Chapter Text
Grange Park Opera House, 1991, Britain
Myrtle Williams, age 17
I was sitting comfortably in the front row, waiting for the second act to come on. After being around 25 minutes late, the crowd began to mumble and whisper. Soon a young man wearing a sequined white tuxedo came to the stage. The crowd went quiet, however there was still a sense of restless tension throughout the theatre.
“Ladies and Gents,” He began. “We apologize for the delay, something has happened to our lovely leading lady Opal, however the show must go on despite her absence. Thankfully there such thing as an understudy!” He grinned cheerfully and curled his moustache, but there was something uncomfortable about him. Like he was nervous. “Opal’s understudy, Cassidy will take over the role from here. Do enjoy!” Despite the rest of the show being as entertaining as the first act, I could not shake the eerie feeling of something wrong. A gut feeling. And I think that plenty of the others were feeling similar- there was tension in the room and the occasional whisper.
My mother drove my sister and me home, and I didn’t give it a second thought… Until the morning. As always, I woke up at sunrise with my coffee and the paper and noticed a large title on the front page immediately. ‘Famous Opera singer Opal Delacroix’s suspected demise causes shock throughout community.’ Underneath this in slightly smaller writing, it read; ‘Fans are distressed, and police and Britain’s highest detective agency are looking into the case, after the mysterious loss of Opal last night in the Grange Park opera house – if any information that you think may be useful, please contact 999 for the police. See page 3 for interviews of the cast.’ I bit my lip and sighed, rereading the last sentence, and turned to page three.