HoND chapter 2

'That was a nice dream. I wish I didn't have to wake up'

This was the thought of the young girl who was asleep in the room of her dark, cold tower. She did not wish to wake up because she thought the past events that occurred were nothing but a dream. Little did she know that those events were not just a dream. They did indeed happen.

As the morning winter sun shined through the stained glass window, the young girl refused to come out from under her blanket in fear of awakening from what she thought was nothing but a dream. Just then, one of the dames that served Master Frollo opened the door and woke her up. "Pardon me," she said while waking the young girl from her slumber. "Master Frollo wanted me to tell you to meet him down in the main entrance. He would have told you himself, but he had some business to take care of in the dungeons." The young girl sleepily nodded and the dame left the room. It took a few moments for her to realize that she wasn't at all dreaming, but eventually she rose from her bed. She stumbled over to the window and pushed it open to view the snow-covered city. Never in her life had she seen such an amazing view before. She practically ran out of her room and down both sets of stairs just to see her new master to thank him properly for allowing her to stay in his home. And perhaps he could explain why she saw something in the fire. But when she reached the bottom of the stairs, he was nowhere in sight. She started for what seemed to be the door to the dungeon, but then stopped when she remembered that Frollo said she was forbidden from ever going down there. So she decided to wait for him until he came out of the dungeon.

Moments later, Frollo had finally reappeared from the dungeon only to find that the young girl had nodded off waiting for him. Shaking his head in disapproval, he walked over to her and pushed her down. She awoke with a start while looking up into his cold piercing eyes. "Little girl," he said coolly. "Did not the dame tell you to wait in the front entrance hall?" She pulled herself up to her feet while trying to explain that she was looking for him and thought that waiting outside the door would be more polite than having him walk all the way back to the front hall. He rolled his eyes and said "While it was kind of you to think of me, it wasn't necessary. I can walk." Meekly, she turned her head away in embarrassment. He shook his head and started towards the door with her following at the heel. "Where are we going?" she quipped. He turns and said, while grabbing a basket, "To feed the monster of Notre Dame." She stopped shaking nervously at the thought of seeing a monster. Frollo saw this and had to grab by the arm and drag her all the way to the church.

When the door to the cathedral was opened, the young girl's eyes widened in amazement at the structure and architecture of the building. Even though the Palace of Justice was amazing with it's Gothic-like structure, Notre Dame had a different kind of atmosphere surrounding it. The Archdeacon then walked by and noticed the little girl. "Hello little one," he said with a smile. "Did Frollo help you come to church?" "Actually," Frollo interrupted, "she was an orphan I found wandering the streets alone. It is so sad to see an unloved child like her all by herself." 'Unloved?' she thought. "Well," said the Archdeacon. "Are you going to see Quasimodo today?" "Don't I always?" Frollo smirked. The Archdeacon nodded and left to continue his duties around the Cathedral. Frollo nudged her to the stairwell that led to the bell tower.The young girl followed  him, but lagged behind to ponder the thought about being unloved. 'Did my parents really not love me?' she pondered to herself. 'Why wouldn't they love me?' She would have thought this over more but they had reached the top of the stairs. Frollo took out an iron key and unlock the wooden door revealing another set of stairs. "Come quickly," he said sharply.

After seeing nothing but stone halls going up the stairs, there was finally a change of scenery. The wooden structure of the tower was amazing enough, but the bells were even more extravagant to behold. Before she could even get a better look around the tower, Frollo shoved the basket in her hands and told her to set everything up for himself and the monster. She did what she was told even though she had no idea who this monster was. It took her some time, but eventually she found the plates and cups for Frollo and the monster. Seeing that she was finished setting everything up, Frollo demanded that she wait outside until he was finished. She was about to protest and beg to stay with him, but he stared her down with his fierce eyes so she gave in to his command. She silently walked to the south steps so she wouldn't anger him further. When she reached the stairs, she saw something strange walking up them. It was a boy, but he looked different than most boys. He had a hunched back, large forearms, and a smaller eye on the left side of his face. When he passed her going up, he looked away in shame. 'Was that the monster Master was talking about?' she thought. 'But he doesn't look scary at all. Why would Master say that?' She found a hidden shelf that happened to be under where Frollo and the strange looking boy were sitting. As quietly as she could, she crawled into the shelf and found a place where she could listen to them more carefully without getting caught.

After a couple of minutes of Frollo  going over his version of the alphabet with the boy, whom she learned was called Quasimodo, Frollo started to talk about her. At first she was interested and wanted to listen to what he had to say. But, to her dismay, he had said things that she did not want to hear. "She is nothing more than a spineless, cowardly, and timid little crier," Frollo sneered. "While you are abandoned because of the way you look, she was abandoned no doubt because she was never wanted." She choked back a few tears to listen in a little more. Quasimodo fearfully looked at his master and replied, "B-But doesn't God love everyone?" Frollo shook his head in disbelief. "Quasimodo you do not understand. Our Lord does love everything in his creation. But somethings were never meant to be loved. Like you and her." That finally did it. Those words cut through her heart like a sword. "But," Frollo added. "I will do my best to raise her so that she may one day be loved." She wiped her eyes and smiled, thinking that maybe he did, in his own way, care about her. But her happiness was cut short when she heard him get up and start walking towards the stairs. Hastily, she crawled to the entrance of the shelf and climbed down from her hiding place. But she didn't climb down fast enough, because Frollo had seen her. She was standing in his shadow and looked right into his angry eyes. Immediately, she started to beg for forgiveness but he just grabbed her wrist and dragged her up the stairs. "Did I not command you to wait outside?" he scolded. "What were you doing in there anyway? You could have gotten stuck or could have fallen through the boards." She did not say a word, because she didn't want to make him angrier. When they reached the top of the stairs, Frollo took off the rings he had on from one of his hands. She had absolutely no idea what was going to happen until a sharp blow struck her cheek. She fell to the floor completely startled while holding her face. Quasimodo stood in horror seeing what his master had done. Frollo merely put his rings back on and beckoned for her to follow him. She hung her head in shame and followed, but not before waving goodbye to Quasimodo.