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Dear Fellow Reader,

This is my first official fanfiction. I dabbled in short fanfics in highschool, written by hand or on a typewriter. I found this site and app a few years ago, 2018, and I have enjoyed reading many of the wonderful stories that are published here. I have always wondered the what-if for many characters that would be outside of cannon. Finding this site was my pandora’s box creating many late nights of indulgence as I joined writers who had explored the ideas my mind had toyed with. Many of you inspired me, coupled with hearing and meeting Davis Gaines, the Phantom I hear singing in my head, to throw some ideas down which evolved into the story, Escape, a Phantom of the Opera fanfic. I love the book and the musical. Like the musical, the book has those moments that make your heart clench, as you feel his pain.

“You will be the happiest of women. And we will sing, all by ourselves, till we swoon away with delight. You are crying! You are afraid of me! And yet I am not really wicked. Love me and you shall see! All I wanted was to be loved for myself. If you loved me I should be as gentle as a lamb; and you could do anything with me that you pleased.”-Gaston Leroux, The Phantom of the Opera

“He fills me with horror and I do not hate him. How can I hate him, Raoul? Think of Erik at my feet, in the house on the lake, underground. He accuses himself, he curses himself, he implores my forgiveness!...He confesses his cheat. He loves me! He lays at my feet an immense and tragic love. ... He has carried me off for love!...He has imprisoned me with him, underground, for love!...But he respects me: he crawls, he moans, he weeps!...And, when I stood up, Raoul, and told him that I could only despise him if he did not, then and there, give me my liberty...he offered it...he offered to show me the mysterious road...Only...only he rose too...and I was made to remember that, though he was not an angel, nor a ghost, nor a genius, he remained the voice...for he sang. And I listened ... and stayed!...That night, we did not exchange another word. He sang me to sleep.”

― Gaston Leroux, The Phantom of the Opera

“I tore off my mask so as not to lose one of her tears... and she did not run away!...and she did not die!... She remained alive, weeping over me, weeping with me. We cried together! I have tasted all the happiness the world can offer.”

― Gaston Leroux, The Phantom of the Opera

I love Gothic romances, Jane Eyre being the book I have reread the most. Jane is inspiring and her strength of character keeps its relevance today as it did then. Jane is one of those rare books that I wouldn’t change a word because it is perfect. The only version of Jane Eyre I enjoy is the 1983 BBC television production, starring Timothy Dalton. I think I have seen all the other versions but this one stays true to the story and to the dialogue in the book because it is like a mini series and has the time to allow for the development of characters. In addition the acting is amazing. Zelah Clarke will forever be my strong willed Jane to Timothy Dalton's amazing Rochester. I was blessed to go to England and see Charlotte Bronte’s own written notes and edits on the proposal scene under the tree. It was as if time were not a barrier and I was reading a friend’s rough draft. Her edits were still visible through the single line cross outs. I agree with her edits because her previous words would have changed the mood and passion of the scene. It was on display at the British Library in 2014.

“Jane, be still; don't struggle so, like a wild frantic bird that is rending its own plumage in its desperation.”

“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will, which I now exert to leave you.”

Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre.

“Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong! - I have as much soul as you, - and full as much heart! And if God had gifted me with some beauty and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you!”

― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

Oh the angst. I can feel Jane’s frustration. If only Erik had been as articulate and able to convey his needs without violence like Jane, then maybe Christine would not have feared him and he could have been loved.

Thank you for finding me and reading my story. Please leave reviews because I want to improve my writing. Or let me know that you are enjoying reading my fanfic, Escape, with a short review.