Chapter 8
Like Mother Like Daughter

Raoul sat impatiently at his desk at home, finishing his cup of red wine and beginning to feel drowsy. He wasn't drunk, yet, but he felt like he needed to be. It was an odd sort of yearning, but Raoul needed wine and beer. Deep inside of him, he knew it was because it helped him forget the pain he'd experienced in the past few years, but on the exterior, he just came across as a drunk. Once a hardworking, handsome man with plenty of wealth, now an aging drunk with no family. Raoul looked out the window to the snow falling slowly, calmly down. It was the beginning of the winter months. Just a week ago, he recalled a strange girl calling him out on the events of a theatre ghost, but he had done nothing about it. Perhaps it was a prank put on by the notorious school girls at the St. Marie academy. Or perhaps by some of the local teenagers. Raoul was quite impressionable, and no doubt at his age, a perfect target for these shenanigans.

A knock on the door caught his attention before he could fall asleep. He swung open the door and found a tall, slender girl with waist length blonde hair standing there impatiently.
"Brigitte?" He asked looking behind her for any sign of her mother. No sign of Meg Giry anywhere. Brigitte had her eyes, and Raoul was soon transported back to when he saw Christine and Meg get along. Back to when Meg was happy and had known she was loved. Back before Phantasma had opened. Back before she had killed Christine… But of course, Brigitte could never know of what her mother did. Then again, Raoul thought, why on Earth was she here?
"I'm looking for Eloise Dian. She came to see you?"
"Ms. Dian?" Raoul asked, marvelling at these strange occurrences with Ms. Dian recently. "Yes, but she ran off before I could catch her."
"That's the thing. I thought she was at my brother's house but she's not."
"Etienne? Why on Earth would she be there?"
"I told her to go! I thought maybe she went back to you and I can't find her anywhere…"
"I'm sorry Brigitte but she isn't here." He lit up a cigarette and leaned against the door way, prepared to close it. Brigitte marched in before he had the chance.
"You don't understand – she disappeared. She isn't at the academy, she isn't at Etienne's house, she isn't at the Opera –"
"The Opera?" Raoul finished his cigarette and fanned away the smoke, making Brigitte hold her nose to block the smell. "The Opera doesn't allow daily visitors unless they have tickets. She couldn't be there…" Raoul was beginning to remember what Eloise had said about a ghost. "Erik…" he muttered under his breath.
"Monsieur, please. You have to help me you were the last person who saw her."
"And why is this such an emergency!?" Raoul added angrily.
"She is a seventeen year old girl. Younger than I!" Brigitte cried, "She's been gone for a week! I'm quite busy so I thought it was only natural I shouldn't see her but her bed hasn't been slept in for a week. The streets of Paris are a dangerous place, monsieur." Brigitte began to shake. "Please,"
"Well I'm sorry mademoiselle, but I can no longer help you. It seems you better consult your teacher about this…" Raoul then proceeded to shut the door. Furious, Brigitte knocked on the door until Raoul came back.
"I will call the police if you do not help me. If you can't remember, my mother was your friend. You are one of the only people I know in this country and I need your help. At least drive me back to the academy." Before Raoul could ask why he realized what a snow storm had begun outside, frosting the windows heavily. "Fine."

Refusing to make eye contact with the Vicomte, Eloise sat in the car and watched as Raoul started it up and began to drive down the road to the academy. Raoul was never really open about the relationship he had with her mother, and even though Meg fancied him, she never really told him, terrified that the ghost of Christine would come after her. Meg had cried so many tears over Christine's death, but of course, never in front of Brigitte or Etienne. When Philippe, Meg's husband, (whom she met at Phantasma a week after the incident with Christine) died, Meg began to slowly sink into darkness. She didn't talk as much with Brigitte or Etienne and began to reject her own mother, who was still out there waiting to meet her grown grandchildren. Brigitte knew about Madame Giry, she just never really met her grandmother, something she yearned for in her heart.

Raoul pulled up into the driveway and watched as Brigitte ran straight into Mademoiselle Jo.
"Brigitte, good heavens, watch where you're going."
"I'm sorry Madame. I was just visiting –" Brigitte stopped herself, "family." She continued.
"Really?"
Brigitte nodded, "Now if you excuse me I have to go inside Madame. It's very cold."
Once Madame moved aside, Brigitte noticed she began to speak with another woman who had just exited her car.
"Emilia, thank goodness you're here." Mademoiselle Jo breathed. Brigitte quickly recognized this woman to be the headmistress.
"What seems to be the problem?"
"Eloise Dian, a student here has gone missing for a week." Mademoiselle whispered as the headmistress covered her mouth.
"What do you mean?"
"She disappeared one night and nobody can find her. She was our top student."
Top student? Brigitte thought, I was the top student. She watched as Raoul pulled away from the drive way. How did Eloise get so good that she became St. Marie's top student? Jealous beyond belief, Brigitte marched upstairs and thought of a plan to rid Eloise of this title. She didn't deserve any recognition, it was all that stupid ghost's doing and she was going to track down that ghost, starting with another visit to the Vicomte de Chagny's home tomorrow. If anyone could hunt down the man that haunts the theatre, it would be its previous owner.