The Phantom's opera

A Requiem

I dropped the small stack of sheets that were in my hand. I was finding it hard to breathe. Everything was moving so quickly that I wasn't ready. I half wished that Erik was still writing Don Juan Triumphant so that I could at least rely on the book. I felt so selfish for wishing for this but I just felt so lost, I had no idea of what to do.
"Alina?" Erik asked gently, his worry seeping into his voice, clearly unsure of what I would say or do next. The small music room suddenly make me feel extremely claustrophobic. At this point, I couldn't think straight, so I ran out into the parlor were it was much more open and I felt like I could breathe. Erik had followed shortly after, the sheet music in his arms, making it clear that he picked up the music after me.
"Erik, why are you writing an opera on me? Please just tell me the truth." I pleaded, almost chocking on my own words. He was silent for a while before speaking.
"You inspire me, Alina." He faulted, making it clear that he was also finding it hard to speak about this. "Your the first person that hasn't made me feel totally alone." I gave him a small smile in response.
"I really enjoy being around you Erik." I said softly. It was true, I really liked spending time with Erik so much so that at times I felt guilty for not missing my family back at home. "I've never felt so close to anyone else in my life." I was close to my friends and family back when I was with them, but even then it had never felt the same as what I felt around Erik, a realisation that filled my heart with guilt and confusion.
***

"Nina!" Christine called as she ran into my workroom, breaking the silence that I had experienced. Unlike normally, Christine wasn't followed by her entourage of friends and alarm was ringing clear in her voice.
"What's wrong?" I asked, standing up. The first thing that came to my mind was that Erik had done something.
"Madame Berger died." She broke bluntly. I fell back in the chair, stunned by the sudden news. I felt guilt build up in me as I realised that in the last couple of weeks I had almost totally forgotten about her. I didn't see her again after the time I visited her house and I immediately regretted not going to see her again. Maybe if I had gone to see her again I could have helped her. Maybe I could have used my modern knowledge to help her. My mind just kept on coming up with different a this that I could have done or should have done when Gertrude was still around.
"Thank you for letting me know Christine. Do you know when the funeral is?" I tried my hardest to say, but my voice faltered a couple of times.
"Next Wednesday at 11 at Notre Dame." She told me softly. The funeral was exactly a week from me which would be easy for me to remember. I thanked Christine for telling me about the funeral and let her get back to Madame Giry for her ballet class. I tried to get back to work and resume my sewing but my mind was too vicious to allow myself to sew without thinking of Gertrude. It got to a point where I couldn't even stand being in the same room that both us used to work in. I used the secrete passageway in the workroom in an attempt to try and flee from both the room and my thoughts. On my way down I bumped into Erik, who was visibly confused as of why I wasn't at work.
"Gertrude, she, she-" I tried to explain to Erik but at this point I couldn't hold back the tears. Erik must have assumed what have happened, because he gave me a hug. I was shocked by this gesture as Erik and I hugged almost never and if in the very rare case we did, it was always me who initiated it. The hug was a little awkward with Erik being so tense and so tall, that I ended crying into his chest. Having Erik's support really helped me calm down, and when the tears stopped coming so profusely, I regained the ability to speak, despite the large breathes I needed to take after every word.
"This is all my fault." I whispered to him slowly, mainly because I didn't that the energy to speak any louder than a whisper. "I might have been able to help her if I had gone to see her again." In hearing this, Erik pulled away from the hug and lifted up my chin so that I met his eyes.
"You are not responsible for her death Alina." He told me sternly.
"But I'm from the future. Our medicines are so much more advance, I could have known how to help her if I had just visited her once she got sicker." I protested.
"Are you a doctor?" Erik asked, still stern.
"No, but-" he didn't let me finish.
"Are you studying to become are doctor?" He asked again.
"No." I whimpered.
"Are you in any way a medical professional?" He asked again. I could bare saying no again, so I just shook my head .
"Then you couldn't have helped her." He tried to assure me.
"I know." I lamented "but I just wish that I could have. She had children and grandchild that she loved so much and they loved her. I know what it feels like to lose your family..."
"It was her time, Nina. As a catholic I assumed that you knew that we all die for a reason." He comforted. I let out a sigh, knowing he was right. I still wished that I had somehow found a way to help Gertrude. I felt so useless. What was the point of being from the future if you can't do anything to help people in the past.
***
I attended Gertrude's funeral. Despite it being in the massive cathedral of Notre Dame, the funeral was a small affair with only family and a few friends. It was sad to see that at after all her time in the opera house that only Madame Giry and I turned up to her funeral. Well technically there was an old Prima Donna there from the Opera house that used to be friends with Gertrude but I didn't count her because they were friends before they both worked at the opera house. Everyone kept working at the opera as if nothing had happened. If anything everyone had been working harder and I began to fall behind in my work. I had asked the managers today if it was possible to hire a temporary hand to just help me with some stitching just for maybe a month while I got caught up in my work but they had told me that because Don Giovanni had run at a loss, they couldn't. They also told me that if they didn't make a large profit with a Midsummer Night's dream, that they would have to make cuts to the costume department. It didn't help that the stage manager kept on coming in and bothering me about how I needed to finish the certain costumes so that they could rehearse scenes or how some costumes needed changes in order to make the scene work better. When Erik found out my little almost fainting spells had started again, he had taken to walking me home after work each day after work because apparently it was to dangerous for me to faint in the tunnel because I could seriously hurt myself.
"Are you ready to go?" Erik's melodic voice filled my workroom. I could see why Christine would believe it to be the voice of an angel, it was just so easy to get lost in the beauty of his voice.
"Is it 6 already?" I groaned, standing up and stretching. "I still have so much work I need to do." I scrambled and grabbed a few costumes that I hoped I would be able to finish tonight back at the house and stuffed them into a bag. I didn't need to bring any thread or needles since I already had them back in the house.
"Did you talk to the managers?" Erik asked as we began our descent down to the house.
"Yes, they said they could afford to pay someone to help me. They also said that they'll be making cuts to the costume department unless the opera house makes a lot of money quick." I replied.
"There going to make cuts to the costume department?" Erik asked angrily. I nodded in reply, confused to why he was so angry at them.
"Those greedy, good for nothing slaves of money!" Erik swore. I knew he was holding back what he really thought of them because I was here.
"Don Giovanni fails and instead of taking it from their own bonus, they're taking it from the costume department!" He criticised "trust me. They will be getting a letter from one very unhappy opera ghost."
" Don't do anything to rash." I said quickly, trying to protect the managers from a disaster. "Plus it's not only the costume department, I hear that some stage hands are going to be laid off while others are going to have pay cuts."

We continued our way down to the house, Erik still upset at the managers for the cuts in the budget. I didn't want to upset him more by telling him I had a headache. I pushed on with it despite it beginning to border on a migraine. I knew that I just had to make it home and get to bed without fainting was all I had to do. So when Erik pulled up at the other side of the lake, I made a quick move to try and get out of the boat and into the house, knowing that I had only the final stretch to go. I had only one leg out the boat when the my vision blurred and I eventually blacked out.

*****

AN: Hey guys, I'm trying not to make a habit of making author's notes but I remembered a couple of thing that I probs should have added to the last one. I wanted to point out that since Erik is now writing an opera named Alina, technically Alina IS the phantom's opera, hence the title of this book. I also wanted to let you know that i was targeting for this book to be around 25 chapters long and since I'm already at chapter 20 and nowhere near where I wanted to be by chapter 20, this book will probably be longer than that amount. Also because of this, I had a few ideas for chapters that i'll probably not add so I've decided that once this book is done I might have an outtake book. Although at this point i'm not promising anything, since I'm already planning a squeal and I have no idea how long that will go for. Anyway, I am so grateful to all of you reading my fanfic and I really hope your enjoying it.😁