to stage left and begin to sing. The chorus will continue dancing and the other leads will join them once they’ve sung their bit.” The cue in the music came and we broke the hold, though Jack still kept hold of my hand. He was also mouthing his lines in the song in an exaggerated manner and I couldn’t help but giggle.

  “And when they’ve finished singing?” He broke character to ask.

  “Raoul pulls Christine back into hold in with the…” I stopped, struggling to think of the term for what happened in the music. “…flourish in the music. Then the cast will waltz, either in a circle or in a figure of eight, I haven’t decided yet. We…erm, Raoul and Christine I mean, will end up in the middle.” I then planned for the two of them to kiss during the musical phrase from All I Ask of You, but I wasn’t about to tell Jack that. Reminding him of Merry was not what I wanted to do right now. Once again, Jack easily followed my direction and we waltzed around the room until the music began to slow. The two of us stopped dancing and looked into each other’s eyes; his expression was doing funny things to me, almost as if my heart was skipping a beat and butterflies were going crazy in my stomach at the same time. And then, exactly when I wanted it in the music, he cupped my cheek, leaned forward and kissed me. The moment ours lips touched I forgot everything. There was no music or show, or even Annabelle and Jack; there was just this moment.

  A crash sounded from somewhere close by and we jumped apart. My fingers flew to my lips and before I knew I did the only thing that I could think of; I ran.

  Chapter 8

  I reached the cause of the crash only moments before everyone else. My desk was on its side and sketches, notes, and the musical score were scattered all over the room. I felt joint stabs of anger and annoyance. Though my desk hadn’t been the tidiest, it had been an organised mess and it would take me hours to go through everything.

  “Who was in here?” I spoke quietly but even I could hear the thread of anger in my words.

  “We were all in rehearsal.” Merry smirked from the doorway. “Everybody except Jack.” I scowled at her. I wasn’t about to tell her that I knew where Jack had been.

  “Okay everybody what’s going on?” John came barging through the assembled cast.

  “We heard a loud noise, and came up to find Belle standing with this mess. Maybe she wants some attention.” I glared at Merry. I knew she didn’t like me, but I thought there was at least a little bit of professionalism in her. Apparently not.

  “I arrived to find my desk like this.” I waved my hand vaguely in the direction of the scattered papers.

  “Fine. Belle tidy up this mess. Everyone else, back to the beginning of the scene.” There was some muttering from cast members but they gradually wandered back in the direction of the main stage.

  “Thanks John.” I said weakly.

  “No problem Belle. But please, this needs tidying.” I nodded at him before turning back to the mess around me. Propping my desk back onto four legs was the least of my problems and after doing that I knew I couldn’t put off sorting through the various papers on the floor.

  I sat cross legged in the space where my desk had been lying and began to sort the papers into piles. Some of them were scrap anyway so I tried telling myself it was a blessing in disguise, but it still frustrated me that someone had gone out of their way to do something to inconvenience me. I cut my finger on a piece of shattered glass from my lamp and sucked on the cut until the bleeding slowed. Blood had splattered onto several pieces of paper and I really hoped they weren’t important. I picked up the first piece I came to and my blood ran cold; There were only three words on the page, but it was in a handwriting I’d hoped never to see again. I didn’t know what the chances of finding something Toby had written in among my scribbles and papers, and yet here it was. I thought I’d made it clear that I never wanted to see him again. But there, written on a piece of blood splattered paper, was his writing clear as day;

  For My Belle.

  Chapter 9

  5 years ago.

  I smiled to myself as I opened the door to my family home. Everything was set for next year; I’d got into the college I wanted, I had a boyfriend who loved me and now all I needed was somewhere to live. It had crossed my mind that Hayley might want someone to share with, but since I’d started dating Toby last year we’d drifted apart a little bit. It was sad but I suppose it had to happen at some point.

  “Hello?” I called out, the only response I got was complete silence. It wasn’t unexpected, my parents were out at work and my younger brother was probably at his friend’s house playing Xbox or something like that. Who knew what 15-year-old boys did with their time. I dumped my bag on the dining room table and started to turn away when something caught my eye. It was a baby pink box with a note attached to the top of it. I took the note off first and saw it was addressed to me, smiling as I recognised Toby’s handwriting. I opened it up and read the words aloud; “For My Belle, I hope this helps when you’re looking for somewhere to call home.” Confused I opened the box and gasped in shock. Inside was a heart keychain with a key attached. Pulling my phone from my pocket I hit call on Toby’s contact.

  “Hey Babe.” He answered after a couple of rings.

  “Toby what is this?”

  “You mean the key? I’d have thought that was obvious Belle.” He laughed.

  “Where’s it a key to?” I asked, not wanting to get my hopes up about what this meant.

  “My flat.” His reply was instant, as if he’d just been waiting for me to finish speaking.

  “You don’t have a flat.” Though Toby was a couple of years older than I was he still lived at home and had been saving since he was 15 for his own place.

  “I do now. I got the keys yesterday.” He sounded smug.

  “And you’ve given one to me?” I could barely believe it.

  “Of course. I can’t risk you living near other guys.” He chuckled.

  “I’d have probably shared with Hayley.”

  “Even worse!” He laughed again. “She’s always wanting your time; I’d never get to see you.”

  “Are you serious? You want to live with me?”

  “Yes Belle. I want to live with you. In fact, I demand you live with me.” How did I get so lucky and find a man that loves me this much?

  “Yes I’ll live with you Toby.” As soon as I said the words he disconnected the call and I was left with a feeling of contentment. This year was going to be a good one I could tell.

  Chapter 10

  On stage, they were setting up for All I Ask of You, and the jealous monster that was growing within me definitely didn’t want to watch Jack get all lovey with Merry on the stage. I knew he had no choice, and that I had no right to be jealous, especially after I ran out on him after our kiss. A kiss that was warring with Toby’s note for my attention and it was turning me into a jittery mess. I’d been trying to sketch my design for the graveyard in act two, but all my lines were coming out wonky and I just couldn’t seem to get a grip on what I was doing; I just hoped that this state of mind didn’t last too long and I could get back to normal.

  Today was the first time that we were going to try using the snow machine, which wasn’t something I’d wanted to use it at all; this was one of those situations where John had overruled me. I’d wanted to keep it simple and just have Merry and Jack centre stage, along with a gargoyle for Henry to hide behind while he was spying as the Phantom. I’d been overruled as apparently, that wasn’t dramatic enough staging for John or the production company for The Show Must Go On; hence the snow.

  I had to admit that Merry looked great
in the costume that Hayley was trying out. We’d perfected the corset-style top last week and the two of us were now experimenting with how we wanted to rest of her costumes to look. For this scene, she had a pale blue chiffon skirt with a baby blue half cape over the top half of her, meaning there was no need for us to change her top in any way. Jack looked equally good, though he didn’t have a costume on; instead he was wearing dark jeans and a pale blue shirt unbuttoned at the top. Whether he’d meant to match Merry or not, they made a striking couple and that definitely wasn’t helping me keep my jealousy under control.

  The snow machine started producing the fake snow and I cringed at just how much of a mess it was making, especially because it was most likely going to be my job to clean it up. The machine started to shudder and I worried that there was something wrong with it, though no one else seemed to have noticed so maybe it was all in my mind. Jack’s voice rang out through the theatre and I looked back to the stage to find him watching me. While his gaze was making me feel kind of tingly, the fact that he wasn’t paying attention to Merry was not boding well for the show, or for the two romantic leads’ onstage chemistry. I attempted to tell him with my eyes that he should be paying attention to Merry and not me but he seemed to take this as encouragement and smiled at me instead. Cursing under my breath I made my way to the snow machine to talk to the technicians about whether the stupid thing had any other settings.

  “It has a slower setting but it would barely get half way up the stage.” A man dressed in a Snowperience uniform told me. Apparently, this wasn’t going to be as simple as I’d hoped.

  “Can we try it and see?” I asked and only to be on the receiving end of an exasperated sigh from the technician, despite his reaction, he did what I asked and changed the setting. Unfortunately for me he was right and the snow barely made it half way up the stage making it appear slightly comical. “Alright it has to be the higher setting.” I accepted begrudgingly. Just as the technician reset the machine again it started to shudder.

  “Not supposed to do that.” The man grunted and I frowned.

  “Why is it doing that then?” I asked impatiently. For some reason, he wasn’t actually doing anything about that. He shrugged. “Should we not turn it off?” I’d never witnessed a malfunctioning snow machine before, but I couldn’t imagine it’d be pretty.

  “I guess.” The man agreed. Great, why was it that I ended up dealing with the idiots of the world? Despite agreeing with me he still hadn’t moved to switch the machine off, so I began to search for a switch of some kind. On stage, they were gearing up for Raoul and Christine’s kiss and I was almost glad I had a malfunctioning snow machine to distract me. It seemed that I hadn’t found the switch fast enough because with a violent shudder the machine emitted a giant blob of fake snow which covered the entire stage, including Merry and Jack. I couldn’t help but snigger, even if the situation wasn’t actually funny, seeing Merry covered in white gloop was definitely worth it.

  “What’s going on here?” John half shouted as he walked into the theatre.

  “Your snow machine exploded.” Jack deadpanned from the stage. He didn’t seem all that bothered by being covered in fake snow, whereas Merry was trying everything she could to get it off and pulling highly comical expressions as she did so. To my amusement, I could see more than one member of the cast and crew sniggering behind their hands.

  “Why?” John directed his question at me as opposed to Jack and I shrugged.

  “We changed the setting and it just exploded. Maybe this gentleman can explain better.” I offered waving my hand towards the technician next to me.

  “No idea. Probably something blocking it.” John raised an eyebrow clearly not amused. “I’ll check it now.” The man added hastily, clearly as intimidated by John as we all had been when we first met him.

  “Good plan. Belle with me.” I fell into step beside him as he stalked out of the theatre. My heart was in my throat and I couldn’t help but worry that this was the end of my stint with the theatre group. “Before it exploded how did the snow work?”

  “It didn’t.” I replied slowly. “The high setting was producing far too much, more blizzard than romance, whereas the slow setting barely hit the stage.” I waited for John to respond but he appeared to be in deep contemplation.

  “Right. Any suggestions?” I felt like this could be some kind of trap; he’d already told me that my idea for the scene had been too simplistic so I knew that I needed something different. Something that incorporated his desire for snow.

  “What about using lights?” I asked slowly. “If we imbed LEDs into the backdrop we can make them twinkle. Or even a sheet of white LED lights that drops down just behind or just in front of Merry and Jack. If we have them twinkling, then it could look like snow. Especially if we covered the set in fake snow first.” He nodded.

  “Try it.” I gulped. The idea was so sudden that I hadn’t been able to think through all the potential pitfalls and I knew that this could end up going very wrong.

  “Excuse me Mr. Jeffreys!” The technician from Snowperience came running down the hall holding something that looked like a wadded-up piece of fabric. John swivelled around in a surprising move for someone his size and I quickly followed; I needed to see what this was all about.

  “Yes?” John said, all intimidatingly professional.

  “I’ve found what caused the blockage.” He handed the wadded-up fabric to John who took it. Unfurling it turned it into something I recognised and I gasped.

  “Belle?”

  “That’s part of Merry’s costume. But she should have been wearing it.” I stuttered out, a sick feeling coming over it.

  “Are you saying it was put there?” I nodded, dreading what was coming next. “Who?”

  “I don’t know John. Merry was trying out her costume so it should have been on her. Whoever helped her get ready should know more about it.”

  “Was it not Hayley?” I shook my head, and not just because I wanted to protect my best friend.

  “Hayley’s in college today.”

  “I want to know who it was that put this here.” His voice was stern like the headmaster at my old school and I knew he’d get to the bottom of it.

  Chapter 11

  “Someone seems to be sabotaging our show. First it was Belle’s desk, then missing music and now a blocked snow machine.” The missing music took me by surprise, though our conductor René nodded along. Clearly it was just because I had very little to do with the musical side that I hadn’t heard about it. “I won’t stand for this. We’re competing on National TV with this show it is important that we represent ourselves well and not have theses petty attempts at sabotage.” John’s voice was laced with anger, not that I blamed him. I was angry myself; we were putting everything into this show and someone seemed to be taking that all for granted.

  “Who would dare?” Merry asked, the smug look she normally wore finally gone from her face.

  “At this moment I have no idea. But if no one comes forward by this time tomorrow then, when I find out who it is, they will be off the show. No matter how important they think their role.” He fixed Merry with a stern look while he said this, certainly implying that she wasn’t in the clear. After all it had been part of her costume stuck inside the snow machine. “Is that all understood?”

  There was a muttering of agreement from the cast and crew that had gathered, and I wondered who it was that was trying to sabotage the show. I couldn’t think of a single person it would benefit unless it was someone from a rival group. “Right. Ryman, Shaw, we’re going from Music of the Night. Stage now.” John barked. Merry and Henry moved into position quickly. We hadn’t built the set for the Phantom’s lair yet, mainly because I’d been dithering about the final scene between the three lead characters. We only had the budget for one lair set and I wanted it to work for all the necessary scenes perfectly.

  “You’ve been avoiding me.” Jack’s voice sounded from directly behind me.


  “I have not.” I responded automatically and cursed myself as I did so. Jack just smiled.

  “Annabelle you haven’t spoken to me since we were in the prop room.” Which instantly made me think of our kiss and I blushed. Jack raised his hand and gently stroked my cheek. “Annabelle…”

  “Jack.” I was at a loss for words and couldn’t think of any better way to respond.

  “I don’t know how to make this clear to you so I’m just going to say it. I like you, a lot, and I think you like me too. But for some reason you want to run away from that.” I just stood there staring and at a complete loss for words. I don’t think I’d ever had anyone say something like that to me. “Look Annabelle, I don’t want to push you to tell me what’s bothering you, but I do think there’s something here. Please agree to a date?” His eyes were also full of pleading.

  “Okay.” I half whispered and a look of disbelief passed over Jack’s face before he broke out into a wide grin.

  “Seriously?” He looked like a little boy who had just walked into a sweet shop. A surprisingly cute look for a grown man.

  “Yes seriously.” My voice was a little stronger this time and there was more certainty behind them. I was still nervous about the idea of going on a date with him, but something had compelled me to say yes. “But we don’t tell anyone.”