THE KEEPER [Beauty & The Beast retelling]

Tick Tock goes the clock

The days that followed weren't exactly easy for Mona, nor were the nights. During the day, she suffered, watching her father wither inch by inch into his skeleton. His cough worsening.

'Why don't you let me take you to the doctors, Dad?' Mona had begun to lose patience. 'Your coughs sound terrible!'

'I'm fine, Belle. You go back to your work!' And equally, her father was getting stubborn.

And between looking after him and the other children of the house, for that's what they were, Mona was beginning to wish for some comforts her stay at Beast's had provided. A moment for herself, doing whatever she set her heart to. 

The days had her worry, but her nights were full of terrible nightmares that left her trembling awake. Night after night, she'd been dreaming of Lucifer. And night after night, the dreams had gotten darker and darker though, in her dreams, he grew less and less like a beast, and more and more like a man. A man of her dreams, but a man suffering. Till one night she woke in such fright yelling his name into the cold air that an echo lingered over her. 

'Lucifer?!' She murmured in the dark. For days, she had tried speaking to him, or the voice of him in her head, but for days he'd remained quiet. This night, it was different. This night, she'd seen him die, or the man he'd become die. The dark corridors of his palace unlit. The rooms once filled with unexplained life now soulless. The voices she'd hear in the corridor gone. Nothing remained but a beast who grew weaker and weaker dream by dream till he stopped roaming the hallways. Till all that remained between her and him was the wall of thorns, the door she'd once seen. This night she'd heard his agony from beyond the door like so many nights. This night, she'd gone in. This night, his moans and groans had fallen silent like never before. This night, the man lay dead upon his bed, a frail thing. 

'Lucifer.' She called gently into the night, her eyes barely making out the shadows in her room. 'Are you there? Can you hear me?'

Moments stretched as eons and finally, his voice broke through, feeble. 'Yes, beauty. For now...'

Mona squinted her eyes. Was that a flicker of his shadow along the wall. 'Are you okay?

For the briefest moment, his eyes glowed red. 'Never better. You? Enjoying your stay?'

Mona rose from her bed slowly. 'I don't think you are okay.' She could hear his labored breathing as she stepped closer to nothing but a wall. 'Won't you tell me what's wrong?'

'Sleep, dear Mona. For tomorrow, will be another day.' His voice floated and echoed around her head. And then he was gone.

'Beast? Are you still there?'

Mona couldn't sleep all the rest of the night. Something untoward was happening and she could feel it. She flew around in a trance all day, from getting breakfast in bed for her father to getting ready for work. She couldn't make sense of her worry. Beast was fine. She was sure of it.

She found a seat on the train and soon, let the restless night catch up with her.

'Have you come?' Lucifer asked quietly from beyond the glaring white light.

Mona blinked till her eyes adjusted. The room was dusky, the curtains still were drawn. The massive four-poster bed loomed ahead of her and she recalled the ghastly thing she'd once seen on it. This time, there was no sign of anyone, bar the slept in bed.

'Come closer.' 

Mona stepped closer to the head of the bed but remained at arm's length. It wasn't until she saw a striking young man drowned by the folds. His honeyed eyes locked on her with a sly smile. 'Don't tell me I still terrify you?' He laughed, a rough, raspy laugh.