(Multiple View Points) A Beauty and the Beast Reimagining.
She was Beauty. He was beast.
Anabella was a cashier and a waitress after leaving college to pay her father's medical bills. Brok was the prince of Sha and his mission was to conquer worl...
As the night went on, I could barely sleep. Brok's words just kept on hunting me during the late hours. The image of his face, his eyes and hair were upon me like a strong wall. The wall just continued to close around me by the minute. I turned and twisted under the covers. The pillow under my head bothered me several times, so I constantly changed its position, from placing it above my head, at the side of my head, folded it and then I hugged it. After several minutes, I tossed it out of the bed annoyed.
More minutes passed, I got up from the bed and grabbed the pillow again. I placed it again under my head and the game went on for several hours, from here to there, to everywhere just like the green eggs and ham book that I both loved and loathed as a kid. The pillow wasn't the only thing that distracted me. My position also distracted me, so I sometimes curled up like a ball to rest, but it wasn't good enough so I laid on my back, my front, my side and still nothing worked. Brok's words would not go away. "Will you marry me... because I love you."
Those words hunted me. What did he mean? Was he really in love with me or was there another explanation? Sometimes he seemed so sincere and kind, but other times he was cruel and harsh. I didn't know what to believe.
"I do not wish to pressure you and therefore I do not wish your answer in this moment..."
I tried not to feel pressured, but the words seemed to have an opposite effect. The night hours were just a torture to me because I wanted to sleep with all of my heart, but I could not. How would I face him tomorrow? I had no idea. I wasn't even sure of my feelings for him to be quite frank. This was madness. He was an alien and I was a human. How could a relationship between two different species work and could it even be possible? He was a humanoid, but still... it was strange. I didn't deny it, I was scared. How could it actually work out and what about this Earth food problem? In my heart, I knew that he was lying and now I knew why. He was risking his own health because of me, because he loved me. That in itself is only one of the many dangers of our relationship. Who knows what else I could do that could affect him adversely? What if I killed him with a kiss? What if his tongue had some substance that could kill me? He had fangs after all, so who knows what could happen? I seriously didn't know what to do or how to act. All I knew was that I was left with a bunch of unanswered questions.
This was madness. I wished I was back home with my brother and with my dad. Maybe if I would have turned out to be Luke Stevens' girlfriend I wouldn't be in this mess. Luke Stevens? Na.
Slowly, the tiredness weighed on me and my eyelids began to drop until they just closed.
"Good morning Miss Torres, rise and shine," a computerized voice said.
"Argh, not now," I said pressing my face under the pillow. How many hours had passed? I felt that I had just fallen asleep. No way was I getting up from my bed. I was extremely exhausted. The lights in my room however turned on in high and there was banging on the door.
"Anabella," Krimla cried out. My droopy eyes did not want to open. I yawned. I felt that I was truly a sack of bones. Krimla cried my name out again. I heard the shush sound of the door sliding open. Krimla's footsteps were audible to me. They had a squishy sound, kind of like the squashing a sponge.
"Krimla... not now, please... I'm tired," I whined.
"Anabella, is everything ready for the party?" She asked me.
"Yes, yes. I mean... no. I..." I said under the pillow.
"What is wrong with you?" Krimla asked.
"I'm sorry... I'm just..." - I yawned. – "So tired."
"Well, that is unfortunate. Would you like me to help you with your task?"
"No, gosh no," I said nodding my head. Krimla stood there for a moment looking at me, her hands firmly gripped on her hips. Her hair as usual moved like waves and her ash dark eyes pierced at me. I sat upright.
"Give me an hour and I'll come down. I really had a bad night," I said.
"Okay. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you that the master left a message for you on the chambo. Here," she said handing me the small device. I sat up.
"Thank you," I said grabbing it with trembling hands. Krimla just stood there, looking curiously both at me and at the chambo. I stared back and after a long and awkward silence between us until I decided I had enough spying on me for one day. I cleared my throat.
"Um, um, thank you. Is there anything else?" I asked her. She shook her head.
"No, not really," Krimla said.
"Okay, then if that's all you can go now. By the way... thank you for telling me about Brok... Prince Brok's condition," I told her. She nodded, turned around and left. I stared at the little object in my hand and it was as big as a box of matches. There was a little button on the corner side. I imagined that if I wanted to hear a message I would have to press that and so I did. His voice immediately send a chill up and all over my spine.
"Hello Anabella. I hope you are well this morning and that you had a good night sleep," he began. Yeah, right, I thought to myself as I continued to listen into the message. My heart was beating as I heard his voice though and I had a stupid tendency to smile. His voice pleased me.
"I cannot wait to come home to see how this party that you have organized. I am curious about it. I think it is an excellent idea for the other Sha members of the council to meet you. I have invited my parents as well. They have expressed an interest in meeting you. I will see you then my beauty. Take care," he said and the message was over. He's inviting his parents? I thought. Oh my God, this was serious. It was one thing to talk to random party goer strangers, but to his parents? Was he taking last night's silence as a yes? I don't even know what I still think about all of this. I had to admit that I did like him a lot. He wasn't the monster I thought he was, but love... I didn't want to think about it right now. I sighed and tried to go back to sleep for a while, but the effect of the message was too strong and I ended up twisting and turning. This time I decided to screw it. I was getting up.
So, I got dressed, went downstairs and ate breakfast as usual. Then I asked Rox to help me out with the invitations. I knew that Brok had already ordered all of the members of the council and Senate to come along tonight. I didn't know how many of them they were actually coming to this party. I only hoped for the best. After sending the invitations it was time to search for a dress. This would be a formal party, so I needed a formal dress. I headed towards the living room and began to scan for hours until I found the perfect dress.
"Wow," I said as I glared at it. It was perfect. The color of the dress ruby red. It was long and sheath shaped. The upper part of it was pattern laced. It had a boat neck that looked like a smile of a smiley face and what I liked about it the most was that it didn't show. My chest would be gracefully concealed. I knew that the long elbow length sleeves would look fabulous on my body and although the upper part was pattern laced, from the waist down the dress was made in soft satin, taffeta. It was stunning. Now all I had to do was to pass the image on the screen to the hologram intelligence program. I pressed the buttons to do so and in a matter of seconds the dress was in holographic form. I got up, touched the hologram and pulled it out until the dress was materialized out into the real world.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
