Never Say Never • Twilight

03 | MONSTERS AMONG MEN

Surprise?

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Forks has changed.

The reality of it hits Beau fully after the frightening encounter with the beast in the woods. Time passes by him in a daze after that and questions tumble around inside his head, filling his stomach with knots.

Since when has a beast lived here? Is there more than one? Does it want to hurt him? Does it want to hurt Bella and Charlie? If it does, how will he protect them, when he can't even stand up for himself?

Forks has changed so much that Beau doesn't know where he stands in this strange new world. So he settles by Bella's feet, where he's always belonged.

Beau isn't the only one in a weird mood though, it seems; Bella is too. When he glances up at her, he finds that entire body is tense, curled awkwardly into the chair at her desk. One of her feet are tapping absently on the floorboards, stringing along an uneven rhythm that reminds Beau of how his heart had pitter-pattered under the beast's gaze.

He nips gently at her ankles to get her to stop, and when Bella glances down, he sees that she looks a bit troubled. She tries to mask it behind a weak smile, and Beau whines in discontent. "What's up, Beau?"

Beau sits up so that he's no longer sprawled on the floor, arching his head so that Bella can scratch behind his ears. She does so within seconds, and some of the tension bleeds out of her posture, he small smile becoming slightly more genuine.

"You know, the weirdest thing happened in school a few days ago," Bella sighs, as she often does when something is eating away at her and wants to get it off her chest. Beau takes pride in the fact that he's the one she chooses to confide in, smiling at her encouragingly. "There's this guy in my Biology class, Edward. I've never even talked to him, but he gave me the nastiest look when I sat down next to him. I can't stop thinking about it."

Beau scoffs, already feeling a sense of disdain for this Edward guy. He licks the palm of Bella's hand as a gesture of comfort, and the smile Bella gives him in return is worth everything. It falls flat very quickly though, crumpled by an unpleasant thought.

"His eyes were unlike anything I've seen before, Beau. They were pitch black. I got chills all over my arms from the way he looked at me," Bella whispers like she's telling him a terrible secret, rubbing her thumb across his cheek. "It felt like my heart was going to beat out of my chest,"

Beau freezes up at that, his eyes widening considerably. He knows that type of fear — has felt it as recently as a few days ago. Could it be... the beast? It has met Bella?

It's in Bella's school?

Beau feels a growl building in his chest before he can contain it, and Bella blinks down at him surprise. "Beau? What's wrong?"

Beau grumbles and presses up against her, nuzzling his head into her leg as she attempt to soothe him with murmured reassurances and gentle pets.

By the time he's calmed down somewhat, Bella seems to be in a better mood, her own fear forgotten as she rises from her seat to get Beau a snack. Beau follows after her hastily, not wanting to let her out of his sight even as he reels from the knowledge he's become privy to.

There is a beast in Bella's school — perhaps not the same one he saw in the woods, but a beast a nonetheless. And it made the one person Beau cares for with all his heart tremble with fear. It's despicable, and yet there's nothing he can do about it.

"Here you go, boy," Beau's focus snaps back to reality, and he blinks up at the piece of bacon Bella is waving in front of his face. Even though he has no appetite, he snatches it off her fingertips just so that she won't be worried, chewing with what he hopes is a subtle grimace. It tastes good, but it doesn't matter. His stomach is already full of dread.

Once he's done eating, he sits in place as Bella moves around the kitchen, tidying and cleaning things at random. She's perked right up by now, humming softly to a song he knows he likes but doesn't know the name of. He watches her until exhaustion begins to settle over his bones and he drags his body back upstairs, into Bella's room.

He stalks towards his bed, but stops right before he gets to it, spotting something out of the corner of his eye. Bella's backpack is slumped carelessly on the floor, and Beau marches over to it, bringing his nose down to sniff it in the hope that he can discern the scent of the monster.

He can't. All he smells is Bella, books and other random, harmless scents that are impossible to pick apart. He steps back from the bag with a huff after a short moment, but makes a mental note to sniff it more frequently from now on. There's no way he's going to let the beast roam free without at least having some of way of recognising it.

As Beau trudges to his bed and slumps into it, trying his best to get comfortable, he wonders what the beast at Bella's school is is like.

Is it really good at playing human? It must be, to go to school. But for it to play human, it must not be as big as the one in the one in the woods. It must stand on two legs as well, so perhaps Beau could tackle it, or outrun it. But what if he can't do either? What if—

Beau whines and shakes his head, willing himself to fall asleep before he gets carried away by unpleasant thoughts. He tucks his head beneath his paws, blinking up at the ceiling blearily. 

Thankfully, it only takes a few minutes for his eyes close and his breathing to even out. But unfortunately, his dreams are plagued by the shadows of tall trees and monsters that hide among men to prey on the people he loves. When Beau wakes up again, he feels equal parts of bravery and distress in his chest, and he bares his teeth as a silent promise to all the monsters that exist in this strange, new world.

To the one who made his heart quake with fear, and the one he's not yet met, and the many more that are to come — Beau makes a vow to them all.

Anyone who tries to hurt his family will have to get through him first.

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Heyyyy... guess who came back after God knows how many years lol ^^;;

This chapter is very short and highly improvised because I am getting back into the writing grind. I'm not even sure if I like what I've written but I know damn well that if I don't publish this now, I probably never will. So, you get an update on Beau's story! I hope you like it at least. I can't promise you another update will come soon, but I am working on a few other stories, so you can look forward to those hopefully.

Thanks for reading!