The Beast That Is yet to Come

As Lumiere and Cogsworth hobbled down the hallway towards the library, Belle couldn’t help but stop herself from continuing any further. She glanced back up the staircase, entranced by the mystery that lay up ahead. Turning around, Belle headed up the staircase.

When she reached the top, Belle found herself face to face with a magnificent door lined with exquisite rose detailing along the border.

“The Beast’s bedroom” Belle thought to herself. With a deep intake of air, Belle reached out and turned the door’s handle.

The inside of the room was in complete and utter despair, as though every night a hurricane went through. Not a thing in the room had been spared, shattered remains of items laid askew all along the floors. Belle took a step inside the room, watching her step as she did so not to break anything any further, not that it would make any difference. Tables were split down the middle, chair bits lay along the wall as though they had been thrown against it, and scratch marks ripped the wallpaper clean off the wall, draping down enough to reveal the wood paneling beyond it.

However, there was one object that caught her attention. A shredded painting with a golden border. The painting had been ripped, showing numerous claw marks. Belle could make out the features of a portrait of a person, but she couldn’t quite tell exactly who it was. Belle extended her hand out and grabbed the middle piece of the portrait that still hung on the painting, bringing it up to match with where it once was. When Belle looked back up at the portrait, she could make out the face of a beautiful man. He had long, light brown hair that went past his shoulders, and full lips that were held in a straight line. What Belle noticed the most though were the eyes. Those blue, blue eyes. The strangest thing was, Belle felt as though she had seen those eyes before. Somewhere, but where? She couldn’t quite place it, despite how hard she tried. She was certain that she had never seen this man before.

Belle let go of the piece of the painting that she held, for just out of the corner of her eyes something had flickered. Across the dirt and cobwebs stood a glowing rose. Belle advanced towards the rose, its shimmering light allowing for her to see where she was going. There, just before the balcony, stood a glowing blood red rose encased in a glass container, floating a few inches in the middle. It was propped up on a dark wood end table facing the open window. Night time was aglow, creating a shadow that covered the room, but because of this darkness, the rose only seemed to glow even brighter. Belle had never seen anything like this flower before, for its mysterious aurora only enticed her further.

Belle placed one hand on the table, her fingers touching the edge slightly.

What is this? Belle thought to herself. The longer she looked as the rose, the stranger yet more beautiful it became. She just had to know what this was! Before she could think through what she was doing, Belle took the glass container in her hands and lifted it above the rose, placing it on the ground. A bit of hair had fallen in front of Belle’s face, so she tucked the wispy strand behind her ear. With one final gulp, Belle reached out for the rose.

When she touched the stem, the rose’s glow began to fade. The flower lost its eerie magical effect, taking the form of a regular rose. The rose fell over to one side of Belle’s hand, shaking loose a petal in the process. Belle gasped as she watched the petal fall to the floor. She looked around the room, making sure that no one was around to see her. Slowly and carefully, Belle bent down to pick up the fallen petal, placing it with the others that were on the table.

Belle turned over the rose in her hand, examining the rose. Surely it now seems as though it were a regular rose, but she knew what she had seen. The thing that she couldn’t place was why it had glowed. What purpose does this rose have of being here? It certainly doesn’t go with the rest of the room, so clearly it held some importance to the Beast. But what? The longer Belle stared at the rose, the more confused she got. Of all the books that she had read, there wasn’t anything that described a situation such as this. Its mystery only drew Belle in more to this rose, teasing her with the unknown.

From around the corner of the wall, Belle heard a noise. Startled, Belle swung around swiftly, knocking another petal off the rose. This time, however, Belle didn’t reach down to get it. Belle scanned the room, but couldn’t see in the darkness to well.

Another noise sounded from close behind her, as though something was being tarred. Belle turned again, this time to find part of the curtains ripped even further than before. Fear struck Belle’s heart, causing it to skip faster than it ever had before. In a state of pure shock, Belle let go of the rose, dropping it to the floor. The rose hit the ground with a thump; daring yet another petal to break loose.

A dark shadow rose, covering Belle completely. The creature stood a mere eight feet tall, its horns inching even further than that. Despite its face being immersed in the dark, Belle could make out the anger on his face.

“What are you doing here? You were forbidden from ever coming in this place!” The Beast growled, his breathing enhanced with the heaving puffs of air that spewed from his flaring nostrils.

“I, I just” Belle stuttered, her mind at a loss for words.

“You just what? Thought you could stroll on in here?” The Beast howled at her. His blue eyes flickered down onto the table that stood between the two. All that remained now were some fallen petals. The Beast smashed his hands onto the table. “What have you done?” He hollered. “Where is it?” His eyes searched all around the room frantically in hopes of finding the rose before any harm could be done to it.

Frightened by the Beast, Belle took a step back. As she did so, she felt something flatten beneath her heel. Belle moved the bottom of her skirt out of the way, removing her foot from the object. Belle’s eyes widened as she looked down at what she stepped on, unsure of what to do, hoping the Beast didn’t notice. Unfortunately, luck was not in her favor this evening. The Beast noticed her gasp, snapping his neck I her direction.

“What is it now? What have you done with it?” He snarled.

Belled looked up from the floor, but not quick enough. The Beast noticed her staring and followed her eyes down to where she was looking.

Upon the floor just beneath her feet was the rose, or rather what was left of it. There the rose lay, crippled and smashed. The stem was bent at an unnatural angle and the petals caved in on each other, that is, the few of them that remained did. The majority of the rose petals now lay in heaps around the bud, broken and torn and ripped. All that remained of the rose was three crimpled petals, three times as less as it had beforehand.

Belle quickly took a few steps away from the rose in an attempt to make it seem as though she didn’t actually do it, but it was too late. The Beast couldn’t control his anger any longer, for he knew that his second chance was forever gone. In one swift motion the Beast grabbed hold of the end table and flung it against the wall, its shattered remains bouncing back by the Beasts tail.

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE? WHAT KIND OF AN IDIOT ARE YOU?! DO YOU EVEN REALIZE WHAT YOU’VE JUST DONE?” The Beast roared at the top of his lungs. “GET! OUT!” He howled. “GET OUT AND DON’T EVER COME BACK!”

Belle turned and ran, doing her best to navigate in the darkness. She bumped into a chair leg, causing her to fall to the ground. Belle grabbed her leg, only for a moment, but it was long enough. The Beast picked up the glass container that once held the rose and threw it at her, hitting her on her back. The glass immediately shattered, spewing all over the ground near her. Immense pain soared through her backside, knocking her fully to the floor. Belle almost blacked out, but willed herself to go on; telling herself worse was to come if she stayed here any longer. Belle put one hand on the ground, wincing as she felt shards of glass on her palms. She could feel her backside getting warm from her blood, feel herself getting woozy. In the background, the Beast was doing his best to break everything in sight. Belle could hear him flipping over everything in his path, knocking down the curtains punching the walls, howling from the loss of his rose.

With some difficulty, Belle still managed to get up. She ran for the door once more, for once glad she left it open. Going down the staircase was troubling, her back wincing at every step she took. Belle hoped down the steps, skipping multiple at a time. When she finally hit the last step, Belle jumped down, cringing as she did. She placed her left hand one her back and gasped as she pulled it back. It was drenched in blood. Belle could feel herself getting even dizzier, each second ticking by as though it were counting down until she blacked out. Not even bothering to reach for a coat, Belle ran out the door, fumbling with the handle as she did.

The snow stung Belle in the face as she opened the front door, slapping her awake with its sharpness. Her feet hit the snow in a raging struggling. With each step, Belle’s feet dug further into the snow, but that wouldn’t stop her from trying to get further away from this mansion.

After what seemed like a lifetime, Belle reached the front gates. Using up her last bits of energy, Belle pushed open the gates slightly, it slowing from the amount of snow on the ground. Belle fell to the ground in pain, her back giving out. Belle raised her head from the snow and took in the now dark reddish-brown snow that lay before her. With great effort, Belle grabbed onto one of the poles on the gate and pulled herself up. She staggered onward, not even wanting to look at the bloody trail she left behind.

Each step was like walking in a frozen hell, the snow dragging her down and making her numb. She was underdressed for being outdoors in this weather, only wearing her usual peasant dress. The cold nabbed at her wherever she was exposed directly and crept its way up her skirt. Belle shivered as she headed deeper into the woods, exposing herself to even more danger.

All around Belle lay trees and snow, but she knew it was more than that. Off in the distance, Belle could hear snow shuffling. Just above a hill in the dark, a wolf turned its head towards her, taking in her sweet, bloody scent. Its glowing yellow eyes sent shivers down her spine, and Belle knew she was nearing her end. The wolf made a grunting noise, snarling its teeth at her. A few moments later, two more wolves appeared at its side, taking in this easy kill. With one bark, the wolves took off, their silvery coats following behind them.

With a final sigh, Belle stopped moving. She fell to the ground, accepting what was to come of her. She rolled over onto her back, ready to give herself up to the wolves. She knew what she was putting herself up for when she stepped out the door with this amount of blood seeping from her. She should have known that the wolves were going to find her with ease. She knew there was no use in trying to fight them off, for she stood no chance against one of them, let alone three.

The last thing Belle would ever see would be those bright yellow eyes looking down at her, and her last memories of the wolves seeping their fangs into her flesh.