The Phantom of the Bijou
As a youth, there was nothing Vincent loved better than a horror movie -- old, new, black and white or Technicolor -- Vincent loved his horror movies more than anything.
In defiance of his parents he would stay up late, watching the classic films over and over on his little portable TV. His favorite treat was a trip to the movies, and his favorite theater was an old, rundown, neighborhood theater where the manager would let him sit in the projection booth and help change the reels. After high school, he went to work at the old theater, first as a janitor, then working his way up through the concession stand until at last he was promoted to projectionist. His life was complete, spending hour after happy hour watching films from the projection booth and reading the entertainment weeklies by the light of the flickering projector.
Perfect. Until that fateful night.
"Vincent!", his bosses voice boomed out of the intercom. "Get down here and unstop this drain!" "Now!" he shouted. Vincent threw down his newspaper and ran down the stairs, quickly opened the plugged drain, but as he climbed back to his booth he saw it; the bright yellow flames and thick black smoke told the story, his newspaper must have somehow ignited and flames had spread to engulf the room. He pulled the fire alarm, then ran into the projection booth, grabbed the fire extinguisher and tried to bring the conflagration under control, alas it was too little, too late; he was trapped in the collapse of the burning building.
The evening news proclaimed Vincent a hero, his actions gave the theater patrons time to escape the flames, but no one expected anything but the worst as his blackened body was pulled from the smoldering wreckage. Rescue personnel were astonished when he began to struggle as his body was carried away. He was rushed to the burn center where he began a long and painful recovery. His body healed, though terribly scarred, but his mind never recovered.
After his release from the hospital, he avoided human contact, lurking in the wreckage of the old theater. The demolition of the theater wreckage drove him into the woods where he attempted to recreate his life from the jumbled mix of fiction and reality churning within his tortured mind. Join us now as we explore Vincent’s world...
In defiance of his parents he would stay up late, watching the classic films over and over on his little portable TV. His favorite treat was a trip to the movies, and his favorite theater was an old, rundown, neighborhood theater where the manager would let him sit in the projection booth and help change the reels. After high school, he went to work at the old theater, first as a janitor, then working his way up through the concession stand until at last he was promoted to projectionist. His life was complete, spending hour after happy hour watching films from the projection booth and reading the entertainment weeklies by the light of the flickering projector.
Perfect. Until that fateful night.
"Vincent!", his bosses voice boomed out of the intercom. "Get down here and unstop this drain!" "Now!" he shouted. Vincent threw down his newspaper and ran down the stairs, quickly opened the plugged drain, but as he climbed back to his booth he saw it; the bright yellow flames and thick black smoke told the story, his newspaper must have somehow ignited and flames had spread to engulf the room. He pulled the fire alarm, then ran into the projection booth, grabbed the fire extinguisher and tried to bring the conflagration under control, alas it was too little, too late; he was trapped in the collapse of the burning building.
The evening news proclaimed Vincent a hero, his actions gave the theater patrons time to escape the flames, but no one expected anything but the worst as his blackened body was pulled from the smoldering wreckage. Rescue personnel were astonished when he began to struggle as his body was carried away. He was rushed to the burn center where he began a long and painful recovery. His body healed, though terribly scarred, but his mind never recovered.
After his release from the hospital, he avoided human contact, lurking in the wreckage of the old theater. The demolition of the theater wreckage drove him into the woods where he attempted to recreate his life from the jumbled mix of fiction and reality churning within his tortured mind. Join us now as we explore Vincent’s world...
