Some relief had come. . .

With Christine in the dormitories again, it was much easier to look over her. To keep her from him.

The relief, however, had not released the burden. . . The weight from my shoulders had not yet been lifted. Sometimes, I feared it never would. Tonight, though, tonight I would make sure he could not reach her. Christine would sleep soundly under my watch. Christine. . .

It is funny to think that a person could cause such a complexity of emotions within oneself. She, Christine, her name alone made me feel revitalized, youthful once again. Youthful, in the sense that I felt happiness in the memory of childhood games, of sweet nothings whispered and shared, and not the melancholy nostalgia that had haunted me all these years.

Though her presence caused me great cheer, it also brought content. A quiet content, a comfortable familiarity. She was a childs song, lulling me, the mere thought of her washed a calmness over me. This woman was created to make my insides turn every which way, and at the same time with a look into her wide, innocent eyes, send me to a reverie. . .

She was mine again.

Or so it had seemed.

There was him, of course. The opera ghost. The phantom. Madam Giry's refugee. Christine's tutor. The thorn in my side.

My legs were growing numb, my lower back and buttocks throbbing with pain. I had been perched on the rickety stage chair at the entrance to the older performers quarters for hours. It had seemed like hours. The moon had passed over the window and was now out of my sight. It was growing darker in the stairwell. All the more reason to remain alert.

But. . . The softer side of my bride-to-be, Christine's calming quality had flooded my mind as I searched for pleasant things to occupy my thoughts with. I had begun to drift, to nod to sleep in my wooden seat. . .

This was when he arrived.

-

Author's note: I apologize for FF doing away with my apostrophes. And for the length of this first chapter. I'm also working on the second chapter for 'The Greatest Thing'. So, keep your eyes out. And wash them, while you're at it. Dirty things, eyes.