The Phantom Diaries

by Kailin Gow

  Kristine, stop this! Don’t hurt Chace.

  My heart broke for Chace. His face red and his fists white, he stormed out and slammed the door behind him.

  No! I wailed. I’m so sorry Chace.

  Kristine – how dare you hurt sweet Chace!

  “I didn’t hurt him,” Kristine murmured to me. “You did it all by yourself. Let him go.”

  “What?” Aaron asked. The loud slam of the door and Kristine’s murmuring brought Aaron out of Kristine’s seductive spell. Aaron straightened up. “As delicious as this is, Annette dear, we have people waiting for us.”

  “I’m the star, my dear Aragon. They’ll wait.”

  He pulled away and regained his composure. “I know you’re the star, darling. And as much as I enjoy this other side of you, the press, the public, the world is in love with the demure and innocent Annette they’ve always seen.” He pulled close, “As am I. I will always love my sweet Annette.”

  Love? My head reeled and my heart skipped a beat. Did Aaron just said he loved me? What timing that he had to tell me now when I can’t even control my body and speech!

  Kristine’s triumph turned to fury again. “That’s nonsense.”

  Aaron grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet. He gave me a final, deep kiss and released me. “Annette, that’s one part of you I don’t ever want you to lose. Now, put something on before I completely lose control,” he smiled.

  He walked out giving Kristine no choice but to comply. She perused my wardrobe and picked out one of the raciest, most daring gowns.

  “You know that young Chace fellow is rather attractive, in a nubile sort of way. Perhaps later we could…”

  Leave Chace out of this.

  “Ah, are we worried about the poor fellow? He’s just a boy, Annette. He’ll get over his broken heart and marry some nice little woman who’ll make him marginally happy.”

  As we stepped into the clingy garment, she eyed our reflection carefully.

  “You know,” she said with disappointment. “As amusing as it was seeing the heartache on that young man’s face, the intended victim here was Eric.”

  Eric? I was stunned. Kristine, not Eric. He’s suffered enough.

  She flashed a brilliant smile as she pulled up a shoulder strap. “Yes, for Eric to see his beloved Annette all cuddled up in the arms of an Aragon. How fitting.”

  With the second strap in place, she examined the reflection.

  The dress left little to the imagination, and I wondered how it could’ve gotten into my wardrobe. Then I remembered it was a dress left by Marie who wanted me to loosen and expand it by a few dress sizes. Mortified by what I saw, I tried to imagine what the press would have to say about this. I’d never paraded myself in such a revealing garment.

  “We’re going to show them what an opera diva is, my dear.”

  Don’t play with my public, Kristine.

  “Don’t worry. They’ll be putty in my hands.” She opened the door.

  “Hmm,” Aaron mused. His eyes drank in the vision of my body so artfully exposed. “Interesting choice. I must say you are tempting me more and more with every minute, Annette, but are you sure this is what you want to wear for the public to see?”

  Kristine answered back curtly. “Aragon, why are you such a prude? You are not at all like Ru…ah…what I expected.”

  Aaron’s eyebrows lifted. “Annette, I’ve had my share of ladies because of who I am, and believe me, I am not a prude.” Aaron lowered his eyes. “You’re special, Annette, you’re not someone men can just have their way with and toss aside.” He placed gentle fingers on my face, as I looked up into his eyes. “Remember that, Annette. You’re untouchable. Like an angel. Believe me, I want to ravish you, take you into my arms and make…” he stopped and took a breath. “Come on, we have the press waiting, and I don’t want to keep them any further.” Aaron escorted us to the line up of photographers and columnist eager to get a word on my first night back. Just as we arrived, Kristine slipped under his jacket, around his waist and down to grab his buttock.

  “An angel?” Kristine mused. “Before you know it, Aragon, I’ll change your mind forever on how angelic you and everyone think sweet Annette is.”

  “Play it sweet, my dear,” he said, gritting his teeth. “Let’s do this quickly and then we can find some time to ourselves.” He took both my hands in his and presented me to the masses.

  Kristine smiled, waved, turned and winked back at the crowd. She played them to the hilt, wooing them, charming them and seducing them.

  “You seem like a new woman, Annette,” one reporter asked. “What’s brought on this change?”

  “Success,” Kristine declared. “The sweet, avenging taste of success.”

  “How was your trip back home?”

  “Oh, precious, let’s not waste time with that. I’m here now and that’s all that matters.”

  “Are you and Mr. Aragon involved?”

  I recognized the woman as a reporter who wrote for a trashy paper. She’d been hounding me for a scoop since opening night. I dreaded Kristine’s response to her question.

  “Mr. Aragon,” Kristine said in clear and deliberate syllables. She reached out for him and brought him closer. “Look at that angelic face. How can a young woman like myself resist the allure and charm of such a worldly man?”

  “Are you happy to be back at the Met?”

  “Delirious,” she crooned.

  “Please, do excuse us,” Aaron said once a satisfactory number of photos had been snapped. “We do have to run along.”

  He scurried us off to the back exit. “I’ll call to ditch Mr. and Mrs. Wainwright. I don’t think tonight’s a good night for you to meet them. How about we have a quiet dinner alone? Choose the restaurant of your liking.”

  “Why bother with a restaurant? They’re so noisy and crowded and –” She leaned in close to his ear. “ – public.”

  “Well now, what did you have in mind?”

  “A cozy and intimate dinner at my apartment. Wouldn’t that be more pleasing? No interruptions. No gawkers. Just me and you.” Kristine was back to her seduction.

  “Excellent, Annette.” He clasped my hands in his and gazed into my eyes. “I am baffled and thrilled by this change in you, Annette. I look at you and still see the innocent girl, but now I see an Annette who is not afraid. I see an Annette who is not just passionate in her music, but in her life. Is it because of all this success, really?”

  Aaron, it is Kristine, but maybe it is also a part of me that Kristine is unleashing. I don’t know. I’m so confused!

  Aaron looked a little wistful. “I supposed I helped turned you into this opera diva I see tonight. You’re now this woman who can see the man I am, and not just your manager.”

  “Yes, Aragon. I have a very deep sense of the man you are. More than you can imagine. Take me home and I’ll touch you so deep within your soul, you’ll never forget the time you spent with Kr… Annette.”

  Aaron gripped my hand. “It’s what I want, Annette. I want you to finally see beyond our friendship and my ridiculous role as your “employer” and see me as just a man, a man who wants more of you, more than friendship, Annette.”

  Kristine laughed. “Oh, I do, Aragon. I do see you as just a man.” We crossed the street to my building and held each other all the way up in the elevator while Kristine planted kisses along Aaron’s throat and face.

  Her throaty giggle had Mrs. Weinstein from down the hall opening her door to investigate. With a look of disdain, she quickly slammed her door shut.

  Great, now alienate my neighbors.

  So horrified with what Kristine had in store for Aaron, I missed seeing that the door wasn’t lock when Kristine opened it. Why wasn’t it locked?

  We stepped into my apartment and Kristine kicked the door shut. Before she could reach for the light switch, Aaron was pulled away and a second later the loud crash of splintering wood was followed by a disgusting thud that echoed in my living room.


  She finally flicked the switch revealing Aaron lying flat on his face, a small trickle of blood lining his forehead.

  Oh no, Aaron! Why was Chace in my apartment in the dark? Chace, have you lost it? Oh Chace, no. You look horrible, and your violin. I’m so sorry!

  Chace stood there with a destroyed violin in his hands. “Leaving the key under the doormat, Annette?” he said with an odd note of cruelty. “Haven’t you learned anything since you’ve been in New York? Anyone can get in.”

  No, Chace! I want everything to be the way it was between us. Not this!

  My heart was breaking. I was aghast, though I had no doubt Kristine hid it well. Back home we’d always left the key under the mat.

  “How can someone so naïve end up acting like such a tramp? I thought we have something Annette…” His eyes held a depth of rage with an ounce of fear and sadness.

  I never wanted to hurt you, Chace.

  He stepped towards us and I was surprised when Kristine stepped back. Was she beginning to regret her deceptive game?

  Chace would never hurt me.

  “I guess now I’ll be able to play with the same passion, heartache and sense of betrayal with which you sing every night, Annette.” He winced and pinched between his eyes with his index and thumb. I can see his eyes glisten with unshed tears.

  I wanted to weep for him; to reach out and explain everything that had happened.

  “Well, well,” Kristine muttered. “If Eric can’t come in here and take care of Aragon like he should, perhaps this boy can.”

  Chace looked at us strangely, but the rage still played in his eyes.

  “You’re smarter than you look, Annette,” she said under her breath. “Having a back up for Eric is something I’d not even considered.”

  “Chace, my darling,” she said in a loud and clear voice. “What chance to have you here.”

  Chace looked bewildered as he tried to make sense of Kristine’s new tactic.

  “Aragon is possessed; obsessed. I had to play along.” She stepped forward and brought my hand to his cheek. “My dear Chace. So resilient. So strong. So reliable. We do share something, Chace. You’re the one I want.”

  “I’d do anything for you, Annette.” He pulled me into his arms. Then he said softly, “I don’t want to lose you. It’ll drive me crazy.”

  “I know that, my darling.” Kristine brought my lips over Chace’s and within seconds his arms were wrapped around my shoulder, holding me tight while his lips, his tongue, his teeth devoured me.

  “Oh, Annette,” he said between hurried kisses. “Why did I wait so long? I thought you wanted to go slow. I thought you wanted me to give you time. And now… look at you. Then you left and I thought I lost you. Seeing you in another man’s arms…” He plunged his tongue into my mouth and squeezed me to his chest, lifting me off my feet to carry me to my bed.

  He released me and I bounced on the mattress before he leaned in to peel the clingy dress off my body. His eyes widened as he licked his lips. “The thought of Aragon’s hands on you, Annette.” He put his hands to my neck and slowly let them work their way down, over my breasts, my belly and the edge of my panties.

  “I want you, Chace.” Kristine said seductively. My hands clawed at his shirt.

  Not now! I shouted. Not with Kristine. This isn’t me, Chace. I don’t want you to make love to me when you’re like this!

  “Oh Annette,” he said, caught up in Kristine’s seductive spell. He got off the bed to stand but fell backwards onto the floor. Unconscious, he just lay there.

  A large figure I recognized stood over Chace. Eric.

  My heart leaped. Eric! No Eric, this is a trap.

  “Annette,” he said. “Are you alright? I was at the press conference and you were not quite yourself so I followed you and Aragon…”

  “Eric,” Kristine chimed. “What took you so long?”

  His eyes played over my body; while Kristine had my fingers ran along a bra strap seductively, eyes lowered, trained on his eyes.

  “I’ve longed to see you again, mon amour.”

  Startled, he took a step back and stared at me, and for a moment I held the hope that he would know what Kristine was up to.

  “Kristine,” he said.

  Yes!

  “Dommage,” she purred. “I’d hope to play this game a little longer. Don’t I work Annette well?”

  “Annette would not yet use such an intimate term of endearment,” he said. “Mon amour.”

  “Ah, oui,” she conceded. “Old habits die hard, my love.”

  She rolled me off the bed, slowly, seductively, assuring all my curves were displayed to Eric. With sultry motions I didn’t even think my body was capable of, she brought me to stand before Eric. My hand went up to his smooth face. “How lovely. The scars are all gone. Time has played well with your face, mon amour. I assume this is all the work of that witch, Helen.”

  Disgust plainly took over his features as he grabbed my hand and pulled it away from his face, but just as quickly, he gazed down at my hand, my fingers squeezed painfully together in his and realized the fingers were still mine and not Kristine’s.

  I saw the apology in his eyes and wondered if he knew I was still in here. Could he see that I was trapped? Did he know the game Kristine was playing?

  “Surely you did not travel all this way, all this time simply to seduce me once again, Kristine,” he spat.

  The laugh that emerged was bereft of amusement and filled with anger.

  “What have you done with her?”

  Kristine stepped up close to Eric and traced her finger over his lips like a gentle kiss, all the while keeping my eyes on him. I saw the hunger in his eyes and wondered if he was going to fall for Kristine.

  Don’t Eric. Not now. Not like this.

  “Why, my love, she’s right here,” Kristine said. She reached behind my back and set her fingers on the clasp of my bra.

  No!

  “Don’t you recognize your beloved little innocent?”

  Eric reached out to stop her and I felt her anger and disappointment sear through my body.

  “Honestly, Eric. I thought you were more man than that. The Eric I remember would not have wasted so much time playing with a… a….” She grimaced and finally spat the word out. “Virgin.”

  Kristine led my hands up his chest, fingering the hard planes of his muscles. Though his fingers still gripped around my arms, he did nothing to stop my touch.

  “You’re worldly enough to know what a bore a virgin can be, mon amour. They know nothing of passion. Nothing of the games men like you loved to play. Remember how we would spend hours, days even wrapped in each other’s arms? They were days of such happiness, were they not?”

  Then Kristine directed these words to me. “Stop being in such a tiff. Eric loves this side of you. He cannot resist.” She then leaned in closer to him and I saw the arousal in his every feature. His eyes narrowed hungrily. His jaw tightened in anticipation. And his lips… they parted, softened and waited.

  The fingers that had held my arms so roughly now relaxed and trailed up to my shoulders.

  I could feel Kristine’s victorious elation. She was winning and there was nothing I could do to stop her. She moved closer and my lips were barely an inch from his. My heart rate jump; whether from her excitement or my disappointment, I couldn’t tell.

  Just before my mouth could cover his, his lips curled into a knowing smile. “Annette will never be like you, Kristine.” He pulled away and stepped back.

  I felt her murderous rage. She was angry to the point of madness and for a moment I thought she would tear everything within reach to shreds.

  “My control of her is complete, Eric. And the more time I spend in her body, the more permanent the situation becomes. Before long she’ll have disappeared forever…” she stopped.

  No! Forever? Eric please help me! I wailed. Kristine can’t go on hurting, destroying people and turning me into something I’m not!”

  Kristi
ne answered me, “But you are me, Annette. And I am you.” She turned her full attention to Eric. “Soon, mon amour… soon my way of moving her, of speaking her and of being her is slowly going to kill her.”

  She took an arrogant step towards him and held out her hand. “Come, Eric. Come kiss your sweet Annette goodbye while you still can. She’s fighting me now, but soon, her body, her voice, her identity, and her life would be mine to do with it as I wish.”

  Eric, I shouted, fighting to break free of Kristine from within. Eric! Only you know of Kristine. Only you know how she has come back! Please Eric, as long as I’m alive, I will fight her, but I need you to help me! Please!

  Epilogue

  Eric’s Diary

  Décembre 22 2009

  Mon journal,

  It is hard to believe and virtually impossible to comprehend what Kristine has done to Annette. I only have myself to blame. How greatly I underestimated Kristine and her desire for revenge. She’ll never stop, and with her in control of Annette’s body, I don’t know how to keep her from ruining Annette.

  So many men here desire her; Aaron Aragon among them. There’s no telling what Kristine will do, but there’s no doubt it would leave Annette’s body and reputation in ruins.

  As difficult as it is to admit, I, myself, find that I am strongly attracted to the sensual creature before me. Remnants of my love for Kristine still remain, despite the obvious witch she’s become. My heart still sees the young woman who had such raw talent on the stage and such wild abandonment in my bed; the woman who took me from my lowest low and gave me something to look forward to everyday. I remembered and longed for the days when she and I would hold each other in our arms, feeling love and happiness in each other’s embrace. But that all changed.

  And Annette. There’s no denying the depth of emotions I feel for her. Seeing her now, caged within the wickedness that is Kristine’s essence, I feel impotent. But I know this…I was determined now more than ever to not let Kristine destroy Annette’s life as she had done to mine.