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May 9, 1868
"Raoul, my scarf!"
She clasped her mouth in awe as Raoul dived into the current immediately to catch her red scarf from drifting away. He eventually retrieved the sopping wet item and jogged out completely drenched by the salty ocean. Beads of water dripped from the young boy's hair making him even more attractive to Christine, who had a hard time controlling her blushing when she was around him.
"Alskling!" Christine's father shouted from the balcony of the white two-story cottage.
"Yes Pappa", she yelled.
"Come now! I'd like to play for you both...oh and Raoul I have a towel for you son."
"Yessir", Raoul yelled back, rubbing the back of his neck clearly embarrassed.
"Children..." her father struggled to get out, coughing the same cough that he had been doing for the past two months that was painful for Christine to listen to.
He continued, "This song comes from the folklore about the Angel of Music."
Christine's eyes lit up as this one was her favorite. She and Raoul sat in front of the fire eagerly waiting for her father to enchant them with his beautiful violin playing. Gustave Daae was among one of the most famous violin players in the country after he and Christine were discovered playing and singing at the fair by Professor Valérius, a very prestigious talent scout.
In a years time her father would be traveling to Paris, France where he was invited to play at many different music halls and additionally, Christine would be getting her education at a girl's private school in the city.
As her father played, thirteen-year-old Christine leaned her head against Raoul's damp shirt and her heart swelled among hearing the lyrics sang by her father about the angel of music.
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Christine needed that song now more than ever as she was being taken in by Madame Giry of the Palais Garnier as an orphan.
For months she had been training as a junior ballerina under the wing of the madame and was being taught during the day at her private school, when one afternoon while Meg Giry and Christine were taking off their pointe shoes and talking about how ugly their toes were after rehearsal, the crushing news was shared with Christine that her father had just passed from an extreme case of tuberculosis. She was devastated and rightly so. Her mother had also died when she was only six.
For several days Christine isolated herself in the long concrete room shared by all the dancers who's parents paid an additional amount to keep them for weekend stays or evenings when rehearsals ran long. Many of the young girls tried to comfort Christine including her best friend Meg, but her grief was irrepressible.
Madame Giry didn't bother encouraging the young girl to come out of her sorrowful state, as she herself had known the pain of losing a loved one.
Eleven years ago Meg had lost her father from influenza. Antoinette had lost her best friend, the father of her child, and the love of her life, and now her mood was forever emotionless and stale. Every day she hated that her husband Phillip wasn't of existence, therefore she loathed her own.
There was nothing that could decrease her feelings of hurt over the matter, and furthermore, she empathized with Christine and decided that when the young girl was ready, she would make herself available to the rest of the world again.
Little did they know Christine had never been truly alone. Even when there was no one around, someone was always watching over the young child.
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