A Civic Duty — Catherine Miller

Extortion. Abduction. Murder. Themes not unknown within the pages of Gaston Leroux's original telling of The Phantom of the Opera. But what if the Ghost's eccentric haunting took place within the confines of the modern justice system? Christine Daae is a waitress struggling to make ends meet when a call to jury duty comes as a most inconvenient summons. Though reluctant to participate as income is sparse and shifts at the restaurant hard to come by, she is intrigued by the defendant; a badly deformed man accused of blackmail and homicide. Interaction between defendant and juror is prohibited, but when Christine shares the smallest of smiles with the accused she begins a series of events that place her in the center of conspiracy and danger. As evidence is presented and witnesses brought forth, Christine is distracted by unsettling events outside of the courthouse, as well as a growing suspicion that there is more to the case than first meets the eye. Though the world seems to begrudge his very existence, she begins to feel pity for the accused who is only a man, after all. A man named Erik."