Why must you leave me,

Christine?

Why?

I must flee

From this once-hidden place.

I hear the mob coming—

I must flee

Now…

Where can I go

Now that my refuge

Has been destroyed.

As I flee along

The maze-like passageways

I have built.

I am hiding.

Hiding in a closet.

Hiding with my hands

Covering my face,

Curled up in a ball,

Fearful as I used to be

With my early days…

Someone opens the door…

I cower and tremble

In fear.

I slowly look up.

My fear ebbs like

The underground lake.

It is the only woman

Who has ever treated me

Like a human being.

Who took me in

From the filth

And healed (and cleansed) my wounds.

The only "mother"

I truly knew.

She took me to the costumery,

Dressing my body as a woman,

We walked right out the front door!

Who would've thought that I, Erik!,

Would have escaped them so easily?

Like a Ghost!

People are asking questions.

Once again I must flee.

Mdme. Giry,

My "mother",

Hires a hansom cab,

Black as night

And shaded windows.

I ride to a French seaport,

Where the kind woman

Seeks out a ship willing

To take one such as me.

I hear voices.

Customs?

A sweep

Of the ship—

For stowaways?

I must leave!

I must take but

My mask.

I put on a dirty,

Disgusting,

(Perhaps rotting,

Even),

Life preserver.

America.

To think even here,

In the so-called

Land-of-the-free,

That even I

Would not be free,

Rejected once again!

There is no turning back,

This is where I must make my home

Now.