Please R&R! I worked really hard on this! I own nothing but my imagination and Bella!
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I remember, young as I was, the night She broke my Father's heart. Betrayed him with a single kiss. He loved her beyond any possible love, more than he loved even me; there was not even a competition. She didn't even know about me. But I knew more about her than anyone besides my father. Every night he would tuck me in and tell me stories of a beautiful girl who sang like an angel. He told me that if I worked hard, and obeyed him, someday I could be like her too. I had seen her, and heard her before, Father brought her home on the rare occasion, and I would watch from the shadows silently, no one aware I was even awake.
That night, the night of his final downfall; he had dressed meticulously, his shiny black wig perfectly in place. I was never quite sure where he went. It distressed me deeply for a long time, but he always came back, and I started to trust him again. He usually left at night, to try to avoid distressing me, I thought, after he had tucked me in, told me a story, and I had fallen sleep. Rarely, I would wake and find the whole place empty, but with breakfast on the table. Sometimes he just left in the middle of the day and didn't come home until later that night. It wasn't unusual, so of course, I took no attention. But right before he left, he bent down, kissed me and told me that the pretty soprano, his beloved Christine, was coming home, that she could be my Mother. He left me in the alcove, my own little room where no one would ever find me, for my own protection, and closed the door. I was silently contemplating this idea of having a mother. I had never had one before, not that I could remember. Madame Giry was very kind to me, but she was too strict to be a real mother. Suddenly I heard the yelling, the singing, the crashes and crying. I ran quietly from my room and watched from the shadows, silent as the grave. I didn't understand it at the time, not one bit, except the dreadful crying, the begging songs playing over in my head.
And Father was not wearing his mask! Perhaps that was what frightened me most. Father always wore his mask. Always. I had only once seen him without it. Oh how he had raged at her when she dared remove it! That was one of the first lesson's I learned; Father's mask must stay on. Period.
Christine was wearing the most beautiful of dresses, pale white, simple, floating white satin and a veil. I had only been allowed to see this dress once before. I had always envied her the dress. And Father's love. How naïve I was! The pain on her face was pure anguish. Why is she so sad-and afraid? I had wondered. Fear echoed on her face and in her eyes. Father won't hurt her. He seemed as sad, if not more upset than she did. What happened? I longed to run up to him and ask him, to see him smile, to tell them not to be sad, but I didn't dare. Father was frightening me, even in his sadness. The fire in his eyes told me something was coming. He grabbed her wrist and put something in her palm, closing her tiny fingers over it. I cocked my head in curiosity. She walked past him, pulling a rug from over one of the mirrors. I gasped silently. Rule number two; all mirrors are to be covered. Father hated his reflection. Something in what she sang made him hang his head.
Suddenly Father's voice changed dangerously as he looked over to the gate. A man stood there, dripping wet and panting. Father almost laughed, embracing Christine and taunting him. She struggled out of his grasp. He just laughed and opened the gate, walking slowly toward the man through the knee-deep water. The gate closed behind him, and Father threw something over the man's head and wrestled with him, binding him to the gate. The man coughed all of a sudden and Christine screamed. I gasped in fear. What was happening!
Father was beyond any anger I had ever seen him in, he was insane with absolute rage! He threatened and yelled and taunted and pulled on a rope attached to the man. He coughed again and again before I realized he was suffocating, Father was choking him! He turned to Christine. All three were yelling in song, arguing, it hurt my ears and it frightened me beyond any belief. I wanted to run, but if Father saw me in his rage… I wasn't sure what he would do. Tears dripped down my face slowly. But then Christine sang the loveliest song I had ever heard, and began slowly walking toward him through the dark water before she slid a tiny ring onto her finger and kissed Father, crying, passionately. I didn't understand. I watched, my mouth wide open. What had happened here? Then Father was crying. The confusion…was terrible. I longed to know what had happened, why everyone was behaving so insanely, but I didn't dare move yet. Then father sang, crying, yelling to her. She ran away from him to the man against the gate, kissing his face and untying him. But then she returned. She whispered something to Father and pressed something into his palm, looking regretfully back at him as she stepped into the boat with the other man. Where is she going? I wondered. He sobbed out the most heartbreaking voice I ever, and would ever hear. Four simple words, no one on earth ever heard more anguish.
"Christine, I love you!"
But she was gone, she and the man, and I never saw her again. My father cried and raged, breaking every mirror, every surface he could get his hands on. I ran as fast as my legs could carry me then, I was so afraid of his temper, I sat on the floor and cried. I needn't have feared. I should have known my father would never hurt me, but being only 5, some naivety is assumed. It was a very long time before I ventured out. He never came to fetch me.
I know its not my best, but I really wanted to upload it, and I've been editing and editing, and honestly, I will probably rewrite it in future, I just don't have time for rewriting whole chapters right now... I mainly want to edit and upload what I've already written first...Thanks for reading, and keep an eye out for the next chapter!!! It's coming soon!