Chapter 4

It's that room again, except now it contains four women. There's one woman in each corner. Three of them have whose skin, and one of them has caramel-colored skin. The girl in the lower left-hand corner looks to be about nineteen, the girl in the upper, left-hand corner looks to be about eighteen, the girl in the upper, right-hand corner looks to be in her early twenties, and so does the girl in the lower, right-hand corner. The girl in the lower, left-hand corner has short, blonde hair that's pulled back into a tight bun. She's wearing a long, long-sleeved silver dress that only has a left sleeve, a flat, silver hat with a white feather attached to it, and silver high heels. The girl in the upper, left-hand corner has long, brown hair that's pulled back into a braid, and rosy cheeks. She's wearing a long, white dress with a full skirt and short, puffy sleeves that come down to the top of her arms, leaving her pale shoulders exposed, and white ballet slippers that are covered by her dress. The girl in the upper, right-hand corner has long, curly, brown hair. She's wearing a long, long-sleeved, black dress with a black belt, a white, lace shawl, and black boots, which are covered by her dress. And the girl in the lower, right-hand corner of the room has dark skin and short, black hair. She's wearing a long-sleeved, lime green shirt, a long-sleeved, red jacket with silver buttons, a short, white skirt with various-colored flowers on it, olive green leggings, and black high heels. The four women slowly revive and open their eyes… The girl in the lower, left-hand corner has blue eyes, and so do the girls in the upper, left and right-hand corners, and the girl in the lower, right-hand corner has brown eyes. The girls stare at each other for several seconds, and then the girl in the long, white dress breaks the silence…

"Who are you guys?" she asked. Her blue eyes darted from face to face. Finally, the girl in the lower, right-hand corner stepped forward and extended her hand. "I'm Angel Dumott Schunard." Angel smiled gently at the other girl, who smiled back, stepped forward, shook Angel's hand, and said, "My name's Christine Daae." "It's nice to meet you Christine! I really like your dress!" Christine smiled again. "Thanks! You look pretty too!" Angel grinned. "Thanks!" To their right, the girl in the lower, left-hand corner stepped forward. She smiled at Christine and Angel, and they smiled back at her. "What's your name honey?" Angel asked. The girl extended her right hand, and said, "I'm Glinda Upland." She shook hands with Christine and Angel, and they shook hands with her. Then the three turned to the girl in the upper, right-hand corner. "And what about you honey?" Angel asked. "What's your name?" The girl came forward and extended her hand. "I'm Cosette Pontmercy." Cosette smiled and shook hands with Christine, Angel, and Glinda. "Where are you guys from?" Angel asked. "I'm from Oz." Glinda replied. "I'm from Paris, France." Christine said. "I'm from France too." Cosette said. "Where are you from Angel?" Christine asked. "New York City, New York." "You're from New York City!?" Christine asked excitedly, her blue eyes shining. Angel nodded. "Oh I've always wanted to go there!" Christine continued. "I sing in the Opera in Paris, and lately I've wanted to go to New York City and perform on Broadway!" Angel grinned. "It takes a lot of guts to go to New York City!" "What do you mean?" Christine's blue eyes were filled with curiosity as she looked at Angel. Angel answered, "New York City is a rough place. Murderers and prostitutes and every other group of horrible people you can imagine live there. There are good people, but sometimes they're hard to find. You just have to be careful." "Paris can be pretty rough too sometimes, but maybe not that bad…" "Other parts of France can be that bad." Cosette said quietly. "What do you mean?" Glinda asked. Cosette closed her eyes. She was silent for several seconds. Then she said, "When I was a little girl, my mother couldn't afford to take care of me, so she left me with an innkeeper, his wife, and their daughter hoping that they would take care of me until she had enough money to come back for me…" "But they didn't." Christine said quietly. Cosette shook her head. "No. They didn't. They made me do all the household chores, and they barely fed me enough food to keep me alive. They wrote letters to my mother, lying to her, telling her that I was always ill, and asking her for money to buy me medicine. I was never ill, just dirty and hungry, and all the money went to pay off the couple's many debts. My mother worked at a factory that was owned by the mayor of the town that she lived in, until the foreman kicked her out because the other women who worked there were spreading jealous lies about her because they found out about me… She then lived on the streets, and became a prostitute just so she could earn money to send to me… She became grievously ill, and the mayor took pity on her after she told him about his foreman firing her. The mayor took her to a hospital and did what he could to care for her, but she died anyway…. After she died, the mayor came and rescued me from the Thénardiers, the couple I lived with, and adopted me. Like my mother asked him to before she died… He sent me to school, and he nursed me back to a healthy, young woman. I called him 'Papa', and we became very close. He was a very religious man, and he was very sweet and kind. I lived with him until I grew up and got married. Papa was sad to lose me, but he was also happy to see me married to a good man. And Marius, my husband, really is a very sweet, king, gentle, loving person." Cosette paused and smiled gently, thinking about Marius. "Do you still see your father a lot?" Christine asked. Cosette nodded. "Yes. I go see him everyday, and I still ask him for advice about various things. I don't want him to feel like he's completely losing me!" Angel and Glinda both nodded. Christine looked sad. "What's wrong Christine?" Cosette asked. Christine shook her head. "You're lucky Cosette!" "What do you mean?" "Your father's still alive. And you two are still close." Cosette reached out and took Christine's hand. Christine looked at her with watery eyes. "Did you lose your father?" Cosette asked quietly. Christine closed her eyes and nodded, tears starting to slowly roll down her face. Cosette moved to stand directly beside Christine, and she put her arm around her. "Tell us about him." she said softly. Christine took a deep breath. Then she said, "I was born in Sweden, and I grew up with my father there. We were very poor, but we didn't care, as long as we had each other. He played the violin, and I sang. We traveled throughout Sweden, and put on little shows for people. But then, when I was very young, my father became ill, and he died…" Christine paused for a moment, trying to regain control of herself. Once she had, she continued. "After he died, I was taken to Paris by a sweet woman named Antoinette Giry. I became a ballerina, and then the star at the Opera Populaire in Paris. I often dreamed about my father, and I missed him terribly. I became friends with Madame Giry's daughter, Meg, and Madame Giry became like a surrogate mother to me. I also reconnected with my childhood sweetheart, Raoul de Chagny…" Christine smiled when she said Raoul's name, and her voice became very soft and gentle. "We fell in love all over again, and he eventually asked me to marry him. The only problem was that I was being coached by a man named Erik, although he was known by everyone else as the Opera Ghost. Erik gave me vocal lessons, and I became quite good. I became the new star, and everyone seemed pleased with me. But then Erik found out that I was in love with Raoul, and that I was engaged to him, and he was furious… I realized then that he loved me… Raoul wanted to capture and kill Erik, and he used me to lure him out into the open. But Erik knew about the plan, and he kidnapped me… He was going to force me to marry him, and if I didn't, he was going to kill Raoul… I finally convinced Erik to let us both go. And now Raoul and I are married and expecting a son." "Congratulations! And are you happy with Raoul?" Angel asked. Christine nodded. "Yes. He's wonderful!" "Do you ever miss Erik?" Glinda asked. "Sometimes." Christine admitted quietly. But mostly I just hope that he eventually found someone who really could genuinely love him…" They all nodded and looked at her sympathetically. "Do you ever wish that you had chosen Erik?" Glinda asked quietly. Christine considered this for several seconds. Then she said, "No. I was sad that I hurt Erik, but I love Raoul. I have since I was a little girl, and I know I always will." Glinda nodded, her blue eyes filled with tears. Angel moved over to her, put her left arm around Glinda's shoulders, and took her right hand in hers. Glinda looked at her. "Tell us about him, honey." Angel said gently. Glinda tried to smile, but failed. She closed her eyes for several seconds, not saying a word. Finally she said, "His name was Fiyero Tiggular. We met in college and fell in love. But after a while, I began to notice that he was distant from me, and that he was spending a lot of time with my best friend, Elphaba Thropp. Elphaba and I went to the Emerald City together, Oz's capital, and she wound up defying our leader and becoming a rebel and fighting for the rights of the remaining animals in Oz. She left to go to the outskirts of the country, saving the animals and creating quite a stir in Oz. In the meantime, Fiyero became the leader of the army in Oz, and I became a very popular figure among the people. They looked up to me for strength and encouragement and guidance. And about that time, Fiyero and I got engaged. However, on the night he and I got engaged, Elphaba came back to the Emerald City to confront The Wizard, our leader, one last time…" Here Glinda paused, too choked up to speak. After a few seconds, she continued. "Fiyero and Elphaba admitted that they loved each other, and they left together… I convinced The Wizard and his secretary, Madame Morrible, to use Elphaba's sister, Nessarose, to get to Elphaba. I was angry then, but I bitterly regretted what happened afterwards…" "What happened?" Cosette asked. "Madame Morrible conjured up a cyclone that killed Nessa…" Two tears spilled out of Glinda's eyes and rolled down her face. All three girls were looking at her in a mixture of horror, sadness, pity, and sympathy. Glinda continued with her story. "Elphaba and I met again at the spot where Nessa was killed. She was upset because Nessa was dead, and I was upset because I had lost Fiyero. We fought. And then The Wizard's guards showed up… They captured Elphaba, and she found out that I had told The Wizard and Madame Morrible about using Nessa to get to her. And Elphaba believed that I had intentionally had Nessa killed out of jealousy… I tried to tell her that that wasn't true, but she wouldn't believe me… And then Fiyero showed up… He threatened to kill me if they didn't let Elphaba go… It was a bluff, but it worked. Elphaba was freed, but the guards captured Fiyero… They took him out to a field and beat him, trying to get him to tell them where Elphaba had gone… I begged for his life, but they wouldn't listen… I was desperate, and I went to see Elphaba at Fiyero's castle, where they had been staying with a group of winged monkeys that Elphaba had freed on her last trip to the Emerald City. We were both still extremely angry, but then we found out that Fiyero was dead…" Glinda paused again, tears streaming down her face. Angel, Cosette, and Christine all gasped and hugged her. Glinda managed a weak smile, and then continued. "Elphaba decided then that she needed to surrender. She gave me her spell book, and made me promise to continue with her work in saving the animals, but to never try to clear her name… The Wizard's guards showed up then, and I hid myself and watched the fight… Elphaba was killed… All that was left of her was the tall, black witch hat that I had given her, and a little green bottle that had once belonged to her mother… I took the hat and the bottle, and I went back to see The Wizard. I found out then that he had been Elphaba's father, and I ordered him out of Oz. And then I had Madame Morrible arrested. And I took over Oz. I did what Elphaba asked me to do, and I brought peace to the entire country. I just wish that Elphaba and Fiyero could be with me…" Glinda was still crying when she finished, and Angel, Christine, and Cosette all hugged her again. Then Glinda, Christine, and Cosette all turned to look at Angel. "What's your story Angel?" Glinda asked. "I live in New York City with my boyfriend, Tom Collins. He's really sweet and kind and funny, and we love each other. I rescued him last Christmas Eve after he got mugged. He introduced me to two of his old roommates, Mark Cohen and Roger Davis. And then Roger introduced me to his new girlfriend, Mimi Márquez. And then Mark introduced me to his ex-girlfriend, Maureen Johnson, and her new girlfriend, Joanne Jefferson. We were all like a really close family, and we still are, but I'm especially close to Collins and Mimi. Collins and I both have AIDS, and so do Roger and Mimi. And that's one of the many things that brought Collins and I, and Mimi and I, together. I feel so lucky to have such amazing friends! Mimi was a girl who had been forced to lead a hard life, and who had adapted to that. She worked at a strip club, but I think, underneath all the indifference and pretending to not love anyone, she just wanted love and loyal friends. We all gave her friendship, and Roger gave her love. And that kind of helped her turn her life around. She was a heroin addict for a long time, but she broke her addiction. Underneath everything she was a really sweet, funny girl. And she's still that kind of girl." "It does sound like you have amazing friends!" Angel nodded and smiled. "I really do! I feel really lucky, and I love them all!" The four women looked at each other and smiled. "So we've all been through the ups and downs of life." Angel said quietly. "And yet we all survived." Glinda said. Christine and Cosette nodded. Then they all smiled at each other again. The four of them were standing in a small circle in the center of the room. Glinda put her left arm around Christine, and her right arm around Angel. Christine put her left arm around Cosette, and her right arm around Glinda. Cosette put her left arm around Angel, and her right arm around Christine. And Angel put her left arm aurum Glinda, and he right arm around Cosette. They hugged each other tightly, giggling slightly. But then, suddenly, everything went black, and they were sent home to their own friends and family…