"What can I do, Prince, to make you happy?" said Beauty.
"Only be grateful," he answered, "and do not trust too much to your eyes. Above all, do not desert me until you have saved me from my cruel misery." -Madame de Villeneuve
Chapter 15:
Screams full of pain and agony met her ears and the sound shook her to the core.
With each of his cries she could feel the misery, that filled the air, course through her veins.
He moaned her name as if she only could bring forth relief and tears prickled at her eyes as a wave of helplessness washed over her. Darkness swirled around her as the trees of the forest hid any light from the night sky above her, causing even more distress to fill within her.
Desperate to find him she ran, ignoring the branches and thorns pricking at her bare feet.
The physical pain was nothing compared to the pain of not finding him when knowing he was in so much pain.
"Evelyn."
She woke with a start, the blankets that once covered her body, had been thrown off, and her chest was heaving as she tried to calm her breathing.
Evelyn rarely ever had nightmares, most of her dreams she remembered dealt with the stories she had read or just with normal day life. The only nightmares that she ever experienced were the ones about losing her mother.
She had never experienced anything that had felt so real.
She could have sworn she could still hear the man's pleading voice calling her name and the dread that pulsed through her veins at each dying whisper.
It felt more like a memory than a nightmare.
Whatever it had been, she tried to shake the chilling feeling away and got dressed for the day. Her room had been stocked with dresses of every color and occasion, but Evelyn chose the most simplest one, hoping it would help her feel more at home and not so out of place.
Suddenly a wave of dizziness washed over her and she placed a hand on the wall for support. She blinked quickly, but her vision blurred and she leaned more heavily on the wall as a strange sight flashed before her eyes.
Hands cradling a dancing flame.
She could feel the warmth of the flame on her palm, as real as the wall she could still feel her body leaning upon.
It left just as quickly as it came upon her and she rubbed her hands together nervously trying to rid herself of the strange feeling.
Besides the strange morning the rest of the day was quite uneventful. She explored the castle some more but had not caught sight of neither one of the three alleged illusions.
She didn't know how much longer she could stand being alone and she wondered why the Beast would choose to be cloistered up and shut out from every living soul.
As night fell she heard a bell ring, calling her to dine, but she ignored it and found herself in a small library. Her spirits soared as she ran her finger down the spine of one of the books, tracing its gilded letters tenderly like a lover.
She had always loved reading. Her father had always been pleased with her enthusiasm but wished that she would delve more into the genres that of history and science, rather than fiction and adventure. She would usually comply to her father's wishes once in a while, but snuck another fantasy book under her pillow to read with candle light. But the stories she had read and loved had filled her with a longing for something incredible to happen. Yet, there she was, stuck in a mysterious castle owned by the Beast keeping her prisoner.
Be careful what you wish for.
She couldn't lie, that kind of story would have intrigued her, but living something like this was far different from reading it. She had no clue how it would end or even if the final chapters were approaching.
The bell rang again, this time more forced and shrill causing pain to slowly rise behind her eyes. She furrowed her brow and lightly pressed on her temple hoping to relieve the pain. As the floor began to spin around her she clumsily sat down on one of the small couches and breathed heavily as she tried to bring herself out of the spell of dizziness.
All the while the bells continued to ring, but Evelyn didn't notice until they stopped and the sound of footsteps replaced their sound.
" Are you Deaf as well as foolish?"The Beast thundered out but then faltered when his eyes fell upon Evelyn, head in her small hands and desperately trying to suck in air with her short breaths.
The fury behind his eyes melted away as does the snow when the earth welcomes spring with a warm embrace.
"What's wrong? Are you ill?" He voice was softer and laced with worry.
Evelyn slowly looked up and her vision was swimming so much that she could barely even focus on him standing before her. Suddenly excruciating pain gripped at her shoulder and she felt her body lurch and fall back against the seat.
His screams rang out and filled her head as a strange sensation came over her. She could still feel her body against the couch shaking uncontrollably as the Beast placed a cool cloth on her head. Physically she was there, but her consciousness was somewhere else entirely.
Images flashed before her but too quickly for her to register until an arm came to her mind's eye. A gaping wound, irritated and bloody, blazed angrily. It was so deep that a glimpse of bone could be seen.
Evelyn's stomach churned, but she could not look away.
What could cause this?
She heard the Best trying to talk to her and she tried to block out the screaming to hear what he had to say. Desperate for an explanation on why this was happening.
"You have to tell me what's happening." He said urgently. "What are you seeing?"
It took a lot of effort for Evelyn to form words, but she felt her lips move and said, "Someone is being tortured, I don't know how, but I know he's dying."
She felt a cold stream of tears roll down her cheeks and she whispered, "I don't want to see this, please make it stop."
"I can't bring you back." The Beast said sighing heavily, "Only you can do it."
"Listen to my voice and pull yourself toward it. Feel your body; where it is and what it is doing. Try to still it completely."
Evelyn listened to his words and tried to not focus on the nightmare before her eyes. She felt her body shaking and she slowly willed herself to relax and breath before she was still and she knew she was back.
Evelyn opened her weary eyes to see the Beast with a relieved expression, but curiosity swam in his eyes.
With sleep calling her name, she whispered, "What happened?"
The Beast shushed her. "Not now, you must rest."
She welcomed sleep as the darkness consumed her.
What the heck happened to Evelyn? :O
I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'm so excited to unfold some more interesting things ;)
Now, I must ask all my lovely readers something important!
If you could go to the Fanfiction Awards 2016 on thefanfictionawards page and nominate this story (or any others that you like of mine) I would literally cry with joy!
Instructions are super easy and doesn't take long to nominate at all!
Thank you all for reading,
God bless
-Em