The Other Side of the Door

Chapter 15

Mr. Whitmore grunted, then pushed me in front of the mob. "Go. We will follow until we reach the castle. If you betray us, your father is dead." He tossed Chip to me, who I thankfully caught easily. It would have been a big problem if Chip had hit the ground and shattered. 

I nodded, then walked as fast as I could towards the castle. When I reached the front doors, I took a deep breath. My plan had better work, or I was going to severely pay for it. 

I entered the doors, and was immediately met with Cogsworth staring at me in shock. I put one finger to my mouth to keep him quiet as I made sure the door was adequately shut. I couldn't let any of the members of the mob hear what I was going to say. 

"Cogsworth, we have a problem."

"You're telling me. You haven't told the master you love him yet, and we're all about to die!" 

I gave him a funny look. "Surely you have a bit more time? When I saw the rose earlier there was still one petal left."

Cogsworth sighed. "That petal has been dangling for at least a week. It's gonna fall off any hour now. We're lucky if we have a day." 

"Well it's a good thing I'm here. We have a bigger problem, though. There is an angry mob outside waiting for me to bring them in to kill Elliot, and probably all of you." 

Cogsworth laughed. "We're all gonna die either way. Anyway, why do you have to let them in?"

I groaned. This was not how I wanted this to happen. "Cogsworth, this is serious. They will kill my father if I don't let them in. If all of you can at least hold the mob back, I can try and get to Elliot first. Then, they'll find him as a human, and all of you will be human, and we can just live in peace."

Lumiere walked in. "Did I hear someone say human?" 

"Yes. I need your help, Lumiere. There's an angry mob outside that I'm about to let in. I need you to do everything in your power to keep them from getting to Elliot."

"Aye, aye, Captain!" He shouted, and soon all of the servants were rushing in with as many objects as they could find. They stood still, as if they were inanimate. I was pleased with their work, and I decided to open the front doors. 

The mob rushed in like a bloodthirsty stampede. I caught Mr. Whitmore's eye, and he had a horrible grin on his face. It made me want to puke. 

"Alayna, where is the beast?" he asked, twirling my hair like I was a doll he could manipulate. 

"Truthfully, I do not know," I looked him directly in the eye, hoping that made me more believable. It was an honest answer, I didn't know exactly where Elliot was. I only had a really good idea of where I left him. 

Mr. Whitmore grunted, then turned towards the barricade. "What is this?" he yelled. 

I laughed. "This has been here. I don't know exactly why it's here. You just have to walk around it." I managed to get around without being stopped. 

Mr. Whitmore tried to follow me, but his shirt got caught by one of the servants. "I-I'm stuck. Alayna, come help me!" 

I chuckled, waving goodbye. "You'll make it out, I'm sure." 

I then sprinted to Elliot's office. I wasn't sure if he would be there, since it was more likely he would be in the enchanted room, but I figured I would stop in his office first. 

He wasn't there, which made me slightly bitter. If he could have just been there, we would have gotten this over with much sooner. Instead, I sprinted towards the enchanted room, praying that Mr. Whitmore hadn't gotten out. I started hearing screaming and yelling front the front of the castle, and hoped that didn't mean people were getting out. 

I opened the door to the room, but I didn't see Elliot. This worried me a lot, because if he wasn't there, I had no idea where he could be. That would make it much easier for Mr. Whitmore to get there first. 

I looked around the room, considering the fact that it was easy to hide in a room like that. There were so many objects that were easy to hide behind. "Elliot?" I called out. There was no response. I walked to where the rose was and found him staring at it, as if waiting for the petal to fall. 

"Elliot, there's something I need to tell you. I-," I was cut off by a knife being thrown across the room. I turned and found Mr. Whitmore standing there, ready to fight. 

"Alayna, get out of the way," he narrowed his eyes at me. I didn't move a muscle. He grunted, then turned his focus to Elliot. 

Elliot was a statue. He was still staring at the rose, as if begging the petal to fall. 

"You beast!" Mr. Whitmore shouted, pushing Elliot over. Elliot fell over, but he didn't seem to mind. In fact, Elliot seemed to welcome it. 

That broke my heart. He had given up on life, long before I had even met him. He welcomed death. I, however, did not want him to. It was kind of selfish of him to embrace death like that. If he died, I would die. My death would not be physical, though, but mental and emotional. I would never be the same. I would never love again. 

Mr. Whitmore continued to kick and throw Elliot across the room. In a way, it was quite impressive, because Elliot was not exactly small, or light. I ran over to Mr. Whitmore to hold him back, but he pushed me to the ground. 

This ticked Elliot off. I was on the ground, trying to recover as quick as possible, but Elliot had begun to fight back. It was like something had snapped inside of him. 

The two of them were on the balcony shoving each other, but Mr. Whitmore still had the upper hand. He managed to push Elliot off the balcony, which terrified me. Luckily, there was only further roofing underneath, and it wasn't an immediate drop into the open air. 

I ran over to see what was happening, and hopefully put a stop to it in some way. Mr. Whitmore was blocking my view of Elliot, but I could see enough to know that Mr. Whitmore was likely going to push him over the edge. 

"No!" I screamed. Mr. Whitmore turned to face me. The grin that covered his face was that of the devil. He bowed his head, and took a gun out from a holster. I didn't know how I missed that he had a gun, but I had. This made me sick. He was going to shoot Elliot, then shove him over the edge of the castle. 

I jumped over the side of the balcony to try and stop him. I started wrestling Mr. Whitmore for the gun, but it didn't do much. I jumped up trying to get the gun, but it wasn't working. It did, however, buy enough time for Elliot to stand up. He pulled Mr. Whitmore away from me, then pushed me behind him. 

"Don't do anything stupid," Elliot grunted. Mr. Whitmore charged at us, but Elliot pushed him back again. This time, however, Mr. Whitmore lost his footing. He began to fall backwards, losing his balance over the edge of the roof. 

I thought that perhaps that would be it. Mr. Whitmore would no longer be a problem. He was falling to his doom, and we would be able to return to peace. 

That was not the case, however, because as Mr. Whitmore fell, he shot his gun straight at Elliot's chest. 

And Mr. Whitmore had perfect aim.