Chapter 22: Bitter Truth.

Meg dragged Christine up through the darkness, her feet more sure of the way than she had every been. Christine struggled behind her but she wouldn't let her go. Her heart beet so fast from the fear but the tears flowed freely down her face. It had been bad enough to have everyone she lived with angry or jealous of her but now the Phantom himself was displeased. She felt betrayed by him but knew that it was, to some degree, her fault. Christine had followed her, she should have been more careful.

Christine could see the anger and the pain in Meg's face. Her eyes were filled with tears but her cheeks were flushed and her features very hard and disapproving. Christine was afraid of what she was seeing. More of the rumours about Meg were coming true every minute. She, at that very moment, reminded Christine of the danger and the anger that they had both been witness to in the Phantom. Could it really be that Meg was becoming more and more like her teacher, in talent and in action? And what else had he been teaching her. Her hands were hot and tight around Christine's wrist, she could feel her circulation to her hand cutting off. It was painful and scary all at the same time and Christine was not at all sure of her feet. She stumbled and tripped but Meg moved on faster than before.

Upward, further and further they ran. Out of the darkness of the staircase and up into the acting levels of the theatre. Meg never released Christine from her grip and only dragged her onward. They drew closer and closer to the ballet dormitory before Christine dared to speak.

"Let me go, we're well away from him now," Christine whined.

"He is everywhere, all the time, you know that," Meg hissed and kept moving.

"But I can hardly run anymore," Christine cried out, "let go of me!"

Meg pushed her against one of the dormitory doors before she let her go, "you stay where you are told to stay," she hissed into Christine's face in a hash whisper. Tears were still soaking her face but the rage was growing in her eyes, "or I'll be forced to report your actions and you'll be back out on the streets. Do you understand?" she asked forcefully.

"Yes," Christine said like a disobedient child.

"I don't think you understand how sever this is Miss. Daae," Meg pushed her positions and seniority on the young woman who was of lower rank than she was, "you have no right to this place. You are back at level one and will not rise from there unless you follow the rules. Just because you were my friend once, doesn't mean I am going to treat you any differently now then I would the other ballerinas. This is a very dangerous place Mademoiselle and you would be wise to remember the things that were so terrible and vivid three years ago. What you did tonight was enough to throw you out and never let you back in. And who know how much you have jeopardised us all now. Did you even think of the consequences to your actions. What if you have truly angered the Phantom to irreproachable ends? He could pull the show from production or worse cause things to happen as they did. Is that what you want? To cause trouble and destroy what people are trying to save? Smarten up for, God sakes, and do as you are told!" she said with great force.

Meg's words stung as Christine listened. The anger and betrayal in Meg's eyes hurt almost as badly, "I'm sorry," Christine whispered as tears filled her eyes.

"Get to your room and do not leave it till morning," Meg said angrily and walked away.

Christine slunk into her dormitory and fell into her bed. When she closed her eyes all she could see was the red, hideous glow of the Phantom's eyes and the terrible mass that was his face. They were eyes that had haunted her nights for many months and now, once again, they had returned. The anger in his voice rang in her ears. A voice that she still heard in her dreams but a nicer voice than the one filled with anger that now screamed at her. She had always longed to hear that voice again. She had never imagined it would be like this. And now another voice followed it, a voice that she had been so familiar with and had never heard so angry. Meg had never raised her voice over a whisper and Christine had never seen her angry in her life. It was a terribly frightening change for the young girl but there was a desperation in the echo that Christine heard in her head. Meg's voice, though angry, was pleading. Her words were like knives fighting a great battle. This battle was one against the corruption of time, one that was aimed at saving her beloved home. Christine remembered that Meg had never seen the outside world as she had. Meg was born in the theatre and raised within it after her father had died before she was born. Yes she had travelled out of the theatre with her mother but never for long times and it was always clear to Christine that Meg never wanted to leave. Now there fear was in her eyes, there fear of losing her home. Meg was afraid, more than she was angry, and this is what hurt Christine so deeply. She let bitter tears roll down her face, "I am so sorry Meg," she cried into her pillow, "I am a terrible, selfish person."

A sinking, tragic feeling came over her. She had screwed up all of her changed of reclaiming her glory days. It was she, who was the fool, to think that this would be given back to her. She would have to learn to settle for the life she had now, falling into the crowd and only having as much as her craft could give her. She wasn't a young beauty anymore, though she wasn't old either, but she wasn't what she wanted to be. She had lost much and now she was losing more, including her one true friend.

She sunk down, the eyes still burning in her mind, and she wept bitterly. She really was a no body now after only three years. Her days in the sun were gone. She had waited to long in hopes of a better life that had blinded her with lust and youth, three long years ago. She was left in the past of the Opera Populair.