Behind the Mask

A story about the Pantom

Behind the Mask

The Story Behind The Phantom of the Opera

People think they know my story. They think that The Phantom has always been The Phantom. They think the only other name I had ever known was The Devil’s Child. They look at me and all they see is my face. The disfigured part of my face clouds everyone’s judgment about me. They think that, all because of my face, I am the spawn of demons. They think that I am out to harm and kill all “normal children of God”. I’M ONE OF GOD’S CHILDREN, TOO!

Everyone knows that I lived underneath the Opera Popular. They know that I taught Christine Daae how to sing. One person, Madame Giry, knew that I was the architect of the building and wrote almost every opera that was performed in that opera house. But nobody knows anything else about me. Nobody ever even cared to try!

My name was Jean Val’ Dean, and here’s the truth.

The truth is, when I was a child, my mother hid my face constantly. I was beaten by my father and was never allowed to be seen with them, especially in public. I was never even allowed outside! Well, that is until the Gypsy Circus came to town. After that, everything got worse.

My parents finally decide to take me to this circus. I was so excited! I couldn’t keep my joy contained in the slightest! Even under y cloth mask, I was smiling and laughing and as giddy as any child could be. And why wouldn’t I be? It was the first time my parents were finally taking me somewhere with them. I was finally allowed outside, for the first time in my life!

I was so distracted by this, that I didn’t notice the exchange of francs my parents made with one of the gypsies. I was so enthralled with the excitement all around me, that I had no idea that my parents were selling me to the circus as a new attraction! And the only thing they left me, was a toy monkey with a pair of cymbals in its hand that they had just gotten for me.

Everyone knows that story, though. The abuse, the humiliation, the degradation, you get the gist. It was no surprise that I did what I did. Killing that gypsy was my first act of violence, but it was also my first act of freedom! And everyone knows how Madame Giry helped me escape from the circus. From there I hid under the city and decided to educate myself in every manner I could. I started with simple grammatical skills, then arithmetic, all the way until I started to study more complex things.

I started to sing when I wasn’t studying. I became very skilled at it, so I decided to try something new. I started to try my hand at composing and song-writing. I discovered that I was very good at this, as well. Madame Giry, who was responsible for bringing me my books that I studied from, visited me with books on architecture and told me that someone was planning on building an opera house above where I had made my home, but they needed an architect to design it. So I tore into the books, drew up some designs, and the next thing I know, I hear them building it! They even added he tunnels I designed so that I could watch the operas there.

After a few years, I started to write my own operas. Giry read some of them and gave them to the owner. He was so enthralled by them, that he wanted to feature them in the opera house.

From there, it’s the story everyone knows, excepting the fact that I truly was in love with Christine, and just acted out of heart-break.

© 2014 Balthazar St. Cloud

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Marie

THis is an unusual story. I knew that the Phantom wa disfigured as a child, but not about the rest of it. I never read the book, only saw various movies, so I don't know how much of this is actually in the original manuscript, and how much you imagined for your story.