7) Really too much for me
Meg and Erik stared at each other in shock, unable to do anything. They were caught. Meg hadn´t even locked the door. Any second the other chorus girls could come in to tell her about the incident on stage, and within minutes the raw meat would be forgotten because everyone would be busy gossiping about the dancer and the Opera Ghost.
The girl was the first to recover enough to act. "They musn´t see you here.", she hissed. "And where shall I go?", he wanted to know. Even he couldn´t simply vanish from a room with only one entrance. If they had been in Christine´s dressing room, things would have been easier. But contrary to popular belief he didn´t have a secret passageway from every room.
"You have to hide somewhere.", Meg whispered. Both looked around frantically for a moment. Then their eyes met and they shrugged and shook their head simultaneously. The room was rather small and not very well furnished. How could a grown-up man hide here? The girl´s gaze fell on the large wardrobe. "In there!", she muttered, pulling him to his feet. "You want me to climb into the wardrobe?", he asked incredulously, struggling to break free from her grip. Did she seriously expect him to do something that undignified? He was the Phantom of the Opera, after all!
The person on the other side of the door knocked again. Meg and Erik stopped moving immediately, realising in the same second that they had probably not been as quiet as they had thought. "Meg? Meg, are you there?" Recognising the voice they could hardly keep themselves from bursting into laughter. If only they had known earlier who was at the door! Meg let go of Erik´s wrists, noticing with embarrassment the red marks her fingers had left on his skin. "You can come in, Christine."
Christine complied, wondering what had taken her friend so long. Maybe she had used the time between the rehearsals for a short rest and hadn´t been dressed properly. But entering the room she saw that it was much worse: Erik was with Meg. Erik… She hadn´t had any form of contact to him for weeks. Yet if she had secretly hoped her feelings for him could have diminished, she had been terribly wrong. His mere sight made her heart leap.
Perhaps she could just deliver the message quickly and leave again without exchanging a personal word. She didn´t even close the door, determined to get out as soon as possible. "You don´t have to worry – the others have already gone. No one will come here and see you.", she assured them hastily, not looking at either of them. "Good day, Christine.", Erik said, smiling. How could she have survived for such a long time without hearing this wonderful voice? Only he had the ability to caress her very soul just by saying her name.
Christine took a deep breath to make her voice steady for what she had to say. Desperately trying to ignore Erik´s masculine scent she muttered: "Your mother asked me to inform you that the rehearsal will take place two hours later than scheduled because the stage has to be cleaned first.". She left out the reason for this measure, guessing that the man responsible for the mess stood next to her friend and had already told her about it.
The two people beamed at each other. "Two hours just for us – Erik, you´re a genius.", Meg whispered. He couldn´t help being proud of himself. The plan had worked even better than he had imagined. They probably needed that much time because the rat catcher was untraceable. Not willing to waste one second of their precious time he caught her lips in a passionate kiss. The girl was a little hesitant at first, but responded after a few moments. ´This is only Christine, my best friend.´, she reminded herself. ´She´ll surely go away in order not to disturb us.´ Not long after this thought both of them had forgotten she was even there.
The sight of them kissing was the final straw. Christine watched in horror for what seemed like an eternity, unable to turn away. She was certain that the dreadful picture would be on her mind forever: mouths trying to devour each other, lips gliding over lips, fingers tangled in hair… When one of Meg´s hands sneaked under Erik´s shirt the feeling of sickness in Christine´s stomach grew too strong. "I… you… I´m sorry…", she stuttered and left the room in a run. She made it to the nearest bathroom just in time before the contents of her stomach spilled from her mouth and into a toilet.
As Meg found her minutes later she was still cowering over the toilet bowl, her body shaking with cramps or sobs or maybe both, Meg couldn´t tell. "Christine?", she said softly. "Is there anything I can do for you?" She could at least keep her friend´s hair out of the way or hold her hand and tell her that it would be over soon, like they had done dozens of times when one of them had been ill. Surely Christine had seen too much of the raw meat and the rats feasting on it, and it had made her sick.
"Go…", Christine muttered, her voice shaking as violently as her body. "What?" Meg was certain she hadn´t understood her correctly. They had always been there for each other, and now her friend told her to leave? "GO!", Christine yelled. She couldn´t bear hearing her voice, trying to comfort her. "All right, all right.", Meg said quickly and went out of the bathroom. But she didn´t go back to Erik immediately. Instead she made her way to her mother´s room. Christine needed someone. Even if this someone apparently was not her best friend.