Phantom Child

6. Not. The. Mask!

I'm not going to beat around the bush: this is the second best chapter I have written in this story, so be prepared... The title and the gif suggest more or less what happens, so hold on to your devices. Let's go!

When the crew finished the rehearsals, they went to the dining room to eat. Meanwhile Erik and I returned to his lair. He knew the labirynth like his own mind, he must've lived there for a very long time. Only his short and sudden appearances had started a gossip, which then turned into a legend of the Phantom of the Opera.

So, whether he wanted it or not, he became a very well known figure in all of Paris. And yet he was so lonely.
Why?
Fear.
Everyone feared him. And from my personal experience, he wasn't that bad if you got to know him better. The time when he attacked me... it was only in self defence. After all, that's what I, myself was doing too. Because who would like someone to just randomly appear in their house and didn't seem to want to leave?

So if his violence stemed from his alienation, then what did the alienation stem from?

Before I got to think of any answers we came out of the darkness into the light of a hundred candles. Erik threw the curtain over the secret passage and everything looked normal again. Then he took off his cape and walked over to his instrument.

I stood awkwardly in the middle, but since he wasn't paying attention I started slowly moving around the lair. I came up to an old bookshelf, which looked like it would turn to ashes when touched. And yet it was holding many books. I read the titles one by one and my eyes randomly stopped at Victor Hugo's "Les Miserables".

Careful, not to make noise, I took it out and sat down, cross-legged. I opened the book, but after the first few sentences I realized that I was not even paying attention to the words that I read. Instead, my mind wandered away, back to the question of what made Erik this "monster" that everyone shuned.

After considering some pretty valid arguments one more puzzle piece appeared in my head - the mask. There was a reason he was wearing it. There was a mystery behind it. There must've been. So now I was not only asking myself if his face was a source of all the loathing towards him, but also what does it look like then?

Lost in thoughts, I didn't realize I was staring at Erik. He was sitting with his back to me, just like this morning. The music being composed by him filled out the whole cave. He was so caught up in the sounds, that he probably wouldn't even notice his mask disappear...

No, Maya! What the hell are you thinking? That would be a regrettable mistake. There's no telling what he could do.

But of all the voices in my head, curiosity was still the loudest one. I needed answers, I needed to see what's underneath the mask. 

I figured out that asking him was not going to work either because last time I asked a personal question he just said "It's my private matter." So the only way I could see was taking it off, myself. And when else would it be the most sneaky? When he was alseep.

With this plan in my head I only waited for the night to come. We weren't talking much, he was mostly minding his own business. I was reading. I had been taught to read, but never really read a book before; only singns on stores and street names. It was hard at first, but then I got used to it and began to read faster. In about an hour I have read 4 pages (Don't laugh, it's a deserved success with my current educational background).

In the evening Erik left, I assumed he went to his daily lesson with Christine. When his footsteps faded away I realized that I haven't eaten today. Not eating for one day was not really a big deal for me, it was not the first time, but surely the hunger was getting on my nerves.