A Performer's Life Beyond the Drapes

A Performer's Life Beyond the Drapes is an upcoming ebook by Pandora Banister and the prequel to The Stalker Case of Max Fanheart. The story takes place during Max and Greta's college years and shows how Max and Darius became acquainted.

The book is split into four segments: Freshman Year, Sophomore Year, Junior Year, and Senior Year, and is written in a manner similar to diary entries.

Plot Synopsis
In the first segment, Max and Greta are beginning to settle into dorm life while attending classes. They befriend several members of their Block Housing group, including Elena Anderson (the Block Leader), eccentric pianist Kathy Abernathy, violinist Mel Schultz, Sia-fan Michelle Docherty, and deaf singer Elizabeth Durkins. Only two members of the group refuse to socialize with the others, including the standoff-ish Willow King and Elena's introverted brother, Darius.

Once classes begin, Max, Greta, and Elena make plans to audition for the upcoming production of Wicked. While out on a shopping trip, Max makes an effort to befriend Darius, to no avail; it's later revealed that Elena makes several attempts to have people befriend him, something he hates.

Following auditions for Wicked, Max, Greta, and Elena (who were cast as Elphaba, Galinda, and Nessarose, respectively) go through rehearsals and costume fittings, as well as a talent show held to honor the show. Following first dress rehearsal, Max is confronted by her abusive ex boyfriend, Patrick, but is defended by Darius. After thanking him and showing him kindness, Darius begins to warm up to her.

The first segment ends with opening night of Wicked proving to be a success, and with Max and Greta excited at the prospect of doing more shows in the future.

The second segment starts with the headmaster Mr. Torres announcing a concert to be held during the Christmas Carnival, an event he allowed to have held on campus for the students. Once the date of the concert arrives, Max is flirted with by a fellow theatre student named Quinn, who asks her on a date. After finding their mutual interest in horror movies, she agrees and later forms a relationship with him, though she later becomes annoyed by his constant pressuring for sex.

While delivering a packet to Vocals teacher Ms. Solace, Max discovers her plans to put on a production of The Phantom of the Opera. Lacking in opera skills, she confronts opera singer Anna MacFadyen about helping train her voice for the show, which proves a success at auditions. While heading back to her dormitory, Max is shocked to find Quinn forcibly kissing Elizabeth before leaving in tears. Darius finds and gives her advice on how to deal with the situation; as thanks, Max hugs him before ending her relationship with Quinn, who reveals he'd been cheating on her throughout the entirety of the relationship.

Throughout preparation for the Phantom production, Ms. Solace is revealed to only have plans for recreating the 2004 movie for the stage, ignoring the fact that this could get the school a copyright and plagiarism lawsuit. To avoid this, Michelle becomes the de facto director, and everyone plans the real show in secret. During this, Max begins to develop an interest in the actor playing the Phantom, Mikael, who reveals to his friend John that he has fallen in love with her in return. Overhearing this, Darius (who himself harbors a crush on Max) decides to tell her his feelings, only for Max to reject him, which leaves him devastated.

On opening night of the Phantom production, Willow is attacked by her own abusive ex boyfriend, Jackson. A flashback reveals that he had drugged her and had the whites of her eyes tattooed black (hence why she always wears sunglasses) before raping her. Back in the present, he attempts to rape her again, but is stopped and incapacitated by Max.

During the opening night's performance, Mikael confesses his feelings to Max, who reciprocates; even though Mikael is set to leave back to Sweden come the end of the school year, the two decide to pursue a relationship. While Max is leaving back to her dorm, she is attacked by Patrick, who attempts to rape her before being killed by a person dressed in a black cloak and white wolf mask, which leaves Max terrified.

The segment ends with Max and Mikael saying goodbye at the airport.

The third segment begins with a Halloween party following the reveal of the cast list for a production of Into the Woods. During the party, Max is harassed by Quinn; in her embarrassment, she hides down in the dressing room, where she is later joined by Darius. He ends up kissing her, much to both of their surprise.

During the show's preparation, Max develops a relationship with theatre friend, Austin, which becomes official after they are attacked by the wolf-masked assassin following opening night. Around the same time, Greta forms a relationship with John, though their relationship is shown to begin fading during a Spring concert set up by the new Vocals teacher, Alex Chamberlain. Near the end of the concert, Elena invites Max and Greta to join her and Darius in their summer cabin (later revealed to be the lake house from Stalker Case), which they accept.

During their stay at the lake house, Max celebrates her twenty-first birthday with a first drink, which ends with her becoming drunk. Returning home, she is confronted by Darius, who acts uncomfortable around her in her inebriated state. A flashback reveals that he grew up in a verbally abusive, neglectful household: his father was a verbally abusive alcoholic while his mother ignored him and doted on Elena. However, his and Max's relationship becomes closer over time, and the segment ends with it being implied that Max is starting to return his feelings.

At the beginning of the fourth segment, the original cast gets together to put on another performance of Wicked for the headmaster's daughter's birthday. Preceding the actual performance, Darius threateningly defends Max from Ezra, something that scares her.

Following costume fittings for the next production, Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella, Max and Austin end their relation ship due to his realization that he is gay. At the same time, Max and Darius' relationship becomes closer, which worries Greta. She confides in Willow, who easily believes her and encourages her to keep an eye on him. However, following opening night of the show, Darius begins to act angry and hateful towards Greta; around the same time, Max implies that she loves him back, and Darius' attitude toward Greta softens ominously after she relays the information to him, which exacerbates her worries.

Following the last show, Elena is found dead at the bottom of a staircase, which devastates everyone, particularly Darius. After her Finals performance, Max stops him from committing suicide and comforts him, before the two admit their feelings for each other and spend the night together. After discovering this, Greta relays her worries to Max, who reveals her intent to still meet with him later, much to Greta's anger. Upset with everything that's happened, Max cries herself to sleep in the dressing room. When she awakens, she narrowly escapes the wolf-masked assassin, and later runs into Darius. After noticing he is wearing Patrick's hoodie, she discovers to her horror that he is the wolf-masked assassin and flees from him. He manages to catch her, and reveals his obsession with her, of how he hated when she fell for anyone other than him, and how he took on the guise of the wolf-masked assassin to kill and injure anyone who attacked or threatened her. After she tries to defend herself from him, he knocks her unconscious. A flashback later reveals that he killed Elena in a blind rage after she discovered both his identity as the wolf-masked assassin and his obsession with Max.

Max later awakens bound and gagged in Darius' room. After awakening him when she screams in fear, he begins rambling about his love for her while simultaneously kissing and fondling her. In an attempt to escape, she begins playing along with his delusions, which persuades him to release her from her bonds. However, her attempt to use a pair of scissors to threaten him fails, as he grabs them and moves to stab her; fortunately, he finds himself unable to harm her, and instead forces her to form a blood pact with him, which ends with him forcing her to consume his blood while he does the same with hers.

The next morning, Max manages to escape from him, severely injuring her arm in the process. After making her way to the theatre, her arm is fixed by one of the teachers before she can perform, and she talks about what happened with Greta and Willow. Once they get back to their dormitory, Max and Greta are confronted by Darius, who tells Max his plans of marrying her. After incapacitating Greta and threatening Max, she accepts his proposal before passing out, later waking in another room and dressed in a wedding gown. Though she at first decides to give herself up to him, she later realizes this error after he tries to have sex with her; in an attempt to escape, she agrees to sing for him in order to try and catch someone's attention. Though this does succeed in grabbing Willow's attention, they unfortunately don't arrive until after Darius forces her to sign a marriage certificate. Once Willow and Greta arrive, he manages to seemingly kill Willow (though she's later revealed to have survived) before being incapacitated by Max and Greta.

The duo manage to escape to Michelle's room, who gives Max a change of clothes before she and Greta head out to the campus police station (Max being too scared to leave the room). However, not long after they leave, Darius manages to enter the room and, although initially acting softly towards her, he later attacks and incapacitates her, striking her in the head with his hammer and knocking her out with a punch to the face. She later awakes as he is taking her to a new hiding place and convinces him to tend to her bleeding head, which she takes advantage of by grabbing the marriage certificate and attempting to escape. This attempt fails, with Darius tearing apart the stitches in her arm and causing her to bleed profusely. She ultimately uses this injury to her advantage, pretending to pass out before Darius takes her back to the bathroom; she manages to lock herself in, discard the document and ring he'd given her, and escape through a window. The segment ends with her being found by Greta before passing out.

In the epilogue, Max is recovering in the hospital when she receives a letter from Darius, who tells her he won't stop looking for her, which scares her intensely. She later returns home, but suffers from nightmares about Darius. On one particular day, her parents have carpenter Juan and his assistant "Adam" set up a mantle in their living room, both of whom Max converses with before leaving for a babysitting job. Upon returning home, she says goodbye to her parents as they leave to celebrate her father's birthday, and she spends the rest of the day watching horror movies. Upon waking up at night, she is horrified to discover her cat's mutilated corpse before later running into the arms of Darius, who'd taken on the guise of "Adam". Once she realizes who he is, he states "Where do you think you're going? You said we'd be together forever", setting up the events of the first book.

Characters
Mackenzie Fanheart

Greta Watkins

Darius Anderson

Elena Anderson

Willow King

Michelle Docherty

Elizabeth Durkins

Katherine Abernathy

Melanie Schultz

Anna MacFadyen

Crystal Zachary

Austin Abram

John Rodriguez

Ezra Tibbs

Christian Marks

Jackson Danes

Patrick Blythe

Timothy Harris

Rodel Garner

Fallon Angel

Mikael Karlsson

Trinity Malone

Trivia

 * Darius' older sister Elena is planned to be the tritagonist (third protagonist) in this novel.
 * She's mentioned in Stalker Case, though not by name.


 * Similar to the first book, several characters in this share first and surnames with characters from the Saw franchise:
 * Elizabeth with Elizabeth Harris and Elizabeth Timpe, both from Saw: The Video Game ; (her surname comes from the character Larry Durkin from The Shining ).
 * Anna with Anna from Jigsaw.
 * Ezra Tibbs with Scott Tibbs from Scott Tibbs Documentary.
 * Christian Marks with Michael Marks from Saw II.
 * Patrick with Patrick from Saw II: Flesh and Blood.
 * Tim Harris with Timothy Early (Saw: The Video Game) and Timothy Young (Saw III ), as well as sharing a surname with Elizabeth Harris.
 * John with John Kramer (aka Jigsaw).
 * Anna is the only character to share both parts of her name with a character and an actor from the Saw franchise: Anna from Jigsaw and Angus MacFadyen, who portrays Jeff Denlon in Saw III.


 * Mel's surname, Schultz, comes from Dr. King Schultz from Django Unchained.


 * Willow shares her real last name, Faulkner, with Adam from Saw, though it should be noted that Adam's surname is unspecified. The producers give his last name as Faulkner, while a file in Saw V lists his last name as Stanheight (the original script for Saw gives his name as Radford).
 * During the Halloween party in the first chapter of the Junior Year segment, Darius dresses up as Jason Voorhees, an obvious foreshadowing to The Stalker Case of Max Fanheart, where he dressed in a Jason Voorhees-esque costume in order to abduct Sarah Martins.
 * The Phantom of the Opera production serves as foreshadowing for several moments in the book:
 * Similar to how Christine becomes the obsession of the Phantom, Max becomes the obsession of Darius.
 * Several times throughout the book, Darius refers to Max as an angel; this may reference how the Phantom refers to Christine as "angel of music".
 * The Phantom kills two men (Buquet and Piangi); though Darius attacks several people, he only kills two men (Patrick and Jackson).
 * He does kill one female character; though this doesn't occur in either the Gaston Leroux novel or the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, it does occur in the 1989 adaptation of the novel starring Robert Englund . In this adaptation, the Phantom kills Carlotta.
 * Darius' Wolf-Masked Assassin disguise is similar in appearance to the Phantom's costume: a white mask and black cloak.
 * The Halloween costume party could reference the Masquerade sequence.
 * During the climax, Darius dresses Max in a wedding gown and tries to force her to marry him, similar to what the Phantom does to Christine in the Final Lair sequence.