Pen a Pal (Phantom of the Opera Fanfiction)

Chapter 13

Chapter 13

It sounds like your job is going well. I am glad. I suppose the manager will want you to work quite often? If it were me, I would like working evening shifts better than morning/afternoon shifts. Which do you prefer? That had been a question Erik asked Christine in his most recent email. It was his way of subtly dragging information out of her. He had only hoped she would unknowingly comply and give him what he wanted to hear… for he wished to see her again, badly, if only from a distance.

As Erik had hoped, Christine did answer his questions in an email he received late Sunday night. She had thanked him for his compliments about her voice, she'd told him that she liked that they had so much in common, and she'd given him what he really wanted.

Yet another thing we have in common is that you like working evening shifts. So do I. Morning/afternoon shifts are just not as appealing as working night hours. I'm not quite sure why that is. Actually, I am working night shifts at the Macaroni Grill every night this week starting tomorrow. I guess I will be busy, but I'm glad. The more I work, the more money I make. It will go towards my college fund.

She had gone on to say that the other job she was in the process of quitting had her on the schedule every lunch shift this week. His angel would be busy, indeed. She had given him a detailed version of her life, which he would normally have frowned upon. After all, he was still a stranger. But… He had gotten the information he wanted, so all was well.

Erik was beginning to worry, though. He sounded like the common stalker. Is that what I am turning into? He'd never experienced such feelings before, so he didn't know how to handle them. He was friends with a female, and he knew the friendship was turning into something more. And when Erik was fond of something, he was really fond of something, meaning he would go to any lengths in order to keep it close.

But this was a person, not something as trivial as an automobile or musical instrument. A living, breathing young woman with a heart and a voice… oh, that voice.. He could die happy listening to it.

You're obsessed, his mind accused, yet he couldn't deny this accusation. It was true, and he would just have to get used to it. In the meantime, he would do anything to be near her again. That was why he would see Christine again. Tonight.

It was early Monday evening, and Erik planned on arriving at the restaurant the same time as he had Saturday night. He would just have to start getting used to receiving rude stares from uncivilized people, because nothing would stop him from seeing Christine.

9:00 pm came quickly. Erik was glad. He was ready. So, with a quick, "I will return", to Nadir, he got into his Rolls Royce and drove to the Macaroni Grill.

Christine was exhausted, and it was only Monday night. I still have five more days of this… Working at Ruby Tuesday from 10:00 am-3:00 pm and Macaroni Grill from 5:00 pm-11:00 pm.. Every day.. Just the thought of it was exhausting enough, but to actually experience it firsthand was something else.

It was going on 9:00 pm. She'd sung two times and was in the process of waiting three tables. The three parties were finishing their meals. The restaurant was really clearing out fairly quickly. Meaning I can take my break soon. The thought was relieving.

After taking her last tip from the third table, which consisted of seven dollars, Christine grinned and began walking towards the kitchen so that she could say she was taking her fifteen minute break.

Suddenly, though, something caught her peripheral vision and she turned to see what it was. It was the same masked man from Saturday night. He was back.