CHAPTER 2: Buried Information
(Christine's POV)
"...grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference..."
There were only two days until the opening of Don Juan Triumphant. This fact kept repeating itself in my head. The rehearsals made me sick. Every word, every line, every note was all centered on me. I wasn't even contributing a character to this production- the whole production had been molded around me because He wrote it, everything. Each rehearsal I sang his melodies, and as if those weren't enough then the words would bring the emotions I had tried to repress all the more real. I stared into space as Piangi belt a verse towards me, my mind too distracted to respond.
"Christine!"
I snapped back to reality.
"Wha- yes?" it was getting so hard to concentrate.
The conductor just shook his head.
"Alright everyone take an hour's break. That is everyone except for the male dancers; Madame Giry wishes to go over a few things with you. One hour everyone! This is Hell Week for heaven's sake." The conductor announced.
Everyone dispersed. I stood still on stage unsure of where to go. I slowly walked to the middle of the bridge that was part of the set for Don Juan Triumphant. I stared at the empty audience. Two days I would be on this bridge, and as soon as I walked to the center of this bridge in Past the Point of No Return it would be the cue for the soldiers to shoot. Oh God- I sank to my knees holding on to the railing, I felt so sick. I looked up at box five. Could I do this? Could I betray this man who made my voice and spirit soar? Why me? Why did Raoul come back? Why did Erik have to pick me? So many questions, scenarios, and doubts began to flood my mind. Tears streamed down my face as I tried to make sense of my thoughts.
"Christine."
My body stiffened. I glanced to see who it was; it was Madame Giry to my relief. She knelt down next to me and placed a loving arm around my shoulder.
"Christine you need to pull yourself together." She spoke in a motherly sort of voice. "This after all was your decision."
This made me look up at her.
"My decision?"
"Did you or did you not agree to help Raoul with his plan?"
"Yes- but no! He planned it not me! I- I'm just in the show. I was going to be in it to begin with" I managed to get out through my shallow breaths.
"You didn't want to be in it until Raoul insisted."
So much guilt washed through me. Wait, why didn't Madame Giry talk like this was a good idea to lead the Phantom to his death? As if she dared to even consider another option? She knew nothing of Erik, did she?
"I don't know what to do." I admitted.
"Well you're far into it now. The show is in four days, I was hoping you'd be indecisive about this matter months ago."
"Do you not want the Phantom to die Madame Giry?" why did she talk like she wanted Erik alive?
"No, it is not in my interest that the Opera Ghost should die. I have lived here many years before he arrived and have grown accustomed to his being here."
"Accustomed to murder?" I tried to argue. We both stood up, she wiped away what was left of the tears on my face with the back of her hand.
"My dear, for as long as we've known the Phantom to reside here when did these murders start to occur?"
Was this a joke? People were killed by him! But as her question sank in I could feel the answer reach its way to my mouth, though I desperately tried to keep it unspoken.
"The murders started when Raoul- oh no, this isn't fair, how could you suggest that Raoul's arrival caused this man to kill?" I didn't know if I was arguing with Madame Giry or myself at this point.
"I am just stating what I have observed. We were fine before the new managers or the new patron arrived, were we not?"
I couldn't even speak. She was right, and it was wrong for me to believe she was right! But I would never admit it.
"Come Christine. You need to rest yourself. I will tell them you don't feel well."
I nodded and followed her down the stairs and off the stage. Meg spotted me and came to my side while her mother went off to find the conductor to tell him I was opting out for the rest of tonight's rehearsal.
"Christine are you alright?"
"For now I am, Meg." I hardly sounded convincing. "I'm going to bed."
"Be careful." she squeezed my hand and ran off somewhere back stage.
I made my way to the dressing room to change. I always changed in the far back corner, I was never as comfortable as the other girls were. As I started to change I could smell cigarette smoke and knew some of the dance girls were making their way into the dressing room. My pace quickened, I wanted to leave.
"Oh I'm the Phantom of the Opera! I can kill a fat stage hand but not Viscount prince charming!" one of the girls mocked.
"Oh Sherri you best not make fun or you might as well be next!" responded one of the girls. They all were laughing, why did I have to be here now?
"Please Priscilla; I doubt the Phantom would rid of me. I hear he likes pretty girls doesn't he Cynthia?" Sherri asked cackling at her own dry humor.
"Only one pretty girl." Cynthia stated.
"Who? Miss Daae?" Priscilla asked.
"Why does it matter? She doesn't want him; she'd rather the Viscount!" spat Sherri.
"The Viscount is rich! I don't blame the girl." Cynthia laughed.
"But he looks so dreary and plain, and from what I saw at the Masquerade that Phantom is one smoldering man." Sherri breathed in a sensual voice.
"Who kills!" Priscilla exclaimed.
"Which brings us back to square one-" Cynthia remembered.
"Yes, he killed Buquet, who if you don't remember raped Francesca!" Sherri.
"What? Whose Francesca?" Priscilla probed.
"She's the mute dancer." Cynthia answered.
"And she wasn't mute until that pig raped her." Sherri finshed.
"Well then how do you know she was raped if she's mute?" Priscilla asked.
"We overheard Buquet telling his friends at a cast party for Il Muto that they were secretly seeing each other." Cynthia explained.
"Yes, but if that were the case then why would poor Francesca feel the need to go mute?" Sherri rhetorically asked.
"God, he's a hero then." Priscilla said.
"Eh, I like the Viscount." Cynthia repeated.
"You like his money, and you call me a slut." Sherri laughed.
"At least I'd make a profit." Cynthia jokingly argued.
"Wait so is that why the Phantom killed Buquet?" Priscilla asked.
"Who knows, maybe. He doesn't miss thing around here." Cynthia lit another cigarette.
"But why would he kill randomly?"
"Good Lord you're full of questions! You should ask him yourself Priscilla." Sherri teased.
"No!" Priscilla shrieked.
"All you have to do is keep your hands to the level of your eyes, or whatever Giry's mantra is." Cynthia laughed.
"That makes no sense to me at all." Priscilla scoffed.
"It's so you don't get hanged." Meg answered; she had entered the dressing room.
"Oh well look who's smart." Sherri praised.
"C'mon Meg take a drag with us." Cynthia offered her cigarette.
I was just about dressed, I hung my costume and walked around to the other side of the dressing room and saw Meg, cigarette in hand, examining the cigarette.
"Oh shit." Sherri exclaimed as she saw me grab the cigarette from Meg's hand and drop it on the ground.
"Meg you don't need that kind of stuff." She just stared at me and nodded.
"Was she here the whole time?" I heard Cynthia ask after I left the dressing room. Meg followed me to the exit of the auditorium.
"Are you really okay Christine?" Meg asked again.
"I really don't know, but I'm honestly tired. I've been thinking too much. I need to put my mind to rest." It was true, I had been thinking too much, and now after hearing Sherri, Cynthia, and Priscilla I had even more to think about.
"And your voice." Meg pointed out.
I simply smiled at her.
"Yes. Good luck with the reset of rehearsal, and please don't let those other girls influence you in any way Meg."
"Thanks Christine. I won't. I'll see you tomorrow." And she ran back to the stage.
I left the auditorium and stood in the middle of the main stairway. I had an urge to light a candle for my father in the chapel, but I knew He would be there, but then again He was everywhere wasn't he? How things have changed in a course of a year. I used to wander these halls in desperate attempt to find this Angel, and now I was afraid to make one move in any direction in case he'd find me.
I slowly sank down on to one of the steps, leaning my body against the marble railing. The dispute the girls in the dressing room brought up led me to wonder the same thing; did Erik kill Buquet randomly or had he known him to be a dishonorable man? If it wasn't random then it would make Erik, as Priscilla said, a hero in some sort of way. No! I buried my face into my hands. If this was true then there was good in Erik, and now had only learnt this two days before the show, and it was too late. But murder was murder! He killed someone! No matter what horrid of a crime someone has done; to kill was a sin…oh what a hypocrite I am! Here I am aware that to kill is a sin but was contributing to an entire plan to murder the man who taught my soul to live! While everyone's view on Erik was either black or white, I was forced to see grayer shades of gray. There was no right or wrong, or bad and good, but reasons to be able to distinct the two from one another, but would I have the strength to know the difference?
What seemed like hours rolled by and soon my eyes began to close obeying my body's demand for sleep. Just before my eyes closed I could see before me a man dressed in black and a white mask covering half his face. My mind was racing; telling me to run for my life. But something in my heart ensured my body it was safe to succumb to sleep, and though I wanted to flee the sight of this very man, sleep overtook me and my mind into blackness.
If you are reading please review! Nothing motivates someone's imagination more than knowing they're not the only one's enjoying it. The next chapter will be in Erik's POV discussing the matter over Buquet, and him confronting Madame Giry with a request to help make the finale of Don Juan Triumphant all the more enticing. Hope you enjoy reading! Depending on the amount of reviews I will post the next two or three chapters tonight! Thank you!
P.S. let me know if you wish to see something! I'm always open for new ideas and could more than likely find some way to put it in my story! Hope you enjoy!