PART 4 – REHEARSALS

The day's rehearsal was not going well for Christine. She just couldn't concentrate, her mind was firmly fixed on the voice that she had heard last night. Just one sentence had been uttered but in that one sentence, every one of Christine's fears had been confirmed. She had not been dreaming the voice that had called her name so often in the night, she had not imagined that voice singing softly to her as she had drifted into sleep so many nights.

But why? Why was this voice tormenting her? She was an 11 year old girl, so why was this….this thing choosing to haunt her mind. There were many other girls that shared dormitories in the Opera Populaire and not one of them had ever complained of hearing voices in the night.

Unless they were keeping silent about it.

This thought seemed logical. After all, just like she had feared, any other of the ballerinas would fear the same disbelief that would have been imposed on them had they shared the secret.

Christine looked about her at each of the ballerinas around her. None of them looked tormented as she did. She watched Meg as her movements elegantly seemed to flow to the music. Beside her, Christine watched Emilie who, as always looked deep in concentration. Emilie was a sweet girl who often struggled with various movements. She would always persevere though until she had them exactly up to Madame Giry's standards, which were always high. Christine's eyes then landed on Shantelle the prima ballerina, who was, as ever exact in every single movement, but with a look of sheer self adoration in her face. She and her closest friends Nicolette and Elita all had the same attitude and Christine had never had much involvement with these three girls. They, unlike many of the ballerinas did not reside at the Opera Populaire but lived with their well to do families in luxurious villas just outside Paris and seemed to think that they were a cut above everybody else. They were all also older than most of the ballerinas at 16 and treated the younger girls as if they were insignificant. Thankfully, whenever Madame Giry was around, she had made sure that these attitudes were forgotten but as soon as she had turned her back then they would go back to their normal, ghastly selves. Shantelle, being the Prima Donna was by far, the worst and most arrogant of the three.

Concluding that none of the girls seemed to look as she did, tired and tormented, Christine tried to draw her attention back to the rehearsal. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Madame Giry shaking her head at her, obviously aware of her lack of concentration.

"Enough!" Madame Giry gestured at Reyer who immediately silenced the orchestra "We will take a short rest."

Madame Giry walked purposefully up to Christine and whispered

"Christine, please use this time to gather your thoughts" Desperately, Madame Giry tried to think of something to say to put Christine's mind at rest.

"I know you had a scare last night but it was nothing to worry about and certainly not worth affecting your rehearsals over. Nothing to worry about Christine"

Reluctantly, Christine nodded and watched as Madame Giry went to discuss the ballet with Reyer.

How could there be nothing to worry about when you were hearing voices calling out to you? Either she was going completely mad, or some spirit was haunting her and Christine dreaded either being true.

"Oh Christine, please tell me what's wrong" Meg walked up to her and stroked the side of her face "You look so pale and tired and your dancing is all over the place today"

"I…….I couldn't sleep last night, that's all" Christine tried to force a smile

"Is that all that is troubling you?" Meg frowned.

Christine desperately wanted to share her torment with someone, if only just to see if they had experienced the same horror.

"Meg…." Christine hesitated "Do you ever hear anything strange in the night?"

"Well, Emilie tends to snore a lot" Meg giggled as she glanced at Emilie who was frantically practising a dance movement she had particular difficulty with.

"No not that kind of noise" Christine whispered "A voice. I think I heard a voice in the night Meg. I…."

"You heard a voice?" Meg squealed in horror

Christine stared in horror as Shantelle, Elita and Nicolette approached them. Shantelle, was laughing sarcastically.

"So Christine has been hearing voices?" She placed a soft finger on christine's face and roughly slid it down her nose "Was it a growly kind of voice or a scary, monster type of voice?"

"Christine, she asked you a question" Elita glared at Christine "Have you been hearing monsters in your head?"

Elita fell against Shantelle in laughter.

"I always thought she was odd" Nicolette joined in "Her dancing has been dreadful today, I don't know why she bothers"

"Leave her alone. She is just tired" Meg defended her

"Yes, stop harassing her" Emilie, concerned for Chsirtine, joined the group and handed Christine a glass of water "She doesn't look well"

Scoffing at Christine's expense, the three ballerina's walked away from them and went to talk on the other side of the stage, occasionally giggling and glancing back over at Christine.

"Ignore them" Meg sighed at Christine's pained expression "You just had a restless night that's all. The voices you heard were probably in your dreams"

"Yes" Christine was now quick to dismiss the whole thing "Of course you are right Meg, I am just tired"

"Those three just get joy out of tormenting the younger ballerinas" Emilie smiled "But they might have riches and age on their side but you have true beauty Christine. They are just jealous"

"Oh please" Christine smiled slightly "You don't have to flatter me, I will be fine"

As Madame Giry called the girls back to rehearse, Christine wished that what she had said was true. She didn't feel fine at all, and was well aware that her dancing was well below Madame Giry's standards today.

Slightly behind the others in the movements, Christine manically tried to catch up and get back into the rhythm.

"Christine, you are a few steps behind everyone else" Madame Giry was frantically waving her cane to emphasis the rhythm and as Christine, quickly swung around to catch up to the steps, she bumped into Shantelle and sent her tumbling to the floor.

"Ooow!" Shantelle was gripping her foot in pain "You clumsy little brat"

"Oh I am so sorry" Christine covered her mouth in horror "I didn't mean to…"

"Look what you have done" Elita, knelt by Shantelle and glared at Christine "You are a danger to the Opera Populaire you are"

"Yeah" Nicolette sneered "Why don't you just……"

"Girls!" Madame Giry banged her cane against the stage, silencing the girls "It was an accident"

"SHE is an accident" Shantelle hissed at Christine, still clutching her foot

Christine could stand no more, sobbing, she turned away and ran backstage.

"Should I go after her?" Meg started to walk after Christine purposefully

"No!" Madame Giry stopped her "Leave her be. She just needs rest"

Noticing Shantelle, Elita and Nicolette still chattering away about Christine, Madame Giry strode over to where they were sitting and stood over them, looking down.

"Elita, Nicolette, we still have much to do" she gestured for them to join the other girls then glanced at Shantelle "Shantelle, you go to one of the dormitories and rest your foot"

Obviously shocked that her injury hadn't raised more concern, Shantelle stared after Madame Giry as she carried on talking to the rest of the ballerinas and slowly tried to get up. Feigning pain, she weakly called out.

"Please Madam Giry, I need some help to get to the dormitories. Can either Elita or Nicolette help me?"

Ignoring her specific request, Madame Giry turned to Emilie and smiled

"Emilie, would you mind helping Shantelle to the dormitories?"

"Of course not" Emilie smiled back and immediately went to assist Shantelle.

Madame Giry smiled to herself as she watched Shantelle reluctantly allowing Emilie to help her. She was well aware that Shantelle was playing up her 'injury' as she was that kind of girl. Always wanted to be centre of attention and always quick to revel in the downfall of others. Not the kind of attitude that Madame Giry would tolerate.

High above the stage, standing in the dome above the chandelier, the Phantom watched the scene with fury. He loathed those girls as much as he loathed Carlotta. Each of them spoilt, hideous examples of the human race. As he had surveyed the rehearsals below, he had felt an enormous amount of guilt that his foolish behaviour last night had caused the Christine immense distress. But his guilt had soon been replaced with anger as he had watched those loathsome girls intimidating and humiliating her. How dare they torment this pretty little angel like that!

"Angel, angel…" The Phantom pondered to himself, an idea suddenly forming in his mind.

Time and time again, he had heard Christine speak of an angel of music whilst praying to her late father. From what he had been able to hear of the child's whispers, her father had promised her that he would send her an angel of music to protect her when he died.

He would be that angel.

That way, Christine would not ask too many questions, if he could just convince her that he was the angel that her father had spoke of. He realised that if he appeared to Christine, looking as he did dressed in a long black cape and wearing a mask and being much older than her at 28, he would be bound to terrify her and he didn't want that. He just wanted to help this young talent to flourish.

Anxious to put his plan into action, the Phantom slowly moved through the tiny door in the dome and made his way back down, to see if he could locate Christine anywhere.