"June 29th, 1920", Christine read aloud as she finished checking over her journal entry. She had been living in the mausoleum for three years already. She didn't think it was so bad, though every day found her more and more lonely. She started to wish greatly that she had never left Raoul. She wondered what he was doing. Was he thinking of her? She longed to be back in his arms. Just as she was going to bed, she remembered something. June 29th was some day that had been significant. She couldn't remember though. What was it that made it so important? Had it been the day that her father passed away? Or the day she got her first role as a prima donna? Then she remembered. It came back when a song that she remembered singing returned to her memory. "Think of me, think of me fondly when we've said good bye. Remember me, once in a while, please promise me you'll try. When you find that once again you long to take your heart back and be free, if you ever find a moment, spare a thought for me." It had been fifty years since the fateful night when she starred in "Hannibal", the night when the whole saga with her, Raoul and the Phantom began. That night had changed her life forever. She wondered, why had the Phantom chosen that time to proclaim his only and one true love. Perhaps he had been longing for her, and he had been at the breaking point, not being able to tolerate his loneliness any longer. How she longed to see him one more time! She didn't know how any person could deal with such shun. She thought that anyone faced with that much misery, would kill themselves. Then she went to sleep.

That night she had the most interesting dream. She was walking back from that little café that she went to most nights for food. She was in the woods, walking by a grove of pine trees. It was quiet, not even the owls were making sounds. As she wandered, thinking about her granddaughter, all of a sudden she heard, a whisper almost, "Christine". It sounded like...no. It couldn't be the Phantom, maybe it was just the wind, and she thought she heard him sing her name. She kept on walking until she reached the gates. Upon opening the gate, she heard... "Nighttime sharpens, heightens each sensation. Darkness stirs, and wakes imagination. Silently the senses, abandon their defenses." She stopped cold. She knew that it had to be him this time. They were the only two people that knew that song. She longed to hear more. It had been forever since she had heard her angel sing. Softly she sung "Angel I hear you, speak, I listen! Stay by my side, guide me." She hoped he would continue to sing, but as soon as she had gotten her final words out, she awoke.

A bit startled, she wondered what had brought on this dream. She initially thought that it was just because she had thought about Erik, the Phantom, before she went to sleep. Unfortunately, there was that nagging memory, that when she was a girl, he would visit her dreams, and sing to her. Perhaps, he was doing so again. She hoped it was the latter of the two. She wanted so bad to talk to him, to hear him sing again. She looked in every corner, at every wall, and even looked outside. She didn't see him.

A few nights later, she was again visited by a strange dream of the sort. She found herself inside the ruins of the opera house. She was in the little chapel where she always had mourned her father. So there she was again lighting a candle for her father. She was weeping. All of a sudden, she saw something out of the corner of her eye, and stopped crying. A little black, swish of something going around a corner. She was certain it was Erik. She followed around the corner, and stopped, for he was standing there in front of her. As she stood there watching him, he started to sing "Let your mind start a journey through a strange new world. Leave the thoughts of the life you knew before. Let your soul take you where you long to be! Only then can you belong to me." While he sang, she found herself walking towards him and taking his hand. She then awoke.

She found it interesting that she would have these two dreams not so far apart. However, before she could think of a reason why this occurred, a tragedy struck that would leave no time for thoughts like that. The morning after the second dream, she was getting dressed, when she heard a crowd of mourners come near. She finished getting dressed, and turned to see where they were headed. She saw them headed towards the mausoleum. She fell to her knees and wept silently, for she knew that it had to be a death in her family. She knew it who was, but it was just so hard to face. She knew that it was Raoul that had passed away. Her dear Raoul! How could she have done such a thing as to let him live his final years alone! She never got a chance to be with him in his final moments! How could she! She almost ran out to throw herself on the coffin to try to apologize to his soul at the very least. She was halfway to the gate when she remembered that she couldn't.

"Oh what have I done! I can't even go out there to eulogize him! My beloved Raoul! How could this possibly get any worse!" She turned her head to face the crowd, and while they were placing the coffin in the ground, her little granddaughter Belle, who was four by that time, got down on her knees and exclaimed to god "first I lost my grandma, and now my grandpa! Why god are you such a meanie!" Then she ran up to her father and mother as she cried. Christine chuckled a little at Belle's adorable use of "meanie" but almost died of shame when she heard how upset she was. She didn't know how she could stand much more of this without flinging herself outside and jumping down into the grave with him. She had to watch while weeping silently. How could she do it? She managed it, though with every passing second, she wanted to more and more to hold her breath, as to suffocate herself. She was now going to have to live with the guilt of letting him die alone! She didn't know what else she could do. She turned to her father's coffin, and said to it "Oh father! I hope you can hear me from Heaven, I wish you were here to help me, oh whatever shall I do!" She finally decided to cope by hiding, so that she couldn't see or hear anything from the funeral. She tucked herself away in a corner, and covered her ears until it was done.

She hoped everyone was gone when she came out of her corner. She had managed to contain herself and calm down, but she knew that she might drop into spasms if there was someone left to watch mourn. Luckily, there was nobody around. It was the end of twilight, almost night. She figured that there might be a guard or two outside, so she went to the gate and took a look outside. Seeing completely deserted cemetery, she opened the gate slowly, took another look around, and shut it quickly. She ran quickly to Raoul's grave, so nobody could see that she had come from the mausoleum. She knelt before his grave and read:

Count Raoul de Chaney

1849-1920

Beloved husband and father

And she wept. "Oh Raoul my beloved, if you can hear my voice rise to heaven, please forgive me for leaving you! Please understand, I meant no harm to you! Oh forgive my sin!" As she wept, she started to hear something faint in the distance. At first, it just sounded like an incoherent jumble of words, but then it stared to come closer. As it advanced, she started to make out some of it. It sounded like, like, like Raoul! But it couldn't be! "His spirit must have come down from Heaven! Oh Raoul please forgive me! At least you've come to me." She started listening to the words of the song he sang. "Say you'll share with me one love, one lifetime..." She didn't remember the tune sounding so, angry. It was getting closer, and the closer he came, the angrier the song started to sound " Christine, that's all I ask of you." Her face was flushed red with fear, she cried out "Raoul, I understand that I've hurt you but please understand, I never meant to! Don't hurt me! Please! I do still love you, whether you believe me or not!" With that, she got so frightened, that she fled the cemetery. As soon as she reached the gate, she flung it open and raced out. When she slammed the gate shut, she fell to the ground, panting, trying to catch her breath. Before she stood up, she realized that night had fallen. She was afraid of what was Raoul's fury, so she decided not to go back to the mausoleum for a while. Since she was under the cover of night, likely 11:00, she decided to go for a walk through the forest.