Prologue
My name is Camille Jaclyn Baudeux. When you first take a look at me you may think I am a plain, ordinary, Parisian girl with impeccable posture. But do not let my hazel eyes, long wavy dark blonde hair and simple dress fool you. My life is far from ordinary. It is not simple or complicated, just very eventful sometimes. But isn't the life of every ballerina's?
I spent my early childhood in the French shipping town of Marseilles. My father was a fisherman and my mother, a wardrobe hand at the local Ballet Studio. Since before I can remember I was going with my mother to the studio and from a very young age was watching and mimicking the classes. Finally at the age of five I was permitted to join the classes; my parents then realized how hard it would be for me to live the rest of my life.
I am a mute, not many people had come across people like me before and I soon became an outcast at the age of five. However, do not be mistaken, my childhood was in fact pleasant. My mother taught me sign language, a new form of body language incorporating the use of your hands to aid deaf or mute people. People who knew me became accustomed to my muteness, except my father.
Till the day he dies my father shall be an impatient man. Frustrated with my disability and the view that I would never be married to a man in Marseilles, I was sent to Paris to 'further' my ballet skills. My parents arranged at the age of ten for me to board at the Opera Populaire.
Madame Giry worked with my parents to organize how my boarding fee would be paid, as well as my tuition for ballet lessons. She was always good to me, a patient woman unlike most people in the world. Her patience and confidence in me lead to me becoming the Prima Ballerina of the Opera Populaire.
Having already been treated as an outcast amongst my peers in Marseilles I became completely alone in the world, a feeling I had never experienced. I spent all of my spare time as a young dancer in the practice studio and at the barre. Dance had become my life. I also worked as a wardrobe assistant when featured in the operas as the lead dancer. This extra money and my income as a dancer paid for my boarding in the opera house as well as the purchase of clothing and make up.
As I grew older my relationship with some of the other chorus girls and dancers grew but never flourished into a friendship. Meg Giry and Christine Daae were always kind to me but I was never considered their friend. I was lucky to merit and invitation to the wedding of Christine and her lover the Viscount de Changey. But Christine was never my friend, only and acquaintance. My only real companion was feared by all in the theatre.
When I was first brought to the Opera house, being the curious child I was, I wandered around the theatre and stumbled across a secret passage. It was instinct to close the passage and walk away, but curiosity overpowered this instinct. I soon found myself in the company of a masked figure hunched over a small pipe organ. Neither of us were phased by my intrusion, much to my surprise. Erik was a young man who had not yet started his decent into the darkness of the soul. He was fascinated with my inability to speak and as I grew he became accustomed my hand movements and we became companions. I learnt that really he was just a tortured soul.
I watched his ever growing infatuation with Christine with worry and tried to stray him from the path of destruction, but with no avail. He never deserved the name 'Phantom' or 'Ghost', he was just a man. But the more I tried, the more he moved away until finally he was gone. Some thought he was dead but I knew otherwise. I became a sixteen year old mute alone in the world.
(A/N: This is based off the movie not the book. Thus I will take some artistic licence. Thanks!
P.S. Thank you to my wonderful proof reader Lex otherwise known as Lackaz xoxoxoxoxox Luv Ya!)