The moon rose high over the cathedral, sparkling rays of light on the face of a crying girl. Though, this girl was not very young. Having grown old, her beauty that used to hypnotize the men she passed by, has now faded away. Her eyes have seemed to have lost their color, and her short blonde hair has now changed into a dirty grey, quite like the clouds in an autumn evening. As the tears fell down her pale cheeks, it was as though she could feel every memory she had running as fast as they could, away from her.

She was remembering the days she performed in the circus. As a child, she loved it. She wore the most beautiful outfits, and the children who came to watch the show would glare at her with envy. She would only smile and twirl in her frilly pink skirt and dance with an empty coin bag in her right hand. She would catch anything they threw, which always brought a smile on the face of her master.

Her master was a man who tried much too hard to be beautiful. With the gold he had earned, or stolen, he would buy himself mirrors, make up, almost anything he could to make himself appear younger. She often felt pity for him, as he gazed at himself in the mirror. His ring-covered finger stroked the reflection of his rosy pink cheek, that he had covered with the most expensive blush in the market. Trying to make his face appear more childlike and friendly, when in his heart he held jealousy for those young ones he had to impress when performing on the lighted stage.

Now, the girl grown old, also wished to go back to her younger years. The man, or you could say "monster," she had fallen in love with, she began to hate.

Living with this creature, they almost never left to bell tower. He was a very timid person, and wouldn't let his woman leave, for he would get very lonely and upset. Trying to be good, she would put her hand on his lump of a shoulder and wore a fake smile, hoping he would return the happy stare.

But she could no longer live with having to do this every single day of her life. She wished to return to her childhood, and wear those beautiful outfits, and make other people smile, besides him. She wanted to achieve her dream of walking tightrope, which she could not do while locked up in the church. Wanting to dance and leap around in the center of a crowd of people, when they would clap their hands to the movement of her feet. She wanted to re-live the part of her life where she had fallen in love with the "monster." She wanted to make sure she would never go near him except for when her master had ordered her to. Then she and her master would have escaped together.

Together. She yearned for her master, the man she looked up to as a father figure. As he did his magic tricks upon the stage, she would gaze at his sparkling eyes he had surrounded with glitter bought from another town. Or she would stand beside him. He would often tell her that she had to "stand there and look pretty." And that's one of the things she loved most. She loved to look pretty for their audience. She loved to entertain them, and with her master, any stage fright she had would instantly vanish.

Now she no longer had the pleasure of the company she once had. Her "lover's" friends would sometimes visit the couple, but they never really payed any attention to her.

How dare they, she would often think. She loved attention, she wanted more people to notice her, like they once did a long time ago. How many years had she been wasting away with the man she tried so hard to please? When she came to find feelings for him, maybe all she wanted was to escape from the circus. Make her audience wider, and meet more people. Perform solo. Do the things she planned to do in front of a crowd, and go by what her master had taught her. Of course she would feel these things, she was young at the time, and wasn't grateful for the things she already had.

Her master had took her in, after she did something awful to him. He took care of her, and showed her the wonder of performing. He always knew what to do when she made a mistake, and kept her company, without suffocating her, like her "lover" had done for so many years.

The woman banged her clenched fists against the walls of the church. Her tears were almost forced out; it was a cry for attention. The attention she wanted so much when she was younger. The attention she and her master had both wanted. Her hands loosened, and she began to fall while her fingers slowly scraped the wall. She was slightly shaking, and hiccuped a little when the tears began to drip more slowly.

She would no longer stand for this.

The creature she had come to hate was now in a deep sleep. He never awoke very easily. If she was quiet, maybe she could escape. She slowly creeped, passing him, and almost made it out the door.

When she walked out the doors of the cathedral, she sighed deeply. She felt a cool breeze she hadn't felt in a long time. Great relief came over her as she took her first few steps onto the streets.

This peaceful moment would not last for very long. As she began to pass the side of the church, a paw of a hand grabbed her arm and pulled her into the air. It was him. How did he find her? Maybe she wasn't as quiet as she thought she was. He had climbed his way down the side of the church. She had known he was quite the acrobat. Still holding onto her arm, he began to climb back up to the tower.

The tears had began to fall once more. It was like this for a few moments, and then she started to become hysterical.

"Let me go Quasi! LET ME GO!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, her voice seemed to echo throughout the city.

"What's wrong Maddeline?" Quasimodo said with a more quiet tone of voice.

"Just let go! Please.."

"Maddeline, just wait a moment, we can talk when we---"

"LET GO!!!"

At that moment, Maddeline dug her fingernails in Quasimodo's arm. He felt a great pain and accidently let go when he tried to shake away the throbbing the pain had caused.

"MADDELINE!" He shouted as his eyes began to shake. His cry was much louder than Maddeline's had been, so others began to come out and see what was happening.

When she reached the bottom, the heavy breaths she had had when she was falling, have disappeared. Her eyes remained open wide, but they were completely still. Her body was in a strange position, but she did not move from any uncomforting feeling. She did not reach any part of her body that might be in pain because of the fall. Life had escaped from her. She had gotten what she had wanted, to be away from him.

The people who had heard Quasimodo before began to surround the body. Staring at her with pity and fear in their eyes. Quasimodo could not handle the sight and began to climb back up the tower once again, with hurtful feelings lingering in his heart. The people began to sob a little, their brows arched and their eyes never left her. She was once again, for that moment, the center of attention. Other people were paying notice to her. And they thought they could see a very slight smile upon her face.

Maybe now she could be happy.