The Khanum
06-26-2005, 01:15 AM
I found a new copy of Leroux in a small bookstore during my vacation in NC, and along with a bunch of beautiful Erik portraits, this book included a short story at the very end called "His Father's Eyes."
During the beginning of the story, the reader doesn't know exactly how the plot ties into the Phantom of the Opera. It tells of a woman named Rosemary. At the start of the tale, she is lying in her bed, afraid. Apparently, her friend/sister (can't remember which...perhaps only an aquaintance?) has been brutally murdered by a serial killer who has been terrorizing her town. She's in her bed, and she feels a pair of eyes on her. She looks up to see a man in her room with burning yellow eyes. Terrified, she waits for him to come kill her.
But he doesn't.
He leaves, and then the next night/that same night (again, I was skimming, so I can't remember) he returns, and he just stares. By now she's going insane with anticipation, waiting for this lunatic to come and kill her.
But he doesn't.
Instead, he comes over and...well, I guess Parisian men back then weren't exactly gentlemen. You can imagine what happens. Point is, she faints, and the last thing she remembers (aside from having her dress ripped from her body) are these horrific yellow eyes.
(I'm giving away the end of the story, but you might have guessed by now what happens anyways.)
It turns out she becomes pregnant from this unfortunate affair. When she has the baby, the midwives are all, "Yay, healthy baby boy, zippity doo da, where's our cash?" They give her her child, and she holds him to her chest...and then he opens his eyes.
Let's take a wild guess at what color they are.
Rosemary has a hemmorophage (sp. check there) and dies, and she is buried with her dead ancestors. The child is named Erik, after his grandfather.
On his mother's side, of course.
So, that's the plot in a nutshell. It's very well written, and I'd give the names of the authors (there are two), but I'm afraid I...can't remember. I'm lucky that I recalled the name of the bloody story. The only thing that doesn't make sense is that Erik didn't have a deformity...I suppose if the story went on, he would have acquired it in a tragic accident or something. I don't know...because the story doesn't go on. And I like that.
During the beginning of the story, the reader doesn't know exactly how the plot ties into the Phantom of the Opera. It tells of a woman named Rosemary. At the start of the tale, she is lying in her bed, afraid. Apparently, her friend/sister (can't remember which...perhaps only an aquaintance?) has been brutally murdered by a serial killer who has been terrorizing her town. She's in her bed, and she feels a pair of eyes on her. She looks up to see a man in her room with burning yellow eyes. Terrified, she waits for him to come kill her.
But he doesn't.
He leaves, and then the next night/that same night (again, I was skimming, so I can't remember) he returns, and he just stares. By now she's going insane with anticipation, waiting for this lunatic to come and kill her.
But he doesn't.
Instead, he comes over and...well, I guess Parisian men back then weren't exactly gentlemen. You can imagine what happens. Point is, she faints, and the last thing she remembers (aside from having her dress ripped from her body) are these horrific yellow eyes.
(I'm giving away the end of the story, but you might have guessed by now what happens anyways.)
It turns out she becomes pregnant from this unfortunate affair. When she has the baby, the midwives are all, "Yay, healthy baby boy, zippity doo da, where's our cash?" They give her her child, and she holds him to her chest...and then he opens his eyes.
Let's take a wild guess at what color they are.
Rosemary has a hemmorophage (sp. check there) and dies, and she is buried with her dead ancestors. The child is named Erik, after his grandfather.
On his mother's side, of course.
So, that's the plot in a nutshell. It's very well written, and I'd give the names of the authors (there are two), but I'm afraid I...can't remember. I'm lucky that I recalled the name of the bloody story. The only thing that doesn't make sense is that Erik didn't have a deformity...I suppose if the story went on, he would have acquired it in a tragic accident or something. I don't know...because the story doesn't go on. And I like that.