The Beauty and The Gentleman

Chapter 2: A New Beginning

Chapter 2: A new Beginning

When my eyes opened, I wasn't where I remembered. It was a new place. It didn't take me long to see that it was a bed I was lying in. I hadn't been in a bed for.....I can't remember. What I was used to was a scratchy old blanket and a moldy pillow on the floor. Nothing as nice and grand as this.
Letting my eyes adjust, I started to study my surroundings. The ceiling was the most magnificent thing I've ever scene. Paintings of young babes being stolen by little people with wings that glew in the moonlight. The sky was covered in all types of colours from purples and blues to pinks and silver. The stars portrayed as small dots that spiraled out into beautiful patterns across the sky.
My focus moved down to the walls where it was continuing from the roof, down to the Earth. Shades of green made the long soft grass, , tree's painting with browns for the wood, greens and yellows for the leaves.
Stones were painted as well. However, they weren't stones. They were little houses made of stone and moss, camouflaged perfectly to fit it's surroundings.
It was all so....so very beautiful.
I blinked once before sitting up in the bed, the sheets were made of a material so soft it didn't take a genius to know that it was silk.
My skin shivers and prickled as I left the warm cocoon of the covers, and pressed my feet to the carpet. I was like heaven against my feet.
It was as white as snow but soft, tickling my toes.
Lifting myself up, I heard almost every part of me give a satisfying crack. It was as if I'd been sleeping for a thousand years. A knock on my door caught my attention.
When I opened my mouth, I found it hard to speak so when I said "Yes?" it sounded like an old mans, crocked and raspy.
A strange woman came into the room, dressed when a black skirt and blouse, with white lace lining the edges, the buttons down her blouse, also white.
Her messy hair was tied into a bun, bits of it falling out over her face. She seemed to be an older woman, maybe fifty or sixty.
"How are you dear? I see you've gotten up by yourself. That's surprising due to the state my master found you in." Her face was warm and comforting.
"The state?" Suddenly my mind flashed back to that night..the blood...all that blood. My legs collapsed from under me and I held onto the wooden bed posts for support.
The woman rushed to my side and held onto me.
"Are you okay dear? You look like you've seen a ghost. Do you want to lie down?" I shook my head and recovered myself.
"Well then, Master's been asking for you for days. He thought it would take a night for you to get your strength back but what did he expect, a miracle?" She grumbled to herself and shook her head.
"How long have I been out..?" I asked.
"For several days Hun. The Master's been eager to meet you so we best make you presentable." She pushed me over to the other side of the room, where a wardrobe stood, next to it a small wall that was used to hide behind so you could change in peace.
The little woman urged me behind it. I could hear her rummaging through the wardrobe until I heard her say "Here it is! Try this on." She threw it over to me. Slipping off my sleeping wear, I put on the dress and moved out from behind it.
"Could you tie me up please...?" I asked in a quiet voice. She nodded and moved behind me. I could feel her fingers working as the corset-like back, pulling it tighter to much my slim figure. After she finished, she back to work on my tangled brown mess on the top of my hair.
The brush she used scraped against my scalp, making my cringe as she pulled at each mattered knot. I could then feel her putting my hair up into a bun with a braid that circled around it, securring it with a pin.
She clapped her hands in satisfaction. "Go look!!" She pushed lead me towards the full length mirror on the inside of the wardrobe.
A gasp escaped my lips.
The girl I was looking at was no longer the girl who's ribs stuck out, bruises across her frail skin. No.
This new girl was one of grace and elegance. She wore a beautiful yellow dress. The top of it came down into a V-shape, the small sleeves fell down to her shoulders, a small button in the middle.
The skirt flared out to reach my feet, ruffles making their way down.
My brown hair was no longer matted and greasy. It was light and perfectly put up, without a single stand out of place.
The old woman handed me a pair of yellow slippers and gloves, that once put on, reached the top of my elbows, she then lead me out of my room and closed the door behind her.
She walked me through a large corridor that every time we passed a painting, I stopped to gaze upon it. All the painting were of men's faces, whether old or young.
"Those are the previous men of the house Miss." the little strange woman told me.
As we came to the end of the corridor, we reached a stair case, and at the end of it was the most beautiful man I had ever seen. His hair was auburn and reached to the bottom of his chin. His face was like a picture, drawn my the most talented artist in all of France.
His eyes met mine as I made my way down the stairs, having to lift my dress to prevent myself from walking on it.
His eyes...they were the most woody brown, like melted chocolate.
He nodded at me, taking in my appearance, as if he were making his decision about me.
Taking my arm in his, in his perfect voice that could make any woman swoon and any man become envious he said one single word..
"Come."