~Beauty~
"No, Belle. I was the first one. Touch it and you'll understand." I stare at the rose already knowing something magic will occur when my fingers meet it's petals. Putting all hesitations behind me, I touch it.
As soon as my finger tip connects with one of the petals it sends me into a numb state. I can't move. All I can do is watch images play in my head like a movie, covering the images my eyes see. My ears no longer hear the creaking of the floorboards or Gale's unsteady breathing. They hear police sirens and a car engine that almost drowns out the sound of a young girl calling for help.
"Help!" she cried her voice raspy. I saw her frail figure waving down the police car that was coming towards her on the side of the road.
It slowed, holding a young man in it. He wore the standard gear of a police officer minus the badge. In it's place was a sticker that read, "Officer In Training". He should've been in the company of a real cop but something tells me the young man was never the one to follow rules anyways.
The young man parked his car with a sigh, hoping this wasn't any big deal. If the department found he was driving around without supervision he'd be in big trouble. He got out, slamming the door shut behind him.
Both the young man and I were shocked to see the little girl's appearance. From afar she seemed quite average but up close, it was a different story.
Her eyes were a sick green color with bloodshot veins in them. Her skin beaten and bruised so badly she was left deformed. Her clothes were tattered, ripped, and covered in who knows what. She was painful for both of us to look at but for two very different reasons. The thought of what she must have gone through hurt me but her hideousness is what hurt the young man.
"Woah...Uh...what..." he couldn't find his words. His hand resting on the taser they let him keep in his belt. He took a few steps back as the girl took some forward.
"Please help me! I don't know where I am! I was with my mommy one second and then...and then... I don't know!" the girl broke out into sobs that squeezed my heart. She pulled at her hair that was already missing pieces and almost choked on her own breaths.
The young man was quickly searching for a way out of this situation. This was obviously a big case of abuse, maybe even kidnap, but he couldn't be the one to report it or he'd be ruined! He would get in trouble and possibly lose his chance at being a cop. Besides, the girl was repulsing to look at, he wouldn't make it through the car ride.
"Listen, little girl," he said as comforting as he could manage, which wasn't very. "There's a police station a few blocks that way," he pointed to a bright light barely visible in the night time, it had to be at least a mile away. "You can walk there and they'll help you."
The young man was not concerned about the health and well being of the girl. It was totally disregarded. He was utterly and extremely selfish.
The girl's eyes widened, she was perplexed. "But you're a police officer. Why can't you help me?"
"Uh...Cause I'm not a real one, okay?" He backed away until he was safely next to the car. "I'm gonna go now and you can just go to the station for help. But you can't tell them you saw me, alright?" He swallowed hard and climbed in, even locking the door for extra measure.
"No!" the little girl screamed, tears streaming down her face. "I'll get lost! I just want my mommy! Just bring me to her and I'll leave you alone! Please, please, please," she begged running up to the car. "Why won't you help me?"
The combination of the girl's innocent features and words should've been enough to melt the man's heart. But they didn't. His heart was hardened and dusty from it's lack of use.
The little girl seemed to catch sight of herself in the car's mirror. She gasped and then said,"Is it because of how I look?"
The words sent chills up the man's spine. Yes, it was because of the way she looked. He just couldn't help her. Someone else would and even if she was saved would her life even be worth living? He had a hard time seeing her mom accept her with open arms. Who could? She was hideous. A monster.
"Sorry," he mumbled, even though he didn't mean it. As he drove, a scream shredded through his ear drums. It was unlike anything he heard before. It was high pitched and filled with pain and hurt. It pierced his ears until they were bleeding and the windows of his car were shattering. That's when he saw her. The young girl standing in front of his car. How? He had driven blocks away from her. She couldn't have caught up.
He marveled at what he was seeing.
The girl stared at him with such a fierce gaze that it hurt to look. Her sickly colored eyes slowly changed shades, the pupil of her eyes melting and hardening till it was the shade of a beautiful emerald. Then her tangled blonde locks floated due to an unseen draft. They combed themselves and turned into golden waves that cascaded down the back of the newly woven red dress on her body. It clung to all the right spots and the skirt bloomed out from her waist like a flower in the spring. Her age changed to. Each facial feature matured until she was about 20 or so and the most beautiful woman the young man had ever seen.
He hit the brakes just in time for the car to stop right in front of the her. She placed her hands on the hood of the car, a mystical purple mist radiating from them. He quickly raced out of the vehicle, not knowing if he should be afraid or amazed.
He realized he should be fearful the moment the woman snapped her head in his direction. The wind started to pick up drastically and thunder clouds rolled in above them.
"You, Gale Princely, are a monster!" her voice was even more powerful than the storm and her tone more bitter than anything he'd ever tasted. "Turning away a helpless child because of her appearance is the last straw!"
The young man began to shake. "What do you mean? She wasn't even real...Was she? What's going on?!"
Ignoring his questions, the woman prowled over. Each step creating a flash of lighting in the sky. "I have been watching you for a while and it is clear you are not fit to have such a responsibility." She pointed to the empty badge space on the man's chest. "No, you deserve a taste of your own medicine. I will have mercy and let you learn your lesson but it will also invoke enough pain to punish you for everything you've done."
Hardly processing the woman's words the young man stumbled looking for a way out. "Don't come any closer! My dad is a very important man and you will get into big trouble if-"
"Gale Princely, you will be made to be as hideous as you are in the inside on the outside. The only way to break this curse and everything that follows it is if you have a change of heart and perform an act to prove it."
The young man felt something in him change, something deep inside. Then he began to shift, getting bigger and stronger. Colorful, curvy, and pulsing lines burst through his skin, making him shriek in agony. Fangs ripped out of his gums and his nose fell back into his face like a pig snout. He couldn't see himself but he could tell he was hideous, even more so than the little girl. He could feel it. He would have thought it was just a nightmare but the pain was all too real.
"Your outward beauty will die and until the curse is broken it will remain dead. You have until the last petal falls to break the curse. If you don't, you will remain this way forever."
The word seemed to play in his head over and over and he knew it would haunt him forever.
Just before his eyes rolled back and unconsciousness overtook him, he saw a single red rose fall to the ground in front of him.
It was him. Gale Princely was dead.
Author's Note- I hope you loved this chapter! Let me know what you think and vote! ❤