THE SONG OF THE OPERA GHOST

Chapter Seventeen

Rose opened her eyes and looked around. She shot up in the bed when she saw where she was.

“Oh, God, no!”

She quickly examined herself. She was still wearing her clothes. Unless Erik had disrobed her and put her clothes back on, he hadn’t raped her since she had been out. She frantically looked all around the room for any sign of the Doctor.

“No,” she said, her heart sinking when she saw she was alone, “oh, God, Doctor, what has he done to you?”

She leapt out of bed and reeled back when she suddenly felt lightheaded. She sat down on the edge and put her head in her hands trying to stop the world from spinning.

Then, she heard a sound that sent shivers down her spine. Someone was playing the organ. She closed her eyes. The Doctor was back in the torture chamber, dying, and this time there would be no escape for him. But as she listened, she suddenly realized that this was not the complex melody that Erik was playing them earlier, in fact it sounded suspiciously like...

“Chopsticks?” Rose muttered to herself.

She tried to get up again, and to her relief, she could stand without feeling any dizziness. She crept to the bedroom door and peeked outside. Her eyes widened when she noticed the Doctor sitting at the organ. His head was turned away from her while his index finger plucked out the familiar melody. Rose looked past him. The curtain was across the plate glass window, and Erik was nowhere in sight. Hesitantly, she stepped out into the main room.

“Doctor?”

He stopped playing and turned his head around. Rose was taken aback when she saw the silver mask on his face.

“Bwahahahaha! So, Rose, you have finally recovered from my diabolical sleeping gas! Listen then, as I play a fiendish melody for a pair of doomed lovers! Tremble at my musical skills!”

He resumed his rendition of Chopsticks. He gave her an impish smile.

“Trembling, yet?” he said.

“Hardly.”

He gave her a stern look.

“You dare mock my musical talents! I will throw you in the sauna of doom for that!” he said, pointing to the red curtain.

Rose laughed in spite of herself, which the Doctor rewarded with a huge smile.

“Feeling better?” he asked.

“Yes, I am.”

“Good.”

Rose watched while he played the organ.

“Um…” Rose said, hesitantly, “where is Erik?”

Keeping his eyes on the organ keys, the Doctor pointed behind him to the curtain. Rose walked over and sat down beside him on the bench.

“Is he knocked out?”

“Most likely.”

“Is the heat on?”

“Most likely.”

Rose paused.

“Is he dead now?”

“Most likely.”

“Doctor, will you quit saying that?”

The Doctor sighed.

“Yes, he was knocked out earlier. Yes, I did turn the heat on, albeit it’s only been two minutes since it’s been on, and no, I’m pretty sure the man isn’t dead, since the room hasn’t had time to heat up yet.”

“Are you going to kill him?”

“Nah, I’m going to teach the bugger not to mess with me. Then, I’ll take him to the ice planet of Volag Nok, so he can cool off in a nice, frigid jail cell.”

“Doctor, did you cover up his mouth?”

“Yes, once I calmed down enough to go back in the torture chamber and do that. I went into the other bedroom, cut some strips off the blanket on the bed, and then I bound and gagged him. I would have done it earlier except I was minutes away from cutting his head off, and I figured I had better get him knocked out and away from me before I did something I would regret. I also made sure to stuff an enormous wad of blanket in his mouth before tying the gag over it, so unless he can throw his voice, there is no danger of us being hypnotized by him.”

“And you’re just gonna leave him in there?”

The Doctor sighed.

“I really don’t care about him, Rose. Man tried to hypnotize me back in my fifth life, he’s threatened three of my companions, and in the space of a few hours, tried to broil me, drown me, poison me, slice my head off, skewer me, hang me, turn me into a pincushion, and knock me out. You can check on him, if you like, I’ll be sitting here playing his organ and enjoying a well-deserved rest.”

He smiled at her.

“By the way, what do you think of the mask? Is it me?”

“No.”

“Blast, and I thought it accentuated my eyes perfectly.”

Rose ignored that and moved past him. She grabbed the curtain, pulled it back, and gasped when she saw the enraged look on Erik’s face. Sweat was running down his head, and he was rubbing his cheek against the floor repeatedly. Rose figured he was trying to slip the gag off his mouth.

“Well, well, he’s sweating already.”

Rose looked over at the Doctor. He was sitting on the bench staring at him with barely contained glee. Rose walked over to him.

“Doctor, you can’t do this.”

“Rose, relax, I’m not gonna kill him. I’m just gonna make little wormy squirmy a bit before we haul his useless carcass back to the TARDIS.”

He took off the mask, set it on the bench beside him, and went over to stand beside Rose.

“It’s a good thing Rose is so sweet and caring towards others since I seriously doubt anyone else would give a damn about you,” he said to him, “I personally would prefer to sit at your organ and play to my hearts’ content while every drop of moisture is sweated out of your body, but I know that would upset Rose, and her feelings mean more to me than my desire for vengeance. So, Ackerbie, I will cut you a break, of sorts. I will spare you from dying in this hideous torture device and take you to Volag Nok instead.”

He leaned forward.

“I am giving you one last chance at mercy, Ackerbie, take it. And, if you ever show your ugly face around me again, I will make this little stint in the hall of mirrors look like a walk in the park. And, believe me, I mean every single word I say.”

He leaned back up, walked over to the door, and flipped the switch, turning off the heat. Using his screwdriver, he unlocked the door, walked in and grabbed Erik under his arms.

“On your feet!” he said, coldly.

Erik tried to wiggle free. He screamed through the gag when the Doctor jerked his arms upward.

“Don’t…try…my…patience,” he said, in a deadly tone of voice.

Erik stopped struggling.

“Very good, now…move!”

He shoved Erik’s back and walked with him while he went out of the torture chamber. Once they cleared the door, the Doctor grabbed his arm roughly, halting him. He looked at Rose.

“Rose, go in that bedroom over there, and you’ll find the dagger on the bed. Cut off another strip from the blanket that I can use as a blindfold.”

“Yes, Doctor.”

She ran into the bedroom while the Doctor smirked at Erik.

“Don’t want you to see my ship and get any more ideas about using her;” he said to him, “you’re in enough trouble as it is without adding TARDIS theft to your list of crimes.”

He smiled when Rose came back into the room carrying a long strip of cloth.

“Thank you, my Rose,” he said.

He put the cloth around his eyes and tied it tightly in the back.

“Not only that, but you also owe me a new outfit since I had to ruin this one escaping from your death traps,” he said.

He looked down at his tuxedo trousers.

“But, no tuxedos when you do get me something. I’m done with them.”

“Doctor, he has to unseal the doors,” Rose said.

“No, he doesn’t. I found the switch that moves the wall. It’s over there by his front door. The opening is back in the bedroom. And, that is where we’re going to go. Right up to the street and straight on to the TARDIS.”

He leaned into Erik’s ear.

“Then, after I have a rest, come back here and explain to the managers that the Opera House is Ghost free, it’ll be on to Volag Nok, and believe me, It’ll take a miracle for you to escape from that. Now, move along, little songbird, Rose and I are anxious to get back home.”

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