Chapter 1

Too Close For Comfort

Christine awoke from her dream with a start. Small droplets of sweat clung to her face like the morning due on a precious flower in the garden. She looked around. Daylight; it shone through her small window and straight into her chocolate colored eyes. She had had the most horrible dream. No time for that though. She groaned, not wanting to get out of her bed, but knowing that she must.

She flung her covers off of her and gingerly arose from the bed, making it right after of course. She performed her normal morning routines; she dressed, ate, stretched, then practiced her dance routine for the play that night alone on the stage when no one was around.

She was in the middle of going over the routine when she heard footsteps. She stopped and looked to her left where the noise had come from. It was her dearest friend, Meg. "Hello Christine. How are you this morning?" The blond haired beauty said in her normal friendly manor. "I'm fine, thank you. I'm just practicing for tomorrow evening. You know how nervous I still get." The blond smiled and nodded knowingly. "Yes... though I don't understand why. You're probably the best dancer out there, and yet still so modest." "I am my own critique I suppose." The pair shared a small laugh.

The two friends ended up doing the routine together and then sat down on the edge of the Opera Populaire's stage. Christine looked at Meg for a moment, unsure if she should say what she was thinking. "What is it?" Meg said with a small tilt of her head. The brunette sighed and looked down, butterflies fluttering around in her stomach. "I still hear the voice..." "The singing?" "Yes... I hear him and I don't know if it's real or if I'm dreaming. I still wake with a start, with that feeling that someone had watched me." Christine said, contorting her face slightly at the thought of another watching her in the shadows. "I'm sure it is just your imagination. It's not like anyone here has the voice that you described, nor the means of being able to watch you at night. You know my mother walks the halls to make sure everything is as it should be." The slightly younger girl said matter of factly.

Christine thought for a moment and let a sigh escape her rosy pink lips. "Yes... I suppose you're right." She said as she nodded. "Of course I am." The blue eyed girl said with a knowing smile. Christine couldn't help but smile back herself. After all, who WOULD be in the shadows watching her?

Christine walked into her room, so tired from the day's events. She let out a long, steady breath as she slipped off her shoes and undid her bun that was tightly wound on top of her head. This was her favorite part of the day. Being able to relax in her room, away from all of the noise of the opera house, away from the hustle and bustle of the others winding down from the play.

She slowly undressed, taking off her most uncomfortable costume first, followed by her tights. She then grabbed her simple lacy, white nightgown and slipped it on. She walked in front of the mirror as she tied the delicate ribbon below her bust line into a neat bow. She then proceeded to observe herself in the mirror.

She contorted her face slightly, looking at her "flaws". Why can't my lips be a bit smaller? They're so huge!... or rosier cheeks... oh how nice it would be to have a man's attention. She thought, bringing a small smile to her face at the thought of the touch of a man.

Christine sat on the edge of her bed and crossed her legs so that her foot was resting on the other knee. She proceeded to rub her tiny, sore feet. "If I didn't love to dance so much I would indeed never wear ballet shoes again." She said as she furrowed her brows. Ballet shoes are simply the worse invention in the world for women next to the corset. She thought with a small furrow on her brow. As she rubbed her petite feet she began to sing.

"... I'm off to the deepest depths to forfeit my place on this land.

The tide pulls you in to be as one, a drift in the sea.

The feeling is free and you'll find yourself drifting with me.

Don't hold your breath for long,

If the undertows getting to strong.

There's no reason for you to come along..."

She opened her eyes, realizing that at the last part of the song she heard a voice chide in with her. She looked around, startled. Her small room held no place for anybody to hide, but she checked none the less.

Seeing no one, she assumed it was all in her head as Meg had said to her earlier that day. Her chest seemed to be heaving despite herself. Her heart nearly skipping a beat as she tried to calm her nerves.

"Come now Christine... there is no one there... just go to bed and forget all about it." She tried to condole herself, but it almost seemed useless. She climbed into bed, willing herself to forget; to sleep.

How stupid of me! He knew better from the last time he tried to sing with her. It frightened her so much... and in her bewildered state it caused him to feel ashamed and saddened himself. But how could he help himself! Fifteen years of hiding in the shadows. Fifteen years of singing and teaching her to do so in her sleep, attempting to make some kind of contact with her, but never knowing how nor having the guts to do so. She maddened him to the bitter end! His long, delicate fingers wanted nothing more then to feel the warmth of her skin; the softness of her curly brown locks seeping through his fingers; the feel of her breath against his neck... her lips pressed against his...

Well... that day was going to be now.

He slid the mirror to one side as gently and softly as he could manage. Stepping inside the dark room without so much as a sound coming from him, he tip-toed over to the sleeping beauty in her bed, resting peacefully.

Her beauty astonished him. Her curly brown hair seemed to surround her face in a halo. Her chest rose... then fell in an almost hypnotic rhythm. Her right hand lay across her stomach. Her left neatly below it across her lower waste. Her mouth was slightly slack as she breathed in her sleep. Oh and how he wanted to be curled up beside her, his beloved Christine. By her side in a bed they shared. By her side with his arms circled around her. He wanted it more than anything that it made his heart ache.

He had never been this close to her except for when she was on the other side of the mirror, not knowing that he even existed. For fifteen years he stood on the other side of the mirror... in the shadows where no one could see. This was his chance.

He reached out to touch her cheek. Only touch it. That is all he wanted. He just wanted to feel the warmth; the warmth that could melt his icy heart.

He pulled back. He shook himself of the cobwebs he had allowed. He turned away from the sleeping form of the one woman that he loved and walked back through the mirror, looking back only once before shutting it behind him.

A/N: The song that Christine is Singing is by CKY. I do not claim owning it. Anyway, I thought I better post the first chapter. I won't be posting again until I get some feedback. It only seems logical. I want to know if people like it or not so I can fix anything in my other chapters. I do hope you all like! Thanks for reading.

Emi