He sighed and looked at her and Gustave who were staring at him expectantly. He replied "Well my mother feared and loathed my deformed face and I did not understand at the time why. She gave me a mask so that she did not have to look it any more than she had." Gustave looked at him with shock and Christine looked at him with pity. He took a deep breath to control his anger at her pity as he continued saying "When I was 6 and old enough to understand what was going on she promised to take me to a traveling Gypsy fair and being as young as I was I did not think even for a second that she had an ulterior motive."
Christine looked shocked at the bitterness in his voice as he talked about his mother but she noticed that he kept looking into her eyes and she could tell that he was trying not to let the memories play out in his head. Erik saw that Gustave was listening intently with shock and curiosity. He continued the story saying "After she promised to take me the Gypsy fair I was really excited to go not understanding that it was a fair full of people like me only had a worse life. So my mother took me to the traveling Gypsy fair which was in Paris that year not too far from where I grew up in Rouen and when we got there I did not like it for an instant." He saw Christine shiver at the tone of his voice and when he looked at Gustave he saw that his son was staring at him with wonder.
Erik said "I hated seeing all those people who were like me get treated so horribly. But my mother told me that she had to get something and to stay put she would be back soon. Well I stayed put not wanting to make her mad at me and while I was standing there I caught a glimpse of her talking to a scary, creepy looking man standing in front of one of the many attractions and she handed him a pouch turned to look at me one more time before turning and leaving. I tried to catch up with her but the man she had just given the pouch to grabbed me by the arm to stop me." He took a deep breath to block the memories from coming.
He finished the story saying "It turns out that my mother had sold me to the man in charge of the attraction and I spent the next 4 years being showed off as an attraction called The Devil's Child. My master would beat me to get more money from the crowd and one night after I had been there for four years it was the night of a show returning to Paris and my master did his normal routine but I noticed that only one person in the crowd wasn't laughing but staring on in sympathy and pity. She turned around one last time before getting ready to leave and I took care of my master and she helped me escape to the Opera Populaire from then on what happened there is a different story for another time." Gustave looked at him and asked "Is that where you met mother?" Erik nodded and replied "Yes, Gustave it is."
Erik sat up and popped his back feeling stiff, and sore. Christine said "Erik, you are not supposed to move." He looked at her and asked "Christine how would you feel if someone told you that you could not sing you had to sit still." She replied "I would be very unhappy." Erik asked "Then why are you telling me to sit still?" She opened her mouth then closed it not quite knowing how to answer that question. Erik put a hand on her cheek reassuringly and said "Christine, I will be fine." He got out bed very stiffly and went through the door attached to his room. Gustave turned to Christine and asked "Mother, what did father mean when he said he took care of that man?" Christine flinched and replied "I will tell you when you are older and can understand Gustave." Gustave nodded content with that answer for now. Christine sighed because she knew exactly what Erik had meant. Erik had meant that he killed his 'master'. A shiver ran down her spine at that thought. She never knew how violent her Angel could be.