6

Tapping her foot impatiently, Meg looked at her watch for what seemed like the fifth time in the past fifteen minutes.

"What on earth can be taking her so long?" she asked herself. She clutched her coat tighter as a brisk wind blew by.

"Excuse me, miss, but the library is closing soon. You might want to grab your friend," informed a lanky custodian.

"Thanks," she breathed as she turned and went through the sliding doors.

"Christine?" The name echoed against the huge cavern of a hall. The custodian had already turned most of the lights off, giving the library an eerie feeling.

"Christine? Where can she be?" Meg asked, walking quicker. She saw a bright light at the bottom of the stairs.

Shuffling through yellow stacks of parchment, Christine Daae pulled a strand of black hair out of the way as she searched for a decent song for auditions for the most elite group in New York City.

"Christine?"

"I'm down here, Meg!"

"It figures, she would be in the spookiest part of the building." Her timid footsteps echoed in the music hall.

"Christine! You've been here for over ten hours! Take a break!"

Christine sat back on her tattered heels, rubbed her pale face and sighed.

"I can't. Not until I find the perfect piece for auditions."

"Getting a part means a lot to you," Meg said softly, emerging from the shadows, kneeling down and touching her friend on the arm.

"It's my dream! I have to make it!" Christine said firmly, raising her hand to her forehead, trying to stop the beginnings of a headache.

"Let me help," Meg said as Christine bent over the stack again, taking a seat on the marble floor.

"Thank…Yes! This is it!" Christine cried, holding a shabby packet, with blood red letters inscribed on it.

"What is it?" Meg asked as she tried to read the title while Christine waved it around excitedly.

"A mysterious composer…Meg this is different!" Christine said dreamily, finally settling down.

Meg pried the manuscript from Christine's hands and leafed through it.

"Erik Barye… I think I've heard of him before…"

"You read about him when we had to sing the Requiem."

Meg gasped as she recalled what she had learned.

"Christine! This man committed mass murder!"

"He did it for love, Meg. This piece…Don Juan Triumphant…was written for his sweetheart."

Meg rubbed her temples as she tried to extract something else that she had read, something that was even more troubling than the mass murders.

"I remember that there was something said about his girlfriend, wait! She wasn't his girlfriend! He tried to kidnap her, no, he did, and she was never seen again!"

"Calm down Meg!" Christine said with a faraway look in her eyes, "I know the story and I think it's so sad."

Meg adjusted her spectacles, gave her friend a stern glance with her amber eyes. Her auburn hair stood on end, giving her the appearance of just seeing a ghost.

"Her name was Christine, and she disappeared when he sang this song on the stage with her, after killing the male lead and taking his place."

Meg opened Don Juan and pointed to a song.

"Shadows," Christine whispered, yanking the manuscript out of her friend's trembling hands

"Christine, he was barely known as a composer."

"All the more reason to sing it!" Christine said sharply, starting to hum the tune to herself.

"It is said that this performance was going to be Christine's last. She had made plans to escape with Raoul, a male suitor, to get away from Erik's clutches. Apparently, he found out somehow, made a pact with the devil to make beautiful music and keep his love. In return, the devil demanded his soul, and his face. I don't know the rest, Christine, but I don't think that you should sing it."

"You are so silly!" Christine remarked, throwing her arms into the air, "Honestly, if I had a nickel for every time you've said something superstitious, I would be a millionaire!"

Meg didn't look amused. Suddenly, a flash of lightening lit the dim Music Hall, followed by a deafening crash of thunder.

"Christine! Please, just," Meg sighed and crossed her arms over her chest, trying not to show that she was scared, but wanted desperately to get out of the dank corridors of the deserted Music Hall.

"Meg you silly goose, just go on up and meet me at the coffee shop. I'll be there once I pick up my mess here," Christine said impatiently.

"Ok," Meg said, satisfied, "Don't take too long now!"

Christine dismissed her with an agitated wave of her arm, picking up various pieces of music and putting them back into their respective designations. Finally finished with her task, she stood up, stretched her stiff muscles, dusted herself off and started to leave.

"You dork!" Christine said to herself, smacking herself in the forehead, "You've almost left without the very piece you've been worrying about!"

She walked across the room where she had set it down after Meg had left. In the eerie moonlight, the red letters and notes jumped out at her, begging to be read.

"I suppose I could browse through it, in case it's not really what I wanted," Christine told herself, a sly smile creeping across her face.

Walking close to the window for light, she turned to Shadows and started to hum the tune.

"You're going to be my lifesaver, Erik Bayre," she whispered softly, reverently kissing the page.

"At least I can be your lifesaver," a distant, husky voice replied.

Christine jumped, looked around, but saw nothing. Deeming it a result from lack of sleep, she walked towards the green Exit sign, still humming the tune.

"I wonder if the story is true?" she questioned suddenly, stopping dead in her tracks as she heard a rustling behind her.

"Christine! Are you coming?"

Christine jumped, then giggled to herself,

"I'm getting just as bad as her!"

She called out that she had some more papers to put away, not knowing what possessed her to tell such a lie. Maybe this composer is getting to me, she thought to herself as she started to close the packet.

"Sing for me."

She looked around, but didn't see anything except the flashes of lightening and the dull flicker of the streetlamps.

"Give me my pride and sing for me, Christine."

Against her will, she found her finger point to the beginning of Shadows and from the depths of her very soul, came a voice so exquisite that she couldn't believe that it was her own.

"Shadows You tremble, you quake,

Don't be afraid, your lover will not hurt you…"

She couldn't stop. Eyes wide open; she began to feel lightheaded as various shapes swam in her vision.

"Shadows. Don't hide, I will find you.

Give yourself to Don Juan, He will be Triumphant once again."

Legs trembling like Jell-O, she fell to the floor, clutching her head as a man's horribly deformed face, fire bursting out of the empty sockets.

"Come back Christine. It is time for you to come to your Erik."

The husky voice continued the song while in the background screams echoed as visions of shattered mirrors, blood, skinned bodies, singers in old costumes, until finally she fainted, with the voice's last words echoing in her confused mind,

"Welcome Christine. I knew you'd return."