My Phantom of the Opera

Why does she love me?

Raoul have been at the bar all this time. "One more" he asked the Bartender. "Oh man...don't you think you had enough? it's practically money already," said the Bartender. "ONE MORE I SAID" yelled Raoul. "Alright, alright" the Bartender said defeated. He poured him another beer. "My shift is over anyway so let's settle the bill, ok? Most people end up here are in a bad way." 

Someone came in...

"Here' the morning shift. Maybe he will know what to do with you.' 

"Yes, what to do with me" responded the pathetic Raoul. "That's the question, isn't it? It's always the question. Ever since the beginning." Raoul remembered the events that took place at the Opera house. He wasn't this pathetic back then and Christine for whatever reason choice him in the end. 

"She looks for sympathy, but I give her sorrow. She asks for honesty but I'm not that honorable man anymore. She needs my tender kiss, and she begs it off me. Instead, I give her ugliness. Why does she love me?" he asked himself he drinks. "She yearns for higher things. Things I just can't give her. The rush that music brings to her I just can't deliver. And even when she sings and soars above me, I try to clip her wings so why does she love me?" He looked at the other Bartender. 

"One more drink, sir. That's what I need. Don't you think, sir? To leave the hurt behind." 

"Do you hear me? Another drink!" 

The mysterious Bartender gave him another beer. "She wants the man I used to be. A husband and father. Beneath this mask I wear there's nothing of me. Just horror, shame, and despair so why does she love me still?" Then he looked at the Bartender. "How 'bout you, sir? Tell me what am I to do, sir? I just want to leave the hurt behind." 

"Morning, Bernie, tea please. Hurry up before I freeze. I like green tea" Rachel came in and after she said that she noticed Raoul. "Mother said, I'd find you here." "Miss Lesch" Raoul greeted. "Do you know where you are?" she asked. "Hell, I imagine" he responded taking another sip. 

"Around here they call it suicide hall. It's where people end up when they don't know where else to go" she told him. "The hopeless, the desperate, the depressed. The good place to step off the side of the pier and quietly vanish." "You seem to be a regular here" he responded. "Me? I only come here for my morning tea and to swim" she responded.  "This town is coarse and cold and mean. It's hard to keep your conscience clean. Faceless in the crowd. Anything's allowed. And so, I come at dawn each day. I come to wash it all away. Sink into the sea, blue and cool and kind. Let it set me free, let's the past unwind. Being an empress is stressful and I just want to leave the hurt behind and start over here." 

Then she said "I'm happy to see you and Jasmine again. I was surprised because I didn't think that America would be a place for both of you. Here, it's easy to forget who you are and where you belong. You shouldn't be here drinking. Go back home to your wife and son. They love you and care about you." 

"Go back? Tonight, Jasmine is performing. The concert, the money. I don't want to run away from my responsibilities as a husband and father and I'm not going to run away from a man who is clearly still obsessed with my wife" he responded. "When the sun rises tomorrow, we can all start again. Clean. Just stop drinking" Rachel told him. Then she gave him a comforting hand. "Sail across the sea. Put all of this out of mind. Close your eyes and flee from this place. Let yourself stay blind. Leave this place behind and just be with your family." 

"Thank you, Miss Lesch. I will try to take your advice" he told her. 

Rachel left with her tea and instead of going for her morning swim, she went to see Jasmine to let her know that she just saw Raoul. 

"Hey Rachel, come in. I'm getting ready for my performance for tonight. What brought you here?" she asked. "I saw your husband at the bar" Rachel told her. "Oh, you did?" Jasmine asked not surprised. "I know that things haven't been right, but I told him that he needs to try to sober up and to be here with you and your son. I don't know if it would do anything for him, but I couldn't just let him drink like he has been. Hurting you like that" Rachel told her.  "Thank you. I hope he will come around. Gustave doesn't think that his father loves him. He hasn't paid any attention to him" Jasmine told Rachel. They hugged. "I'm sorry to hear that. I have also heard that Raoul may not be Gustave's real father though. Is that true?" Rachel asked. 

Jasmine sigh..."It's true." "So is the father of the boy the one that called himself your angel of music?" Rachel asked. Jasmine nodded. They spent a few hours in the dressing room catching up on everything.