Christine Daae
I was standing backstage, waiting for the cue to go onstage. We still had an hour until showtime, but we were all messing around. Everyone, that is, except Erik.
Canden's reaction to seeing Erik's face had completely destroyed him. Poor Lyric even has turn her back to him. He was distraught.
He had begun to disappear from the house, and he would come back with a dark red tint to his face, like someone had been grabbing at his face. I hadn't talked about it to him yet.
At least, until now.
"Erik?" I knocked on his dressing room door.
"Let me put on my mask," Erik said, unlocking the door.
"Erik you don't need to put that on," I said.
"Come in," Erik said. When I opened the door, he was sleeking back his hair.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"I, uh, just getting ready for the-"
"That's not what I mean and you know it. You've been disappearing for hours at a time. You barely talk to me outside the rehearsals. What's happening with you?" I asked.
"Christine, has it even occurred to yet that this is hard to relive? That it's hard for me to see you with Raoul again? To see you kiss him again? I swear, a part of you still loves him."
I gasped. How could he?
Christine, that night, that gunshot, that EVERYTHING killed me. You should've known that."
"What're you saying?" I spat.
"It's your fault."
My balance gave out. I fell out the door.
"Christine, I-"
"Don't you dare. I hate you Erik Destler." I yelled through the door, running through the hallway.
"MEG? RAOUL? HELP ME!" I screamed. I heard Raoul's footsteps coming towards me.
I saw his makeup and threw myself onto him. Tears were streaming down my face.
"Christine? What is it? What's wrong?" Raoul asked, concern all over his face.
"He-he said it-it was a-all my fault!" I sobbed.
"Shhh, Christine, it's not your fault at all," Raoul cooed.
Was it my fault? After all this time?
He had almost killed himself because of me. He almost died because of me. He was locked up in a cage because of me. He spent years in the dark waiting for me. I denied him. Then again, he had denied me.
I started crying harder.
"Christine?" Raoul whispered.
"Yes?"
"It's time. The Phantom Never Dies is playing. Right. Now."
