Tim Fortune
Presents
Phantom Part 10
Disclaimer: I own nothing but your souls.
A/N: You people ruined my sabbatical from this story! I write multiple other classics, but no. All you want is "Phantom", "Phantom", "Phantom"! Well, after two months, here it is again. The main reason I haven't been writing it is that inspiration ran dry. Well, on July 3, at 11:30 pm, I finally came up with an idea. It was after Asia1st blaring review telling me to update. So, CRs (Constant Readers), here we go.
March 2006
Gerard Crawford sat in his little lair underneath the stage, hunched over the little desk he put down there. He was busy writing a grand feat he could pull on Patrick Barton. He so wanted to get him.
For two months he writhed in agony in the shadows as he saw his love, Emmy Brightman, lean close to his hated rival.
For some, it would seem that Gerry was a bit unstable in his mind. He obsessed over Emmy, although she barely knew he existed. He believed Patrick was out to thwart him at every move. Gerry had a few issues in his brain, but what could cause him to grow so completely insane?
It was a question he asked himself everyday. He knew he was a tad crazy. He couldn't deny it. He was nuts. I mean, who else has a little kingdom underneath a stage? No one. He was crazy.
The story of his growing insanity stems form one event 3 years ago…
June 2003
Gerard Crawford is not his real name. It is a name he made for himself in the winter of 2004. His real name is Edward Torrance. Nor is he from our setting. No. He comes from New Jersey. He fled there after the accident.
Three years later, it still haunts him, as he tosses and turns underneath the blankets on top of his desk underground. He still remembers it as if it were yesterday.
The Jersey air was nice that June afternoon. Edward Torrance, 14, was invited to join in a skateboarding contest.
Edward was a great skater. His parents prided him on his talents and he was always happy. He was at that time a pretty good singer and musician, but he put that aside for skateboarding.
Everyone in his neighborhood was always excited at seeing him pull off his tricks. His personal board, he dubbed Erik, after the picture on the back of a rose and a white mask, never failed him. He had had it for 2 years prior and it rarely left his sight.
He never did as well on another board as he did on Erik. He won multiple championships with it and had already made a private fortune of $600,000 in prize money.
It was a fateful day in June that changed all that for good.
Ed Torrance was sitting on a stoop outside his house with a group of his friends (he was a socialable likable young man back then), when one of them, he forgets who comes up and tells him about a huge state-wide boarding contest in Atlantic City.
Ed jumps at the chance. He could now prove that he was the best in the entire state. All the contests he had won in the past 2 years were merely local, but this was the big time.
His friend also informed him that scouts for the professional tour would be there and that they would take the best skater. This was the chance to fulfill Ed's dreams. Since he was 10 he dreamed of skating with the pros, so he spent the last 4 years preparing for this day. All the local contests he won, they were just preparing him for this.
At dinner that night, he informed his parents of the contest. Getting the facts off the internet, they told Edward he could join.
Ed packed his bags later that night. He polished and cleaned Erik and prepared his personal skating track, Michael Crawford singing The Point of No Return.
Ed loved the song. And he loved the show. When he was 11, his father took him to Broadway to see it and he fell in love. He came to realize that he couldn't skate well unless he had the soundtrack to the show playing.
It was on his 12th birthday that he received Erik. His parents had it customized for him and he was grateful.
The big day in Atlantic City came. Edward was ready. Preparing himself mentally (he was already physically ready), he got pumped.
In the first couple of runs, he did spectacular. It was the big ramp that doomed him.
It wasn't because it was hard. It was because he spotted a face that he barely remembers, but knows. Knows very well.
For in the crowd on that June day in 2003, 13 year old Amelia "Emmy" Brightman was with her parents watching the contest. It was when Edward was going down the ramp that he turned his head and saw her beautiful face. So taken in by it, Ed forgot to see where he was going and he tripped.
It was a hard trip. He landed face first on the hard concrete ground. His board broke in two and splinters of it flew into the right side of his face.
The contest's medics quickly rushed to the scene. Ed was unconscious, so they lifted him up onto a stretcher and brought him to the medical tent.
The doctors there did what they could. Most of the damage was on the right side of his face. They worked diligently to fix the damage, but it was impossible. When he landed, he gained a huge scar on the right side of his face, and the splinters made several more small scars. The doctors said he was lucky that it was only on his right.
During the entire procedure, he was unconscious. It was later that night that he awoke. The doctors left him in the med tent with other patients.
Shooting straight up from his cot, Edward searched for a mirror to find out why there was an immense pain in the right side of his face. Finding one, he looked deeply into it.
Prior, he had been a pretty handsome boy. Now, he had several scars.
Deciding that he could live with the scars, he rolled back onto his cot. It was then that he heard the contest's judges.
They are talking about him. They say that he had an impressive first run, which Ed takes delight in. But, they say, due to his huge accident, he has been disqualified from the contest.
Ed was crushed. His dreams died extremely quickly. But, the clincher is when they say that also due to his accident; he is barred from skating in another one of these contests.
That pushes Edward over the edge. All he had lived for is gone. He has no other dreams but to skate in the professional circuit, but now he can't do that.
Finding a pen and a piece of paper in the tent, he writes a note to his parents. He says he's going away. The money he won in the various contests should subside him for another couple of years. Signing it, he grabs the shattered remains of his board. Although it will become a reminder of what he lost, he wants it anyway.
After hours of walking, he comes to his house. Using the spare key he has, he enters and takes his money from his hiding spot (he had it turned to cash after winning).
What follows is years of running. Ed does not want anything to do with his parents anymore. He unofficially changes his name to Edward Crawford. He will only answer to that.
He then decides he has to cover his scars. Deciding his hair would be perfect, he begins to grow it that way. Until it reaches his desired length, he wears cover up cream. He would have kept doing this, but it was too much work.
He hides out on the road, buying food with his prize money. He realizes he needs a place to stay.
In the state he currently is in, he finds such a place.
By then, it is August 2004. In a school, he finds a wide crawl space underneath the stage. In it are a desk and a piano. Thinking it perfect for him, he begins to settle in.
Under the stage is when he first hears his true love: theater. It is now February 2005. He hears singing above his head one Saturday as he was trying to sleep. By then, he knew most of the passages in the school. Peering out where no one can see him, he discovers it.
Deciding he wants to be a part of it, he'll need to be a part of the school. It's too late then for him to join, so he'll wait a year. He even makes a new name for himself.
It came after a midnight showing of the 2004 movie Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera. After the star of the film, Gerard Butler, Edward Crawford rechristens himself Gerard Crawford. Edward Torrance is now dead. He only exists in the memories of his old neighborhood.
In September he enrolls in the school and becomes the most mysterious person in the building.
It is now that we reach our current story.
A/N: That's the end of Chapter 10. Like it? You better! I decided to give a little introspection into my mysterious main character. I'll now take your reviews and wait for you to bitch at me for Chapter 11. Bye now!