The Angel Of Paris.

Chapter three.

     "Good morning, Elliana."

She stumbled back, stuttering she replied:
     "Good.. Good morning, Master."
     "Dear girl, whomever are you talking to?" Jacques asked her.
     "My.. Friends.."
     "Ah I see. And what are your friends made of, Elliana?"
     "Stone."
     "Can stone talk?" He asked her, lifting her head up.
     "No it can't." She said back, defeated.
     "That's right. You're a smart las. Now, lunch."
Elliana ran to grab the dishes and set them on the table.
     "Now, shall we practice your alphabet today, Elli?"
     "Oh yes. I would like that very much."
     "Very well. A?"
     "Alliteration."
     "B?"
     "Beautiful."
     "C?"
     "Carnation."
     "D?"
     "Darling."
     "E?"
     "Elicit."
     "Good, F?"
     "Festival."
Jacques spit out his drink.
     "Excuse me?"
     "Forgiveness!" Elliana stuttered out.
     "You said festival."
     "No!"
     "You were thinking about going to the festival." He begins to walk away. Elliana wipes her face, feeling idiotic at the silly idea.
     "It's just that you go every year."
     "I am a public official, I must go. But I don't enjoy a moment. Thieves and druggers is the dreads of human kind all mixed together in a shallow, drunken stupor."
Elliana followed her master all the way outside. Still too high up for anyone to see, but it was a nice break.
     "I didn't mean to upset you.."
     "Elliana, can't you understand? When your heartless mother abandoned you as a child, anyone else would have drowned you. And this is my thanks for taking you in and raising you as my own?"
     "I'm sorry, Sir." Elliana kneeled down, almost begging for forgiveness.
     "Oh my dear Elliana. You don't know what it's like out there. I do. I do. The world is cruel. The world is wicked. It's I alone whom you can trust in this whole city. I am your only friend."
He began singing to her something that almost never happened. He looked at her with the creepiest, most terrifying, smile. She felt scared for a moment, but then again, he always made her feel frightened.
     "I, who keep you, teach you, feed you, dress you. I who look upon you without lust. How can I protect you girl unless you always stay in here, away in here?"

He lead her back into the cathedral, up the stairs. Continuing the song.
     "Remember what I taught you, Elliana. You are alluring."
     "I am alluring."
     "And they are ugly."
     "And they are ugly."
     "And these are crimes for which the world shows little pity. You do not comprehend.
     "You are my one defender.."
     "Out there they will look upon you as an angel."
     "I am an angel."
     "But then they'll turn just to hate and scorn and jeer."
     "Only an angel.."
     "Why invite their calamity and consternation? Stay in here, be faithful."
     "I'm faithful."
     "Be grateful."
     "I'm grateful."
     "Do as I say, obey, and stay in here."
     "You are good to me master, I'm sorry." She said to Jacques as he began to leave.
     "You are forgiven. But remember, Elliana: this is your sanctuary." He said, pointing at the ceiling before exiting.
     "My sanctuary..."
     "Safe behind these windows and these parapets of stone. Gazing at the people down below me. All my life I've watched them as I hide up here alone, hungry for the histories they've shown me. All my life I've memorized their faces. Knowing them as they will never know me. All my life I've wondered how it feels to pass a day not above them, but part of them!"

She sang to herself, looking out onto the wide city. How she longed to be with them!

"And out there living in the sun. Give me one day out there, all I ask is one to hold forever. Out there! Where they all live unaware of what I'd give. What I'd dare. Just to live one day out there!"
Out there among the millers and the weavers and their wives. Through the roofs and gables I can see them. Everyday they shout and scold and go about their lives, heedless of the gift it is to be them. If I was in their skins, I'd treasure every instant out there strolling by the sand. Taste the morning out there, like ordinary men who freely walk about there. Just one day and then I swear I'll be content with my share. Won't resent, won't despair. Old and bent, I won't care. I'll have spent one day out there! "❤