Beauty and the Mask

No Choice

Two Months Later
"Please Madame, we are about to loose our home and he's ill. I haven't the slightest idea what to do, I'm working all I can." Christine cried down on her knee's in front of the Mother Superior of the convent in town. She had been begging for them to take in her Father. He had been diagnosed with pneumonia and his condition was killing him, slowly and painfully.
"Child, we will take him. All I request is payment, that is all. Your Father will be well taken care of in the house of god." The Mother Superior said placing her hand on Christine's tear stained cheek. "Bless you child,"
The next day Christine brought her Father to the convent and helped get him settled.
"Christine..." Gustave said as he laid in his bed. Her once strong Father now weak and sickly. Christine sat at the edge of the bed while Gustave laid in the bed holding Christine's hand in his icey cold grasp.
"I'm here Papa," she said softly stifling her tears.
"That's all I need to know," Gustave said looking at the ceiling of the small room he laid in. Christine's heart broke at the sight of him, pale and weak. Christine stayed there as long as her heart could stand it before realizing the time and knowing she needed to be at her job at the bakery.
"Papa, I must go." Christine said not wanting to leave Gustave but knew she had no choice for she needed the money to pay for the house and the new bill of her Father staying at the convent. It was well worth it because she knew he would now be well taken care of, and she no longer needed to worry about him being left alone.
"Remember what I always told you Christine, honest people like us always have the angel's to watch us. Isn't that right Victoria?" Gustave said softly, Victoria.... That was the name of Christine's deceased mother. He was hallucinating,
"Yes Papa," Christine said allowing her Father to stay in his fantasy, she couldn't forgive herself if she put him in anymore pain by making him remember her Mother's passing fourteen years ago. She let another tear fall as she left his room, trying not to make a sound for silence as cherished in the convent. Christine spent many days like this with her Father, thanking the lord for any time with him that she was granted.
"Christine? Your twenty franks are due dear, our agreement." The Mother Superior said,
"I need time, please!" Christine softly cried, praying the Mother would take some sort of sympathy on her.
"Tomorrow morning or he returns home." The older lady said closing the door and leaving Christine to her solitude. Christine's Father had stayed at the convent for two weeks now and she still hadn't payed. She had nothing left expect the house. She was working all the time, doing all she could to make ends meet now. While Gustave was home, a doctors bill was racked up rather quickly leaving Christine to pay with all of her Father's savings. Medicine was expensive, she had called upon the finest professionals in France. There was nothing left. She no longer cared for what would happen to her, only her Father's well being and comfort in his final weeks of living.
The brisk air of fall meet Christine's wet cheeks as she left he convent and headed towards her home. A book and a dinner alone waiting for her, she hated being alone. The only other person she felt the need to ever see was Jonathan and Delilah when she felt the need for company. Jonathan had been very good to her the last few weeks, often stopping by to bring her new books or even a meal that he stole away from home. He would always apologize for Elyse's dreadful cooking but Christine was thankful for such kindness from her only friend.
"Whats this?" She said to herself as she picked up an envelope addressed to her Father on the front doorstep.
M. Daae,
I am to inform you of your eviction of your home. You have not been able to reach my payment needed.
Be out by tomorrow.

Right then it seemed as Christine's world came crashing down around her, she was going to loose her Papa soon, and then become homeless it seemed. She was not making enough money with her three jobs, and she needed that money to pay for all the bill of her Father staying at the convent. Her now shaking hands dropped the letter,
"No, no please." Christine cried to herself as she stumbled into her home. As much as she hated the village she lived in, it was home. The pictures of her and her Father on the walls, the sheet music littering all surfaces, the familiar smell of ink an parchment, it was her home. She couldn't lose this place along with her Father. She seemed to have no more options.