The Violinist | Christine Daae

Chapter Three

 Francois had not planned to stay at the Opera Populaire for so long that night, but since Christine vanished without explanation, he stayed longer than he had originally planned on to see if there would be any explanations found concerning Christine's sudden disappearance. When he saw there was nothing he could do but wait for his friend to be found, he wound up going home.

 Since Francois went to bed later than he usually did, that resulted in him sleeping later than was normal for him. It was out of the ordinary enough for him that his sister Jeanne went to the attic room to wake him up.

 "Francois." She shook him gently. "Francois, it's morning."

 Francois opened his eyes and saw the light coming through the window.

 "What time is it?" he asked. "I-I must much later than I usually am."

 "Yes, it is. Are you sure you're well, Francois?" Jeanne felt his forehead as if looking for any signs of illness.

 "No, no, I'm not ill," he answered. "It isn't me we have to worry about. Christine Daae disappeared last night. Oh, she's a friend of mine," he added, not sure if he had ever mentioned Christine before. "She was acting as an understudy for La Carlotta during last night's performance, and she really does have a beautiful voice. But she disappeared right after the performance, apparently just vanished. I asked people of they had seen her leave, but no one had."

 Jeanne nodded. "I see now. I'm sorry your friend is missing. Is it possible she will be back soon?"

 Francois shrugged. "I don't know. I don't know if there will even be any performances tonight. La Carlotta left, Christine is missing. Christine wasn't even an official understudy. Without the prima donna, I don't know what we're going to do tonight."

 "Then come and have breakfast, Francois. If there aren't to be any performances tonight, no one will mind if you're a little late today."

~~~~~~

 When Francois arrived at the Opera Populaire, he was surprised to see that Monsieur Reyer was busy getting the orchestra together for a rehearsal.

 "Where have you been, le Blanc?" Reyer called when he saw Francois. "We are rehearsing!"

 "But, sir, I wasn't sure if there would be a performance tonight," Francois replied. "Since La Carlotta quit-"

 "La Carlotta has returned, and she will be preforming tonight." 

 "She has? Well, that's fantastic. What about Mademoiselle Daae?"

 "She has returned as well," the conductor replied. "Now, please, to your place!"

 Francois could see that Monsieur Reyer was very flustered and stressed, and not in the mood for any questions. He was relieved to hear Christine was back, and it was good to hear that La Carlotta had chosen to make a return. He did wonder, however, where Christine had been. He had thought of the idea of her been abducted by the Opera Ghost the night before, but he had put the thought out of his head almost immediately. He wasn't sure if he even believed in the Opera Ghost in the first place, and the idea of it kidnapping Christine seemed absurd.

 Francois had no clue where Christine was at the moment, but he would have liked to see her with his own eyes, just to see that she was all right. But he would have to wait for tonight.

~~~~~~

 In the night's performance of Il Muto, Francois saw Christine on the stage, in the silent role of the page boy. He was surprised that she would actually be placed in a silent role, given the success of her performance in Hannibal. She acted well, however, well enough that Francois couldn't tell what she was actually feeling or thinking, at least not from where he was sitting.

 At some point during the score, everything stopped, and Francois froze. The reason for this was the sound of a terrifying voice that filled the entire theater.

 "Did I not instruct that Box Five was to be kept empty!?"

 Francois looked up at Box Five to see that certainly was not empty. And what was it he had heard Madame Giry once say? The Opera Ghost always demanded that Box Five be kept empty for his own use.

 He looked up at the stage when he heard Carlotta shout, "Your part is silent, little toad!", which was apparently directed at Christine.

 "A toad, madam?" the same voice boomed again. "Perhaps it is you who are the toad!"

 Everything seemed to freeze again at the sound of the voice. And then Francois suddenly became aware of Monsieur Reyer starting up the orchestra. But everything stopped again when the sound of a toad croaking came from the stage. Francois looked up to see Carlotta with her hand on her throat, looking shocked. They started again, but the same thing happened. Francois felt a chill run down his spine, remembering the Opera Ghost's (if it was indeed him) words.

 Carlotta hurried off the stage, and Monsieur Andre came on to say, "Ladies and gentlemen, the performance will continue in ten minutes' time, when the role of the Countess will be played by Mademoiselle Daae. In the meantime, we will be brining you the ballet from Act 3 of tonight's opera!"

 Monsieur Reyer hurriedly started the tune for the ballet with the orchestra, with Francois wishing he were at home, wishing he hadn't bothered to show up for the performance. This was simply chaotic.

 Just when he thought it couldn't get any worse, it did. He froze when he heard people screaming. Though he was afraid to, he looked up at the stage to a body hanging from a nose.

 It was Joseph Buquet, and he was most certainly dead.