"The Phantom of the Opera" Phan Phiction by Lauren (aka laurenbooks125)
He was always a disgrace. His deformed face made everyone run away. Family members were even afraid to go in public with him. He had always known he was ugly, but know every directly said it. Well, his family members, that is. His mother hated his face and feared him, so he gave him a mask at a very young age. He wore it to school but took it off as soon as he got there. He didn't like the mask. Every kid at school said he was a mutation, possessed by the devil, a monster, an extra-terrestrial, or anything along those lines. He had no idea what to do about it. It, of course, got worse as he got older. They would curse and spit at him. His parents eventually took him out of school and brought a tutor over to their house. But he didn't want to do school work all day. He just wanted to make music. He was a music prodigy. He loved music more than anything.
But his parents thought music was a waste of time, that it wasn't practical. Even though his parents had forbidden him to write or play music, he would always write music without telling them. That was his dream, to be a great composer. He especially loved the opera. He knew he was going to write one of the best opera in history. An opera that people would be talking about for hundreds of years. He was going to prove his parents wrong. He may even be a part of an opera, he did sing. He also loved singing. He knew he was going to prove his parents wrong, he just knew it. People were going to remember his name. And he will be known for opera.
The year is 1846. Erik Destler is currently 24 years old, living alone. He has his own little cottage where he write and plays music all day. He is in the middle of his first opera, on the fifteenth page. Writing note after note. Getting frustrated more and more by the minute. He keeps covering up notes he wants to change with the ink from his quill. He even gets ink on the keys, which gets all over his hands. Erik begins playing the beginning of the measure, but soon messes up. He slams the keys and gets up quickly, making the bench fall back. He starts panting in anger. He walks over to the mirror in his bedroom and looks at his distorted face. "I need an angel." Erik whispers. He slowly brings his hand up to his face, slightly touching the broken skin. But he soon pulls away, disgusted. He swiftly turns away and goes back to the organ. He sits up straight, lays his hands on the keys, and begins playing the opera. Then he plays throughout the whole day and into the night.
The next morning, he wakes up with his face in pain. Of course it is the side where the skin in burst. The right side of his face is burning and tingling. He groans in pain as he barely touches his face. He looks at his pillow that he was just laying on, and he sees a circle of blood. He is constantly bleeding, he is tired of it. Erik knows he needs something to cover up his face. He is tired of getting looks when he goes out in public. So he throws off the sheets and goes over to his wardrobe. Erik gets dressed and heads out into town. He plans on going to the masquerade shop to find a mask. (Sadly, he got rid of all his other masks as a kid, so he needs to buy a new one.) As he is walking through town he is getting the usual stares, glares, gasps, and people walking up to him and saying sorry. He is used to it by now because he has to deal with it his entire life. When he finally makes it to the masquerade shop, he stops in front of the door, takes a deep breath and then walks through the door. The clerk hears the door slam and looks up at the door, and smiles. But his smile soon fades, and his expression turns to disgust. But he tries to stop it and put on a fake smile. Erik slowly walks up to the clerk and says, "I need a custom mask." All the masks in the shop cover the whole face or just the eyes. But Erik needs a certain portion of his face. The clerk nods and says, "Follow me." Erik nods back. The clerk leads him to the back of the shop where there is a custom mask area. The clerk puts out his arm and says, "First pick a color mask, and then we will cut it to the shape." Motioning to the wall of solid color masks. He walks up to the wall examining all the colors. But it is not hard for him to choose. He goes will something simple, that will surely go with everything, including his tuxedos. White.
He takes it off the wall, and gives it to the clerk. The clerk takes it and then grabs a certain kind of knife out of his pocket. The clerk looks at Erik's face and starts making motions in the air, indicating where he needs to cut on the mask. He holds the mask up in the air and makes the motions again. He walks up to Erik and slightly presses the mask against his face. He then starts cutting. Cutting off a section of his forehead, then taking off the whole left cheek and around his puffy lips. The clerk is almost finished, he just needs to make small cuts. He makes a slight cut on the right side of his lips to make a nice curve, and then a tiny peck on the left side of his nose. The clerk takes the mask away from his face and hands it to Erik. "There is a mirror over there. See how I looks." He motions to a small mirror next to the wall of masks. Erik nods and walks slowly over to the mirror. He sees his ugly face in the mirror and is disgusted. So he quickly puts the mask up to his face. He looks at it, and is so delighted. It is covering the perfect amount of his face. No one will ever know. Erik smiles, takes off the mask, and walks back over to the clerk. "It is magnificent! Thank you, my good man!" He shakes the clerk's hand very fast, in excitement. The clerk smiles and nods. They then walk over to the counter for Erik to pay. "How much?" "Seventeen francs." Erik nods and pulls the money of out his pocket. The clerk takes the money then takes the mask. He attaches wire to the mask so that I can sit on Erik's head. "Now it can sit on your head with these wires." The clerk says. Erik smiles wide and says, "Oh, thank you, sir! You are absolutely wonderful!" The clerk nods once more, and Erik swiftly walks out of the masquerade shop with a smile, and a new face.
Once he gets home, he goes back up to his organ and starts practicing the opera. He feels even better than he ever has before with his mask. Erik feels confident and determined. He knows the opera will be fantastic. Then he starts at the beginning of the opera, and does not make a single mistake. "This mask is magic!" Erik says and laughs. He goes to the place in the middle of the opera, and continues writing the opera. He writes for hours and hours, he eventually finished the opera. And it is an absolute masterpiece. He gets up off of the bench, grabs the opera, and walks out into town. He goes around to all the opera houses, looking for someone who will put on his opera. There are three houses in the town, and the first two Erik has went to, turned down his opera. Erik is very hopeful about this last one. He walks through the big doors of the opera house, entering a big hall with giant chandeliers and great paintings on the walls. Erik smiles while walking down the hall.
He gets down to the end of the hall, and reaches a new set of doors. He pushes them open, and he now enters the stage. He sees a man standing on the stage. "Excuse me?" Erik says. The man turns, and he furrows his brow when he sees the man in the mask. "How may I help you?" The man asks. "Are you the owner of this opera house?" Erik asks. The man nods his head. Erik smiles and says, "Well I wrote this opera, and I was hoping you could look at it, and maybe do it here." The man nods. "I'll take a look at it." Erik hands him the folder with the sheets of music. The man takes the folder and opens it up. He starts reading the first page and immediately furrows his brow. He flips through a few pages and just looks disgusted. He slams the folder shut, making Erik jump. The owner of the opera house looks at Erik like he has a million heads. "Anybody, who would ever put on this opera, is deaf. Or possibly an idiot!" the man giggles at himself, but Erik is not amused. "Excuse me?" The owner rolls his eyes, "This is an insult to opera! No one will put on this opera." Erik wants to walk over and punch the man, but he does not want to make the reputation for himself. So he just starts breathing heavy, in anger. "If you ever want to put on"-he pauses to make a disgusting face-"this shit, go find your own opera house." Erik keeps breathing heavy. Then the owner walks closer to Erik and flips off his mask. The owner gasps at his deformed, monstrous face. "And NO ONE will hire a director that looks like a beast." Erik stands up straight, bends down and picks up his mask, and slips it back on. He looks at the owner again. "Damn you. I will find my own theater. I will prove you wrong, I will get a job, and the opera will happen." The owner giggles and slams the folder against Erik's chest. Erik looks him in the eye and says, "Damn you." He turns swiftly and storms out of the opera house.
"I will get an opera house." Erik repeatedly says under his breath. He stops is the middle of a street and then goes and sits on a bench. He keeps thinking if there are any opera houses for sale. "There are only a few opera houses out of town. I don't know if any are for sale, or even for rent!" Erik talks to himself. He then sighs loudly in exasperation. An elderly lady walking by hears and asks him, "Are you alright, monsieur?" Erik looks up at her. "Oh, I am just trying to find a way to put on my opera." The lady smiles, "Oh! You write opera! I love opera. I used to do them myself. I'm Marie." She puts out her hand. Erik smiles and takes her hand, "Erik. Do you happen to know of any opera houses that are for sale?" Marie looks up, and thinks for a moment. She then jerks her head back to center and smiles. "I actually do know of one, just a few miles out of town!" Erik smiles and gasps. "Really?" Marie nods. "It's just the next town over. There are a few actually! You will be able to pick one!" Erik jumps up from the bench. "Oh, thank you! You are an amazing creature!" He takes her hand and kisses it lightly. Marie smiles at him, "You are very welcome. I am a supporter of the arts, and I will help you put on your opera!" Erik looks at her in shock. "No one has ever been this nice to me." Marie tilts her head, "Well now someone has." Erik nods and smiles.
Marie walks closer to Erik and says to him, "If I may ask, why are you wearing a mask?" Erik looks at the ground, not wanting to answer. He sighs, knowing he has to answer. "My….uh….face is deformed." Marie looks at him very sympathetically. "How did it happen?" "Oh I was born with it. The doctors said my skin hadn't developed the right way." Erik replies. "They also said I wasn't going to live longer than a few days," he giggles. "But here I am." Marie walks closer to him, puts her hand on his shoulder, and motions him to the bench. They sit down. "I am sorry. Is that why your opera was turned down?" Erik shakes his head. "No, I had the mask when I went around to all the opera houses. They all said my opera was…shit." "Oh I am sorry. May I see it?" He looks at the woman. "Which one? The opera or my face?" Marie sighs and says, "Both." Erik nods and hands her the opera. Marie opens up the folder and begins reading it. She immediately smiles; the first one who did. "I love it." Erik smiles, "Really? Honestly?" Marie nods fast. "It is absolutely beautiful. I love it." "Thank you, Marie. That means so much to me." She nods once again.
"Now, may I see your face?" Erik nods, "But please don't run away. If you want me to cover it up again, just ask." She nods. He puts his hand on the cheek of his mask, lifts it off of his face, and then fully takes it off. Marie doesn't gasp or run away or ask him to cover it. She just stares, in curiosity. "It's so fascinating. I don't understand how that is scientifically possible. It's wonderful." Erik bobs his head forward. "You are an amazing woman, Marie. You are the only person who liked my opera and the first person to say my face was wonderful. Thank you." Erik puts his mask back on and she nods. "You are amazing, Erik. You are just a fascinating man." Marie then get up and says, "Well I must be going." Erik gets up after her. He takes her hands and kisses it once more. "And I hope to come see your opera very soon." He nods and say, "I hope so too. Thank you again." Marie nods and walks away. As she walks away, Erik knows that that was he nicest, little, old lady he will ever meet in his lifetime.
The next day, Erik plans to go out of town in search for an opera house to buy. He currently has 70 thousand francs, which should be enough. He gets out of bed, and walks over to his wardrobe. He opens it up rapidly and pulls out his finest suit. He wants to make a good impression. After he puts on his suit, he looks in the mirror. Seeing his deformed face disgusts him. But he is unsure if he shouldn't wear that mask, that way they can see the real Erik. Then they might not sell him the house if the owner is a beast. So Erik walks over to his nightstand and grabs his mask and slips it over his head. He looks in the mirror and smiles.
Erik then walks downstairs and out the door of his house. He goes down the steps and puts his hand up and presses his index finger against his thumb, indicating he needs a carriage. He stands there for about one minute or two before a carriage comes to his step. The man operating the carriage comes to the side of it and motions for him to walk up the stair. Erik walks up, nods his head at the man, and the man nods back. When Erik is sitting in the carriage, the man asks him where he would like to go. Erik just says, "The next city, directly outside of here." The man nods again and says, "Will do, monsieur." Then Erik travels to the city, grasping his folder containing his opera, so tightly his knuckles are white. But he does not care. He is too happy to focus on pain. "Finally," Erik whispers, "My life of pain, is going to turn into a life of happiness."
When Erik gets into the city, he exits the carriage and tips the man. He walks away from the carriage and through the city, looking for an opera house. Since he doesn't feel like walking around the whole city, searching, he decides to go to the city's main hall.
He walks up the stairs and walks through the open doors. He goes up to the counter and looks at the lady standing there. Erik can see it in her eyes that she is startled by his masked face, but she puts on a fake smile. "How may I help you?" she asks him. Erik nods and says, "I was wondering if there are an opera houses for sale in this city?" The lady nods and says, "Yes there are. There is actually one around this building and to the right." Erik smiles, "Thank you, mademoiselle. Good day." Erik exits the building and goes in the direction the lady told him. He goes around the building and to the right and sees a magnificent opera house. With shiny pillars all around and all the gold and silver detailing. It is more glorious than any other opera house in his own city.
Erik slowly walks up to the beautiful building in awe. He cannot believe he will actually own this building! Well….possibly. He is hoping it doesn't cost more than 70 thousand francs. That is all he has. Once he reaches the steps of the house, there is a man standing at the top of them. Erik walks up to him and says to him, "Are you the owner of this house?" The man nods and says, "Yes, but I am looking to sell it. Would you be interested?" Erik nods and smiles. "Yes! Yes, I would!" The man motions toward the door and says, "Follow me. I will show you the opera house." Erik nods and says, "Thank you." As they are walk towards the door the man leading Erik says, "I am Anthony." He replies with, "Erik. Please to meet you." Anthony turns around and nods to him. Erik nods back. They walk through the tall door and enter a glorious hall.
The floor has a wonderful red carpet with gold trim. The walls are covered with glorious paintings with women, men, and children. A great masterpiece representing life. The paintings go up to the ceiling, and of course there is gold and silver detail along the ceiling. Erik's jaw drops and he gasps. "This is magnificent. Why would you want to sell an opera house like this?" Anthony replies with, "I got a fantastic offer out of town, so I that it why." Erik nods even though he can't see him. Erik is so distracted that he almost falls over when Anthony stops in front of giant doors. Anthony turns around to face him. They both smile. Anthony points toward the doors and says, "This is where the true beauty is." He turns back around and pushes the doors open. They enter a giant theater with, it seems, millions of red seats with gold embellishments. Erik's jaw drops again. The stage is huge with beautiful red curtains covering the front. He looks around and sees more paintings around the theater. As he is doing this, he notices a beautiful and shiny chandelier. "That is a stunning chandelier! I absolutely love it!" Anthony says, "Thank you. So are you interested?" Erik smiles big and replies, "Yes please! How much are you asking?" "100 thousand francs." Erik's smiles soon fades. He does not have enough. Erik sighs. "I am sorry I cannot pay right now. But I will be able to soon. Can you wait?" Anthony furrows his brow and he looks very annoyed. "Alright I will wait. But I want it in a month's time. That is when I leave." Erik nods. "You will definitely have it! Thank you so much! I have 70 thousand francs right now. I will give that to you." Erik goes into his pocket and pulls out the bag of coins and hands it to Anthony. "Thank you." Anthony says. Anthony starts to walk out of theater when he says, "Good luck with your opera, Erik." Erik waves and says, "Thank you, monsieur."
Anthony then exits the theater and Erik is now alone. "This is it." He whispers. "Now I must go and tell this whole city about the auditions. Oh, and I must pack me things." Erik jogs out of the theater and waits for a carriage.
ONE MONTH LATER
MONEY IS DUE
Erik is in the middle of rehearsal, sitting at his organ. While he does that, there are men and women, singing and dancing beside him, getting ready for his opera. The song is over and Erik is ready to start the next song. "Okay. Let's run through the next song. 5, 6, 7"-he is cut off when he hears a yell coming through the theater "ERIK! ERIK!" He is startled and looks over at the theater doors and see Anthony standing there. He stands up from the bench. Anthony walks up to the stage rapidly and meets him on the stage. He puts his hand out, palm up. "I'm sorry, but what do you want, monsieur?" Anthony furrows his brow and tilts his head. "My 30 thousand francs?" Erik's eyes bulge. He had completely forgot about the money! "I am sorry, please, I do not have the money. I can give it to you in, a week's time! Please." Anthony puts his hand down and shakes his head. "I am sorry, but you do not own this theater any more. I am leaving in twenty minutes. I do not have a week. You need to shut this whole production down." Erik is close to tears. "Please! I can mail you the money. Please, this means everything to me!" Anthony shakes his head. "No. This will not work. I need the money now. What are you using your money on anyway? A bunch of masks?" He motions to his face and Erik tilts his head. "What is the point of the mask? What are you hiding?" At the word hiding he rips off his mask and Anthony gasps and so does his whole cast. Erik looks at the cast, in sadness, then back at Anthony. "No one wants you here now because of" he makes a face "that. Just…get out, Erik. Now."
Erik looks around. He is no longer. He is now furious. Furious at this man for wrecking his dreams. Erik grabs the mask out of Anthony hands and runs down the stage stairs. He keeps running toward the doors, but he stops in his tracks. "DAMN YOU! DAMN YOU ALL! PEOPLE WILL KNOW ME! I WILL ALWAYS REVOLVE AROUND OPERA! DAMN, DAMN, DAMN YOU!" He pushes the doors and storms out of the theater, cursing. He slips his mask back on before he gets outside. Once he does get outside he just yells for a carriage instead of putting his hand up. The carriage comes quickly and he tells him his address and the carriage takes him home. When he gets to his house, he runs inside and throws off his mask. He runs upstairs to his bedroom and looks in the mirror. He has tears streaming down his face and he is breathing very heavy. He takes his fist and smashes the mirror multiple time. He screams in pain as blood gushes out of his knuckles. Erik sits on his bed and stares at the floor, watching the blood drip. He eventually lays down, still in his suit, and falls asleep.
ONE YEAR LATER
1847
Erik is sitting at his organ, playing his rejected opera over and over. He is at the last measure when he gets a knock at his door. He glares at the door, no expecting anyone. He grabs his mask off of the top of the organ and slips it on. He walks to the door and opens it to see a man standing there. Erik nods at the man. The man smiles. "Hello, monsieur. I am Jules Clementine, and I hear you are quite the musical prodigy." "I am, yes. I'm Erik Destler." Jules laughs. "I know who you are." Erik raises his eyebrows. "So I am here to ask you if you would like to play for some of the richest people a few cities over." Erik smiles and nods. "I would like that." Jules smiles and says, "Well, could you be ready soon."
"Well I would have to pack my things."
"Oh, no, it is only for a few days. And we will provide the tuxedo."
"Oh, why thank you! Then I can leave now, if you would like."
"I would like! Let us go!" Jules motions toward a carriage in front of his house. Jules leads Erik into the carriage and they travel to the city. Erik is very happy. Something good. Something good, finally.
When they arrive in the city, Jules leads him, not to a fancy building, but to a big top circus tent. "What is going on?" Erik asked, concerned. Jules aggressively grabs his hand and pulls his toward the tent. Erik tries to drag his feet against the dirt to stop from moving, but he is failing. They enter the tent and see an open cage with an organ and bench sitting in it. Erik's eyes bulge. Jules takes both his hands and looks into his eyes and chuckles. He throws off his mask and it makes a puff in the dirt. Jules says, "Repulsive." And throws Erik into the cage, slamming the bars shut. Before he talks again, he spits at Erik. "You will not be performing for rich people. You will be performing at this circus. You are a human oddity." He spits once more. "You will play, and people will come to see the devil's child. That is what you are." Jules chuckles at himself. He turns to leave but Erik yells, "Damn you!" He stops in his tracks and turns around. "What did you say?" "I said, 'Damn you!'. How could you do this to an innocent person?!" Jules comes close to the bars. "You are not innocent. You are a monster." Erik shakes his head in disgust. "Now, you better get ready. The circus opens in 30 minutes." Jules leaves laughing.
Erik doesn't want to cry or scream, he just wants some comfort and love. How could someone so evil, do this to someone? He is just confused. Erik is sure he would dress up and play at a circus, but not as a human oddity. Using his own distorted face against himself. He just gets up off the ground, stumbling. He walks over to the organ. It is covered in hay from the ground, and it is in very bad shape. But Erik presses on a few keys and it sounds perfect, like nothing ever happened to it. So, he just decides to take his fate and sit at the organ and play.
30 minutes later, Jules is standing in front of the tent he is in, and is yelling around to the people to come see the "Devil's Child" which Erik is assuming is himself. People start filing in and the gasp once they see his face. Some kids cower back behind their mothers. He looks around at all the people with a face of anger. Jules walks in with them and says, "PLAY!" Erik stares back at him, glaring. "PLAY NOW!" But he does not. So Jules walks over to the cage, opens the cage, and walks in. He grabs something out of his back pocket and shows it to Erik. It is a blow torch. What will he do with that? Jules grabs his head and lights the torch. He singes Erik's hair, and watches it fall to the ground. He pushes him away from his head and puts his fingers on the keys and starts playing. Fighting the pain, he plays the first two pages of the opera and now everyone is amused.
This goes on for about three months. It is now the middle of autumn, and Erik is freezing in that cage. He needs to find a way to escape. A lot of his hair is gone and it is almost white from it being singed so much. His mask sits in a hay bale outside of the cage. When he escapes, he will grab the mask and run. During the day, another time when Jules demands him to play, Erik refuses. But he does it more aggressive than he has before. Jules yells, "PLAY NOW YOU DEMON!" Erik slams on the keys and yells, "NO! I WILL NOT! I REFUSE!" "Fine." Jules say very calm. Jules walks over to the cage, opens it up, and walks in. He grabs his arm and pulls him out of the cage. As they are walking out, Jules grabs his mask. He throws Erik on the ground on the outside of the tent and throws the mask at him. He finally spits after he says, "Get out of here! Just go die you demon. Go to hell where you belong." Erik grabs his mask and slips it on ever so quickly and runs out of that circus.
He was so happy to be leaving the retched place. That was hell, it could not get worse. Erik just keeps running and running, not knowing where he is going. He just knows he needs to get away from that horrible place. He eventually runs into a forest, getting hit my twigs and branches. But he does not stop. Nothing will get in his way. He eventually comes running alongside of a hill. At the bottom of the hill is a river, surrounded by big, sharp, rocks. Erik knows that he must be very careful. But he keeps running and running, his adrenaline pumping. He starts fumbling, but catches himself.
But then, a little squirrel runs right in front of him. Erik falls over, rolling down the hill. He tries to drag his hands on the ground, but the world is spinning around too fast. He knows he will get injured very badly. Erik rolls closer to the rock-surrounded waters. He feels his mask fly off of his face, his skin starts to burn where it is split and ruffled. He feels blood smearing on his face as he keeps rolling, inching closer and closer.
Erik gets to the edge of the river, slamming his head on a rock. He rolls over multiple rocks and falls in the water, and the whole world goes black.
Erik awakes alongside of the river and rocks. He looks around and is panting like a dog. He turns and looks at the rocks, and sees they are covered in blood. He feels his head where it hurts, but there is a small bump. He looks on the ground and at his body. His clothes have small rips and burns, but that is from the circus. He sees his mask a few feet away from his feet. He hunches forward and grabs it. But he does not put it back on because he remembers hurting it, but not how. He feels his cheek. He does not feel the familiar split in skin, he feels ruffles, cuts, and small slits throughout his skin. Erik has no idea what has happened. "Where am I?" he whispers to himself.
As he is sitting there, he hears people at the top of the hill. Little girls. He gets up, without putting his mask back on, and climbs up the hill to see the people. When he gets to the top, he sees three little girls, two blondes a small brunette right in between them. Erik thinks she is rather, adorable. The girls are talking and giggling, but Erik's hearing is too fuzzy to decipher what they are saying. "Hello?" he says to the girls. The two blondes do not hear, but the tiny brunette does. He see her eyes bulge and move her eyes around. The blondes go running off, expecting the brunette to come, but she does not. She keeps searching around for the source of that voice. "Can you hear me?" he says to the girl. She creeps around and looks. Now Erik starts to sing to her in his beautiful voice. He tries to make it as peaceful as he can. "Can you hear? Can…you…hear me?" Both of their heads dart in the same direction when they hear one of the blondes yell, "Come on!" The little girl looks one more time and then runs off. Erik sighs. He just wants some answers. He has no idea what is happening.
Erik walls farther up the hill, and as the little girl is running away he yells, "Bye!" He sees the girl stumble as she hears him. He shakes his head at this whole thing. Erik then runs out of the forest and back into the city. At this point he puts his mask back on. He runs up to a million people saying, "Will you help? Please?" But they just keep walking past him, ignoring him. He runs up to another man and says, "Hello? Can you help me?" But the man just walks through him. Erik's bulge and he puts his hand on his stomach. "Am I"-he gulps-"dead?" He hated that word, especially when he was talking about himself. This can't be happening. This cannot be happening. He keeps thinking. He doesn't want this. He wants to live his life, no matter how horrible it was. He wants to play music for people, he wants to put on an opera, and he wants to be in an opera! It all just can't be over! Erik looks around at all the people talking, drinking, singing and he starts to cry. Why this? Why now?
As he keeps looking and wondering around, his sadness eventually turns to anger and fury. He sees the opera house that he was kicked out of from, what seemed like, a really long time ago. He starts running up to the opera house, faster and faster. He needs to see this blasted opera house, and how it turned out. When he gets to the stairs, he sees a poster that says they are putting on an opera. He looks at the clock on the city building, it reads, "7:47" The opera started at seven o'clock. Erik opens the door and walks into the house. He cannot bare to look at the beauty of the opera house that was once his. He runs up to the door of the theater and opens it slowly. He looks around to find an empty seat, but he is out of luck. Until he notices Box Five is still open. He walks to the back of the theater and takes them up to Box Five. He sits in a seat and watches the opera. Erik had to admit, it was very good. "This is a fantastic seat." He whispers.
During curtain call, Erik decides to leave. He runs down the stairs and out into the town once again. He just sits on the opera house steps, and stares at the ground. He is very depressed and knows he looks very depressed. While he is sitting there, he hears a small girl's voice say to him, "Why are you so sad?" He looks up in shock and realizes it's the same little brunette from the forest. Erik's jaw drops and his eyes bulge. "You can see me?" he whispers. She creases her brows and shakes her head. "Why wouldn't I?" Erik gets up off the stairs and looks at her, shakes his head. The girl walks closer to him, he kneels to meet her face. He slowly puts her hand on his mask. She touches the mask, in bewilderment. Erik is just staring at her. "Why do you wear the mask?" the little girl asks as she pulls her hand away. He shrugs, "I was born ugly." The girl shakes her head and says, "Nobody is ugly. Ugliness lays in the soul." Erik smiles. She smiles back. "Why is your hair like that? You can't be that old to have gray hair." Erik looks at her, not wanting to think about those dreaded moments. "Uh…I was burned. The color went away from my hair, and I lost most of it." The brunette nods and says, "Oh. I'm sorry." Erik shakes his head. "No, no. It is not your fault. Don't be sorry." Then the two blondes run up to the brunette and say, "What are you doing, just standing there?" One blonde grabs her arm. As they are running away, the brunette says, "Why can't you see him?" She looks back at Erik, now standing up straight, and waves at him. He waves back.
Erik is sure he is dead. But if that girl is the only one that can see him, what does that mean? He has no idea. "Well," he says out loud, assuming no one can hear him, "I must get home. I will grab some things, and head out into town, get a suit, and a wig." He realizes he can't get a carriage, so he must walk. It shouldn't take that long. Maybe a few hours. So he starts to walk out of the city and to his own. As he passes (or passes through) people, he discovers that being dead isn't so bad. No one can make fun of him and he has no one to go to. It is just him and his music. Music is his life now. That was his life the whole time. His parents and family hated him. Erik is kind of liking this.
Once he gets back to his house, he just stands in front of his house, staring at it. He knows he will never come back to this house. Once it is in the newspaper that he died, they will sell the house to another family. He doesn't care about the house, the furniture, or anything else inside, except his organ. His organ is his life, but hopefully in his new home, wherever that is, will have an organ. Or maybe he could just steal one. No one can see him, so that would be easy. But, it would be very weird to see an organ dragging on the streets. Oh well he'll figure it out. Erik just needs to play music, his one true love.
He finally walks up the stairs and into his house. The door creaks when he opens it and there are no lights on. He first goes upstairs to his bedroom. He opens the drawer to his nightstand and pulls out a bunch of folders with all his music written in it. He flips through all the pages and sees his pages, and pages of music. Erik sees all of the scratches and changes he has made. He flips to one of his favorite and most complex page. He walks over to his organ and sits down. He caresses the keys, knowing this will be the last time he will play his own organ. He starts to play the page, he is shocking himself that he is making it to the middle of the page. And he keeps playing through the whole page. Erik lifts his fingers on the keys, and the last note keeps buzzing through the room. He stares at the organ and all around his room. He starts to tear up. "I'll truly miss this place." He says as he gets up from the organ bench. He takes his folder of music and walks back downstairs. Erik walks around his house one more time, looking at all his furniture and paintings. Erik stares at the floor, seeing all the familiar cracks from over the years. Erik giggles and sighs. He starts to walk out the door and hears that familiar creak, and the door slams.
Erik is now standing in the middle of the city alone. He has no idea where he is going, but it won't be the same as his home. And his organ will never be the same.
He eventually goes back to the city with "his" opera house in it, and the city is completely empty. So, he just thinks he'll go live around the opera house in a tree or something. He walks up the opera house. It is completely black, as is everything else in this city. Erik walks around to the side of the opera house, intending to go sit in a tree, but instead sees a little window on the bottom of the wall. Erik bends down on his knee, and tries to peek in, but it is way too dark and he can't see a thing. He gets up off his knees, and just decides to go into the opera house and see if he can find a way down into that room. He walks up to the opera doors and pushes on them. He walks through them and walks down and the hall and into the theater. "I am assuming that a staircase is in the back of the theater." He says out loud. He hears his words echo throughout the empty theater. Erik does not turn on any lights because, somehow he can see in the dark. He strolls up the center stage stairs and into the back off the theater. He stumbles over all of the rope, costumes, and curtains as he gets to the back of the theater.
As he is walking throughout the back, he finally walks by a staircase. He looks down into it, but sees nothing but darkness. He is assuming it goes very deep down. He grabs the rail, and starts to walk down the hard, dirty stairs. His feet go down with a clunk, clunk, clunk. As he goes down further, he see there are torches mounted on the walls. But only a few are lit. He grabs one, seeing that farther down there is no light. He walks down, down, down more stairs. Erik is getting, but his curiosity is yelling at him to keep going. He eventually gets to the bottom of those millions of stairs, but he cannot go anywhere. There is a lake that he must swim across to get to the land. Erik sighs, but soon notices a boat right next to him. He laughs. He squats down and pulls the boat over to himself. He searches on the boat, and sees no oar. He sees light across the lake so he does not need the torch anymore. So he blows it out and uses it as an oar. It is hard to row the boat with such a small piece of wood. But Erik does make it across the lake.
Once he brings the boat close enough to the edge of the land, he grabs onto it with his hands and then jumps onto the land. He falls over just on the edge of the water. Erik smiles and sighs in relaxation. He plants his hands on the dirt and picks himself up. He sees another torch up against the wall. He walks over and grabs it. He slowly moves around the space, stirring his torch in circular motions to see if there is anything around. He sees a few desks, a sewing machine, a bunch of candelabras, papers scattered on the floor, and then the thing Erik is most excited about. He sees a big organ covered in dust. (Everything is covered in dust) Erik gasps and smiles. He brings his torch over to a huge candelabra and lights all of the candles. He cannot believe this. He actually found another organ so easily!
He puts out the torch and grabs the candelabra and puts it on the top of the organ. He dusts off the keys lightly, moving the dust onto his fingers. He puts his hands over the ground, and claps his hands together. The dust goes flying in puff. Erik moves his hands back over the keys. He lays them down lightly. Then he presses. The beautiful sound echoes throughout this whole underground world. He smiles. He then runs his middle finger down the line of keys from lowest to highest. "Beauty. Pure beauty." Erik says out loud. Then he plays his opera from memory. It is beautiful, it may even sound better than his organ at his house.
He smiles once more. "This really is heaven. My heaven is wonderful." He stares at the organ keys with a smile. But then he hears a burning sound. Erik looks up at the wall. He sees fire burning on the walls. He thinks there is a fire, so he jumps back from the bench, knocking it over. As he watches the wall more, he sees that there are words being burned into the wall. As he sees the complete word, he starts to tear up. The word is "Hell" Erik shakes his head. "No….no….NO! I cannot be in hell!" more word start being burned into the wall. Then this word says, "Yes" He starts to breathe very fast. He does not want this. He should be in heaven, he did not do anything wrong! "I guess I was born to go to hell. I mean I look like this." He says out loud, and then takes off his mask. Erik bows and says, "Hello, Satan. I am Erik Destler." He wipes away a tear. But he must accept this and he know that. But at least he does his life in this hell. Music.