Author: Sparkling-Diva
Rating: PG-13 (possibly more later)
Genre: Romance/Drama
Pairing: Christine/Erik
Feedback: Yes, please! Also being nice would make me happy.
Disclaimer: I do not own Gaston Leroux's Phantom or anything I might refer to based on Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical adaptation of it.
Summary: Christine makes an important decision that could forever change the lives of many…
Author's Note: Yeahy! A longer and more descriptive chapter! Although I was busy this week, I was sure not to let all of you down. Enjoy!
Chapter 21
Snow fell softly on the ground from the sky onto the streets of Paris.
Life had been much different after the famous disaster of the fire that consumed a good part of the opera house. Many were left unemployed. Most wandered the street in search for food and shelter not knowing exactly what to expect. It would be much longer until they would ever have the same kind of happiness come over them again.
They could hardly imagine what life had in store for them.
Would Paris ever be as it once was? Filled with the beauty of opera and the eccentric arts? What was to be of the ballets?
There was no place for anyone to go no.
And there was an eerie silence.
Christine shivered through the cold night's air.
She hadn't been out in so long and the way the brightness of the sun shone down on her from behind the clouds nearly blinded her.
Paris.
She almost forgot how it was but now as she stood and glanced around her surroundings. She couldn't quite remember how things were. They were far too depressing.
Taking a deep breath, Christine let her emotions of what had happended before.
The dreaded fire.
The warning.
Erik.
He was good despite what anyone think and she loved him. That was all that mattered. She shouldn't care what people thought but what she believed in.
Wrapping her shall and coat tightly around her, Christine made her way through the streets outskirts. It would be a while until she would meet her final destination.
In sleep he sang to me in dreams he came, she thought to herself trying to remain calm as she nervously looked around her.
The scent of flowers caught her attention and she was surprised when she turned around to face a flower shop. Smiling she walked forward and took a moment to adore the roses.
"Would you like one miss?" the woman at the flowershop asked.
"Yes please."
"Take one."
"Oh, I couldn't just take one. I must pay you," Christine said taking some silver coins from her pocket.
"No dearie, go ahead. There is something familiar about you. You seem so distant and have a yet strange but familiar voice. Well," said the lady snickering, "But who knows? I'm an old woman. I couldn't have known you."
"Thank you." Christine replied.
"Go on dearie and take care. "Paris isn't like it once was."
"I will," Christine said with a smile taking a rose and walking away.
Silently she made a little prayer to her God for her not being recognized.
She continued to carefully and cautiously walk throughout the town making sure that as she saw more people that no one would notice her.
She truly didn't want to encounter anything from her past that could come to haunt her once again.
So, through the snowy weather she wore her hood shielding her face.
She went pass the local market and the old church where the bells would not ring. At last, she reached one of the main roads. Passing her way by the tavern, where many of the men would go to after performances to gamble and drink, and even the antiques shop she used to go to seeing it as a world of wonders.
She was nearly there.
Just about to cross the road, Christine was surprised when her breath was caught short and she felt an immense force hold her from behind.
Something was grabbing her.
Trying to scream for help, whatever or whoever this thing was cupped her mouth with a pair of dark gloves and dragged her away into a misty terrifying alley.