14) On days where the sun is gone
"What did Erik do?" Christine stared at Mme.Giry in a desperate attempt to discover something in her eyes that told her she wasn´t serious. "He tried to… force himself upon Meg last night." The ballet teacher´s voice was very calm, but Christine noticed that she clutched her cane so firmly that her knuckles were white.
"It was I who found her.", she went on. "I was looking for her because she didn´t return home after the performance. There was still light in your dressing room, and as I had seen you leave… There she lay on the sofa. She… didn´t wear anything. Her body was so cold! When she saw me she started talking. ´Look what your Opera Ghost has done to me, maman!´, she said, all composed. ´And you always told me he wasn´t a bad person. You always came to his defence when something was said against him. Who came to my defence?´ Then I heard the entire story."
Mme.Giry gave a dry sob, but pulled herself together instantly and continued. Obviously she wanted to finish as quickly as possible. "I don´t know how to describe what happened next. It was… as if something in her broke. I´ve never seen someone cry like that. When she didn´t stop after a few minutes I went to fetch a doctor. He said it was some kind of breakdown and gave her pills that made her fall asleep."
Christine couldn´t stand it any longer. Her knees gave way, and she collapsed on a chair. A part of her still hoped this was a nightmare. Erik, the man she loved, had done something that terrible to her best friend Meg? She would have never believed possible he was capable of such violence. And she, Christine, was the cause of it. If she hadn´t encouraged Meg to show him her feelings, the two wouldn´t have even met.
"Is Meg upstairs in her room? Can I visit her?", she asked, but Mme.Giry shook her head. "She´s still sleeping, and I don´t want anyone to disturb her. She needs all the rest she can get before we leave." It was only then that Christine noticed the open suitcases that stood at several spots in the Girys´ living room. "Where are you going?" "My sister lives in Marseille.", the woman explained. "We can stay with her till I find a new job. Meg can look for something new as well… when she´s feeling better."
"Is there anything I can do for you?" Christine herself couldn´t think of something. After all, she didn´t have the power to change the past. To her surprise the ballet teacher said: "There is one thing…". "What is it?", the girl asked eagerly. Maybe she could at least help a little. Mme.Giry looked at her intently. "Go to him!", she said quietly.
"What?", Christine muttered. Go to him? To Erik? Why should she do that? She wasn´t even sure what she felt for him. Mme.Giry´s revelation had hit her like a punch in the ribcage. Her heart seemed to be bleeding, losing those precious feelings she had hidden in it. Could she still love a man who had tried to force a girl to sleep with him? Christine would have probably avoided him, at least till she knew the answer.
Yet Mme.Giry had told her to go to him. "Do you want me to talk to him, to find out why he did that?", the girl asked uncertainly. The reply came at once: "I don´t care what you say… as long as you stay with him.". Christine was on the verge of uttering her third ´what´ in this conversation, but held herself back. "I shall stay with him? But why?"
The ballet teacher cleared her throat before she began to speak. "For a long time I was there for Erik. I tried my best to make other people understand him better. I became more and more aware that I had taken over more than a normal job. And as time passed I even started… liking him." The disgusted expression on her face made clear how she thought about this now.
"But you were never… well…?" Christine didn´t know how to put in into words, but the older woman understood her anyway. "…in love with him?", she finished the sentence. "No. He was my responsibility. And from this moment he´s yours." "Why mine?" Mme.Giry couldn´t seriously expect her to care for Erik. There had to be another way.
"Because he loves you, Christine.", the woman said firmly. "He needs someone to rely on, and I can´t be this person anymore, even if I wouldn´t leave the opera. I couldn´t bear seeing him again." "Are you afraid he could do something to you?", Christine asked. "I´m afraid I could do something to him.", Mme.Giry corrected in the same deadly calm voice as before.
They argued back and forth for several minutes. Finally the girls was determined to visit Erik in his home and ask him about the reasons for his attack on Meg. At least she would know if it had been her, Christine´s, fault. The she could still decide how to go on. In any case there was someone she had to talk to first.
