Chapter 1- Memories Stir

Christine glanced at herself quickly in the full length mirror before approving her new black, silk dress she dawned. She hurriedly grabbed her purse off the chair in her room and rushed down the stairs.

"Bye Mum! Bye Dad!" Christine called, snatching her car keys from the kitchen counter.

"Bye sweetheart, have fun at the concert," her parents called back as Christine was going out the garage door.

Christine had bough ticket for her boyfriend, Matt, of one year, to his favorite band. Personally, she despised the music, but she thought she'd spend some time with him before school started back up again.

Christine was 19 and planning on taking some courses on literature and music theory at a local community college near her home. And rather then pay for her own apartment, her parents agreed to have her live at home until school was done.

Christine came to a stop in front of Matt's house, where he too lived with his parents, and jumped excitingly from the car. Not bothering to knock as she'd done countless times before, she burst through their front door but came to a complete halt as the sight that befell upon her eyes.

Matt's father, Dave, loomed over Matt himself who was doubled over on the ground. Dave also had a fistful of Matt's hair and was screaming at him, red-faced. Matt appeared to have a black eye and other such marks on his face.

Though as Christine entered the scene in a daze, the violence quickly stopped and Dave hurriedly abandoned his son.

"Christine, get out of here now," Matt said in a dangerously low voice.

Hand over her mouth, Christine took a few steps further towards him.

"Matt…what…how…are you…?"

Although she never finished her sentence since Matt found the strength to grab Christine forcefully by the wrist and drag her outside.

"Oh my gosh, Matt." Christine touched his cheek. "What….what happened? I don't know how long this has been going on but we've got to get you away from him. Come, I'll take you to my house. I'm sure my parents will help…"

"CHRISTINE! Will you shut up?" Matt yelled, and slapped her.

Christine paled considerably as her hand moved to cover her red cheek.

"Matt, I'm just trying to…" But Christine was once again cut off as another blow was issued to her face. This time, however, Christine let out a small whimper and fell backwards, hitting her head on the brick of the house.

"I warned you to stop talking!" Matt's voice rose, as did his anger. With a howl of frustration, he kicked Christine in the side, causing her to shriek as tears streamed down her face.

Matt then bent over, making as if to kiss her, but instead reached for her car keys she had dropped and headed for her car. Too stunned and in pain to protest, Christine merely lay there, limply, as he sped off. After what seemed like hours of tears and gasping for breath, Christine mustered enough energy to stand, ignoring how her muscles seemed to cry in pain. She needed to get home, but knew she couldn't in her condition. She reached for her cell phone and dialed her home number- no answer.

Then she tried her best friend, Meg.

"Hello?" Meg's cheerful voice came on.

"Oh Meg, thank God you're home. Please come pick me up. I'm at Matt's house," Christine's hoarse voice managed to get out.

Hearing the urgency in her best friend's voice, Meg hurriedly got in to her car. "Christine, are you ok? You sound horrible."

"I'll be fine, just hurry."

"I'm in the car now. See in a few minutes."

"Thank you, bye." Christine sat down, leaning against the house, fearful.

The drive to Christine's house was silent. Meg knew she didn't want to talk about whatever happened. Meg understood this and would respect her privacy- for now, anyway.

As they pulled onto Christine's street, they could see flashing police lights up ahead. Christine jumped out of the car, realizing quickly the lights were in front of her house. She ran up to the nearest police officer, Meg at her heels.

"What's going on?" Christine asked, worried.

"Christine Daae?" the officer asked.

"Yes, what's wrong?' Christine was frustrated now.

"I'm afraid there's been an accident. It's your parents. They were hit by a drunken man driving an 18-wheeler. Your father was killed instantly and your mum died on the way to the hospital. I'm terribly sorry." The officer finished, so much emotion showing in his blue eyes.

"No…" Christine began backing up. Suddenly, she tore off down the street. Meg ran after her.

Christine! Christine, stop!"

Meg caught up to her just as Christine fell down on her knees, gasping. Meg bent next to her, arms around her, crying also. She knew there were no words she could possibly say to make the situation better. So the two friends simply sat there, arms around each other, consumed by their grief.

Then Christine's vision began to blur.

"No," Christine exclaimed, fighting consciousness. "No! No! No!"


Christine sat up straight, sweat on her forehead, as she lifted her hear from the desk. Her breath was coming shortly and tears were dripping from her chin. The telephone rang, causing Christine to jump in alarm. She picked it up, quickly wiping away her tears.

"Hey Christine, how's it going?"

She breathed a sigh of relief. It was only Meg.


A/N: Hey everyone! This is my first fanfic, but I'm definetly not new to the site. I'd really appreciate your reviews, whether they be flames or not, I like the criticism. I know there's a lot of info in this chapter but I wanted to get Christine's past out quickly rather than make it a big secret. So let me know what you thing and I'll try to update by Thursday since I'm about to leave on vacation. Review, please!

You're humble servant,

Greek-Phantomphan