Phantom's Understudy

Part Six - Moving Forward

The next morning, I woke up pretty late. It was about eleven in the morning, but I felt rejuvenated. Not long after I woke up, I heard a knock at the door. I stretched and walked to answer the door.

It was none other than Raoul at the door with a bouquet of roses.

"Hello Raoul," I forced a cough out. "I don't want to get you sick." I mouthed, trying to sound hoarse.

"No, don't worry about it. I'm here to give you these." He said, bringing the roses in front of me.

"Oh? From you?"

He nodded. "I know you're not performing tonight, but I wanted to give these to you anyway. Would you want to see the opera with me this evening?"

I thought it over and eventually shook my head no. I really did want to go. But someone sick enough to not work shouldn't be at an event. "Unfortunately, I'm just not feeling well at all. I just woke up a few minutes ago."

Raoul's eyebrows raised in sorrow. "Well, I hope you feel better. Would you like me to have someone come to your room with soup? Christine made this wonderful soup yesterday and you must try it."

I smiled. "She gave me some yesterday, but it was wonderful. I would love to have some if you wouldn't mind, Raoul."

He smiled that handsome smile of his and bowed before walking away. "I will be back soon, Elizabeth."

My eyes followed him down the hall until he turned the corner and became out of sight. I looked down at the bouquet and smiled to myself. How thoughtful of him. And I found a vase from a bouquet from last week's performance and put them inside of it. I would fill it with water some other time.

About thirty minutes later, I heard a knock at the door, and I answered it again. It was one of the maids from the kitchen.

"The Vicomte said you needed soup," she said, handing me a bowl of hot soup.

"Yes, thank you so much." I said, taking it. She nodded and walked away. I went over to my desk and ate my soup slowly, thinking about what I could do today. I honestly wasn't sure. I had to lay low if I left my room, so I wasn't sure if I would risk it. What a way to live, right?

I would have loved to sneak over to the piano room, but that wasn't going to work out...what if I got caught? Maybe I'd try sneaking out tomorrow when I could at least pretend to be feeling better.

After finishing my soup, I walked over to my bed and just stared at the ceiling. I thought about being the Prima Donna and what it meant to me. I thought about Erik and his initial proposition.

I felt trapped. Despite my schoolgirl crush on Erik and my wonderful friends, I couldn't stop thinking of the predicament I was in. I wondered if I was able to find another Opera House without leaving France. I only knew French and English...and some Welsh, I guess I could include, and I didn't have much interest in learning another language just to sing somewhere. If I stayed here it was just going to be the same thing after another. Would I feel better stepping down? Maybe. 

Sure, the pay was a little better here than most places, but if I'm living in the Opera House, I didn't necessarily have to worry about pay. Now that I had finally earned the Prima Donna role I just didn't have the heart to let it go.

Eventually I do want to move...so I could have my role.

I sighed and brought my hand to my forehead, eventually running my hands through my hair and pulling it off to the side. I couldn't count on Christine leaving. Nor did I want to count on her leaving. But I couldn't keep ignoring my happiness for the sake of friendship.

After I am "well" again, I will go and start looking for Opera houses to audition for. There had to be some type of lead singing position open and listed in the paper.

I heard a knock at the door and it was Raoul again, just checking to see if I needed anything. I denied his offers and decided to read for the rest of the day. Les Misérables was the rage, and I wanted to read it all.

So I sat at my bed and read.

The next morning, I woke up to the sound of a panicked knock at my door. When I opened the door, Meg was there.

"Oh! Beth. It's terrible!" She said, with reddened eyes as if she were crying.

"What's wrong, Meg? What happened?" I asked, opening the door wider and allowing her to come inside.

"It's Christine, Beth. She's gone missing." She said. "Mother found a note from the opera ghost saying that he has her and she is safe. But who is safe with him?"

Erik kidnapped Christine? What in the world is that man thinking?

Meg wept a little more and I comforted her and told her everything will be ok.

She stayed in my room and it was quite exhausting keeping the sick act up the whole time. I would pretend to blow my nose a few times, cough, and take deep breaths here and there.

"I am certain she will be back for the performance tomorrow, Meg." In fact, I knew she would. Erik wouldn't have kept her from singing. "Obviously it is in the Phantom's best interest to have a prima donna."

Meg nodded. "I'll go find my mother and see if she can do anything about this." She wiped her eyes and smiled. "Thanks Beth. I can always count on you."

And just like that, she left.

I sat in my room for another day pondering what could be going through that man's head. Was he "practicing" with me that evening just to sing to Christine? I thought that they might have just had a teacher-student relationship but now I was thinking it was something more. Those songs he sang to me were gorgeous, but with gorgeous also came with lyrics that could make any one's heart melt if sang to them.

They were ultimately love songs and if I knew they weren't for me, who he sang to, surely they had to be for the next person he sang to. I was left to assume Christine.

Just more reason to remind myself that I shouldn't get my feelings in a twist here.