PROLOG
This is a story I have not yet told. A story hard to believe easy to condem and difficult to tell.
It started long ago, long before the famous part of my life. Long before the legend of the Phantom of the Opera, long before I met the young singer Christine. This story involves a dark secrect and shows who I am.
Now finally, after years of secrecy I have enough courage to tell it. With these pages I follow the examples of others. The reason you ask?
Never did I think of it before, but today an old friend visited me and together we listened to the Arias of Marguerite, together we thought of old times and together we formed the desire to put my story into words. It was this friend who encouraged me to go back to times, I sought to forget. I was condemed by te world above, but maybe I can explain my life, by explaining these strange happenings. This change in my life.
I will leave the present day of the year 2006 and reach back in time almost 200 years. Upstairs people come and go and lives grow and pass, we are eternal and noone believes that the Opera Ghost still resides in the vaults of the theatre. I do not want to say this is the story of my life, for I am not alive...
THE ENCOUNTER - CHAPTER I
It was a few years after my arrival in Paris. The Opera was built and during the construction I built my own little realm underneath the theatre, in the cellars where I could live undisturbed by the world. Only a few people came down there and mostly it was easy to drive them back to the upper world. A few simple tricks and the imagination of the people themselves did a proper job. They left me alone and I was in my own heaven. Finally, hidden from the world, but surrounded by music. And what kind of music! Operas by Gounod, Mozart, and other classics. I listened to the performances and soon I knew the different voices and got to love or hate them.
My kingdom, for I felt as I king, arround the lake developed wonderful. I had 2 entrances, both very well guarded by the best alarm systhems I could build. Only a few times I met a cursed soul, who had come too far and met the "pleasures" of my torture chamber, which was one of the entrances to my appartment. Mostly it was too late to rescue the people and there was nothing else left to do, than to bring them upstairs and let them be found. Soon it was said those poor Stagehands died under mysterious circumstances and the mystery of the Opera Ghost was born. What a good chance for me to live in peace.
As always I loved to play the organ. Sometimes I did not stop for days, beeing totally caputred in the music. And when this happened, I was not aware of the world arround me. For sure the "ghostly music" was heard throughout the whole building. It was feared by all and especially the ballett girls with their chitchat did their own part. They told stories about the opera ghost and his music. Their imagation invented things that I never ever even thought to do. First I was angry with them and to stop them from chatting, I played my evil jokes on them. But instead of ceasing their talk, their minds were fed by this and the gossip got more and more. After a while I found out, that it was good to be feared as the ghost. It scared people even more and kept them in the upper part of the building. Later I should even learn that this gossip was important, as it shoud change my life forever. - Forever! Would that I knew the meaning of this word in those days. But let me tell one thing after the other.
After a time the Opera Ghost was well established and, as I can proudly say, almost famous. I did not only get a salary, but also my own private box. It took a few more tricks and was ridiculously easy. From now on, there were no difficulties for me to not only listen to the operas, but also to watch them.
"Faust" was always one of my favorits and I did not miss one performance. To all of you, who think of my later life, who know - or believe to know- what will happen later on, this was before "La Carlotta" and before my dear Christine.
Whenever the curtain rose and the lights dimmed, I was on my post in the box, which I heard was in the meantime also quite famous for beeing the box of the Phantom. A lot of people always looked up to glimpse the skull behind the curtain, but I made sure they only saw and heard what I wanted them to see or hear. I thought myself in security.
One evening I once again made my way up to my precious place. I slid behind the curtain and noticed the usual looks, but finally the curtain rose. Imediatly I was captured by the music and lost myself in the arias. Marguerite turned her spinning wheel and Faust made his bargain with the devil. The music filled the room. With my eyes closed I conducted the orchestra in my mind and quietly hummed along as usual. All my senses were drawn to the music. After a while I realised a strange sound. Something like a highpitched voice singing, just on the edge of human hearing, slowly crawled into my mind. A voice like an angel. Somehow I was distracted and opened my eyes. It was a sweet sound that I never heard before. Carefully I drew the curtain away from the wall and lowered my eyes to the stage. My senses have always been more sensible than those of human beeings, therefore nobody else seemed to notice the sound.
I was arroused, I was drawn to this voice. I longed to know where it came from, such imense beauty did it involve. Slowly I moved the curtain a bit further and carefuly looked arround the corner, almost loosing my guard. This sound did not come frome on stage. Nor from the auditorium. It was in my head. At least it seemed like that. My curiosity was awakend even more. No human beeing apart from me was ever able to place its voice somewhere else with such perfection. I listened again and now I noticed that the voice sang along to the opera. " Oui, c'est toi, je t'aime, Oui, c'est toi, je t'aime, Les fers, la mort même ne me fond plus peur! Tu m'as retrouvée… Ma voilà sauvée… C'est toi, je suis sur ton cœur!"
I began to shake my head madly, this sound was about to drive me crazy. "Oui, c'est toi, je t'aime. I will wait for you, Erik."
I screamed. I turned to run down to my shelter as fast as possible. I bumped into people. I did not care how many people saw the "ghost" in the shadows this night. I was too confused and totally caught by surprise. Someone knew my name!