It was a week before the new holiday of Halloween and even during rehearsals the Opera was buzzing. Decorations were being hung to give the opera an even eerier atmosphere than it already had. The stage hands of course were having the time of their lives, the ballerinas were always scared easily but with the creepy decorations lying around they were practically screaming every three minutes.
The only two that weren't were Meg Giry and Christine Daae. Meg seemed to have a love for all things dark and scary while Christine… well, nobody knew why Christine wasn't jumping out of her skin when the stage hands would hang a bat from the rafters and try to scare her. She would just laugh and smile, or something else completely out of the ordinary. When someone blatantly asked her all she said was that an angel was watching over her and wouldn't let anything hurt her, so fright was pointless.
Mr. Lefèvre was doing his rounds and checking the preparations for the Halloween ball. Bowls of candy would be placed in the foyer for the kids that would be trick or treating and the ballroom would be completely clad in black and orange. Everything seemed to be going as planned. The Opera Ghost was taken care of for the month and he hadn't heard from him so he must be pleased with the progress that was being made. Mr. Lefèvre was looking forward to this ball, it would be his last as the owner but nobody knew that besides him, he just hoped that everyone else was as excited about the ball as he was.
Christine walked into the ballerina dormitory after a long day of rehearsal and collapsed on her bed followed by Meg. The other ballerinas had already changed and left to get supper. Christine sighed and said, "Meg, do you know what you are going to dress up as for Halloween? Between rehearsals and extra practice to keep up I haven't had time to pick mine." Meg began giggling and sat up from the bed then said, "For Halloween people have been telling me to dress up as the scariest thing I can think of, so naturally I'm dressing up as Carlotta." "Meg," Christine said shocked "don't you think that's a bit rude?" "No," Meg said with a straight face "not at all; I just hope nobody steals my idea." "There's only one thing that scares me," Christine said as she stood up and walked to the mirror "but I have no idea how to make a costume out of it."
"Christine," Meg said as she looked at her friend's reflection and smiled devilishly "I know your fear and I already have the perfect dress idea." Christine grimaced and said; "Now Meg, nothing too horrible please." "Christine," Meg said feigning shock "me, horrible? How could you think such a thing, I would never make you look 'too horrible' now would I?" Meg grabbed Christine's shoulders and ushered her out the door as Christine covered her eyes and said, "I am going to regret this aren't I?" "It's me Christine," Meg said "of course you will, but you will look absolutely gorgeous while you do."
Erik watched as the Giry girl pushed Christine out of the room to go dress shopping. So, Christine has a fear? As he wondered what it could be another thought struck him, Halloween is on a Monday. That was the one day a week Christine had an extra hour of singing lessons. He had an extra hour with Christine and it was a holiday, so he decided he would do something special. Erik looked at his pocket watch and quickly walked back to his underground home to begin preparations.
(One Week Later)
Christine looked at the dress Meg picked out laying on her bed still untouched. The ball and trick or treating began in less than an hour, but that wasn't the cause of her trepidation. Her angel had asked her to come to a different room tonight for singing lessons, the room was on the third floor and nobody ever ventured up there except when the theatre was in the makings of a big production and were in need of extra dormitories.
Christine was grateful that Mr. Lefèvre had cancelled practice for today; she had been focusing on her angel so much she couldn't possibly dance at the same time. Deciding that she shouldn't be late she finally picked up the dress and put it on, constantly looking at her reflection in the mirror not believing what she looked like. The dress hung perfectly on her small frame and the white powder gave her the ghostly appearance she was hoping for.
Just as Christine was finished there was a knock on the door and Meg shrieking in a shrill voice, "Hurry up, hurry up, I haven't got all day to wait on the likes of you."
When Christine saw Meg she had to cover her mouth to stifle a laugh. Meg had a red wig on that matched Carlotta's hair perfectly, she was wearing a hot pink dress that absolutely screamed Carlotta's taste, and she could pull off the accent without even trying.
"So," Meg said twirling in place "what do you think; how do I look?"
"Meg, if I didn't know any better I'd say you were Carlotta." Christine said giggling. At the same time Meg seemed to notice Christine's appearance and gaped.
"Christine even dressed like that you look beautiful." Christine smiled and looked down as she blushed and muttered a quick 'Thank you'. "Well come on," Meg said grabbing Christine's hand "I know I only have an hour with you before you will mysteriously vanish so… move, move, move!" Meg said these last words in Carlotta's shrill voice causing Christine to giggle.
(One Hour Later)
Christine had successfully gotten away from Meg and was heading for the third floor. As she knocked on the door her angel had just put on the finishing touches to his surprise.
When Erik opened the door his breath caught, Christine looked… stunning. Christine had a faint white powder on to give her already pale complexion a deathly pale one, and some of the powder was wiped away from her eyes to give the allusion she had been crying. Her dress was what caught his attention though; it looked like a wedding dress. The color was a faint off-white, with a visible corset in the front, the sleeves came just to the edge of her shoulders, and the whole dress was a type of sheer with pearl bobbles hanging off of it like beading. In the center of the neck cut was a small arrangement of un-bloomed Mayflowers. She had a small veil on her head that didn't seem to accent her curls right, it needed to be much longer, but it made her look beautiful none the less.
When Christine entered the room she couldn't suppress a smile at seeing her angel, she decided she would tease him a bit. Keeping a straight face she asked, "Angel have you forgotten something?"
At first Erik was confused then realized she was speaking of his costume. "I am the headless horseman, my dear." He said gesturing to himself.
"Oh," Christine said "it is a very good costume."
"Thank you." Erik said curtly. His costume served two purposes, the first was just the costume itself, and the second was to hide his face. 'Out of sight and out of mind' giving Christine no chances to remove his mask. Securing his cape above his head once more Erik ushered Christine further into the room and said, "I thought tonight we would skip lessons and celebrate the holiday."
When Erik moved the dressing screen Christine gasped, and even though she couldn't see it she could feel Erik smile. Behind the dressing screen there was a small table with dinner prepared for Christine. The only lighting was from six pumpkins that had been hollowed out with designs on the front. The first was a maple leaf, the second was a scale of music notes, the third a bat, the fourth a rose bud, the fifth was a face with an evil curly smile, and the sixth, which was definitely Christine's favorite, was modeled after Erik's mask.
Christine sat down next to the mask pumpkin and said, "This is beautiful, did you make all of these by yourself?"
"Yes," Erik said as he took the seat across from Christine "you seem to like that one I see."
"Yes, I do." Christine said as she began to eat. Erik would ask her about her day and how she liked going out with Meg on her days off while she ate, he himself not intending to remove his costume to eat. When Christine was finished with her meal she looked at her angel and began to smile a bright and dazzling smile that Erik couldn't ignore.
"What is it Christine?" he asked a smile coming to his face as well.
"This is the sweetest thing anybody has ever done for me, and even though you couldn't join me and am so happy to be here, with you." Erik's heart melted at that but he wouldn't let it show.
"I thought my costume would frighten you, with me being headless."
"It did startle me at first," Christine admitted "but that is the point of Halloween, to be scary. Meg was so committed that she dressed as Carlotta." Erik began laughing remembering the screeching the Giry girl had imitated to perfection. Christine began to giggle as well and by the time they were done Christine had tears in her eyes and Erik's side hurt.
"Christine," Erik said after a moment of silence "what is your costume, if you don't mind my asking? You look beautiful and I couldn't imagine who would be scared of such beauty."
Christine blushed at the compliment then said in a low whisper, "I am a corpse bride."
"A what?" Erik asked confused.
"A corpse bride," Christine repeated. "The thing that scares me the most is death… and nothing would be worse than dying before my time. There are so many things I want to do before I die, get married, have children, and maybe see my grandchildren. I dressed as a corpse bride, a girl who died before she could walk down the aisle."
Erik was speechless, that was incredibly thought out and it showed her innocence and the hurt she still carried over her deceased parents.
"Thank you though." Christine whispered.
"For what?" Erik asked as he shook himself out of his thoughts.
"For saying I was beautiful." Christine said as she began to fish something out of her bag.
"Christine," Erik said "you're so beautiful there is no doubt that one day you will be a bride… a living bride." As Erik said this he considered the possibility of Christine being his living bride.
Christine smiled then reached for Erik's hand and placed a piece of candy in his palm, closing his fingers tightly around it. "What is this?" he asked staring at the piece of candy.
"Trick or treat." Christine said. Erik chuckled and the clock in the room sounded five minutes till midnight.
An eerie silence filled the room before Christine finally stood and said, "I should go. Thank you, Angel, for sharing this magical night with me."
"Wait, Christine." Erik said before he could bite his tongue. He didn't want her to go just yet but didn't know what he would possibly say… his mind was blank.
"What is it Angel?" Christine asked since he stood there silent as the grave, with no intended movements.
Erik took a deep breath then said, "Trick or treat… close your eyes." Christine did as she was told and held out her hand.
Without pause, for fear of losing his bravado, Erik pulled his cape away from his face then stepped forward taking Christine's hand in his and kissed her lightly on the lips. She was shocked at first but she didn't pull away.
When they pulled apart Christine looked down with a blush and Erik whispered, "Happy Halloween Christine." Christine looked up to return the phrase but her angel was gone and all of the candles were out. The clock chimed midnight, and Christine left to find Meg walking through the corridors searching for her.
"Christine," Meg exclaimed running toward her "mother says for all ballerinas and chorus girls to be in bed in five minutes. She says we still have to perform Hannibal Friday so we will be practicing longer and harder than ever tomorrow to make up for getting off today. It was worth it though. Did you have a good Halloween Christine…Christine…?" Meg shook Christine out of her day dreaming and right before she could answer another voice softly sang the name "Christine… "
Christine smiled then said, "I had a wonderful time, I think Halloween is my new favorite holiday."
"Mine too!" Meg said "I just loved your costume; It's too bad though that nobody was here to kiss the bride. Well goodnight Christine."
"Goodnight Meg." Christine said as Meg left the room. Christine touched her lips and muttered, "To kiss the bride, maybe… someone already has."
The End! 8D here...