Here's another chapter! Yay! Special thanks to MoonWalking Phantom, who so far has been the only person to show interest in my story. For that, you get...drumroll...BROWNIES! Yay!
If there are anyother readers floating around out there, please review and this fabulous prize can be yours also! Yay! Oh, Happy Mardi Gras btw.
Disclaimer: Don't own the Phantom. Wish I did. eats brownie
Chapter 3
Roughly two years later
Rauol stood in middle of a graveyard amid a torrid of swirling snow. He reached out to Christine, standing below him, who eagerly grasped his hand. His eyes smiled at her and he opened his mouth and sang "Say you'll share with me one love, one lifetime. Lead me, save me from my solitude. Say you want me with you, here beside you. Anywhere you go let me go too." Suddenly Rauol's sweet face began to change "Christine" It became the distorted face of the Phantom. She let out a scream and tried to pull away, but she found that she was unable to." That's all I ask of you"
Christine awoke with a start, drenched in a cold sweat. She glanced fearfully around the room and clasped her head in her hands. "A dream." She spoke aloud, her voice shuddering, "It was only a dream." It had all felt so real though. She turned to the space next to her, but was unsurprised to find it empty. It had been over a year since her and Rauol had slept in the same bed, or the same room for that matter. Christine sighed. She got up from her bed and went to the French doors that led to her balcony. Grasping the handles, she flung them open and welcomed the warm summer air that came rushing her way.
Leaning against the marble railing, Christine closed her eyes and took in the sounds of Paris nightlife. She did love Rauol and was still engaged to him. Two years was a long time, however, and she asked herself every single day why they were not married yet. Christine opened her eyes. She knew why. It had started off as fear, fear of a new life, commitment, and the Phantom. The fright had been shared at first, but then it turned into something else.
After the incident with the chandelier at the Paris Opera house, attendance had dropped drastically. La Carlotta wasn't appealing to the audiences the way she had used to and the writers were running dry for ideas for brand new operas. Also, Monsieurs Andre and Fimin's plan to draw the people in through the lure of gossip had spun wildly out of control. New stories seemed to be popping up every day, ranging from Siamese chorus girls to "La Carlotta: A Man?"
The struggle of the opera was really taking its toll Rauol. He was so stressed out that he rarely went out any more unless his appointment concerned work. He was becoming very withdrawn and didn't seem to enjoy having Christine around as much as he used to. That wasn't the worst of it though. Christine had noticed in the past few months that Rauol had started drinking more. It had started out as just an extra glass of wine or two at dinner, but then Christine started to find empty bottles hidden in random places around the house. This scared Christine more than anything else at the time and she immediately confronted him about it. Of course, Rauol denied all of her claims. It was as much as Christine expected. Knowing that there was nothing she could do to stop him, she chose to stay out of the way and hope that one day they would both come to their senses and finally get married.
Christine took one last look at the city below her and turned back to her room. The clock on the mantle read 2:34 a.m. She no longer felt like sleeping. In fact, she felt as wide awake as she would if she had gotten a full twelve hours instead of a measly four. She looked around her spacious room for something to amuse herself with and finally decided she'd work on her needle point. Needle point was a hobby she had picked after she moved in with Rauol. As a Viscountess-to-be, she had decided that she needed a more "lady-like" way to occupy her time instead of opera. At least, that's what Rauol had hinted at. Christine picked up her cloth, needle and thread. She threaded the needle and set the cloth in place, but then realized she had no idea what to stitch. Her mind drifted back to the dream she had just had, of Erik's face. She shuddered as she relived it, but it quickly passed. Now, she had an inspiration for her stitching.