“Phew!” Amelia giggled, and settled back to watch what happened next. Angry and hurt, once Gustav was safely out of the way, the Phantom confronted Christine about keeping his son from him, asking how she dared to think he wouldn’t realise when they met. Christine retorted that he had allowed them to think that he was dead for ten years so what other choice did she have? She reminded him that she had no idea who it was that was inviting her when she accepted the lucrative invitation to come and sing at his concert hall! Seeming to accept this, the Phantom promised that, even if Gustav wanted nothing to do with him, he would ensure that all the wealth he had accumulated would go to him.

Listening from the shadows until the other characters had left the room, Madame Giry expressed her rage that she and Meg, who had saved, stood by and supported the Phantom for the past ten years were now going to be overlooked in favour of the child he had only just met, ending the first act on a dramatic note.

“So?” Josh asked excitedly as they made their way out to the lobby to collect their drinks. “What do you think?”

“It’s cool and exciting!” Amelia replied enthusiastically. “And the music is amazing! Just...Mmm!” She gave a heavy and contented sigh. “Can we listen to it tonight?” she asked.

“Of course!” Josh put his arm around her and kissed the top of her head, careful not to show more than a parental level of affection in such a public place. “I had the same thought!” The collected their drinks and he promised to buy her a luxury ice cream from the tray the woman by the door to the auditorium was holding on their way back in. “So,” she smiled, “now that you know what the story’s about and who the characters are and all that, would you like to have another look at the merch stand?”

Excitedly, Amelia joined the throng of people clamouring to see what was available and Josh managed to slip in behind her, deciding that today’s outing probably fell under the same “We’ll worry about it next year” rule as the previous day’s party! Of particular interest to Amelia were two snow globes, one with the cymbal-playing monkey inside and the other with the same mask and Ferris wheel motif as the poster outside. Both were on ornate gold and black stands with the name of the musical on the front.

“Can I have the monkey one?” she asked imploringly. “It’s so cute!”

“As if I could deny you anything!” Josh chuckled, ruffling her hair playfully. Giggling, she cast her eye over the rest of the wares.

“Speaking of which,” she told him cheekily. “You definitely need a mask!” then added, in a lower voice, “For tonight!” Understanding her meaning and having had similar thoughts himself, Josh asked the vendor for one of the mid-range masks which were nice enough to look good without breaking the bank like the true collectables, along with one of the monkey snow-globes, the boxed versions of which were kept under the counter.

“Anything else?” he smiled. It was true that Amelia’s days were numbered but the recently-confirmed Christening date was still more than six months away. She had half a year left to live and he wanted to make sure it was the best half year of her short but happy life!

“Could I have one of the bracelets?” she asked. “One of these?” She pointed out a chunky, silver-plated bracelet in a black cardboard presentation box, the short chain decorated with various charms relevant to the show such as a mask, Ferris wheel, a carousel horse like the ones that pulled the Phantom’s mysterious clockwork coach and a musical note among others. Josh agreed and gave the seller a nod of confirmation then added a silver metal keyring of the Phantom’s mask as a thank you gift to Laura for arranging everything. Then his eyes settled upon something he just had to get for Amelia – it was a delicate silver chain, sterling silver this time unlike the plate of the bracelet, with a silver rose hanging from it, the petals made from fine, glistening red glass. Her eyes went a little wide when he asked for it, as she had seen it earlier but not wanted to appear greedy.

“Thank you!” she whispered, pulling him down towards her so that she could kiss him on the cheek. “I’ll wear it for you tonight!” she promised, her inflection and tone making it clear that she meant that the necklace was all she would be wearing. The man behind the counter put everything into a bag which he passed to Josh then offered the card reader for him to pay, which he did by tapping his card whilst trying not to look! Josh and Amelia took it in turns holding each other’s drink while comfort breaks were taken care of then they headed back into the auditorium, stopping as promised to buy small pots of luxury ice-cream from the lady by the door. Placing the bag carefully between their feet on the floor, they tucked into their sweet, chilly treats and got comfortable for the second act.

Act two began with Raoul in a bar by the sea front where the dialogue suggested he had been all night, lamenting in song what his life had become and wondering why Christine continued to stand by him. His self-pitying rhetoric was interrupted by the arrival of Meg Giry who rather cryptically explained that she came for a swim every morning to help her forget, and the early morning shift change of the bar staff. Once he and Raoul were alone, the new bartender revealed himself to be the Phantom in disguise, confronting Raoul with his mask off as he taunted him about how pathetic he had become then goaded him into a bet for Christine’s love – If Christine refused to sing that night, the Phantom promised, he would clear all of Raoul’s gambling debts and send him and his family on their way with full pockets, never to bother them again, but if Christine chose to sing for him as he felt confident she would, Raoul was to leave alone and forever. When Raoul claimed that he was confident in Christine’s love because they had a son together, the Phantom could not help taunting him, pointing out Gustav’s musical talents and special way of seeing things, asking which of the two of them he most closely resembled in character!

Although it contained the title song of the musical, the second act did not have as many memorable songs or songs that would be capable of breaking out as stand-alone hits as the first half but the story was exciting as the tension built in the run-up to Christine’s performance which, despite her husband’s begging, she went through with, only to find immediately afterwards that Gustav was missing. At first the Phantom blamed Raoul but was assured by his minions that they had seen him leaving alone while Christine was on stage. In a rage, he then turned his anger towards Madame Giry who assured her that she had nothing to do with the boy’s disappearance and was deeply hurt that he could think such a thing. It was then that one of the other dancing girls admitted then had seen Meg heading, in a state of distress, heading towards the pier dragging someone small by the hand.

On the edge of her seat and fully invested in the drama, Amelia watched as the Phantom, Christine and Madame Giry raced to the end of the pier to confront Meg who was holding Gustav at gun point. Once she was sure she had their attention, Meg released the young boy who ran to his mother then, holding the gun to her own head, told the Phantom how she was sick of living in Christine’s shadow, how she had shown him love and devotion beyond anything anyone else had offered him, even prostituting herself to wealthy and powerful men to help his plans move forward, always unseen and unappreciated. Whatever she had done for him, however much effort she had put into performing for him, she had always found herself coming second to the idea of Christine that obsessed him, only made worse by the arrival of the woman herself.

Looking over at Amelia, Josh saw tears in his young companions eyes as she listened to Meg’s story and as the Phantom tried to talk her around, apologising for the way he had treated her and reaching out his hand, asking her to give him the gun. Knowing what was coming, Josh took Amelia’s hand and held it lovingly as the Phantom, in a spectacular error of judgement, told Meg that not everyone could be as perfect as Christine! Unsurprisingly, this sent her into a rage in which she accidentally discharged the gun, hitting Christine in the stomach. Josh felt Amelia’s nails dig into his skin as the gun went off and tried not to laugh as he heard her mutter under her breath.

“Well that was fucking stupid!” Clearly her words were directed at the Phantom. “What the fuck did you expect!” She squeezed his hand and cried a little more as Christine, with her dying breath, told Gustav that the Phantom was his father and that they would be each other’s family from now on. After crying out in anguish as his mother died, Gustav stood and ran to the Phantom who knelt and embraced the heartbroken child protectively then, as the final bars of music played, Gustav reached up and took off the Phantom’s mask, showing that he accepted him, and the musical came to an end.

Like the rest of the audience in the stalls, Amelia and Josh stood and applauded enthusiastically as the cast came on to take their bows, the actors playing the Phantom and Christine getting the loudest cheers as the last to come out for the curtain call.

As the stage cleared and the house lights came up, everyone in the audience began to gather their belongings and head out. Getting out of the theatre was always more of a scrum than getting in with everyone trying to leave at the same time in contrast to the slow trickle in before the start of the show so Josh gripped Amelia’s hand tightly so that they would not get separated, the bag of souvenirs which now also held the brochure he had bought for her before the show safely clutched in his other hand.

With only a little barging and trauma, they made it out onto the colourfully lit city street. Although there was no chance of it settling properly, Amelia was delighted to find that it was snowing again and the large, fluffy flakes landed in her hair as they walked hand in hand back to the hotel which was fortunately just around the corner from the theatre. The same woman who had checked them in was still on duty in the lobby when they got back.

“Have a great night!” she waved to them as they passed the check-in desk on their way to the lift.

“Thank you!” Amelia grinned. “We definitely will!” Once in the lift, Amelia could not hold herself back and longer and pulled Josh down by the front of his shirt to kiss him passionately, releasing him only when the door pinged to announce that they had arrived on the fifth floor. In the room, she was delighted to see a gift basket on the bed, a red wicker hamper with a green ribbon around it and wrapped in clear cellophane which was tied at the top with another ribbon.

Sitting on the edge of the bed as Josh carefully unpacked the souvenirs from the show, putting them on the desk, Amelia untied the ribbon and pulled back the wrapping to get a proper look at what was inside. The first thing she lifted out was a fluffy white teddy bear, a red ribbon in a bow around its neck, which she hugged and kissed before setting on her side of the bed. Next were a pair of bath-bombs, specifically marked as jacuzzi-safe, which made her giggle. There was also a small tin of shortbread biscuits in a Christmassy tin with the hotel chain’s logo on the lid and a box of twelve luxury chocolates with similar branding. In keeping with the Christmassy theme, there were two large candy canes and two Roebuck-branded Christmas crackers but, to Amelia’s great delight, the final item in the basket was a promotional Sidney Roebuck doll in a clear plastic tube that was exclusively available through the hotel chain. It was essentially a smaller version of the one Samantha had chosen for Amelia for Christmas with extensive articulation concealed under realistic silicone skin, except this one was wearing the more conventional pink hat and boots that people tended to associate with Sidney and in which she was depicted on most promotional material.

“Oh wow!” Amelia gasped, holding up the simply-packaged doll. “These go for a fortune on eBay! You can’t but them new. I’ll treasure it for the rest of my life then pass it on to Erin for her collection!”

“You’ve got a good heart!” Josh sat down beside her and stroked her hair then kissed her softly.

“Mm I hope it will be tasty!” she giggled. “I should ask my parents if you can have it at the barbecue,” she leaned in and spoke more softly, “since it belongs to you anyway!” They kissed again with tender passion, but as Josh began to guide her down onto the bed, she stopped him. “No, wait!” she grinned with excitement. “Take the mask and go wait in the bathroom. Give me…” she thought for a second, “five minutes, okay?” Although it was a wrench to untangle himself from his beloved young concubine, Josh did as she told him and took the souvenir Phantom mask into the bathroom, fairly sure what she had in mind and beyond excited for what was about to happen!

In the bathroom, Josh saw the black, fluffy bath robe hanging on the back of the door and, deciding that it would suit the look, took off his clothes, had a quick freshen up at the sink, including slicking back his hair with water to better simulate the Phantom’s look then put on the robe and the mask. Knowing that large tubs could take half an hour at least to fill, Josh turned the taps on low so that the bath would be waiting for them when they were finished with their other activity. Then, hoping that it would be what Amelia wanted, he searched for the system of small speakers he had noticed around the room, including the bathroom, on his phone then synched to them before opening Spotify and finding the “Love Never Dies” current cast recording, scrolling down to “Beneath a Moonless Sky”. When he judged that five minutes had elapsed, he set the music playing, hearing the opening fanfare blare out around him in all its bombastic glory then, hoping the room was reasonably sound-proofed, slipped the phone into his robe pocket, turned the bathroom light off and opened the door dramatically, posing as the Phantom had done in Christine’s balcony window.

The only light in the room was that which came in through the window which Amelia had left uncovered. Although the view itself was well-lit, at their height all that intruded into the room was a faint orange glow by which he could see Amelia laying on the bed with the covers turned down, completely naked except for her rose necklace which rested on her chest between her tiny breasts, feigning sleep with one arm on the pillow and the other crossed across her body just below where the necklace hung. On long, elegant leg was stretched out in front of her and the other slightly bent, sticking out towards the side of the bed. She looked breathtakingly beautiful, her naked body in the dim half-light a true work of art. With some amusement, Josh noticed that she had put the toys from the gift basket on her night-stand with Sidney facing the bed but the teddy bear turned away as if what was about to go on there was not for his eyes!

As the Phantom and Christine confronted each other in half-spoken, half-sung dialogue, Josh mounted the bed, untied his robe allowing it to fall open and began to gently kiss Amelia all over her delicious young body, starting with the space between her breasts, over her heart, just above the rose then moving to her neck before kissing and lightly biting her hard, pink nipples then working his way down her taught belly to the sweet, plump lips between her legs. As the young girl squirmed with pleasure, still trying to pretend to be asleep, Josh began to employ his tongue, licking gently at first then pushing his tongue between her lips to taste the sweet honey within.

When the song began properly, he positioned himself on top of her, kissing her deeply so that she could taste her own unique flavour on his tongue as she opened her eyes and put her arms around his neck. He entered her all the way in a single motion, with no need to ease his way in thanks to her unparalleled level of arousal, and began to make love to her to the rhythm of the music, his thrusts and her moans becoming faster and more urgent as the tempo increased.


To be continued...