Chapter Two-
Christine laid curled up into a ball facing the wall with a blank look. After the woman, Madame Giry, had shakily helped her out of the dress she had taken from her mother's dressing room and into a night dress, the woman had left. Christine sighed and uncurled so she could roll to her other side and look around the room that was illuminated by a single candle. It shocked her how much the room looked like her mother's dressing room, down to the full length mirror on the wall and everything. And yet, even though it looked like her mother's dressing room, Christine could tell it was not. And that was only because there were no bundles of different flowers in every corner of the room, nor was there a light bulb hanging from the ceiling.
Christine sighed once more before reaching for the candle and blew the light out and allowing herself to fall asleep.
\'~'/
Christine sighed as she watched her mother sing from backstage, she felt someone gently tap her shoulder and looked at the person to see a group of dancers behind her. She gave the group an apologetic smile before moving out of their way so they could be ready for their cue. Christine sighed again as she looked around at everyone backstage, they were all busy doing their jobs. And here she was doing nothing but getting in people's way. Her mother was right, she was a good for nothing that always got in the way.
With a self loathing sigh, Christine turned and quickly left the backstage to wander around the halls, and maybe even go to the chapel to pray for her father. Christine rubbed her arms as she walked down the hall that would lead her to the chapel, feeling ghostly eyes of the past on her. When Christine got to the chapel she reached out to open the door.
~Christine~ She heard whispered in her ear. She whipped around to see who had just called her name, but there was no one. Christine shook her head and silently reprimanding herself for letting the ghosts of the past trick her once more.
~Christine~ She heard whispered once more and when she looked around this time, she saw the end of a dark cloak disappearing down the hallway that led to her mother's dressing room. After some slight hesitation, Christine took off down the hallway. Within no time Christine made it to the door that lead to her mother's dressing room.
~Christine~ The whisper came from within the dressing room. Hesitantly, Christine reached out to open the door, but stopped right before her hand touched the handle. Her mother always forbade her from entering her dressing room.
~However, your mother is on stage now~ A darkly familiar voice whispered to her. It wouldn't hurt to just open the door, right? Christine gulped before finally taking hold of the handle and opening the door.
The first thing that caught her attention was the beautiful full length mirror that felt more like a secret door to a secret world. In a slight trance, Christine stepped into the room and walked over to the mirror. She gently placed her fingers on it, as if afraid that if she put any kind of pressure on it, then the mirror would break and the illusion would be gone.
The opening of the armoire door caught her attention. Christine gasped and spun around to look at the armoire, afraid that someone would come out of it and either attack her or go get her mother. When nothing happened, Christine cautiously took a few steps towards the armoire. She tentatively reached out and grabbed the armoire door and opened it all the way and gasped. The armoire was filled with different costumes. Christine reached out to touch one of the many dresses, but stopped. If she were to touch her mother's dresses, her mother would surely find out and punish her.
Christine went to close the armoire when a dress on the inside of the armoire door caught her attention. She turned her head and saw the most gorgeous black and dark red dress she had ever seen. In a trance like state, Christine reached out and began to stroke the dress.
'I wonder what this would look on me?' Christine thought as her and pulled the dress off its hanger. She walked back towards the mirror and held the dress up against her body, she smiled at her reflection.
~Put it on~ Christine looked down at the dress then back to her reflection before she turned and gently sat the dress on her mother's vanity chair. She slowly began to undress, her eyes flying around the room, taking in all the flowers, as if expecting someone to suddenly appear and punish her for being in here. Once she was undressed, Christine quickly slipped the dress on, noticing that even though it looked like it came from the 19th century and would need a corset, it actually didn't because it had a built in corset.
Once Christine had managed to lace up the back she turned and looked at herself in the mirror and silently gasped. The dress was a low cut, a line evening ball gown that brought out all of her best curves, making her look like a totally different person. Christine slowly walked over to the mirror, not believing the beautiful young woman was her.
~You have always been beautiful, my Dark Angel~ When she got to the mirror, Christine heard the door to the dressing room open and froze, watching through the mirror as her mother stepped into the room. Her mother froze when her eyes landed on Christine in the dress before glaring at Christine and stormed into the room. Christine turned and tried to back away from her enraged mother, but ran into the mirror.
"Mama-" Christine started but was stopped when her mother slapped her hard enough to turn her head. Christine's eyes widened as she slowly raised her hand up to her cheek as the sting of the slap finally reached her brain.
"What the hell do you think you are doing?" Her mother demanded as Christine turned her head back to look at her mother, still in shock. Her mother had always thrown things at her or yelled at her, calling her a useless piece of trash before sending her away to be a 'slave' for the perverted stage manager, but her mother had never hit her before. "How dare you come into my dressing room and steal my dress!"
"I wasn't - I was just -" Christine stuttered out trying to explain, but was cut off as her mother slapped her once more.
"Do not lie to me!" Her mother screamed before she began to tug at the dress. "Take off my dress! Take it off now!" Her mother tore the dress and screamed in rage before she grabbed hold of Christine by the hair and threw her to the ground. "Look what you did!"
"But I - I didn't-" Christine stuttered out, stopping when her mother picked up a vase of flowers and threw it at her head. Christine curled into a ball, causing the vase to miss, tears of fear rolling down her cheeks. Christine flinched when she heard the vase shattered where her head had just been, her mother screamed in rage once more.
"How dare you lie to me you little bitch! You whore! You think I would rip my own dress?!" Her mother yelled as Christine curled up even more.
~Come to me, my Dark Angel, I shall protect you~ Christine quickly uncurled herself and bolted to her feet before running towards the door.
"You should have died that night! Not my Gustave!" Christine heard her mother yelled at her and she ran out of the room. "Go crawl into a ditch and die like the piece of whore trash that you are!" Christine ran down the hall, her tears made her vision blurry, keeping her from seeing where she was going and the people she knew were looking at her.
Christine slid around a corner, slamming into the wall with her momentum. She hugged the wall for a moment, panting and trying to clear her vision, before taking off again. She didn't know where she was going, all she knew was that she had to get out of there and to where the voice was. The voice had promised to protect her and something in her knew she could believe the voice. Christine ran out of the Opera Populaire and ran across the street, not caring that she could have been hit by a car, nor about the angry honks and yells being thrown at her.
Once she got to the park across from the Opera Populaire, her legs gave out on her and she fell to her knees, crying. Christine hugged herself as she curled in on herself and just let herself cry everything out. She didn't care if she was making a scene, she needed this. She needed to release this from her soul, Christine felt the need to sing, but refused to. She hadn't sung since her father died, leaving her alone with the woman who had once been her loving mother, but now was just a cold-hearted bitch.
Once all of her tears had left her, Christine looked up and noticed that it was close to time for the sun to set. She slowly stood up on shaky legs and made her way to a nearby bench and began to absentmindedly watch the couples and families that were also in the park. Her blue eyes looking yet not truly seeing, as her left hand began to poke and prod the bruise that had formed on her right cheek. Christine felt as if she were waiting for something, what that was, she didn't know. Ever since her father died, Christine had begun to feel as if she were waiting for something.
A cold, harsh wind blew through the park, causing her body to shiver and goosebumps to form on her arms and neck, telling her to bundle up and keep warm. But she did not. Christine's eyes drifted upwards towards the sky, clouds were quickly covering the sky, turning the bright, cheerful evening into a dark and ominous one. Christine noticed the couples and families quickly left the park to return to the safety of their homes.
Christine tilted her head straight up and closed her eyes as she felt the air become electrified. This was what she had been waiting for. Christine smiled as she saw a bright flash of light through her closed eyes before her mind was swallowed by unconsciousness.
\'~'/
Christine bolted up in the bed she was in with a loud gasp. Something moving in the shadow between the armoire and the mirror caught her attention. She blinked and focused her eyes, but saw nothing there. Christine shook her head and laid back down. 'It was just the shadows playing ticks with your mind.' She told herself, trying to convince herself as her eyes stayed on the shadows, as if making sure it wouldn't move again.
~Nothing is always as it seems, my Dark Angel~ The voice whispered before Christine felt herself fall back into unconsciousness once more. However, before she completely fell into unconsciousness she saw a man with slick back black hair, guarded amber eyes, and a white mask covering the right side of his face standing next to her bed watching her.
Edited: 6/4/2020