A Little Trip

Chapter 2

In life, we are faced with many choices. Some are small; we face them every day and think nothing of it. But some are big. Life-altering. The choices that really matter. And Christine had made the wrong choice. There were times she was aware that she had, and times she still doubted it. Of one thing she was certain; Christine was in love and not with her husband.

~*~*~*~

Antoinette Giry had been debating all morning over whether or not to show her daughter the paper. She didn't know the sorts of feelings it would bring up and she wanted one thing on Meg's mind; success. However, the morning the new opening debuted, she decided Meg was in a good enough mood to present her with the paper.

Meg accepted it but it took a moment for the headline to sink in. Christine. New York. Her head was swimming. She hadn't seen her best friend in ten years. She sank onto a nearby costume trunk, the paper gripped in her suddenly-sweaty palms. She dizzily recalled the last time she had seen her best friend.

~*~*~*~

The Opera house was in chaos. People were running and shouting desperately. Meg darted in and out of the crowds, barely managing to not be trampled. The Phantom had disappeared with Christine and she  wanted to obey her mother, but loyalty and concern for her friend urged her to go after them. Suddenly, she caught a flash of white and brown curls. "Christine!" Her friend pulled out of her fiance's grasp and the two girls clasped hands. Christine's face was stained with tears and she was out of breath. Her Don Juan costume had been exchanged for a wedding dress. "Christine, what happened?"

"He... He let me... us... go."

Meg's eyes widened. "Where is he?"

Christine shook her head. "I don't know. I don't know! The mob was coming. Raoul and I... we just fled. Meg we left him there!" She dissolved into tears and Meg pulled her into a tight hug. Raoul gently pulled them apart after allowing them a brief moment. "We must go." The girls kissed each other's cheeks and then Christine was gone, the crowd swallowing her up.

Meg's mother had later found the Phantom and the two of them had traveled with him to America the day of Christine's wedding. Meg was still bitter that he had caused her to miss being her best friend's maid of honour. She could only imagine how stunning Christine must have looked on her wedding day, all in white. Her dark girls cascading down her back and framing her face. Her cheeks would be rosy and her lips plump and pink...

~*~*~*~

Meg was sudden brought out of her reverie by her mother's voice. She had four more shows to do that day. She needed to focus but her head was in the clouds. Christine might not even come near Phantasma. She might not remember her or want anything to do with her. Meg knew it would break her heart to see Christine and feel the distance of ten long years between them. She decided not to seek Christine out but instead threw herself into her performance.

~*~*~*~

Christine disembarked with her husband and son, gently put off the reporters and photographers that swarmed them, and headed to her hotel. She felt a migraine coming on and wanted to rest. She and Raoul had fought about money yet again, and it was one of the worst fights they'd had yet. She needed space or air or a friend to vent to, and she could get none of it. New York seemed dark and formidable and, apart from Raoul and Gustave, she was entirely alone.