Ann: Three days after Jason's funeral I packed my bags, took my daughter Megan, and fled the country. I went north to Italy and did not answer any of my friends or Jason's parent's questions. Of course everyone, even the police, wanted to know why on earth a man of Jason't stature, who wasn't a taxi driver or stable-groom, was doing in a taxi stable. I saw immediatly through the sham Erik had provided.

No one else could possibly guess that Jason's demise wasn't an accident, yet I was too stunned to announce the secret that I had held deep within my soul for too long.

I had raced home, gone through the prelimonary arrangements, and then as soon as possible I left for a small Inn on the south side of Italy, across the Nothern French Border. I had to console my reeling thoughts, get my life back in order. Megan was barely a week old and couldn't understand that she would never know her father. I sat at a writing desk and cried.

I cried because I knew Erik had me trapped, he had reeled me in like a captive fish and I was unable to let go of the worm. I knew that Jason did not have a vast fortune; we had been living very modestly yet it had been enough when he was alive.

Now, however, once the money from Jason's account and the money Erik had bequeathed me ran out, I knew we would be penniless and on the streets. I couldn't let my young daughter grow up in such dismal situations, but it was hard for a woman, especially a young widow, to gain any status in society without a man.

I would eventually have to find a job, and I didn't have many talents to even consider more than a factory seamstress or ballet and chorus instruction. It was exactly what Erik wanted, for me to return dismally into his cold companionship.

The sound of Megan's crying brought me out of my listlessness, and as I soothed her, I wondered how bad things could actually be. Of course I would have a permanent job; Erik would make sure of that; and I would have enough money to support my daughter, who also could enter the conservatory when she turned five, if she had the talent for ballet or chorus.

I remembered how much fun Erik and I used to have, in our younger days, before his solitude and hatred for society had brought his mind deep into a pit of despair. I remembered our laughing and adventures in the Opera, and how delightful he had once been. Perhaps if I did return he would change. If I payed a bit more attention to him he could, in a manner of English speaking, mellow out. I bundled Megan up and left Italy a week later, and returned to claim the job that still had not yet been filled.

Erik: It seems strange to mention this, but every once in a while during my reign as Phantom of The Opera, an unusual Persian fellow with an astrakan cap would wander through my domain as if searching for someone. I had no idea who he was and completly ignored him, and in time he soon disapeared.

As for Antoinette she never disapeared. She returned several weeks after Jason's unfortunate passing, and I made sure to catch a glimpse of the young child she carried in her arms as she meandered towards the Managers Office. I had slipped into my usual trap-door beneath the floor of the office, and listened intently as her contract, according to the Opera Ghost's demands, was read.

She signed and accepted, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I never wanted to hurt Ann or her child, whom I know knew as Megan Giry, and I had made sure she was paid a reaonable amount, given acceptable hours to work since she was also a mother, and the first of every month off, which in time she would learn why.

I had slipped quietly out of my hiding place and glided towards her in the hallway. "Erik, what audacity to reveal yourself in full veiw." She had said. I replied, "No one is here Mademoiselle, save yourself and this charming little daughter." I bent down and kissed Megan on the forehead while Ann tried to hold her closer to her chest. "I shall never harm her dear friend, yet I will be sorely dissapointed if I am never allowed her company as well as yours."

Ann glared at me as I tried to smile; smiling is such a hard concept to master. "You will be dissapointed Erik, for I will never allow Megan to know you. The closest you'll ever get to her is now, and I will keep her by my side always, only to make sure she never meets you." My anger and fury welled up inside me, but I clenched my teeth and held calm. "Ann, I expect you to visit me once a month, every month, and what grand times we will have, with or without Little Meg."

I reached out to brush a stray hair off Ann's cheek but she ducked away and backed up. I bowed and swept my cape magnificantly through the air. "You have nothing to fear Antoinette, I am your gaurdian and shall watch over you and Little Meg, you should start thinking of me as her Godfather!" I then fell down through the trapdoor I had installed above the floors.

It was nothing more than a straight drop down to the third cellar, and it hurt so damn harshly that I rarely used it or the twin one directly beneath the stage. Joseph Bouquet had already discovered the trap-door beneath the stage, so I had begun to place fire ants and tacks on the ground beneath it.

Ann: Such Arrogance! Such a demanding attitude! Erik had had the audacity to tell me what to do concerning my own job! I had clutched Megan tightly as he told me his plans.

I had to meet with him once a month, and of course he wanted to see my young daughter. I was terrified of how he would treat her. I didn't think he would harm her, nor cause her any problems, it was his suffocating and intolerable desire for companionship that I beleived he would carry Megan away to his lair and never allow her out again.

I made sure the nanny she was placed with knew never to allow her out of her sight, and though it seemed strange to explain, I told the nanny to never allow anyone other than myself to take Megan away, even in cases of extreme emergency in which another person could care for her until I arrived.

I watched over my daugher like a hawk, but I knew an eagle was out there watching as well, and I protected her with harse authority. Erik didn't cause too much trouble with me around. As long as I talked to him and quietly took his notes to the appropriate individual, he was as calm and placid as wind on a sunny June day.

Of course I did actually enjoy my new job as Ballet Instructor. The children could be brats at times, but they learned quickly and were the epitome of Paris High Society. Ladies would gossip about how changed and mature the Ballet was after La Sorelli's leaving, and I was proud.

Erik actually had good idea's at times, and I learned as everone else had, to accept The Opera Ghost's manipulation of plays, casting, and musical scores.

The time passed quickly enough, but little did I know how times would change.