THE BEAST

15: A Grand Epiphany

I didn't want to sound eager to forgive him or help him in any way but he was cutting much too slow and my stomach was rumbling like a beast in a cage. "May I?" I asked with my hand hovering over a spare knife.

It was much too dull to cut through human or beast flesh alike.

He gave a grunt for his answer and I steadily started slicing an apple. I didn't have to look up to see Grey watching me do so. His eyes followed the movement of the blade as it curved around the apple's crisp skin and dipped closely to the core.

Each slice I cut, I put in my mouth, too famished to wait. Grey watched this too. I soon became too insecure to ignore his eyes.

I locked mine with his and he didn't look away, didn't even blink. I was the first to look down.

"What's the debt that Jack owed you?" I randomly asked, taking another bite of the apple. Even while looking down I could sense his shoulders tensed and he seemed to grow taller by the rigidness of muscles.

I looked up to see him staring back down at me like he was trying to see something specific. He had a way of looking at me that made my toes curl. Terror, my brain reminded me. He terrifies you.

"He banned me from going near the forest line and trying to see you after... that day." He scoffed then, his sharp cheekbones shifting under the small flame beside him. "He made me swear to stay away until the blood moon." He scoffed. "As if he could fight me." Then a grimace overtook his face that made me stop chewing. "But he did have a way of getting me to listen and behave."

I went to open my mouth to ask him what he meant by that but a piercing whistle cut through the momentary silence. Grey slowly turned around and took a teapot off a hook. I wanted to laugh because it was a such a strange thing to see a big bad wolf have something as dainty as a teapot in his clutches.

He noticed my look and grinned, one side of his mouth pulling up in an alluring manner. "I know you like tea."

My face turned as cold as I could make it look at that. I didn't want to be friendly. We were not friends anymore.

"Did you drug it?" I bitterly asked, picking at the core of the apple that I demolished in record time.

Grey blanched back. It was humorous how before I regained my memories, Grey had been cocky and arrogant. Now, he seemed more afraid of me than I was of him. "What? No, of course not."

I refused to look at him as I tossed the apple core into the fire. I could feel sweat dotting my brow from the source of heat and catching a glimpse of the way the fire light glistened off Grey's bare chest told me it wasn't just me who was scorching in this temperature. But he didn't have a cloak draped over his body like I did.

"Do you ever wear clothes?" I asked with a grimace. I tried busying myself by plopping a few purple berries in my mouth. My heart clenched at the memory of Granny's wonderful pastries. I wondered if the Andrews' had enjoyed them as well.

It was easier after that thought to make myself shut out any pleasantries. 

"They are very confining," Grey answered with humor in his eyes. I shot him daggers and the amusement that glowed behind his dark irises vanished. It was like a cloud had covered the moon and the room appeared darker.

Good, I thought angling away from him on the stool. I don't want to look at you anyway.

We ate in silence, the Beast watching my every move and making it very apparent that he was doing so.

Jack's words bounced around in my head. It was like he found my way of life intriguing. Like he was studying me... That was what Grey was doing right now. He was predicting every move I made before I made it.

And then the voice added, If you leave him this time, blood will drip from the canopies and the people you love will suffer. This is no longer a fight you want to put up, child.

What was I going to do? I couldn't very well stay here for the rest of my life, locked up in a cave with no sunlight or room to breath. I had a family. I had a life. Or at least I was trying to make one. All I had here were memories and memories couldn't make a life.

"What do you plan to do with me?" I got up the courage to ask once my plate was clean. "I make a horrible flatmate. Just asked my friend Lynn. You should let me go while you can."

Horror suddenly fled through me at the thought of giving up a friend's name to this man. I calmed at the thought that Lynn was still in the city and was much too far for Grey to get to her even if he wanted to. Unless he stayed like a man... But I couldn't imagine Grey driving a car or even taking a train. Anything modern life didn't mesh well with someone who lived and looked such as him.

Lynn always claimed to hate living with me because I was too clean. I would go around picking every household item up and putting them in their exact place whenever she would frivolously walk through the flat. She always said she felt like she lived with an in home maid then a friend. I hated living with her because she lived like a pig.

Looking around the den I could see things were worse than living with Lynn. Bones of eaten meat laid on a pile on the floor and books scattered the bear skinned rugs like a tornado flew through a library. I am afraid that if it wasn't for the candles burning for added light, the place would stink to high heavens.

"I was thinking you need some fresh air," Grey answered turning his back to me to place his dirty plate on top of a steadily growing pile of dishware.

Like he had in the forest on the night he took me away from human civilization, an idea hit me. Maybe the only way to get away from the Beast was to play him like a fox.

"I was thinking this place needs a good cleaning as well."

He looked at my turned up nose of his dirty plates with curious eyes. I almost laughed out loud at the innocently look his sharp face portrayed at not knowing what I was talking about.

"If I am going to live here, I refuse to live like an animal."

At that remark he looked around the space. Even in the dark I could see how his facial structure softened at the thought and for a moment, I felt like I was betraying him.

But the pile of bones in the corner reminded me of my dead friend and the books on the floor reprimanded me that I had a life outside of those curved walls that I needed to get back to. 

"Would that make you happy?" He asked like a reprimanded boy just trying to please his caretaker.

"Yes," I managed to croak out through my tightening throat. I was never good at lying but now seemed like a good time to start.

It didn't take much instruction to get Grey to help me sweep the bones into a pile and dispose of them outside of the cave as well as gather up the dirty dishes into a rampsack to take to wash.

"Is their a pond or river close by to either gather water or sit by to wash these? And it wouldn't hurt to wash some of your clothes too."

"What's wrong with my clothes?" Grey asked with a slight sneer in voice.

"Believe it or not, but most people don't live like cavemen and they certainly don't smell like one. It wouldn't take long to wash and dry. The sun is out, is it not?"

Grey nodded with a shrug. I hated that I didn't know if it was day time or night. The feeling of running free was clawing at my insides like I am sure Grey's wolf did with him when he wanted out.

I needed to be patient. All good things comes to those who wait.

"So what are we waiting for?" I bellowed like a school teacher. I clapped my hands twice. "Pick up the sacks and I will gather the clothes and let's not waste anymore time. The world keeps turning, Grey, whether you want to participate in it or not."

Grey scurried around, looking slightly scared at my bossiness. I allowed myself to smile because for once, I was incharge.

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You might be noticing the title of this story changing! I have yet to decide what I should call it. I want to keep it original for the sake of the story because I fear no one will read if they don't understand that it is about Little Red Riding Hood lol. If any of you want to shoot me any ideas, I will be forever grateful and of course will credit it to you!