The Beauty Underneath ● The Phantom of the Opera

Chapter 20

◌The Stagehand◌

Did I blame her for killing Gloria? No. I don't think she had even meant to kill the women. The look on her face when it had happened told me enough. It had been an accident. But I seemed to be the only one to think so. Everyone; stagehand, maid, and performer, were convinced it was the first of many murders to come.

On top of that, someone was spreading around the tale of some random Phantom of the Opera, who didn't even live in America. The men who run this theater had been trying to keep Gloria's death under wraps, but the story had somehow gotten to the press, who took the Phantom's story and this new, somehow related, murder and ran with it.

It did make me think--a crazy and stupid thought--but what if Melodie, who was kind and wonderful, was somehow related to this Phantom, who had murdered in cold blood for the attention of a woman? Like I said. Crazy. 

The Phantom of the Opera probably wasn't even real....but she held the same features as the Opera Ghost. Wore the same mask. I shook the impossible thought from my mind. The mask was probably just popular with the disfromed. And speaking of said mask--I pulled away from Melodie, running a hand through her stain like hair.

"Come here," I said, pulling her up. She shook her head when she saw I was trying to bring her out into the light. I wanted to see her. The real her. "I have something for you." Melodie seemed to perk up at this. Her struggle faded slowly.

"Wh--what?" Her voice was raspy and dry, but still somehow managed to sound mesmerizing. I stepped into the light, letting her stay near the edge. I briskly walked to the piano, pulling the picnic basket from under it.

"Not only did I bring food, but..." I rummaged through the basket until I found what I was looking for. Melodie gasped when she saw her floral mask in my hand. "I grabbed it from the press before they could do anything with it." I could barely see the weak smile that formed on her tear-stained cheeks. She held her shaky hand out, but I shook my head. "You have to come get it."

"Julian--" I took a step closer to her.

"I want to see you, Melodie." Silence consumed us. A silence that lasted an eternity. I knew I had overstepped but--I needed to see her. I couldn't explain it--why...I just needed to. But, by some miracle, she stepped into the light. Air caught in my throat upon seeing her. Truly seeing her.

The disformity took up most of the left side of her face. Her left eye was the gray color you'd see in the sky before a storm and the eyebrow above it was missing. The nostril on this side was elongated, yet still very feminine. A long, jagged gash ran up her cheek leading the eye to the small bits of skull visible here and there. The mask in my hand was long forgotten.

Melodie must have miss took my reaction as one of fear and quickly covered her face, tears brimming in those brown and gray eyes. I grabbed her before she could rush back into the darkness. "Let--let go of me!" She hissed, but that hiss turned into a sob. I ignored her and gently took her wrist in my hand, pulling it away from her face. The pools of tears in her eyes broke, running down her cheeks. Without hesitation, I wiped them, but my hand never left her face. I caressed her rough cheek, savoring each touch.

"Beautiful." There was no other word for it. How could I have thought, all those days ago, that she had been something from a nightmare? It made me angry just thinking of it. Melodie was crying once more, but not in sorrow--there was happiness in her features. She attacked me in a hug and I wasted no time returning it. I held her tight against me, wishing the world would just disappear. "So beautiful."