[A/N] I would like to thank the two whole people who responded to my story's prologue. You really made my day responding positively to my story. I am currently very angry because I ordered a copy of The Phantom of the Opera (1925) with Lon Chaney, and it still hasn't come! I am suffering Phantom withdrawal! Anyway, I hope you enjoy the next chapters.
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Catherine was a very mature girl for her age. Ten going on thirty, that's what everyone says. Her friends found her strange for putting childhood activities below her. Which is why disliked the idea of going to the "show" that had just arrived in town. She would have outright refused when her friend asked her if it weren't for a strange feeling compelling her to go. She hated the curious feeling she felt about what she would find there.
When she arrived at the site, she noticed that the majority of the crowd was gathering around a small cage. Expecting to see a six-legged lamb, or whatever these simple people were so easily amused over, she parted her way through the crowd. As she approached the cage she thought she heard a light sob. She tripped and fell to her knees. When she looked up she came face-to-face with the most pitiful of creatures. No neglected animal, but a man! A man in a cage!
She looked in horror into the tortured eyes of the poor man before turning, with tears in her eyes. She ran through the crowd, stopping only to look back at the man. His eyes met hers only for a second, then she continued her mad dash away from terrible sight. She ran down the road sobbing and crying for her mother like she hadn't in years.