Thank you, Freak Star! Glad to have such a loyal reviewer already:)
Chapter 3
Christine paced
back and forth, staring at the empty mirror, back down to the floor,
then at the mirror again. How could he do that to her? How could he
push her away? What inside of him had flared so quickly that it
seemed he couldn't stand the sight of her? Her heart ached now more
then ever before. She knew why he was so angry. So many years of hate
for not her, but her decisions, or what he assumed she had done, had
made him furious at her. Did he still love her? Or did his dreams
bring him back to the past; before life was so complicated and
painful?
A knock on the door jolted Christine from her thoughts.
Meg peered her head in from the door.
"Christine, I'm glad
you're back. I want to show you something." She said, her eyes
shining with excitement, even though she tried hard to hide it.
"I'll be right with you, Meg. I have a few things I must do
before I forget. Will you wait a few minutes?" Christine said
gently.
"Oh course. But do hurry - it's not right for you to
spend your day cooped up in your room on your birthday! You should be
out having fun."
"And I will. Just a few minutes?"
Meg
kissed her friend's cheek. "I'll be waiting in Mother's room.
When you are finished, we'll go."
And with that, Meg fled the
room.
Christine ran to her dresser, pulled out paper and took her
pen, then began to write.
My beloved Angel of Music-
Christine
stopped. That was no way to start a letter. She crumpled the paper
and started anew. This time, she got it to her satisfactory and began
to write feverishly.
Christine
was back to pacing. She was waiting for her letter to dry. As she
blew softly on it, she read it over to herself.
Dearest
Erik,
Please take the time to read this letter. I realize now, as
I should have before, you do not know about the recent
events.
I tried to explain them to you, but you left me no
time. I have
come to realize that your actions were just,
understanding what
you must think of me. Please allow
me to explain to you a few
things that you haven't the
knowledge of.
When Raoul and I
left your lair, we began our engagement
over again. But by the
next day, grief beyond anything I
have ever known struck me. I
could think of nothing but the
dreadful thought that I had
betrayed my Angel that had
given me so much; whom I owed so much
to. I needed to
see you again, if not just to explain my actions.
Meg had
come to me just as I was about to go to your lair, and
told me
about how she, and a mob of people, had gone down
and
raided your home. I asked her what they did when they saw
you,
and she told me you were no longer there when they
arrived. I
couldn't make myself believe that you had left,
or that I would
be separated from my Angel for the first
time since I knew him. I
ran down the passage ways from
my mirror, and, to my horror, saw
that Meg had spoke the
truth, and that not only were you gone, but
nearly all you
owned. There I wept heedlessly, trying to keep hope
in my
heart that you would return, though somehow my heart
knew
that you wouldnt. Days passed, and Raoul did his
best to comfort
me, God bless his soul. He really did try.
But what you did to
him, he could not gather any sorrow
for that fact that you were
gone. He couldn't possibly
understand, as could no one. Until I
talked to Madame
Giry. She was just as heartbroken as I was,
though in
a different sense. Also, she was able to handle it.
Though
I truly know very little about your past, she did tell me
that
you left when you were younger for quite a sum of years,
and
that she would try to pretend that it was like back then.
But
as the weeks when by and she saw that you did not return,
she
became as crestfallen as I was.
It became clear that, wrapped in
my grief, I could not marry
the Vicomte any time soon. Though I
promised to stay true to
him, all plans were called off until I
could learn to be without
you. Alas Erik, to this day I have not
learned that lesson, and
I do believe I never will. The hardship
of life is just too much
of a burden without you there to help me
through it. It was
then, when the realization of this dawned on
me, when
I knew that I could not love Raoul as I should; not when
I couldn't
have him, and only him, there to love me and that be
enough to
satisfy my heart. I told him this, and the engagement
was called
off for good.
Meanwhile, I also stopped singing. To
me, there was no one left
to sing for with the knowledge of
knowing that you were absent
from the theater. Even now, I remain
in playing silent roles. To
keep my stay here, I am also a
seamstress. I fear that I will never
get the feel for it - my
fingers that bleed so much every day when
I prick them
unmercifully beg me to stop, but without this task, I
could not
afford to keep my dormitory.
Carlotta is not the supreme Diva
here anymore, either. She was
heartbroken after finding out that
Piangi was dead. She tried to
sing after that, but her heart was
gone, and she soon retreated.
She has now left Paris, and I
think, she is now residing in Spain.
Please do not gloat in this
too much, as I know you will.
In her absence, they called on me
to sing in her place, knowing
I was capable of it after the
performance of Hannible. I refused,
for my heart also had fleeted
from me. In the heat of it all, Meg
rose to the occasion. She had
been receiving singing lessons on
the side of her ballet lessons,
and she had grown to be quite good.
In desperation, they put her
in the lead. She made quite the star,
and is now, for the fourth
year, the Diva of the stage.
The theater is very much the same as
it was before the fire, in
case you wanted to know. And I think
you will find great pleasure
in knowing that Box Five is still
kept empty. Firmin and Andre are
very superstitious now, and are
quite jumpy, though they know
you are no longer here.
There are
others, but I do not think you are very anxious to hear
of them,
so I'll leave them out. As for me, I have decreased much,
if I
could any lower then I was when you knew me. I have taken on
odd
jobs since your departure, trying in vain to find you. Madame
Giry
for a while helped me, then in sorrow, gave up . She has
retreated to
herself now, only talking during lessons, briefly to
Meg at night, and to
me to tell me that I would never find you.
How wrong she was!
As for Raoul, I have not seen him since the day
that our engagement
deceased. He is still the patron, but his
checks are now the only thing
that makes it's presence here at
the Opera. I have heard nothing of
him. I worry, knowing not
whether he remains in Paris or has moved
as far from me as
possible. There are rumors from the ballet tarts,
of course, but
like you taught me even as a small child, not to
listen to a word
they utter.
I do not.
I hope, now that you have been informed
of all you missed, that you
will not push me away the next time I
see you, which I pray is soon.
My heart soars like it has not
soared for the longest time at just
the thought of seeing you
again.
Your Angel, even now,
Christine Daae
Christine
slipped it into an envelope and sealed it, then started to run for
the post office. Before she even reached the lobby doors, however,
Meg had caught up with her.
"Christine, where ever are you off
too?" Meg asked in confusion.
"I must mail this letter. It's
very urgent."
"Nothing is wrong, I hope?"
"No, but it
is very important."
"Then I'll just have someone deliver it
to the post office for you."
"But it must be tonight, and it
must reach there."
"Then I'll find someone now; some one
dependable." Meg said. Christine reluctantly handed her the letter
then Meg fleeted off. In a few minutes, a smile spread across her
face, she led Christine down to the ballet rat's dormitories.
