I watched his body tumble to the ground,my heart racing as I saw him crumple against the stone of the square below. My gaze shifted over to the gallows where I saw the woman…my woman…in the white robes taken from the gallows and thrown carelessly like a sack of potatoes onto a cart that rode off into the darkness of the Parisian could they treat such a delicate flower, a piece of fine glassware…like something worthless. And suddenly, I couldn't feel my heart beating anymore. I couldn't feel anything except the tears streaming from my eyes.

I groaned softly as pain began to rush from my chest and spread through rest of my body. The groan grew louder and louder until it was an outright scream of agony that had spread from my body to my soul.

"oh…OH! OH ALL THAT I HAVE EVER LOVED!" I screamed as I felt the piercing agony in my heart burst through my lips. I fell to the floor, covering myself with my hands, lest the God who had abandoned us all, strike me with a bolt of fire for my sins.

It was my fault. I had killed them both. I had failed to keep the only belle who showed me kindness safe. I had failed to save the soul of my fa-my master. I had pushed him to his death but how could I not have? His face was contorted in a sort of disgusting joy and I could see from his eyes he was watching my love die..and yet this man felt joy watching an innocent woman murdered through malice, jealousy, and spite.

I lifted myself from the ground, shaking more than usual on my unshapely legs. I was blind and deaf now, and both from bell(e)s. My tears streamed down my face and I couldn't bare to move but I couldn't bare to let her rot alone. I followed the pathway until I reached her cell. I found the blanket she had slept in, the bed in which she had lain…the whistle which had touched her lips when she called….when she needed my help. I fell to the floor and clutched the blanket, my tears nearly soaking it. Her smell lingered in the room and it was even stronger on the piece of fabric which I clutched so tightly in my hands that I feared I would rip it. I swear…as impossible as it was…I could hear her voice singing a song in a language foreign to myself…and the tears flowed even stronger, surely I would drown in them and join her in death.

At least an hour passed. My tears were barely dried but I knew what I must do. If I could not have my Esmeralda in life…I would have her in death. I lifted myself from the cold ground, dropping the blanket and made my way through the tower, climbing down the almost hidden south tower steps toward the streets of Paris. The sun was barely on the horizon and I knew I had to hurry, being careful to hide myself from sight, my sacred mission is one that couldn't be interrupted and must be carried out alone…by myself.

I wandered through the streets, until I came across the slow moving carriage where her body lay…and I knew where they were taking her. Montfaucon. The great gibbet was a mass of stone and bones, a grim sight that somehow brought comfort to me, as I was already dead.

I followed them as they crossed the small bridge to reach the gibbet and watched as the carried her body so roughly…as if she was a sinner, as if she was worthless and a pain for them to touch. They carried her as if she was me. If I had a heart anymore, it would be swollen with anger and I would want nothing more than to hurt those men…but my heart had died hours ago. They brought her through a small door that lay below the gibbet and I watched and waited as moments later they walked out empty-handed. Where was she? Where was my belle?

The moment they were out of sight I ran with such speed toward the gibbet and burst through the rusted gates into a room with such a putrid smell that I felt my empty stomach churn. It didn't take long until I found her…my Esmeralda. She lay there in the torn white robes I had given her (making her look more innocent than ever before). I knelt down and looked at her face. Her eyes were open and her mouth gaped slightly. But as though I knew she could not see…still yet she didn't shudder at me. For the first time she didn't jump at my grimace, for once she didn't avert her eyes.

I laid next to her, ignoring the smell of rotting flesh around me. Strangely, her scent overpowered that of the corpses that filled the vault. She still smelled of flowers, of roses. She also had a distinct smell that I could only say was the smell of my Esmeralda; it was her smell and her smell alone. As I gazed into her dark gypsy eyes (the first time we had ever made eye contact) I felt my heart beat again and the tears begin to flood my eyes. I reached out and closed her eyes gently with my hand, as if she was a flower or a butterfly that I must be careful not to harm. Once her eyes were closed, I sighed with relief; I didn't want her, even in death, to be plagued by my face. I reached out and ran my fingers through her still smooth hair and felt she was still warm. I traced my hand down her cheek, my heart beating faster as I felt that she was still so very warm, though on her cheeks I felt tears that had barely dried. My heart leaped again: perhaps she was only sleeping. I sat up and pulled her close to me, holding her closer than when I had rescued her from the first time they tried to take her from me.

Knowing she wasn't deaf, I began to speak to her "Esmeralda, it's me, your bossu. Esmeralda, please, open your eyes again, please I'm sorry I closed them, please open them please…please push me away…please sing to me, please get up and dance for me…please just look at me, breathe on me, touch me just one more time…please".

She didn't reply, she didn't even move.

Perhaps she was deaf, like me. Perhaps living in the tower with me had also made her deaf.

I began to scream.

"DANCE MY ESMERALDA! SING! BREATHE! I'M HERE! YOU CAN WAKE UP NOW! PLEASE ESMERALDA I CAN'T POSSIBLY LIVE UNLESS YOU LIVE TOO!" I began to violently shake her, hoping to wake her up until I gave in to the fact that she was gone, she had left me.

"Why would you do this….why would to leave me alone in this world where no one loves me…how could you…" then I remembered that it was my fault. "…how could I do this to you…."

I looked down at her face. She was at peace…her dark skin was so pale and slowly growing colder. I fell over, holding her so tightly and began to kiss her cheek over and over, refusing to let her go. It wasn't fair, nothing was fair. Life had failed me in every way, everything that had ever mattered was taken from me in an instant. I lay there with the only person who ever showed me legitimate kindness, and the colder I felt her grow, the slower my heart began to beat. I wound my arms tighter around her, convincing myself that if I could somehow make her warm again that she would open her eyes and kiss me for coming for her like no one else would.

…

….

…..

….

…

As the sun rode high in the blue sky above Montfaucon, I felt her freezing body against my barely warm one…and I felt my heart stop. I rested my forehead against hers and whispered in her ear "take my soul with yours…leave me not here on this earth to rot…bring me into paradise where you rest…I will stay here with you until I am as cold as you are…for dying for you, my one and only belle…is not death."