The Phantom's Master Piece

Christian had grown up in the opera house, just one of the backstage brats hanging around and helping out while their parents worked the hundred small jobs that go unseen by the audience. Even as kid he felt music was in his blood he dreamed of being a singer, of standing in the spotlight and basking in the applause. Sadly he knew It was just a fantasy, for all his enthusiasm he knew he wasn’t talented enough, by the time he reached his seventeenth birthday he was resigned to the fact that he would never be a performer.

That is when it began, at first it was just a voice in the darkness of his room, telling him that he could have everything he had ever wanted, that he could be great, all he had to do was listen and obey. Christian ignored it at first, it’s just a dream, he told himself but night after night the voice persisted. Of course Christian knew the legends of the phantom but he had assumed they were just stories to frighten children. Still the voice persisted strange and compelling working it’s way deep into his mind.

He soon found himself leaving his room each night and following the ghostly voice to a hidden chamber deep below the theater. Each night the voice would train him showing him how to master his voice, to make music in it’s purest form. Night after night Christian struggled with the exercises the shadowy figure gave him. Each night improving just a little although his unseen benefactor never seemed entirely satisfied Christian knew he was making great progress.

What Christian was unaware of was that the Phantom was not only training and shaping his voice but also his body, his very soul. Deep in the Phantom’s hypnotic thrall he never even questioned why he was growing his hair out or wearing makeup. It seemed perfectly normal to him that he should start wearing stockings and dresses and of course he never questioned his increasing interest in boys.

Day by day the Phantom reshaped his body and mind with the power of his music and gifts of dark alchemy until almost no trace of the boy he had been remained.

If Christian’s friends and family objected to his transformation they were too cowed by fear to voice their concerns and could only watch the Phantom’s plan play out.

After a year of intensive training the Phantom declared that his great master work was complete and that Christian was ready to play the starring role. As the curtain rose to thunderous applause the last remaining shreds of Christian fell away leaving only Christine. Her performance that night was to become legendary, a triumph of skill and passion unsurpassed in all the long history of the opera house.

After Christine smiled as she took her bows happy to have brought joy to so many but  all she wished for herself was to return to her master’s chamber below and receive her true reward from him.