The History of the Phantom

My First Lesson

The next day, during my first lesson with Mr. Daae, was one of the greatest days of my life. He gave me a totally different perspective about meanings behind songs. He told me lyrics are the storytelling while the background music was the emotion. I even wrote one of my best pieces of work with him that day. I still find that song we wrote years ago one of my favorites. This is how it happened:

We were sitting on the fourth floor of the building. The sun was shining brightly through the window. The bearded lady brought up cups of tea for the two of us which gave the room a lovely, sugary aroma. Mr. Daae brought up some empty music sheets so we could write some songs in them.

"Ok boy, do you enjoy just the organ or do you enjoy writing lyrics too?" He asked.

"I love both. I've had more experience with the organ though," I told him.

"Alright, then lets work on the lyrics. The lyrics are what tells the story of your song while the background music portrays more emotion."

"Okay."

"The best work comes from the musician's heart. Tell me, what are you passionate about?"

"Just music, but I don't think that would be a good theme for a song."

"That's okay but lets use music to get the theme you want. Why do you love it?"

It was then when I started to feel a bit uncomfortable. My stomach twisted into a knot while my entire body started to have a panic attack. Suddenly, depression and despair started to grow upon me. The memories of my mother and the beating during the shows flashed before my eyes in seconds.

"It... it helps me break free from my life," I whispered under my breath. I was too scared to tell him why I loved it so much. I didn't want him to know about my past or else I would have to tell him why I wear my mask. The last thing I wanted him to know was I had a hideous disfigured face behind the shield that gives me security. If he did know, he might think I was a monster just like everyone else.

Mr. Daae could tell something was wrong with me. He stares into my eyes and sees the sadness building up inside me. He put his hand on my shoulder to give me some comfort. I take a deep breath in and out to relieve all the stress.

"Hey, are you alright?" He asks sympathetically.

"Yeah I'm fine," I said to shrug it off.

"You are safe with me. I don't quite know who hurt you, but clearly they hurt you a lot."

I stayed silent for a bit as I tried to build myself back up. Right when the first person in my life tried to become my friend, I had a major break down in front of him. I hated how unfair the world was to me.

"I'm alright," I denied.

"You shouldn't ever feel the need to cover up who you really are," He said quietly.

"I guess you can say my life is a masquerade." I laughed a bit after the comment I made. I needed to make a joke to get my happiness back.

"Masquerade," Mr. Daae whispers as if it was the most interesting and mysterious word he ever heard before. He whips out his music sheets as fast as lighting and starts to write something on them.

"I think we have found the theme for your song. It's truly a deep and genius meaning," He said as he looks at the sheet as if it was hypnotizing him.

"Masquerade? I guess it does." I thought more about it and it actually seemed like a pretty cool topic. After all my experiences in life, I can definitely relate to that word.

"I want you to now think deep in your soul and heart. Lyrics to a song is just the same as poetry. Try to think of which words that speak to you and you relate to the most," He told me.

After a minute or two I told him," Masquerade. Paper faces on parade."

He gave me an encouraging thumbs up right after he told me to keep on going. I thought even deeper than before and found the next phrase of the song.

"Masquerade. Hide your face, so the world will never find you. Thanks for doing this with me Mr. Daae," I told him.

"Anytime. Please, call me Gustave."

The rest of the lesson was just us writing our new song, Masquerade. The song everyone heard of when they found out about my life when I "haunted" the Paris Populaire. However, nobody knows where that song originated from until now. I'm pretty sure the last idea that people had in mind was that Christine's, the woman who I fell madly in love with, father helped me create the masterpiece.