I could no longer pretend I forgot that Christine had told me to stop by her room and talk some more. I had been putting it off for almost a week, and it was about time for me to go talk with my friend. After all, that was what we were, right? Friends?
Before entering her dressing room corridor, I could hear the punches on the door, as if someone was trying and nearly succeeding in bringing the door and the walls down. To my surprise, when I approached Christine's dressing room, I found Raoul was the author of that wild behavior.
He had stopped now, and simply leaned against the door, as if his whole energy had been spent knocking madly, fighting against the wooden door.
"Christine..." he moaned.
"What is going on here, Mounsieur de Chagny?" I asked as gently as I could, but startling him nevertheless.
"Oh, Mademoiselle Giry, it's you!" he said, half relieved and half disappointed. He looked around, terribly embarassed, trying to hold back his crying.
"Is there something I can do to help you, Monsieur?"
He looked me in my eyes, very serious, answering, "Actually...yes." He grabbed my hand suddenly and began to walk, faster and faster, with no direction. Then he stopped abruptly. And urged himself to think properly, repeating silently, over and over, "a safe place...a safe place..."
"Mademoiselle, I beg you, come with me to the roof!" and he pressed my hands on his, in a pleading act. God, I was surrounded by lunatics in that theater...
"Pardon me?"
"I know it sounds crazy, but she told me...I remember she told me...that he never goes to the heights."
"He?"
Raoul took a deep breath, trying to recompose himself, and said a little calmer, "Mademoiselle, I once asked for your help, and you were very loyal and faithful for both me and Christine. I'm afraid I'll need your help again. I need to talk with you."
"And we must go all the way up to the roof to talk?" I exclaimed, trying to kid, but showing clearly that I really didn't feel like climbing endless stairs just to listen about the sweethearts' new argument.
"Mademoiselle, what I'm going to confide in you is of the most extreme gravity, and no one can overhear us. No one."
I made a lazy face to Raoul, letting him know I was not going.
"Meg..." He kissed my hands, and I wondered how he hadn't fallen on his knees yet. "Christine is in great danger. She's with Erik. The monster kidnapped her again."
There was no trace of a joke in his face.
"We are off to the roof," I sentenced, slowly and determined, being my turn to pull the Viscount by his hand.
Not even when I played the explorer with my little friends after arriving to the Opera had I made my way to the roof so incredibly fast. Because of the fire programs, they never closed the emergency stairs that went directly to the dome, so I took Raoul through this shortcut without saying a word. I never thought I would still remember how to climb those metal stairs, especially with the shoes I was wearing.
This light thought only passed throught my mind very quickly, for during our journey I was totally preccupied with knowing what was going on, and not dying from a lack of breath.
We arrived to the roof right at sunset, when the sky had assumed a deep red hue at the horizon, and the rest above was pink and cloudy. A few late birds flew at our arrival, the flapping of their wings being the only sound that could reach us in that height.
Raoul stepped to the roof after me.
"Wow, Mademoiselle, you are quite athletic!"
He collapsed on the ground, panting, not worried about the sunset and almost forgetting about Christine.
I probably would have teased him, if I was not so eager to hear what he had to say. But I decided to give the boy a few minutes to recompose himself.
I stepped closer to the edge, noticing how large the two domes between us, and the Apollo Statue, above, looked from closer. There were lyres sculpted all around the main dome, and angels with wide wings at the corners - the Opera had a really beautiful façade. And from up there, an even more entrancing view remained in the city that looked up at us, under the darkness had already spread through the houses, like a black velvet carpet.
Only a dim golden light could be seen in the horizon now, here and there a candle or a lamp was lit in a house. I had forgotten how dashing that spot was!
It had been quite a while since I last went there...Actually I think I was with Christine, when that happened... That thought reminded me Raoul was there, too, and I went back to him.
"Had Christine brought you here, Raoul?"
"No, she only mentioned it. Once we almost came here, but we got distracted on our way up and ended up not coming." He seemed to be glad in reliving those memories. Above us the statue was blending with darkness, and I could no longer distinguish its outline. Only eyes used to darkness could find their way now, and I wonder why I didn't think of that at the time.
I sat by Raoul, on the still warm metal of the roof, as he started to talk.
"Meg, I thank you for coming here. I'm sorry this whole thing is affecting even you, and I only know this situation can't keep going on." He rubbed his forehead in a wary attitude. "Thinking of it, Christine and I had very few moments of contentment since we met... I can't stand it anymore! I don't know how much of her "Angel" story she mentioned to you... so I'll tell you what I must."
His voice, in the dark, was anxious, hoarse, and with a self-assurance that contrasted his insecure self. But he was determined, almost impertinent, and I liked that.
"We had been in great danger since her Angel became aware of my intentions with Christine. And my intentions, Mademoiselle, I can assure you, have always been..."
"I know they have," I replied shortly.
"Well...that...that...evil monster who calls himself Angel..." I couldn't help but laugh at the childish sounding anger, "he decided he wanted Christine for himself, that because he taught her, he was entitled to have her. If I knew what would come of this...I could have paid her the best teachers of Paris. There was no need to rely on this psychopath! But I'm afraid Christine is a bit too naive sometimes..." he lamented.
"Perhaps your money wouldn't be quite enough to make her conquer Paris with her singing as he did.."
"I know..." He lowered his head. "This is what annoys me so...I will never be able to give Christine music."
"I understand..." I must have added so much sadness to my comment that Raoul forgot for a moment what he was saying and asked, sympathetically, "You do?"
I looked around, to that immensity that surrounded us, and not being able to hold things to myself anymore, said to Raoul, "I guess I also love someone who thinks he can only love through music.."
Raoul looked deeply into my eyes, his blue eyes as desperate as mine, and we understood each other without any other words.
He took a deep sigh, and continued, "So this man abused Christine's trust and took her to his house. But lies such as this don't linger for too long, and Christine ended up finding out who he really was."
"I don't think she did..."
"Why do you say that, Meg?"
"Just a thought. Go on, please."
"Well, as if all that madness was not enough, and the situation was not bizarre in itself, it turned out that it was no angel, and hardly a man - this thing that tries to take Christine from us is a monster, is an abhorrent freak, Mademoiselle. His face is..."
"Alright, Raoul, enough of that! Go to the point! I don't want to hear about what his face looks like, it's too bad that it is all that Christine could see and tell you about him," I ordered, losing my patience. No, I was not listening to that babbling again.
And as I said that, I heard a long, loud sigh coming from nowhere, carried with an unnatural nuance of pain.
"Did you hear it, Mademoiselle?" Raoul sounded frightened.
"No. I didn't hear anything," I lied. "Please tell me what happened today!"
"Well, the maniac had quit stalking Christine, and we never found out why. But now...he has returned, I know he has returned." He hit the ground with his fists, disturbed.
"Christine didn't admit it, but I know he is giving her classes again! Or at least he was, for God knows what he might be doing to her now! But I'll kill that bastard!!"
"Oh, and I'll kill her..."
"Pardon?"
I just shook my head, not willing to explain anything.
"Christine talked a lot about her teacher while he was gone..." he continued, with regret. "I know he has some power over her, I know that, in spite of what happened, she will obey him if he tells her to go with him."
"I wonder what she feels for him..." I tried him.
"I once came close to thinking she loved him, I confess to you, Mademoiselle. And I told her that she could only love this monster, to still talk kindly about him. But she opened herself to me, and told me she just pitied him, and if she had any other feelings for him, it was of utter horror. That was the day when she told me everything that happened, too. I really can't understand how she could now go back to him!"
"Neither can I..." I said, depressed.
"Meg, we must do something! And fast!" He took my hands again, in that pleading gesture I was getting used to.
"But what? There is nothing you can do, if Chrisitine decided going back to Erik." And there was nothing left for me either, in that case... I tried to calm him down, truly wishing I could hug him, and receive some comfort back. "We can do nothing but wait, Raoul. We are in their hands."
"Meg? You don't mind me calling you Meg, do you?" I shook my head, not telling him he had been calling me that the whole night. "Do you think the monster is capable of harming my Christine?"
"Raoul, I guess I don't mind you calling me Meg, but I get bloody annoyed when you call him other names that are not his. You know his name, his name is Erik. Use it, please."
Raoul made a funny face and said, "Oh, sure, he has a name, it's Erik..." with some irony.
And it seemed like a voice echoed our words. "Erik...Erik..."
Now we both turned around at the same time, and Raoul leaped to his feet.
"This place gives me the chills..."
I laughed at him, though he looked really terrified.
"It's nothing, Raoul," I tried to assure both him and myself. The Phantom couldn't possibly have followed us all the way to the roof...could he?"
"And if he would be capable of hurting Christine...well..."
I stopped to think about his question.
"Well, let's not worry for now, Raoul. Come, let's get out of here. It's getting kind of cold, and for the color of the clouds, I think a storm is approaching. I'm sure we will find a way of solving this situation..."
Raoul looked up, examining the clouds, and suddenly his eyes met something that made him jump. I followed his look and met a shadow, darker than the night, staring at us with blazing eyes from behind the Apollo's Statue.
He embraced me, in a protective act.
"It is him! These are the eyes Christine told me about!"
Seeing the same eyes that Raoul was seeing, and shaken by the idea of seeing Erik after that long time, I didn't know what to do.
"Oh, I wish I had my pistol...but I'll get back to you," Raoul said under his breath, and pulled me to the staircase, away from the glowing eyes of the night.
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