Chapter 13
I wiped the tears from my face, and walked once again to the ballet dormitories. I found Christine waiting for me, looking strangely delighted and worried.
"Alina! I was so terribly scared! I thought you were hurt in the commotion last night." She said to me, looking me up and down. "…Your eyes are red. Are you upset about something?"
I couldn't answer. I just hugged a surprised Christine, and cried silently. She sat down on her bed, and I followed.
Finally, I was able to say, "I think it would be best if we could talk out in the gardens."
Christine and I walked through the small but tranquil gardens behind the opera house. There was a statue of an angel in the centre of the neatly-kept rose garden, which we sat under.
"Christine…yes, I am very upset. My angel…is leaving." I said quietly.
She didn't seem to understand. I told her about the masked brothers, and of how Erik loves her…She seemed hardly phased by all of it, while my heart ached with every beat. Christine said nothing, she simply held me in her arms like a mother and murmured soothing nothings to me.
We sat in the gardens for hours, talking about anything and everything that came to mind. She talked quite a bit of Raoul, who she is to be married to in 8 months' time. Apparently, at the ending of Il Muto last night, the great chandelier fell and injured a few people. I had no doubt it was Erik's doing.
Christine seemed disgusted that Erik was in love with her, and I could understand that. She was perfection personified, and he was imperfection personified. They were polar opposites in every way.
We walked back inside when we realized that night was falling. There were no performances to be held that night because of the accident with the chandelier. Instead, I slept a dreamless sleep. Life dragged on like that for 6 months.