Inside Your Mind

Chapter 1

Christine ran through the streets of the city, hoping she would get to her job on time. The other people climbed in taxis, onto buses, or continued to walk calmly to their mundane job. Christine, however, had to rush.

She got hired a week before at the new theatre, hoping to dance in front of people. The new theatre needed some members to join, so she auditioned, and got hired. Only problem now was to get there on time.

She bursted through the double doors and ran to the stage. The other dancers stepped onto the stage for rehearsal, and the managers were in the seats, watching, along with the producer.

"Ah, Christine." The producer said. "Right on time."

Christine couldn't believe what she heard. She thought she'd be fired. Then again, this was only the first day.

"Christine, go get changed, and be here by your cue."

She nodded and ran off to the dressing room. She quickly changed into the attire for the rehearsal, applied light make-up, and got to the stage a minute before she had to practice. She sighed, out of relief.

Her cue from the music came along, and she stepped out onto the stage.

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After several hours of practicing, which many were spent retrying the scene because a few of the other dancers occasionally slipped or messed up, the dancers got released for their lunch break. Christine followed the other dancers to the dressing room and compete for space to get out of their costumes. Many of the other women were chatting away how their weekends went with their friends, but Christine was not. She was yet to make friends at her new workplace.

Free of remembering routines and maybe some lines, Christine thought back to her dream.

For starters, she wanted to know why she was in nineteenth century France. Secondly, who was everyone to her? Meg was her best friend, but who was she based off of? Raoul, the Vicomte de Chagny, a boy with all the money inherited from his family. Madame Giry, her ballet teacher, and sort of her mother. And the Phantom.

Who was he? Who was he supposed to be based off? A past boyfriend? No. The few she had were never possessive as he was, nor as clever.

And this was just assuming that everyone was based off of someone. Maybe they were parts of her longing to be as such? To be kind and gentle as Meg, to be as charming as Raoul, or to be as talented as the Phantom.

She should really go see someone about this.

Christine walked out of the theatre and started heading to the doctor's office to go to her checkup. Luckily they had a two hour lunch break. She checked in with the desk person (after walking for nearly a quarter of her lunch break), and sat down. Ten minutes went by, and she got called in by one of the nurses. The nurse took some necessary info, and made her wait in one of the rooms.

The doctor came in a few minutes later, which felt like an hour.

"Hello, Christine." The doctor shook her hand. "How are you?"

"Just checking in." She replied.

"Good, good." He looked over the clipboard with information. "What seems to be the problem?"

"I had a weird dream, and I was wondering if you could help me understand it, or point me in the right way to someone who can."

The doctor nodded. "Indeed, I can point you in the right direction to someone who can help you. One second." He exited the room.

Christine continued to sit in the room and thought about her dream, but it wasn't long before the doctor came back in.

"I can point you in the direction to a psychotherapist. Would you want a psycho-dynamic therapist, or a psychoanalytic therapist?"

"What's the difference?"

"Psycho-dynamic is loose with the schedule of meeting up, and more warm to you, whereas the other is more of a strict meet-up. Dynamic, as I said, is more loose, but has two subgroups. IPT, which is interpersonal therapy, or person-centered therapy. IPT is only for so long, about twelve to sixteen weeks, and is more strict, and person-centered is less strict, and direction free. What would you like?"

Christine thought about what she would like to do with her dream. Yes, she would like to talk about it as quickly as she could, but maybe talking about it, then letting it settle in would be best.

"Person-centered therapy, psycho-dynamic." Christine finally said.

The doctor nodded. "Alright. Let me go get the information for the psychotherapist in that area."

The doctor left and returned less than a minute later, with some brochures and a business card.

"I will call the therapist you would like to meet up with them. When would you, by the way?"

"I am free this Friday."

"I will tell them you would like to meet up this Friday. I'll make Shannon," the desk lady, "send you an email confirming your visit. Anything else?" Christine shook her head. "Then you are free to go."

They stood up and shook hands once more, and then the doctor left to check on other patients. Christine checked out of the office, and then ran to get herself some quick lunch. She ran off back to the theatre to practice once more.

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Hi! What did you think of the first chapter? This should be a shorter story compared to "Let Your Fantasies Unwind," my first Phantom of the Opera fanfiction!