Finding the Beauty Underneath

VIII

A/N Just so you know, I'm basing Erik's backstory partly on Gaston Leroux's version in his book and partly on Andrew Lloyd Webber's version in his musical. I kind of just mixed the stories together.
Also, warning: this chapter gets a little mature towards the end. It's nothing graphic, but it's obvious what's going on, so read at your own risk. If you don't like stuff like that, feel free to skip it.

"After running away and a few days on my own on the streets, I came across a camp of gypsies who traveled with a circus. The gypsies were extremely kind to me and gave me some of their food. Unfortunately, a showman found out that the gypsies had been giving me their food and accused me of stealing. He ended up prying off my mask and seeing my ugly disfigurement. He would not let me leave from the traveling circus. I then became an attraction known as "The Devil's Child". Though I learned many things at the circus like illusions, ventriloquism, magic. . .I was treated horribly. I was kept in a cage for spectators to come and point and laugh at me. My mask was taken away from me and was replaced with a measly sack with two holes for my eyes. The freak show showman was horrible towards me.

"He fed me barely enough to keep me alive. I ended up losing a lot of weight and became incredibly thin and bony. After a while, my corpse-like appearance became part of the attraction. The showman took my shirt away to reveal how skeletal I looked. He would gather a crowd of people to come and see me and would taunt me openly in front of the onlookers. He would beat me and the crowd would just laugh and call me horrible names. When he pulled off the sack and exposed my foul face, the crowd would gasp in horror, then laugh even harder. Coins would clink on the ground as people threw them at me.

"Once the audience left, the owner would kick me to the ground and greedily rake up the coins. He would then leave me alone once more. I never spoke to him. This went on for a very long time. We would travel all over Europe in that circus. After so much time in that cage and all the awful things people said to me, I couldn't take it anymore. One night, I just. . .snapped.

"After the crowd of people left one night, the owner opened my cage and kicked me aside to retrieve his precious coins. I knew that I was far too weak and small to take on the showman, but I was just so angry. I couldn't handle being mistreated like that anymore. I grabbed some rope off of the ground and before I knew it, I had put the rope around the showman's neck and I was strangling him. The man was gasping for air and was pleading for his life, but I didn't care. I don't know how I was strong enough to keep the rope around his neck for that long as he struggled against me, but I somehow managed it. Within a few minutes, the man fell to the ground. He was dead.

"I had never killed anyone before. I had no idea I was capable of taking another person's life like that. Though I am ashamed to admit it, it felt. . .good. I had finally felt strong and felt as if no one could hurt me anymore. I felt in control for once.

"I knew I couldn't stay at the circus after what I had done. They would never tolerate my actions and would probably kill me for it. I had to leave. I ran away from the traveling circus and was on my own again. I traveled a lot and I always kept my face hidden. I never saw anyone from that circus ever again. Apparently, I was a gifted architect and designer. I built a few buildings and was always praised for my work. The news had spread about my abilities and none other than the Shah of Persia requested my presence.

"The Shah had heard of my talents and wanted me to build a palace for him. I designed an elaborate palace with many trap doors, secret rooms, and torture chambers. The Shah was very pleased with the work I had done. After building his palace for him, I expected to be on my own again, but the Shah wanted to keep me around, so I stayed in Persia for a while. I became close to the Shah and he trusted me with many of his secrets.