~The Hunter~
I let the match fall from my fingertips and onto the wooden floor boards. My world feels like it's playing slow motion. My brain feels cloudy. My heartbeat thunders.
It lands and the flame starts to multiply. It licks the wooden floors and fiercely dances about. Soon, this whole building will go up in flames. It'll be one massive fireball. It'll look like my heart.
I back up as the fire spreads. Wouldn't want to get burned. Then who would look after Belle?
I'm angry. That's why I'm doing this. The Beast took Belle away from me for so long and when I finally got her back she was brainwashed into thinking that he's capable of being loved! It's unbelievable. From the moment Belle rejected me, I knew this is what I had to do. I need her back. I've been fighting for her for months. . . I can't be left with nothing now.
Belle and my family. . . they must think that I'm crazy. I don't understand why. I've had everything I've ever loved slowly ripped away from me. Why is it such a crime that I want to get it back? Why is it such a crime that I want to be happy again? I've been broken for long enough.
The plan has to work. This fire is bait for The Beast to follow. I knew he would respond to the crime of arson because he did with Ryan Daniels. I want him to come here and try to stop me. Then, I'll kill him. He will pay for everything he has destroyed.
"It's the only way," I say to myself. "It's for the good of many people." I repeat these sentences over and over as the fire latches onto the walls and the ceiling. I slowly back away and towards the rusty door still whispering the phrase.
I've said it so many times that it becomes the only thing I know to be true.
Everything else in my life has failed me. Belle, my parents, my friends, school, my mental health. Everything has slipped away. When you have nothing what do you hold onto?
I don't know.
Therefore, I'm going to hold onto this. The possibility that getting rid of The Beast will make things go back to normal. It'll give me the life I use to have. The one that was simple. The one that was stable. The one filled with love and not burning anger.
I never would have thought I'd end up here. Surrounded by flames, clutching a gun, ready to kill a beast.
~The Beast~
Drops of water trickle down my hideous face. I stare at my reflection in the mirror. It's cloudy with condensation. Making a move to wipe it away, halfway through, my hand sort of drops, just giving up. My fingers trail down the mirror, leaving a scary imprint.
I close my eyes for a moment and just listen. The silence is louder than anticipated. So loud, it feel like my ears are bleeding and my heart is being squeezed to the point of suffocation.
I don't hear Carina's sweet humming or the clatter of the pots and pans. I don't hear Belle's light footsteps moving around the house. I don't hear the quiet whisper of a book's pages being turned. I hear silence. And it is unbearable.
Where is she now? How is she? Does she miss me at all?
I don't think I want to know the answers. It would only hurt me more.
My eyes snap open and I drag myself out of the bathroom. My tears blend in with the water droplets left over from the shower. My barefeet scrape against the wooden floor. It hurts and I'll probably get bruised but it doesn't really matter. It'll heal. The curse ensures that. But soon, any moment now, it won't.
The image of the crumpled rose hovering limply over the table flashes in my mind. Almost all of its petals lay scattered around the room leaving one clinging onto the bud.
My destiny has been sealed. I will remain a beast forever.
At one point, that seemed fine. I would have Belle by my side and because of that, it would be alright. But she's gone now. And so is my happiness. The thought of facing this reality alone forever is depressing.
I wander into her room for the hundredth time since I let her go. It's cold. It's empty. Bare. Hollow.
My steps become heavier as the crushing feeling on my chest does. The other once occupied room stands in front of me.
The kitchen.
The pots and pans hang where Carina last put them. The dishwasher and sink are filled dishes I've been meaning to clean. I just couldn't find the motivation. Does it really matter how this place looks? If it's dirty or spotless? No one is going to live here accept me and I'm as looking as disgusting as the place.
Carina is gone because I fired her. It didn't make sense to keep her here. She deserves to live her life outside these walls. She shouldn't be trapped here to babysit a beast. So I gave her some money and let her go.
Finally, I end up in the spot I've been living out most of my days lately. I'll probably live out the rest of my days here. In the most forgotten place of the mansion, the tower.
The stairs leading to it are hidden behind a bookshelf. My mother had it built in when I was little. She didn't tell my father about it. It was our secret. It was a place we could both go to hide from him and from all our other problems.
I had forgotten about it when I brought Belle here. It shows when I enter the narrow doorway. Cobwebs cover the edges and dust lines the curtains of the window in the corner.
The space is tight and compact. It would only take five steps to reach the other side and like the entryway to the second half of the house, it's not rectangular. It's circular.
Half of the circle is a couch build into the rim of the room and the other is just empty space. A big window lines up with the couch and the rest of the room, looking out at the land. Curtains my mother sewed cover the window.
In one angry motion, I yank them off. The sunlight doesn't come flooding in like I thought it would. Instead, a gloomy, rainy day is displayed. The clouds are a dark gray and rain drops dot the glass.
I sit on the couch and rest my head against the window.
The last petal will fall today. I can feel it. It's like a deep sadness residing in my chest. This is where I will wait for it to fall.
Here. Alone. Cursed.
The vibration in my pocket is what startles me out of my trance minutes later. I take out my phone and stare at it. My eyes land on the notification on the top. It's from a news app I had downloaded when I was still chasing criminals. It helped me know who to look out for or who to go after. It seems pointless now.
I'm about to delete it when the title of a news report catches my eye.
Breaking News: Young Man Sets Fire to Abandoned Building, Urging The Beast To Come After Him.
I know it's stupid. If I go, I'll give this guy exactly what he wants. Besides, any minute now, the last petal will fall and my powers will be gone.
But I want to. I want to get out of this empty house, be surrounded by people even if they can't see me, even if they want to kill me. I want it so bad. I need it.
Against my better judgement, I leave the mansion and go towards the man that wants me dead.
What if he succeeds?
Considering how my life is now, it wouldn't be so bad I guess.
~Beauty~
"Please," I beg. "You're an Enchantress. You have magic. Can you somehow find out where Grayson is? We need to go and stop him now!" I don't how the rules of magic work but, I'll take any chance we have.
"Yes," she replies, standing up from her seat. She closes her eyes and tilts her head, like she's listening to a soft melody. She stays this way for a moment and then her eyes snap open.
"Oh no."
I shoot up. "What? Where is he?"
"He's at an abandoned building. He set fire to it in order to trap Gale and it's working. Gale's on his way."
My mind starts racing. We are running out of time. Grayson is a step closer to becoming a murderer and Gale is a step closer to. . . being dead.
My heart squeezes at the image of Gale's body gone limp and cold and Grayson behind bars. More tears run down cheeks.
I will not let that happen.
"Tell me the address. I'll drive," I say while grabbing my car keys.
The Enchantress waves her hand as a piece of paper materializes in her palm. She hands it to me and I unfold it to find it has the address written in a familiar scripted hand writing.
Where have I seen this before?
Tyler Daniels. When he had gotten the anonymous notes leading him to Gale, it was written in this hand writing.
My eyes flicker between the witch in front of me and the paper. She sent those notes to him. She helped Tyler get to Gale.
A wave of betrayal crashes onto me.
Who's side is she on?
"Hurry, you need to go. I have to take care of some things but I will return soon," she says gathering her things. "I wish you the best."
I'm glad my mother isn't in the room because she'd flip at the sight of this.
The Enchantress raises her arms above her head as a golden ring travels from the bottom of her body to her head, transforming her into a raven. The raven lands on the couch, winks at me, and then flies out the open window.
Well, it isn't the craziest thing I've seen.
With a short bye to my mother, I charge down the apartment steps, knowing that I'll do anything to save the people I love.
Author's Note- Stuff is about to go down and I'm so excited for you all to read it! But for now, how was this chapter? Are you excited for what's to come? Vote and comment! :)