Chapter 8
Christine stood in practice room 7 in a sort of daze. Her body was there, but her vision and mind weren't. Every strange thing that had just transpired seemed to have finally taken its toll on her.
Moments later, a voice jolted her wandering mind. "Christine?"
She glanced around, her eyes somewhat glazed over.
"Scales." He stroked a chord on his violin and stated, "We will warm up a bit differently than usual. Your routine is not sufficient enough. Alright, from G to C and back to G, all ten notes, and then to the third and back to the fifth two consecutive times before dropping to the tonic. We will move by half steps. Sing on the vowel, '-ee'."
Christine blinked at his instructions and murmured, "Uhh.." Really, how could any human being comprehend all of that?
Erik could see her confusion from behind the practice room mirror and sighed. He repeated his previous instructions slowly and made sure to word them with less complexity.
It seemed his voice cut through her daze. Christine nodded and began singing on an '-ee' vowel.
"Posture," he reminded while watching her. She straightened but it didn't really help the problem. Examining her face, Erik noticed that her green eyes were not focused. Her face seemed paler than usual. He stopped playing.
She looked towards the mirror expectantly, for that's where it sounded like the violin was coming from.. although that was impossible. The violin had to be coming from above, for that's where the angels were. She shrugged.
Her shrug made him angry. He took it as a sign of carelessness. "Christine, you are not trying. You are not focused. What is your attention focused on right now?"
His question finally brought her back to reality. The way he spoke seemed insulting... and she didn't like it. "My attention is focused on the fact that this whole situation is just plain weird."
"Can you elaborate on that?" he asked with a frown.
"Yeah, I can," Christine retorted. "Why is it that it sounds like the violin is coming from the mirror in front of me? Shouldn't it be above me? Aren't you supposed to be looking down upon me? Or..." She noticed that her words seemed silly and blushed.
Erik actually chuckled, pleased to see her blush. It meant that she really had no idea what she was talking about. So it was time for him to explain. "Christine, dear child, I am everywhere. I am all around you. Wherever you go, I will be there. You are very lucky."
"Yeah," she responded softly, thinking about what he was saying. "I guess I am lucky."
"Now, my dear, it is time to concentrate."
They proceeded with scales and, since Christine was out of her daze, she was able to focus solely on her voice.
They stopped on a high B. Erik paused considering what to say. Compliment her voice? Be critical? "I must insist that you relax. Relax your jaw, relax your shoulders. Feel as if you are floating, but do not lower your concentration. Now, let us repeat the same exercise on the vowel, '-Oh'. We will change vowels occasionally, so be ready."
She continued to warm her voice up until he finally seemed pleased.
"Are you ready?" Erik was most pleased with the outcome of their warm-up.
"Ready for what?"
"To practice your repertoire, of course."
Christine raised an eyebrow. He was very strict. Impatient, too. A perfectionist, as well. "Yes, I'm ready," she replied while hoping she could handle this. The last thing she wanted was for him to leave her because she was not good enough..
"Vittoria, mio core". He launched into the song Christine had memorized about a week ago. She would be singing it in one of the school's weekly recitals soon.
Immediately, Erik stopped her. "You are singing as if you have sung it so many times that you are bored. You have sung it many times, yes, but you must not allow that to show! You have to feel the same amount of energy and emotion every time you sing it… unless, of course, that is the most you have?"
"No, I can sing with more." She hoped she could...
"Well then, let us try again." He began the accompaniment for the second time.
Afraid of his criticism, she began to sing as she always did with Dr. Gratsia- full of nerves.
Erik noticed this right away and stopped again, this time producing a harsh hiss on the violin. "No!"
Christine actually backed away in fear.
Calm yourself, Erik. "Christine, I know what you are doing." His voice was calm and soothing. "You are intimidated, just like you are with Carlotta. That horrible woman…" He could rant over Christine's voice teacher for hours, but, instead, he asked, "Christine, do I intimidate you?" His voice was smooth as silk.
It would be best to be honest. "Yes," she squeaked.
"Just as I thought." He sighed hating to be the cause of such worry. "You must not be frightened of your angel, Christine. If I become more lenient, you will lose focus. I cannot have that. Do you understand?"
He spoke to her as if she were a young child. Christine could only mumble, "Yeah, I understand."
Still sensing her nerves and weakness, he stated, "You cannot see me. That being said, you doubt. When you doubt, it shows through your voice." He then whispered, "Believe in me, Christine. Believe I am here."
She felt like she was being suffocated, manipulated. I've got to get out of here! "I- I'll be back tomorrow." And with that, Christine fled from the recital hall.
Erik watched her go. He was rather surprised by how quickly she left. What if she does not return? What then? He hit a nearby wall and stalked away down to his haven with her voice in his head. 'I'll be back tomorrow…'
"Meg!" Christine yelled, totally out of breath as she ran into the dorm room.
Meg was sitting at her computer when her best friend came running into the room. She could only assume she'd had a wonderful time with Raoul. Turning towards her friend, though, she noticed her panicked state. Meg stood. "Christine, my God, what happened? Are you ok? Did you have a bad time with Raoul?"
Christine sat on her bed shaking. "Raoul? Oh.. No, I wasn't with him…"
"What? What do you mean you weren't with him?"
"For long!" Christine added. "I wasn't with him for long."
"Aw, why not? And why are you back so late, then?"
"Meg, Raoul and I have nothing in common except memories from when we were younger."
"Hmm.. I hate to hear that. He's really cute. What'd you guys end up doing?"
She realized she'd have to explain her whole night in order to get to the important stuff. "We went out to eat. It was boring." A pause. "Except.. Meg, there was this incredibly weird guy I talked to. Actually, he was.. Well, he was really intriguing. He dropped something when I was walking to the bathroom. I tried to pick it up, but he did before me, and then we talked for a minute."
"Uh… yeah, it definitely sounds like a lot's happened tonight. Care to continue?" Meg was now on her bed attentively listening to her friend's story.
Christine decided to skip the rest of the restaurant incident. "Well, after dinner, Raoul and I went to his dorm room."
"Ooo," Meg interrupted with a smirk.
"No, Meg, nothing happened. Actually, not much happened at all. It was kind of boring. But then, my cell phone rang."
"Ok…"
"Meg, you're not going to believe this. It was some talent agent saying he was interested in my voice!"
"Really?" she asked, her eyebrows raised in surprise. "Well, that's awesome!"
"He told me to meet him in the Ballad recital hall so we that could talk about me taking part in a new opera."
"Whoa!"
"So, Raoul took me back. I told him I'd call him, but.. I don't know if I want to."
"Wait, Chris. It doesn't seem like you've given him much of a chance." She saw that her friend was about to protest, but Meg continued defensively, "Every time you two might've done something that wasn't 'boring', you were interrupted."
"That was just at his dorm. There wasn't an interruption at dinner."
"But there was. Well, I guess it was more of a distraction. That guy you saw. Obviously he made some sort of impression on you. I'm sure you were just too caught up in thinking about him to actually enjoy yourself."
"I- I was enjoying myself," Christine whispered.
"What? Christine, you saw this dude for, like, two seconds. You can't honestly say he was more interesting than Raoul in that small amount of time. I'm telling you, I just don't think you've given him much of a chance."
Without thinking, Christine blurted out, "Seems like you're more interested in him than I am. Maybe you should date him."
"Hey!" Meg was startled and a bit angry.
Instantly, she regretted saying that. "Oh Meg, I'm sorry. I really didn't mean that."
"Yeah, I hope you didn't. I have a boyfriend!"
"I know. I'm sorry. I've just had a really crazy night."
Meg studied her. "Well, maybe I shouldn't press the 'Raoul' thing. It's your decision. I just want to see you happy with a guy."
"I know... Thanks."
"Sure," Meg said with a smile. "Now, explain the rest of your night. "
Christine knew that wasn't true. Meg would definitely have her say in this.
So, she told her everything up until right before the lights in the recital hall went out.
"Oh, you poor thing! I can't believe you were stood up! What an asshole!"
"Yeah, I know." Should I tell her everything? Part of me wants to know what she thinks… but, another part of me wants to keep it a secret.
After some silence, Meg asked, "So, was that it? Then you came back here?"
Christine gave into what the bigger part of her wanted and nodded.
"Well, what a night!"
You don't know the half of it...
"I was thinking of going over to Chad's dorm for a while. You want to come? You could watch TV or something."
That was the exact last thing Christine wanted to do. "No, it's ok. I think I'm just going to get ready for bed. I'm totally exhausted."
"Yeah, I understand. You sure you're going to be ok?"
"Oh yeah. I will be, I promise."
"Well, just call if you need anything."
"Will do."
Meg laughed. "Ok, see ya, girl. Goodnight!"
"Have fun." When she was gone, Christine turned on her lap top. I know what'll make everything better.
Praying he would be on Instant Messenger, Christine signed onto her account and waited while it loaded. Finally… "Darn it!" Phantom was not online.
She visited a few of her favorite websites and was about to get off when, at the last second, her hopes were answered... "Yes!" Christine hurriedly clicked on his name.
MissDaae7: Hey, Phantom.
Phantom: Hello, Miss Daae. How are you?
MissDaae7: Well...
Phantom: Is that a 'no'?
Erik stared at the computer screen with intensity. She did not even make an attempt at lying. This should be interesting.
MissDaae7: I've just had a really weird night.
She did not choose a horrible adjective to describe our encounter. That is good, Erik thought, his fingers on the keyboard.
Phantom: Would you like to share?
MissDaae7: Yeah.
Christine explained the entire night leaving nothing out. She found she could trust her Online friend, although she had no clue who he was. It felt nice to get the whole night off her chest, though.
Erik read and reread her story searching for hidden clues as to what she really thought of her 'angel'. The most he discovered was that she thought he was 'weird'. There was one thing that caused him to chuckle, though. She found the masked man at the restaurant 'intriguing'. If only she knew we were all one in the same. Erik laughed out loud but quickly stopped. He couldn't be too loud. After all, he was in the music library. It was closed, but there what if there was someone lurking?
Phantom: My, you have had quite a night. Two regrettable happenings, and one good.
MissDaae7: Which part of it was good?
Phantom: Your angel, of course.
MissDaae7: I don't know. I don't know what to think. I don't even know if I believe him.
Phantom: Why?
MissDaae7: This guy claims to be an angel. An angel! I mean, I'm 18... I can't believe in angels. It's like believing in Santa or something. I can't even believe I'm talking to you about this. You must think I'm insane.
Phantom: I think no such thing. In fact, I believe him.
MissDaae7: What? You do? How? Why?
Christine's brow furrowed at the computer. How in the world could someone believe this?
Phantom: Well, it just so happens that I was visited by angel in my past.
Erik paused. Alright, I am going to have to make this look as plausible as possible.
Phantom: Years ago, I was not anything like the person you are interacting with right now. I've had an excruciatingly horrible life. And, trust me, you do not want to know more than that. At the worst point of it all, when I thought there was no hope, someone appeared. Someone in the form of a human, but she was more. She saved me. Before she vanished, I was able to ask who she was. She said, "I am an angel." Then, she was gone.
Erik did not tell a complete lie. He did receive help in the worst of times. Antoinette Giry did help him, save him even. But, she was not an angel..
Christine read and reread his story. Is he actually serious?
She related his story back to her own. Could Erik really exist… as my angel? Can I- no, should I actually believe this? She took a few deep breaths and her fingers shook as she typed.
MissDaae7: Wow.. You are serious? You really were visited by an angel?
Phantom: I would not make something like that up.
That one simple response ended her confusion and doubt.
MissDaae7: I believe in Erik. I believe he really is an angel. ...I can't believe I just typed that.
Phantom: Believe it. I believe it, as well.
Erik beamed at the computer screen. A rare, genuine smile crossed his masked face. She believes. She actually believes. She would not lie to me, I am sure of it.
His work was done.
Well, no. Actually, his work was just beginning.