Hey everyone, here's my newest idea for a story. I decided to write this because my Miracles of Madness story is almost complete….and so it's on with other projects. I probably won't update this again until after I finish Miracles of Madness just because having three stories at once is a little overwhelming. So please let me know if this should continue….and also Enjoy!

Gustave's POV

Since the day I was born, I had been calling my mother's husband "father." I always thought there was a possibility that perhaps I was switched at birth and given to the wrong parents because I always felt different. I was like an outcast when in the presence of my father….. His favorite pass time had been drinking and beating up on my poor mother. Never once did he ever play with me. In Paris I saw other sons playing with their father's and often wondered why mine could never do the same with me. Sometimes when drunk, my father would beat me with his leather belt and curse upon the day I was born. Even at a young age I begged my mother to take me away from him…take me someplace safe where I could fit in. Though she loved my father with all her heart it seemed, and we never did leave. In school I was smart, but the other children liked to make fun of me. I hated it ever so much, and would often pretended to be sick so my mother wouldn't make me go…..

I once asked my mother why I was so different, and she smiled upon me for asking such a question. She replied with a simple "because you're your father's son…" I never knew what this meant, because in reality I was nothing like her so called lover Raoul… I was my own person, I was an inventor, an artist, a lover of music and any instrument I could get my hands on. My father was none of those things. But never in my wildest dreams had I ever considered the thought of belonging to another man. My mother always spent her time with me or Raoul. She never went off by herself, and therefore I never considered there to be the possibility of belonging to someone else…but it was true…

I was ten years old when I met my real father…. It came by luck really. The drunkard I had been calling father since the day I was born was a rich man, and very well known around town. He took a business trip to Monte Carlo and had himself a few drinks too many and in doing so placed his entire fortune; our entire fortune on the roulette table….and lost. Everything was gone…..and my father was in debt up to his eyes. My mother cried for days upon realizing that we were flat broke. Over the years, my mother had bought me several instruments to occupy my musical mind, but they were no more; for my father sold them to a pawn shop to obtain what ever money he could get. My mother turned into someone I hardly knew. She used to be this loving mother who would sit me in front of a piano and sing as I played, but that was no more…..She no longer sang, and she no longer smiled…..She was just a body frozen in the dark sands of time. As I had said before, I was ten years old when I met my real father…. It was as if he knew all about the trouble we were in, and sent us a miracle. For in our mailbox was a letter, addressed to my mother from a far away place called "Coney Island."…and his name was only addressed in the letter as Mr. Y….

Yes, Mr. Y… that name, that weird and mysterious name. He wanted my mother to come perform at his strange named amusement park known as "Phantasma." My mother was going to deny Mr. Y's request, but my father objected, and went on about how it would be the end of our money problems. When my mother disobeyed my father, he slapped her so hard, that she fell on the floor……he told her to pack and be ready to leave by the morning. What else could my mother do? And so she obeyed and packed. The boat ride to Coney Island was boring, and throughout the whole ride my father grew thirsty and hungry for his alcohol. By the time we arrived, and settled in our hotel room, my father left my mother an I alone. Earlier that day when we arrived, Mr. Y sent his three sideshow freaks to fetch us in the most beautiful yet mysterious carriage I had ever seen. I loved it just as much as my father hated it….he wasn't a happy man about having freaks taking us to our hotel room, but I didn't mind at all. It had been the most fun I had ever had.

My mother was troubled over my father leaving us, and she even begged him not to drink anymore. Though, I knew it would never happen……once a drunk, always a drunk. I only feared the beating that would most likely come later when he returned. My mother sent me to bed, and I soon fell into a terrible nightmare where someone was drowning me. I had always been afraid of drowning because I couldn't swim. I never begged my father for anything more than to teach me how to swim, but he always laughed and refused to teach me. When I awoke, I heard my mother raising her voice to someone….that other someone being a man. All I could think about at that second was that my father was home and already beating up on my mother, but when I came out of the bedroom, the man I saw was not my father. I'll never forget the first time I saw him….tall, deathly thin, pale, and a little older than my mother…and his face covered behind a white mask! My mother introduced him as "Mr. Y," and I recognized his name from my mother's letter. He rudely growled something that sounded like "Little Viscount" and turned away. I thought the man rude and paid no mind to him….but I would soon realize that this rude man was not just my mother's boss, but also my real father. Before sending me off to bed, he promised to show me around the island the following day…. I accepted, and went off to bed.

I was quite bored when my mother went to the theater the following day. She met an old friend she knew from long ago, and soon they were arguing about why my mother was asked to sing. I slipped away, and was lured by the three sideshow freaks who I now knew their names. One was called Ms. Fleck…half bird, half woman… The other Mr. Squelch….the strong man, and the last one Dr. Gangle….I still don't understand what his talent was because he was just creepy and well….creepy. They took me to some strange warehouse, where inside Mr. Y kept his weird inventions. Walking skeletons and a Medusa chandelier were just a few of the beautiful things he had stored within it. He was kinder today, and told me to look around while he finished his work….and there over in the corner, I found a beautiful piano. I hadn't played in so long because my father sold the two pianos we had within our home back in Paris. My fingers glided over the ivory keys, and Mr. Y even became interested in the way I played. I sat there singing a song I had within my head, as he circled the room as if he had just discovered something…..only then I didn't know that he was actually putting together the puzzle of how similar we both were. Mr. Y was like me in every way….he was wild and musical! He could throw together any invention that came into mind! And he could play any instrument that he could get his hands on! It was as we were long lost brothers…..only I didn't know then that we were actually father and son. We danced around as he showed me inventions and asked me questions about wanting to explore unknown destinations and about feeling amazing things when I sang. It was as if he were comparing our similarities….. He talked about things I never heard of…he talked about seeing the "Beauty underneath.." Only I soon found out that Mr. Y was anything but beautiful. He told me I was brave and could face any fear….and like an idiot I believed him. I took off his mask, and screamed at the mere sight of him. He was hideous! His face was twisted and horrifying. The flesh was malformed and red, and to make his appearance worse, there was a part of his skull that was exposed on the side of his head. I screamed so loud, that my mother came running in and I ran to her…..For some odd reason, my mother didn't find Mr. Y terrifying and actually looked him in the eye without fear.

She sent me away, and I obeyed her. It was as if I had hurt Mr. Y's feelings, because he avoided me at all cost for the next few days. It was as if he didn't want to be around me now that he knew I feared him just as much as I feared drowning. On the night of my mother's show, I helped her dress in her dressing room. She promised me after the show that she and I would spend some time together, and I became excited….only those were things that would never happen…. My father then came walking into the dressing room with not an ounce of alcohol on his breath and sober as could be. He asked me to leave, and my mother told me to stay behind the stage until she was finished. When I was out in the hallway, I noticed Mr. Y standing only a few feet away…..we made eye contact, but didn't exchange one word to each other. Soon he also entered my mother's dressing room, and left me alone within the hall. But it was mother's friend Meg that pulled me away from it all. She found me sitting bored against one of the backdrops, and pulled me up without even asking me to follow her. I tried to pull away, but she kept telling me that she had something really neat to show me at the pier. When we got there, she forced me into the ocean, and tried to push me under. When I told her I couldn't swim, she pulled out a gun, and held it to my head…..I was scared….so scared…..she wanted to drown me, just like in my dreams!

She would have probably succeeded, but it was my mother and Mr. Y that came to rescue me. I never expected Mr. Y to stand up for me, but he did. He pulled me aside, and back into my mother's arms while Meg pointed the gun at him. I could see fear in my mother's eyes, fear for her friend Mr. Y…..He tried to coax the gun out of Meg's hands, but her apparent jealousy over my mother's fame was too much, and the gun went off…..I closed my eyes, afraid to see Mr. Y laying there on the pier gushing blood….but instead, it was my mother. I was helpless, and didn't know what to do… Mr. Y screamed for someone to get help, but my mother was already loosing life. She was deathly pale, and weak. I cried for father, but my mother hushed me….and I'll never forget what she said…..

"You…your father….your real father….."

She was looking at Mr. Y who was cradling her within in his arms. Then it hit me….. Over the past few days, I had always seen something between them. My mother had called him her friend, but the way they acted around each other made it quite obvious that there was something more…. The look in my mother's eyes when she was around him, was as if she were deeply in love with Mr. Y….. I screamed…. Never had I ever screamed as loud as I did upon hearing this. I wouldn't believe it….I couldn't believe that Mr. Y….the man who's face I feared was my actual father!

Mr. Y sat there holding my mother's body close to him, crying and asking what to do about me? I didn't want to think about the possibility of loosing my mother, but what could I do? It was happening right in front of my own very eyes. She told him to just live and take all the love that he deserved…. She became even weaker, and I waited for her to just close her eyes, but instead, she gave Mr. Y her last request…..she asked him to kiss her one last time. And he did…..

The kiss they shared was so passionate…it was as if they had waited ten long years just to taste each other's lips again. My mother never gave Raoul a kiss like that…..they hardly kissed at all….. And as they were, my mother's arms dropped limp to her side…..she was gone…gone forever. My father mouthed "No" over and over again as he sobbed uncontrollably over my mother's body……she was gone, and wasn't coming back. He called her name several times, thinking that maybe, just maybe she would wake up….but she didn't….. His blue eyes were now looking at me, his mind full of fear about what was going to happen between us…..he lay my mother down, and I slowly stepped forward. He was my father…..that's all I had to keep telling myself. When we were inches apart, I reached out for his mask, but he turned away….. I knew he didn't want our first five moments as father and son to be filled with fear….but I could no longer find it within my heart to scream at the man who had helped my mother conceive me. Though, when I reached out this time, he removed the mask himself…… Once again the familiar horror of his face filled me, and he closed his eyes, waiting for the scream that never came. I still feared him, but refused to yell in his face. Instead, I closed the space in between us, and embraced my true father for the first time……..At first, I felt his heart pounding up against my chest, but after a few seconds, his arms wrapped around me as well, hugging me back…. It was going to be ok…. Everything was going to be ok….

But things were anything but ok…….My mother was no longer here, Raoul was missing for all I knew, and I was now left in the care of Him! Mr. Y…… a stranger no less! The man who I now knew as my father….my real father….and I was scared….

Ok, tell me what you think of it…..thanks! I shall update in the near future.