Between Two Worlds
The 20 year old woman sat at the kitchen table eating a bowl of oatmeal and reading her favorite book: "The Phantom of the Opera" by Gaston Leroux. Suddenly, a voice broke her reverie.
"Kristen, that's the thousandth time you've read that book! Aren't you tired of it yet?" The voice belonged to Kristen's mother.
Kristen stood and kissed her mother's cheek. "You should know by now that I can never get tired of this book, Mom."
Two years ago, a car accident had left her mother paralyzed from the waist down and unable to care for herself. Since then, Kristen had undertaken the task of taking care of her mother and her 18 year old sister, Mhegan.
"I guess you're right. Where's your sister?"
"My guess is, she's still sleeping."
"Well, go and wake her up. Your school bus will be here any minute, and I don't want you late for college again."
Kristen marked her place in her book and headed up the stairs. "Guess I'll have to do it the old fashioned way.'
Mhegan slept peacefully dreaming about a quiet walk on the beach with her beau, Robert Chaney, when suddenly she was rudely awakened by a High C note sung loudly in her ear. Her eyes shot open and she stared into the smiling face of her sister, Kristen.
"It's time to get up, sis," she said sweetly.
Mhegan sat up and rubbed her eyes. "I kind of guessed that, Kris. What time is it?"
Kristen glanced at the clock on her nightstand. "It's almost eight."
At that news, Mhegan launched herself out of bed, threw on some clothes and dragged a brush through her frizzy, brown hair before pulling it back into a braid.
"I've always envied you, Kris. Your hair, I mean. It always does what it's supposed to do. It's so thick and full and looks great in any style."
"Well, yours would be that way too if you just took the time to care for it," Kristen replied, putting some stray books in her bag.
Suddenly, a horn honked from the driveway, and Kristen and Mhegan tore down the steps, heading for the door in a mad dash to catch the bus. Mhegan paused long enough to kiss her mother on the cheek and grab the warm, toasty Pop-Tart her mother had heated for her, and dashed out the door. Kristen paused long enough to also kiss her mother on the cheek, but instead of a Pop-Tart, she grabbed her "Phantom of the Opera" book, and sprinted out the door after her sister.
When Kristen climbed aboard the bus, she was dismayed to find only two seats left. Mhegan had already found a spot next to her beau, Robert. One seat was next to Kristen's arch rival in Music Class, Caroline Giovanni. 'No way, no how,' she thought. The only other seat was next to the rather cute, yet solitary, Michael Cranston. He sat near the back of the bus, intently reading a book. Kristen swallowed the lump in her throat and shyly approached his seat.
She cleared her throat. "Umm, is this seat taken?" she asked, meekly.
He glanced up at her, his piecing blue eyes locking with her warm hazel eyes, and he smiled slightly. "Not at all, please be my guest. Would you like to sit near the window, or on the aisle?"
"The aisle is fine. It doesn't matter to me." She sat down, pulled out her book and continued to read. Yet, she studied Michael out of the corner of her eye.
He stared at her for a moment; his expression seemed to border on the edge of... disappointment, it seemed like. He opened his mouth to say something, but decided against it, and turned back to his own book. Suddenly, Kristen realized it wasn't disappointment he was feeling; it was loneliness. Kristen's heart went out to him, and she decided to remedy her mistake. Closing her book, she leaned over slightly and tried to read a bit of his book.
"What are you reading?" she asked.
Michael seemed a bit shocked at first that she had actually said something to him. "It's called 'Phantom.' From the author, Susan Kay."
Kristen's eyes lit up happily. "I've always wanted to read that book! My sister told me about it. It's supposed to focus more on Erik's life growing up right?"
"You like the 'Phantom of the Opera'?"
Kristen held up her well worn copy of the unabridged version of Gaston Leroux's immortal love story. "It's my all time favorite. I must have this book about memorized by now, but I can't seem to put it down."
For the next half hour they talked about nothing save their views and beliefs about the books. When the bus finally reached the campus of the community college, Kristen and Michael found themselves unwilling to part from each other.
"What classes do you have?" he asked her. "Perhaps we might be in some together."
"English 112, Theatre 113, Speech 101, and Math 111."
Michael frowned. "I don't have any of those."
"What about after school? The only thing I have is my Choral Music lessons with Prof. Debbiene at four. We might be able to do something afterwards."
"You have Choral with Prof. Debbiene? I do too!"
"You're kidding! Oh, this is great!" She was about to say more, but the bell rang, signaling the start of classes. "This is wonderful! Well, I'll see you at three then. 'Bye Michael!"
Kristen turned and ran down the hall towards her fist class. Michael simply stared after the smiling, friendly angel that had graced his dreary, lonely existence with the ethereal light of a simple smile in his direction.
"Until then, my Angel. The hours shall seem eternal until I see you again."
Kristen stared at the clock, impatiently. It was 2:53, and the time seemed to drag on forever. 'Just two more minutes. I know I can wait that long.' She turned her attention away from the clock, and back to her Math textbook.
Before she knew it, the bell sounded, and Kristen tore out of the classroom and towards her Choral Class. She was relieved to find Michael already there, waiting for her; an empty seat next to him. She strode over to him, but just as she reached him, Caroline slid into the seat next to him. Shocked, Michael could do nothing except stare at Caroline, who merely grinned smugly at Kristen.
Kristen, who could barely hold back the tears that had threatened to fall down her cheeks, searched for an empty chair. To her dismay, her terrible luck had forced her to sit with Brandon Johnson. He was nice enough, but had terrible pitch and never sang on the right note. She glanced down at Mhegan, who saw the whole thing, and smiled at the sympathetic look her sister gave her.
Still, Kristen resolved to make the best of her situation, and was relieved when Prof. Debbiene entered the room. From the look on his face, it seemed he had something important to say, so Kristen pushed her problems aside and focused her attention on her music teacher.
Charles Debbiene stood before his pupils and cleared his throat. "Class," he began, in a slight French accent, "I have an extraordinary announcement to make. Several months ago, I sent in a rather important document to the Society for Preserving the Arts Foundation. They were doing a feature on the Paris Opera House and had come up with an extraordinary contest. Choral groups from all across the U.S. were invited to participate. The Choral group which sounded the best and most professional would be selected to travel to Paris and perform their own rendition of the "Phantom of the Opera." I am pleased to announce that, out of thousands of applications, our group was chosen to perform in Paris."
From all across the room, a collective cheer arose. But others, like Kristen, were still too shocked to take it all in. 'Paris,' she thought. 'The Paris Opera House. We get to perform the "Phantom of the Opera" at the place where the legend began!'
Kristen knew that those who were silent like her were true Phantom Phans, like her. All the others were only interested in the fact that they'd be going to Paris and be performing in front of an audience. She turned and saw the same look of shock on Michael's face. He caught her glance and held it.
In that instant, the entire world melted away, and time seemed to stand still. 'This is it,' he thought. 'This is our time to shine. This is what I dreamed. From the first moment I saw her. We'll be together; on stage. And we'll shine. We'll shine together.'