Let The Dream Begin

Would you like me to take you back to your room?" asked Giry, turning to Christine after rehearsals were over.

"No," said Christine. "I want to do some exploring on my own. Just get to know the place a little better."

"Fine," said Giry. "Just be careful. Don't do anything to upset the Opera Ghost. We try to keep him pleased."

"Don't worry," said Christine, smiling. "I won't do anything to upset him."

Giry smiled and walked away, leaving Christine, still surrounded by the magnificent props that were to be used in Hannibal. She walked around the backstage, looking at the different beautifully detailed golden costumes. She went down a staircase and saw a doorway that said CHAPELLE on the arch.

Christine went own the stairs, deciding to light to candle for her parents. She had taken the first in achieving her dream, and she hopes that they would be proud of her. She went down the long, stone staircase and arrived in the small chapel.

The stone walls were decorated with hand-painted angels. Close to her was a small shrine with two steel racks that held twenty candles each. On the opposite side of the room was a large, colorful, stained-glass window with the shape of a white angel surrounded by beautiful colors. Next to the window stood a large grand piano.

Christine suddenly felt the urge to play. She walked to the piano and sat down on its small bench. She hesitated before her hands touched the keys. She had the sudden feeling that someone was watching her. Christine quickly glanced around, but saw no one.

Christine tested the keys and found that the piano was surprisingly in tune. She played the song 'All Falls Silent' lightly on the piano and then began to grow in confidence and began to sing. Her voice bounced off of the walls, sending back an eerie echo that made even the piano sound odd.

"All falls silent when you've gone, my world goes black when I'm alone. In the darkness of my mind, you're the only one that sheds light. The only one…..the only one for me. So tell me – why did you leave?"

Christine looked down at the keys and saw that their were tears falling onto them. She had always cried during this song, whether she wanted to or not. It had been so long since she had seen or heard the voice of her parents, and it still so hard to say goodbye. So many things had happened to her after they had left that she had wanted them to see.

Christine took a deep breath and played one last chord, and looked up at the ceiling. "Christine, pull yourself together. You've got so many things to look forward to. Let the past go."

"Christine.." it was soft and gentle. Barely audible, but it was there. "Don't cry……sing your past away."

Christine looked around in amazement. Maybe it was the Opera Ghost – or maybe it was her father. But he was right – the only way to forget the past was to fill your mind and forget about it. She would fill her mind with song.


That voice in the chapel was beautiful. He had heard nothing like it before. It was so genuine, as were the tears that he could se on her face. He stood just above the piano, looking down at her from one of the vents. She was beautiful, but he had never seen her before. Christine. The name would forever be with him.

She obviously knew how to hear and feel the music if she knew how to play it and create her own song. The lyrics were deep, coming from her heart. The notes that she sang she hit not out of practice, but out of sheer inspiration. He could tell the difference. There was such a difference between the trained and exercised voice of the despicable Carlotta to the inspired and haunted voice of Christine.

She would grow to love him – with time as they sang together in this haven. He would have to show her that she would have to overlook this horrid face of his. The face that had made him hated by everyone and that had gotten him trapped in the deep darkness of the Popular Opera. The face that had led even his mother to despise him.

Christine would understand.


Christine couldn't sleep that night. Thoughts of her father and the voice from above in the chapel kept running through her head. She rose from her bed and grabbed her notebook. She needed no light to see her way in the darkness. She had always seen well in the darkness.

Christine finally arrived in the chapel without waking anyone. She light a small candle for her father once again and sat at the piano, thinking of how to finish it. She wanted a happy ending, just like she did for herself. Her character, Brooke, would have the happy ending she deserved after all the horrors she had been through. She was going to find the man that she loved and stay with him. His name was going to be Erik.

Christine wrote down the name before she could forget it. Erik. So she began to write the last song in her opera. She sang it quietly, and heard occasionally, the voice say a line in reply, and would write it down. He was the voice that inspired her.

Over the next two weeks, Christine went down to the chapel every night to finish the last opera. The voice always came back when she did, was always there to give her insight and spoke to her softly. The soft voice even crept into her sleep occasionally. Whoever this man was, whatever he was, he was also creeping into her heart.

His lyrics matched the deepness of hers, and he could understand what she writing about. He understood her pain and her joy. She prayed that for one time, she could find the one man who would finally feel and hear and live the music as she did. If it be the Phantom – so be it. Christine loved him nonetheless.