Beast (11 page)

I also missed seeing Buttons all the time. Without him, I felt even lonelier. Ever since I had changed, I had not seen him at all. I was not sure if he was affected by whatever made me this way or if he was afraid of me.

The visions frequently came when I wanted them to. Sometimes they would come without any rhyme or reason. It was better when they came on their own, because I always received more information from those visions. I was not always stuck in the same spot in my mind’s eye.

I could transport myself to where I wanted to be; I would go to the forest where the eight people riding horses were. But when I wanted to go to the Rose House, I could not. The Rose House would only appear when it wanted to.

The roses outside were still as awful, but now, with the transformation, I was unable to do anything about it. Instead, I would call to the Invisibles, who would help me at any moment with anything, to have them till the rose bed for me.

One day, when I was out in the yard, looking at the roses, I shut my eyes for a moment. Suddenly I was transported to the eight riders on the edge of the forest.

“How much longer do we have, Papa?” I heard a young lady say.

“I believe we just need to go through the Dark Forest,” a man responded.

“You know why it is called the Dark Forest, do you not?” another young lady asked.

“And why is that?” another young lady said.

“Well, you see,” one of the young ladies began, “there is an old legend that says …”

Usually, after this was said, the image would disappear from my mind’s eye. But this time, it was not fading away. I could see that there were three girls talking back and forth.

“Do not scare your sister!” the old man said.

“Oh, Papa. Just let me tell her!” one of the girls pleaded.

The gentleman must have nodded, because she proceeded to tell them.

“Well, you see, there is an old legend that says there is a creature that killed a couple on their way home from a party. No one knows why. Then, about a year after, a beast was found in their castle. It had supposedly killed everyone inside, including the couple’s only son,” one of the three girls explained.

“Well, what did it look like?” another of the girls asked.

“This creature is huge, with a wolflike appearance. It has a nose and mouth like a wolf’s, with razor-sharp teeth; tusks like a boar’s; golden, almost catlike eyes; fur all over its body like a bear; and ears that stand up like a cat’s, only bigger. It has horns next to its ears, which are half the length of its ears, and broad shoulders. It also stands upright like a man but can walk on all fours. He has a roar that is terrifying and can make your hair stand on end. They call it the Beast!” she told the group.

I heard gasps from a few of the people in the riding group.

“Oh, Evaline, you make up such crazy stories!” one of the girls said.

“It is not made up!” the one with the name Evaline said.

“Oh, okay. And how long has it been since someone saw this supposed Beast?” the same girl inquired.

“Well, I have been told that it has been one hundred years or so,” Evaline answered.

After that, the vision began to fade.
Were they talking about me? Or is there someone else like me?
I thought about it for a while.
They described exactly what my appearance was, but I did not kill anyone, especially my parents.

One day, not long after the transformation, I heard a knock on our huge wooden front doors.

“Can you please lead me to the front door?” I asked the Invisibles so that I could discover who was there.

While I was still too short to look out to see who it was, I asked the Invisibles to open the door a little.

“Who is there?” I asked the guest outside.

“It is me, silly—Ava!” she said.

I was so excited to finally hear from her! Oh, how I had missed her. My heart jumped for joy, and I smiled. I shoved the door open with joy.

As the door creaked open, the second she laid eyes on me, she let out a bloodcurdling scream and ran to her mother, who was on the pebble pathway.

Once her mother saw me standing in the doorway, she let out a scream also, and they both ran as fast as they possibly could away from the castle.

What was that all about? What frightened them so badly?

I looked down at the ground in frustration and sadness, and then I realized how I looked.

As they ran, tears filled my eyes and poured down my face. When the tears rolled down my cheeks, they soaked the fur on my face. Wiping them away only made it worse. Then my hands were wet from the tears.

As I shut the front door, I felt sick to my stomach.
Will I ever see Ava again? Why did not she come to the castle earlier?
Millions of questions were running through my head.

A few days later, while I was looking around Papa’s study, I heard something that sounded like our front gate. I pulled the chair over to the window to take a peek to see what it was. I saw people with pitchforks shaking the gate, trying to get it to open, yelling at the top of their lungs.

“Let us destroy that evil beast!” I heard someone yell.

“We need to kill it before it attacks anyone else!” someone else shouted.

They think that I killed my parents! They might even I think I killed everyone in the castle, including myself.
I became terrified, shuddering in my fear.

After the crowd of men shoved the gate open, they ran for the wooden doors. Once at the doors, they started pounding on them, shouting louder. In that moment, I became afraid for my life.

What will they do to me?
I started to tremble, and tears formed in my eyes. I fell to the floor as I began to weep.

“Invisibles!” I cried. “Please! Make those people leave, and hide my castle from everyone so that they cannot find me and I will be safe.”

After I said this, the banging stopped, along with the shouting.

I stood up on the chair again, and when I looked out the window, I saw no one. There used to be a trail in front of the castle, which was used as a road. But when I looked out toward the forest, the trail was gone. Instead, there were a lot of trees where it used to be.

“Thank you, Invisibles!” I said, my voice shaky. I sighed with relief and heartache.

Because of that incident, I did not think that I would ever be able to see another human being as long as this awful curse remained. This thought made my heart sink into my stomach. The loneliness that I had been feeling became worse. I was not sure if I would ever be able to have a conversation.

After that day, I started calling myself Beast.

Months began to pass more quickly than I expected. Because I was never tired anymore, I had to find things to occupy my time. One of my favorite things to do was to go into the library to read as many books as I could.

At night, I frequently went to the roof of the castle to watch the stars until dawn. Up there, I had a lot of time to think. The majority of the time, I was thinking about what was out there beyond the forest, out in the universe.

Somehow I still was able to practice piano. Having claws did not ruin my ability to play; in fact, playing almost became easier. As I played, the music soothed me, but not as much as the roses. Whenever I was around the roses, my heartbeat would slow to a regular pace, the tears would let up, my body would stop shaking, and my stomach would no longer ache.

Although I did not have anyone telling me I could not play the piano in the ballroom, I wanted to wait until I became older, respecting Mother’s wishes.

Finally, from time to time, I saw Buttons. But at the sight of me, he would become terrified and run to hide. I really missed spending time with him. How I hoped that one day he would get used to me so that he could act normally.

One day, after a few years had gone by, I was up in the library, reading one of my philosophy books. The windows were slightly open next to where I sat.

I finished the book, and when I went to place it back on the shelf, I heard something. As I searched, I discovered that the noise seemed to be coming from the Rose House painting. So I made my way over to the picture, and even though I had grown, I still needed to ask for a chair. After it was moved in front of the painting, I stood on it and touched the picture with my right hand.

Immediately, the Rose House appeared in my mind’s eye. It was a nice spring day. There was a light breeze that caused the roses around the house to sway. I was about one hundred feet away from the house, and I decided to walk closer. The last few times I had come to the house, the closest I had been able to get was a few feet away from the door. This time I was able to walk past that last “wall.”

When I was at the door, I moved my hand to the knob and turned it. I pushed the door, and it swung open a little. As I walked in, I finally was able to see what the inside of the house looked like. My heart began to pound as my curiosity increased.

Once inside, I noticed that there was a kitchen to my left, a table in front of me, and a couch to my right, with a few chairs near a lit fire. There was a door that was slightly open a few feet away from the fireplace. From what I could tell, the door led to a bedroom. Also, there was a ladder that led upstairs, where there were more beds.

While walking around the Rose House, I began to hear people talking. But when I attempted to find the people, there was no one to be found.

“I need more flour to make bread, Papa,” a young woman said.

“Okay, I will give you money to go to town to buy some,” said what sounded like an older man.

“Papa!” another young woman shouted after I heard a door open and close. “Have you seen the roses? I have been taking real good care of them. They look so beautiful!” she continued.

“Yes, my darling! Their smell fills up this house! Thank you for all the work you are doing!” he said to the young woman.

I heard someone else say something. But since the vision began to fade away, I did not hear entirely what was said.

While thinking about this last vision, I realized that the voices seemed really familiar, though I could not put my finger on why.

Years began to pass so quickly that I almost lost track. Before I knew it, several of my birthdays had come and gone. When I first had been transformed into the Beast, I was the height of an average six-year-old boy. But as time passed, I grew and grew.

One day, when I was maybe fifteen or so, as I was sitting on my bed, staring at the roses and taking in their aroma, I saw Buttons slowly coming into the room to eat. Although I was overcome by fear and nervousness, I did my best to stay still, because I did not want to scare him off. It had been so long since I had been able to pet him, let alone be around him.

When he finished eating, he jumped onto my bed and slowly and apprehensively walked over to me, sniffing the bed. Trying not to make a move was almost physically impossible for me.

As he sneaked closer to me, he walked even more slowly. My heart began to pound and jumped into my throat. My breathing became sporadic and shallow as he crept right next to me, smelling my fur.

When he did this, I instantly shut my eyes and held my breath. After surveying me for what seemed like an eternity, he finally rubbed up against my back, purring.
Has he finally realized that it is me in this body?

He walked around me and then stood on the nightstand. Still trying not to move, I kept my eyes on him. Buttons looked into my eyes and took a slow, wary step toward me. The next thing I knew, he was lying in my lap, purring.

At this, I began to weep hysterically, which caused me to shake, and it was difficult to breathe. Here was my best friend and he finally accepted me for me while in this body.

I slowly picked up my hand and brought it cautiously to his face. He moved his head to smell my hand. To my surprise, he began licking me.

I wrapped my arms around him and bawled into his fur the way I had when I was young. He embraced me, nudging his head against my face.

The next day, Buttons started following me around as he used to, leaving me only for a short time. The Invisibles must have been able to either read his mind or understand his meows, because he found his way around the castle better than I did.

By my twenty-first birthday, I was over seven feet tall. My body grew bigger, and I became stronger. Because of my size, I was no longer able to lie on my bed. It became just a cushioned seat for me to sit on while I came to check on the roses.

When my twenty-first birthday came, I did not want to celebrate my birthday any longer. So I did what I usually did on any other day. I walked around the castle after playing the piano that day and then made my way up to the roof. The sun was beginning to set, so the sky was filled with beautiful pinks and oranges. I lay down and closed my eyes for a brief moment.

When I did this, I was transported to the Rose House. This time, I was in the middle of the conversation that I had heard the last few times the Rose House had come into my mind’s eye. Because I already knew where the voices were coming from, I turned my body toward the voice that I would hear first, which was over by the stove, hoping to finally see someone, or at least something.