Chapter 11: A Note

Christine arrived breathless in the practice room, only to find it completely empty. She looked at the clock; 8:40 she was twenty minutes early. Dang! I left Erik for nothing. Now what am I supposed to do for twenty minutes? Sighing, she plopped down on the floor, in an extremely un-ladylike fashion. Sticking both legs out in front of her she rested her elbows on the floor between her legs, and put her head in her hands. I could go back to look for Erik, but he's probably already gone. I wonder if I he will come for me tonight. It's obviously not a good idea for me to go down to him, but what if he gets caught coming for me? He probably shouldn't have come into the middle of the hall like that, anyone could have seen him! I wish he could come out in the day. We could stroll along through Paris, eat in cafés, and get married with plenty of friends and family there to see. I don't care about his face, why can't the rest of the world see how unimportant it is!" The door creaked open, and Meg stepped quietly into the room, toe shoes in hand. Christine turned to face her. A nervous smile crossed Meg's face. She wasn't sure what Christine was going to do. After all Christine had avoided her all morning, not to mention most of the night before.

Christine however was not thinking the least bit about that now. "Rats! I forgot my toe shoes!" she jumped up and ran past Meg down the hall shouting, "How could I have been so stupid!"

By the time Christine returned, most of the class was already sitting on the floor tying their shoes or stretching. Christine hurriedly tied her own shoes, finishing just as Mme. Giry walked into the room.

"Girls," called Mme. Giry sharply, "your technique is slipping, so today we will be working on technique, not practicing our routines. Everyone at a barre!" Christine wanted to groan, but knew better than that. Any complaints would just mean more work, and with so little sleep, that was the last thing she needed. They spent nearly two hours at the barre doing exercises. Some were intentionally simple so that they could work to perfection, but others were nearly impossible, meant to challenge them and increase their speed. After that, they did adagio (that means done in the middle of the floor), repeating some of the same exercises for balance, and other things that could not be done at the barre. By the time they were done, everyone was gasping for breath and dripping with sweat. Christine knew she had not wanted to do exercises, but now she was glad they had. It had been a long time since she had full control of her body. Now every muscle was back to responding to her will without her having to even think about it. Despite being completely exhausted, that felt good. This was why she loved dancing, to be in control, to forget everything else and be in control.

"Come on Meg," she called brightly "lets get something to eat, I'm starved!" Meg was still a bit confused by Christine's emotional swings, but decided that if Christine wasn't mad at her, then she wouldn't ask why. They made their way down to the dining hall, gabbing about absolutely nothing of consequence. To Christine it almost seemed surreal that she could completely forget about all the things that troubled her and jabber uselessly, but she certainly wasn't unhappy about it. She could think of serious things later.

xxx

Christine and Meg spent the rest of the day with the rest of the ballet girls talking about the silly things that girls talk about. It wasn't until Christine was lying in her bed after all the candles had been put out that her thoughts drifted back to Erik. Now that she was alone, she could think of nothing but him. She wanted to go to him, but after what happened last night, she decided against it. Certainly there were other traps, perhaps some more dangerous than the one she had been caught in. It was possible that Erik had heard Meg and realized that someone had noticed Christine's absence, and he wanted to be more cautious. But they needed to talk, and Christine needed some way to tell him that.

Eventually, Christine decided to leave him a note. She would have to leave it within one of his passageways so it would not be discovered of course, but simply opening the door to put down a note could not cause any trouble. It took some time for Christine to find the writing table then a quill, paper, and ink in the darkness. Upon retrieving those items, Christine stumbled her way out into the hallway. Torches were lit about every ten feet so it was much easier for her to see now. When she reached her dressing room door she pulled it open and went back to pull a torch from its fixture. Leaving the door open, she lit 3 candles with the torch then placed it back in its fixture. She went back into the dressing room, closing the door this time.

Christine sat down at the dressing table with her supplies and began to write. She was very careful not to drip ink on the dressing table. It was such a fine piece of furniture, but there was nowhere else to put the paper. She could have done all of this in the dormitories, but she might have woken someone with the light. Then everyone would have wanted to know who she was writing to in the dead of night. More inquiring minds, no thank you, Meg was enough.

Mon Cher Ange,

It seems that I will not be seeing you tonight, but I have some things that I need to discuss with you. They are not extremely urgent, but they are certainly important. I would like to speak to you as soon as possible and I miss you dearly! Do not endanger yourself to see me; I could not forgive myself if you were hurt.

Amour,

Christine

She looked down at the letter on the table. Of course, she had not brought anything to properly seal it with. Christine felt a little stupid that Erik always sent such elegant letters and she hadn't even gotten an envelope, but knew he wouldn't care. Folding the letter in half she wrote 'Erik' as neatly as she could on the outside. She walked over to the mirror and pulled it aside. When it was gone though, there was still a face there. It was of course Erik, but it took Christine one second too long to realize that.

She shrieked, throwing her arms up in the air and tossing the letter somewhere across the room.

"Good evening to you too my dear," said Erik.

"Erik, for god's sake, you scared me half to death! What are you doing here anyway?"

"I was on my way to the kitchen to get some food," he replied matter-of-factly, "the real question is, what are you doing here, and what are you writing?"

"I was writing you a letter for your information, but now I have no idea where it is, thanks to you"

"Very well, I will find it," he said "but you should return to bed before your nosey friend finds you gone."

"Must I?" she was not whining this time, she was pleading. "I miss you every second I am not with you."

Erik knew that Christine couldn't go with him tonight, but her words moved him so. Being loved was still so new to him, so enthralling, he could not resist. He swept her up immediately, pressing his lips to hers in a deep, passionate kiss. Christine moaned with pleasure and put her arms around his neck, returning his kiss forcefully. It took every bit of effort for Erik's rational judgment to grab hold of him. "I love you," whispered Christine. "I love you too," he replied. Christine immediately leaned back in for another kiss, but he pressed his finger to her lips.

"We both know you have to go back," he said firmly, mostly because he still had to convince himself. "I will find your letter and you will see me again soon." Christine still looked up at him, her eyes begging him not to make her leave. Erik smiled, kissed her on the forehead, and then turned her towards the door. "I love you, get some rest." She dragged herself toward the door, pouting. Before leaving, she looked back just once more, hoping he would change his mind, but was met with only a determined look. She knew he was right; she just didn't want him to be.