The Mistress of the Opera (18+)

2. Little northern pixi

Where is Christine Daae?

For two days, this question has been echoing off the walls of the dressing rooms and the sets. Everyone is looking for this girl.

The girls ask each other questions and whisper among themselves.
They say she's got a bad cold so she won't come to rehearsals. The malicious ones say she'd rather spend her time with a man.
Everyone thinks they know the answer but of course the mystery remains a mystery.

Because Christine Daae has disappeared. According to the news, a letter has just arrived to the management assuring to the managers that Miss Daae is safe, but needs a few days' absence.

What I think about all this I won't say out loud. It's really none of my business. In fact, I'm glad that little northern pixie isn't at the rehearsals.

I only know Christine Daae from afar, but I can see that girl is living in her dreams. She's always like a sleepwalker.
Of course, she's pretty as a porcelain doll and has a lovely voice. But her big brown eyes have a kind of emptiness in them that gives you the creeps.

A few times I caught Christine wandering behind the Opera House stage as if waiting for someone. Staring into the shadows as if she could see something no one else could.
When I'd call her, she'd twitch like a rabbit and her pale face would glimmer in the dim light.

Sometimes I could hear her whispering to herself, as if she were praying. "Angel of Music, please don't leave me" she repeated this  like a poem.
So her recent disappearance didn't surprise me so much. My theory was that Christine is a visibly nervous person, obviously her mental state keeps her away from the Opera. Girls like her often end up in sanatoriums...
"Salomé, you don't know anything about Christine either? " Meg asked me before our dance class.
Isighed angrily as I tried to tie my dark hair in a perfect bun.
"No. I can tell you the same thing I told Justine and Michelle two minutes ago: I haven't the faintest idea where your little friend is. Maybe she sleepwalked off into the night, wandered off and drowned in the Seine."
"How can you say such a thing!" said Meg, her childish voice trembling with anger.
"Why ? You are all guessing, aren't you ? I am guessing too ..."
"You are evil ..."
" Maybe i am ... " I shrugged carelessly.
"If I know anything about Christine, you'll be the first to know Meg ... just let me get dressed ! "

***

The dance class was uneventful, except for the fact that during the break everyone was still talking about Christine's disappearance.

I was getting increasingly irritated that everyone was preoccupied with this Daae girl. Her name was making my head pound and it was hard to concentrate on the dance.
"It must have been the Ghost ... he kidnapped Christine ... what if we're next?" whispered a silly chick behind my back.
"Do you think he wants a little mouldy flower like you Valerie ? "I snapped at the girl rudely.
Luckily they were silent.

This so-called Ghost is the most annoying thing in the whole affair. The Opera Ghost  as the anonymous, mysterious person who sends letters to the directors and threatens them has been called for some time.

The Ghost also interferes with the Opera's programming and casting. True, his taste is better than the directors'. He knows music and he knows what he's doing ... whoever it is, he pulls the strings of almost every member of the Opera like a skilled puppeteer.
He must have a master mind, that's for sure... He holds everyone in his grip on some way...
It seems his power has hold on anyone but me...
But why kidnap Christine?
She is not so special ...
Oh all this nonsense...
I need some fresh air ...

***

The weather was getting quite cold but I was still wander on the banks of the Seine.

My warm burgundy jacket protected me from the damp cold.
As I stroked the soft velvet fabric, a memory flashed through my mind.

Dirty, tattered clothes and the cold reality of the street.
Not so long ago I was not allowed only to dream of a dress like the one I was wearing now.
An orphan with neither father nor mother nor possesions can't have luxurious desires...

That's what they had used to say in the orphanage, when I talked about one day becoming a famous dancer who dressed in the latest fashions and had the world will be at my feet.
Everybody laughed at me and the governesses silenced me with sticks and punished me .
But here I am in Paris. The world is not mine yet, but I don't have to wait that long to get what I deserve.

I took a deep breath of the cool air and decided to go back to the Opera.

I winded the old doorman successfully around my finger on my first day in the theatre.
One smile and I'd have the key to Christine's dressing room.

If Daae wants that everybody pays attention to her dissapearence , she won't mind if I look around her dressing room...