Light in the Darkness

Chapter 1

Christine was not the kind of person who enjoyed being woken up in the mornings, not because she wanted to stay in bed all day and do nothing, but because of her dreams. She cherished her dreams, they were always so vivid, so real and she enjoyed every minute of them, but these weren't just any dreams, in Christine's dreams she got to be with her Angel, her Angel of Music.

She never told anyone about him, not even her best friend Meg Giry because there are just some things she liked to keep to herself, and besides, Meg would just laugh or bombarde her with questions about his apperance and things like that. And to be terribly honest, Christine couldn't answer most of the questions because even though she dreamed of him almost every night, she still didn't know his name and never really got to see a clear picture of what he looked like, but she did know for some strange reason he always wore a mask. And either way his looks did not matter to her, he meant so much more to Christine for other reasons; he was always there for her, he listened to her, he was kind, and most importantly they had a connection through music. He coached her in song and helped her voice grow stong even though she was much to shy to show others her voice except Meg's mother, Madame Giry who brought her to live at the Opera Populaire after her father died, and of course, Meg. Christine knew she felt a deep love towards him for all he'd done for her in dreams and in her mind. Christine wished he was real so she wouldn't have to be asleep or daydreaming to be with him.

Anyway, on this day Christine was extremly upset because right before she was about to get the chance to finally see him clearly in her dream, she was woken up by Carlotta, the leading soprano who was screaming loudly because her dress was too tight on her and insisted it was her seamstress's fault for making it too small but in reality it was because Carlotta had gained a few pounds. Then she started hearing loud crying since Carlotta's room wasn't far from her and Meg's, who was suprisingly sleeping through it all. Carlotta cried about everything but this time it was even louder since the performance was that night and the seamstress needed to fix it.

"Try not stuffing your face so much next time," Christine murmured to herself. She decided to let Meg sleep longer while she got on her outfit for the final dress rehersal of "Hannibal" which they badly needed to get right since Carlotta kept messing things up on their previous rehersals. She changed and put on her make up while humming a song her Angel was teaching her in her last dream. Christine missed him so much when she was awake, she didn't know what it was, but it seemed like they had some sort of unbreakable bond and no matter what she did, she couldn't get him off of her mind.

Christine walked down to the stage and seen Madame Giry there. Madame Giry was like a mother to Christine and she was grateful to her for bringing her to the Opera House to study and train to be a ballerina.

"Good Morning Madame," Christine walked up to her and gave her a hug.

"And to you as well Christine," Madame Giry replied "Where is Meg?"

"She still asleep, she slept through Carlotta's loud screaming but I couldn't," Christine sighed.

"You aren't the only one my darling, look, the other girls are coming also. We may as well start practicing the dancing early, go wake Meg for me dear," Madame Giry told Christine.

"Yes, Madame," Christine walked off the stage and back to the dormitories and entered her and Meg's dorm to find her already dressed and putting a bow in her hair.

"Madame Giry decided to start ballet practice early today, hurry! Lets go!" Christine grabbed Meg by the arm and started running with her back toward the stage. Once they got there, practice begun. It was a great practice as it usually was then Carlotta finally came out to the stage so they began their last dress rehearsal. It was going just like it always did, good but there were always minor slip ups like when Carlotta would go in the wrong stage directions while singing so the dancers often bumped into her so they would have to start the scene all over again. They kept trying to get it right and it finally was going well until Monsieur Lefevre barged in bring two men whom Christine had never seen before onto the stage.