Finding Beauty

Chapter 34

I hear a car slam on it's brakes. I see the blinding light of two headlights come close. I hear the honking of a horn. I turn and see a red pickup truck coming straight towards me. My body freezes and all I can do is stand in the middle of the road and watch.

The car stops about an inch away from me. I tumble back onto the ground, breathing hard. A person rushes out of the car and bends down beside me. After my eyes adjust to the light of the headlights I see it's Carter, a friend from school. At least, until that fight we had weeks ago.

"Hey man, are you okay?" he asks his eyes wide.

I nod my head, still trying to get my mouth to form words. "Yea- yea I'm okay." He helps me up and things become awkward because of the unresolved conflict. I know an apology to him would fix it all. But I don't want to apologize. Why should I? He was the one disrespecting Belle.

"Look Grayson, I'm sorry about how things ended with us a while ago." He bites his lip and looks back at his truck. "You need a ride somewhere?" Shocked at his kindness, I almost tell him I'm good. But then an idea surfaces.

"Yeah, actually. That would be great." The drive there is long and quite. I could tell Carter still felt a little awkward by his glances my way and finger playing at red lights. Though my mind was occupied.

"You can leave me right here," I say as I open the car door and hop out.

"You sure? This neighborhood looks kind of sketchy..."

"I'm sure. Thanks." I walk towards Castle street. The busted up building where everything started looms over me. The door to the building is unlocked so I continue, looking straight ahead because I know where I'm going.

The apartment The Beast once inhabited is no longer condemned. After two weeks they decided they got all the information they could from it and from my research they put the apartment up for sale but haven't cleaned anything out yet.

Since the apartment doors are cheaply made, all I have to do is give it a couple quiet thumps to get it to open. I quickly and quietly shut the door behind me. My fingers find the light switch and with a flicker, they come on. The place doesn't look anything close to how I expected it to. It is modern and clean. A jewel compared to the rest of the building.

The Beast must be rich.

The hard wood floors glimmer beneath me as I wander the place for anything that could help me find The Beast. I know that to anyone else this would seem silly. Detectives, highly trained professionals, already did a sweep and didn't find anything. What makes me think I would? My desperateness.

I go through the drawers, cabinets, even the couch cushions and under the bed mattress. To my dismay, everything is normal. There is nothing out of place. In fact, everything looks untouched. Like no one ever lived here. Like a murderer didn't flee from here. Like my best friend wasn't kidnapped here. Like my whole life wasn't ripped away here.

"I hate you," I whisper into the silent air. "You took her away. Why? I thought you only messed with criminals!" I kick the coffee table beside me. "Belle didn't do anything to deserve this!"

Even more upset than before, I storm out of the apartment.

"Easy there, son!" an older man says as I almost crash into him. He's short and frail with white hair resting atop his head. A big set of keys hang from him pants. He has to be the landlord. "What were ya doin' in that apartment, huh?"

I gulp totally caught off guard. "I... uh.. You see-"

"Ah! You must be the guy I hired to dispose of the garden!" The old man concludes with a smile. "After that criminal guy was found to be living here he left the garden untended. It needs to be cleared up before I can rent it again. Well, follow me! The garden sure ain't in that apartment."

He begins to limp away, leading me to the garden. Deciding to go along with his assumption, I follow. He's showing me to the garden Belle's mother went into and stole from. Maybe I'll find something there.

"It's a little startling that I rented an apartment to a murderer, I tell ya," he blabs as we reach the first floor and exit out back. "But it is what it is."

A row of gardens line the back of the building. Each having chipped white fences around them. We stop at the last garden near an alleyway. The landlord shuffles through his keys until he comes upon the one that fits the door between the fence and unlocks it. "There you are. I'll leave you to it."

"Thanks," I say and push open the door. It takes time for my eyes to adjust to the light that seems to be radiating from the garden. As my vision clears, I step farther into the garden and boy, Belle's mother was right. This garden is glorious. And possibly magic.

Author's Note- Feel free to vote and comment! Hope you loved it!