(A/N: Hello! Hilary here. I've had this story in mind for a while, but I was never sure if I was going to write it or not. Finally, my want to write it won out, and so I did. I still wasn't going to put it up on but hey, why not, right? I know that any of you who read Crimson Rose are going to be like, "No! Now she won't update that one!" But I promise you that's not true. I'll work on alternating between updating both, each one every other day.
An update a day keeps the angry mob away… ((smiles hopefully))
Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this… I really don't know what the reaction will be to me writing a modern day phic… I can only tell you that this is ERIK/CHRISTINE! …I mean, would I write anything else?)
Chapter One: The Strange Article
"Christine!" an excited voice called down the stairs of the apartment house. Christine paused on her way out of the door and looked back at her friend, Meg. She was waving something over her head, eyes wide with excitement and intrigue, as she dashed down the steps towards Christine. Several of the people standing in the hallway gave her irritated looks and moved away from her. "Christine! Did you get the news yet?"
Christine sighed. "No, I haven't Meg, but I don't have time right now. I'll be late for work. I'll read it later."
Meg got a disappointed look on her face. "But I just know you'll be interested in it! It's about that singer on Broadway…Carmel something. Remember the one you complained about?"
Christine's interest sparked, but just a glance at her watch told her she didn't have time. "Toss it here, Meg, I'll read it on the way." She took the paper that Meg handed her, then dashed out of the door.
She couldn't be late for work again...she had already been late once this week, and the manager was threatening to fire her. Even though her job at the little café didn't pay much, it was still something… and she needed all the help she could get.
Christine slid into her small, second-hand car and flung the newspaper across to the passenger seat. Perhaps she'd have time to read it at work.
xxxxx
Christine arrived at work just in time. She noticed her manager look suspiciously at the clock, but he didn't say anything. If she had been just a minute later he would have been all over her. She got right to work, not wanting to chance getting him angry. She had brought the newspaper in with her, in case there was a pause between customers.
That didn't happen for a while. The day was even busier than usual, and she hardly had time to stop and take a breath, let alone read a newspaper article.
The chance she had been hoping for didn't come until after the dinner hours, which was about an hour before her shift was up. She worked from 5:30 to 9:15 PM, but some of the customers they served ate dinner rather late.
As soon as there was a decent sized pause from the flow of customers, Christine grabbed the newspaper and crept off into the back to read it. Her eyes widened at the headline.
Broadway Singer Threatened
Carmelita Monroe, generally thought of as one of Broadway's fastest rising stars, received a threatening note Monday morning. The note was anonymous, detailing that if Carmelita continued to perform, she would meet an untimely end.
"I dismissed it at first," Carmelita admits, "You get things like that sometimes when you're as well-known as I am. It just goes with the fame."
However, the note was realized as more than simply an empty threat when the next day, Carmelita found that someone had hacked into her social security system and deleted her from it.
She received another anonymous note stating that if she didn't quit Broadway, things would continue to get worse. Frightened, Carmelita called in sick that day, and had her backup sing for her.
That evening she received a note in the mail telling her that that had been a wise move. Carmelita claims that she had seen no one near her home all day, and had no idea how the note could have gotten there.
The next day she returned, but kept an eye out for any trouble. She was in the middle of one of her solos when suddenly a 600 pound backdrop fell loose from the ceiling, missing her by bare inches.
Carmelita left early, claiming that she wasn't going to sing in the night's show, and wouldn't be returning until everything was safe.
Continued on B2
Christine hurriedly flipped through the newspaper to find thecontinuation of the article, but the rest of it was only about how the police were on the case of finding the anonymous note-giver. As of yet, they had found out absolutely nothing, and didn't have hopes of getting anymore leads until the mysterious person struck again… and that might be fatal for Carmelita.
Christine wasn't a big fan of Carmelita's. She had an amazing range, it was true, but she belted everything out so loudly that every time Christine heard her she was tempted to cover her ears. She also had an atrocious accent, and in Christine's opinion, couldn't act in the least. All in all, she wasn't too worried about the Broadway star… but this whole affair was certainly odd, and it interested her.
"CHRISTINE!" She jumped as the voice bellowed from the front of the shop. She had forgotten where she was!
Instantly, she was on her feet. "Coming!"
She was met out in the shop with a line of customers waiting to get their orders taken. The two other young women on shift were working as fast as they could,trying to make up for her absenceChristine blushed slightly, feeling guilty, and got right to work.
Still, her mind never left the newspaper article. She couldn't figure out what intrigued her about it so much… Perhaps it was just because of her want to become a Broadway star, and she was putting herself in Carmelita's position. What would she have done?
Christine was relieved when the change of shift came forty-five minutes later. She gathered up her things and headed towards her car, humming as she went. She sighed as she realized she still hadn't practiced her recital piece for her music class. She needed to get on that as soon as possible.
Christine began driving back to her apartment, and then stopped. When was a better time to practice than right now? If she kept saying "I need to get on that right away" and yet never did, it could be weeks before she actually got to it... and she didn't have weeks.
Christine decided not to go back to her apartment. She couldn't practice there, anyway. So, instead of going straight, she took a left and headed out towards the suburbs of Manhattan. She knew of a small, quiet, little-known church that was out there that would be abandoned at this time of night. She had practiced there once before, and knew that the place had nice acoustics. As she drove, she warmed up, going through a series of scales and techniques.
It only took fifteen minutes to reach her destination, as she lived at the edge of the city anyway. As she had suspected, the church was quite empty, and free for her to use for a little while.
Christine dug in the back of her car, which was a mess, and fished out her recital music. She couldn't believe she had put off practicing this long—She should have started a week or two ago, but she had just found herself too busy.
Christine carefully got out of her car and locked it, then made her way into the tiny church to rehearse.
She got up onto the stage, and placed her music onto the podium. First, she hummed through the song, to make sure she had the tune right. It wasn't entirely true that she had never practiced—sometimes during class, the professor had given them time—but she still wasn't overly-familiar with the song, and needed to refresh her memory.
When she was sure she had it right, she began to sing, losing herself to the music.
As she swayed slightly in time with the beat, Christine couldn't know that she was being watched…
(A/N: Ahem… so… uh, how was it? Okay? Good? Completely and utterly horrible? Well, I hope not, anyway… I would love your opinions on it! I know modern-day phics are generally avoided, but I promise you that I have a plot in mind that I think people will enjoy… at least, I hope so. Sorry the first chapter was a bit short…please review and tell me what you think!)
Hilary
