The Beast of Beauty (4 page)

I waited inside at the dining
room table for my parents to come home. I knew that they had been at a meeting
and would be walking through the door together, which gave me a tiny bit of
hope. I’m not sure that I would have been able to face my father alone.

I caught a glimpse of my face in
my reflection cast on the table. Even though it was ten times less visible than
my face was in the mirror, I could still see all of the cuts and bruises on it.
Sighing, I leaned back in my chair so I couldn’t see it at all. I had cleaned
up my face as well I could, and there wasn’t any blood streaming down it
anymore, but my mother would still probably lose it when she saw it. This was
the first time I had ever gotten into a fight, and it was obvious that I lost.

I heard the car pull up, both
doors open and shut, and then nothing. I silently wished that they would be
chatting when they opened the door, but there was no noise.

My mother came through first. She
didn’t have her usual smile on, letting me know that they knew I didn’t make
the team. What she didn’t know was how terrible my face looked.

“DANIEL! WHAT ON EARTH HAPPENED?”
she ran over and fell on her knees in front of my chair, examining my face. Her
concern nearly broke me into pieces. I didn’t realize how much that I had
needed concern today.

“I got into a fight,” I mumbled.

“Over what?” my father said
calmly.

“Some guys bumped my car as I was
driving home,” I explained. “So I pulled over to confront them, and we ended up
getting into a fight.”

His face was filled with concern
for his car, “WHAT? How bad is the car?”

“Not too bad,” I said.

“Not as bad as your face?” my
father asked mockingly.

I looked down, “No, it’s not as
bad as my face.”

“Did you know who the boys were,
dear?” my mother asked, still shocked at my condition.

“Yes,” I said, but I didn’t want
to elaborate.

“Your mother was implying that WE
would like to know who did it so that we can press charges,” my father said.

“Jasper was the one who hit the
car. There were four other boys with him, and they were the ones who ganged up
on me,” I explained.

“So, you didn’t even hit the guy
who hit the car? Way to protect your belongings,” my father scoffed.

“I tried to hit him!” I argued,
“But the other guys stopped me and attacked me!”

“Why would you try to hit Jasper?
He’s your friend,” my mother said, looking confused.

“We aren’t exactly friends
anymore,” I muttered.

“Who were the other boys?” my father
asked.

“You might not know them,” I
said, trying to get out of the conversation.

“Let me guess,” he said, “Zeke,
Elliot, Troy, and James?”

I said nothing.

“It was, wasn’t it? You got beat
up by the boys who actually MADE the team today? I would be totally fine with
it, if it were some kind of initiation thing… but no. It just happened to be
some kind of humiliation thing, as if we all weren’t humiliated enough,” he
said, acting as if my not making the team was the worst thing that had ever
happened to our family.

“I’m sorry that I didn’t make the
team,” I said, hoping that my apology would be enough.

“I don’t understand,” he said,
“We practiced all summer. Do you act like a completely different ball player
when you are actually in practice or something?”

“I don’t think so, Dad,” I said,
but I really wasn’t sure. Did I crack under the pressure of being in practice?

He was done trying to understand.
I saw shame well up in his face, as well as anger because he was being made to
feel shameful.

“I’m taking away your car,” he
said, “Only real men get the opportunity to drive cars.”

I lowered my head. I should’ve
seen that coming.

My mother finally spoke up,
“Stan, he really did try.”

“I don’t care, Sarah!” my father
yelled. “There is no reason for failure if you give it all that you have got.
Failure happens when you are lazy.”

“What if I’m just not as good as
the other players?” I asked.

“Then there’s something wrong
with you,” my father explained. “Go to your room.”

I walked to my room in shame. I
would never be good enough for anyone or anything, and I couldn’t stay in our
house for even a second longer.

I didn’t grab anything as I snuck
out of the window. I knew that I would be back soon; I just needed some air. I
knew a walk through the woods would help clear my head.

It wasn’t long into my walk that
I heard noises in the distance, so I decided to head toward them.

The closer I got to the noises,
the more I began to recognize voices, the loudest one being Jasper’s. The group
was gathered around a campfire. I snuck around and hid behind some trees so
that I could listen but not be seen.

“Zoey, it wasn’t real,” Jasper
said. He had his arm around her and pulled her close to him.

“You just saw it!!” she yelled,
“Not even thirty minutes ago!”

James laughed, “Zoey, we have all
had so much to drink that I really doubt you saw anything either. There’s
nothing like that in these woods, or in real life anywhere.”

The group roared with laughter,
all except Zoey. She looked like she had really been frightened by whatever
they were talking about.

Jasper noticed her withdrawal
from the conversation, “Zoey and I have to head out, guys.”

She looked relieved that she
didn’t have to talk about it anymore. They got up and went to Jasper’s truck.

“I can’t believe that he finally
got her,” Zeke said.

“Yup, and he’s gonna seal the
deal tonight!” Elliot slurred.

I used the sound of the engine to
cover up the sound of my steps as I ran. Zoey had been my girlfriend hours ago,
and she was already heading off to do who-knows-what with Jasper.

I ran and ran, trying to outrun
the sound of my heart as it was being ripped to shreds. I had nothing left. No
girlfriend, no friends, no family, no car, no team.

As if it could get any worse, the
rain started pouring down. I didn’t care, though. I kept running. After a while
as I calmed down, I realized that I had no idea what direction that I had been
running in. I sped up, trying to erase the fear of being lost from my mind,
when there suddenly wasn’t any ground beneath my feet anymore.

I fell for what seemed like
forever, and landed in a mess of muddy leaves. The pain in both of my ankles
was so intense that I tried to scream for help, but no sound was coming out. I
lay in despair, because I knew no one would be able to hear me over the thunder
anyway.

The storm was raging outside, but
it made me feel safe. It gave me absolute certainty that I was alone. I had
worried that Jasper might have followed me out here, but even he wouldn’t come
to ridicule me in these kinds of conditions.

Zoey had seemed so afraid of me.
She looked at me with absolute terror. I didn’t know which made me feel worse,
my father’s reaction or Zoey’s. I wondered why Jasper had called her ‘Babe’?
What if they were sneaking around behind Daniel’s back?

Suddenly, I heard a scream. It
sounded like it was miles away. I lay my head back down on the ratty mattress,
only to hear it again. I grabbed the old rain jacket hanging on the back of the
door and put it on. It was about four sizes too big, but at least it would keep
me sort-of dry as I went to investigate the noise.

Once I was outside, the scream
was much more prominent. I paused to evaluate which direction I needed to go
in, and then I ran in the darkness, holding the hood up with both hands. As I
ran, I was amazed at how well I could see in the dark.

I stopped cold when I realized
that I was close and began to creep up on the man who was screaming. He was
laying at the bottom of a drop off, writhing in the water and dirt. His pain
looked intense.

“Sir,” I said.

He said nothing, but kept on
screaming.

“SIR!” I screamed.

He’s cries quietened as he looked
around for me. I stepped forward so that he could see where I was, but he still
couldn’t see what I was.

“Please!” he cried, “Help!”

I walked closer, hoping that my
face would be hidden in the dark of the forest.

He looked straight in my
direction, but he didn’t cower in fear.

“What do you need me to do?” I
asked.

He didn’t answer.

I came even closer, only to
realize that he had passed out either from the pain or from seeing my face.

I knelt down to see if I could
pick him up, yet again amazed at my strength.

As I lifted him, I looked down at
his face, and realized two very terrifying things.

One: The person that I was
holding was Daniel Cotton.

Two: I thought that he looked
delicious.

I tried to push both thoughts out
of my head as I carried him back to the cabin, but the second one kept popping
up again and again.

I truly had become a monster. I
couldn’t believe that I wanted to eat another person.

But I guess it wasn’t really
another
person, because I wasn’t a person anymore.

Once we were back at the cabin, I
laid him down on the mattress that was on the opposite wall from mine and
backed away from him. I realized that the farther away that I was from him, the
less I thought about tasting him.

He groaned in his sleep, but
there wasn’t anything that I knew to do for him, except to bring him back to
town, which I couldn’t do. I couldn’t even make that an option. The people
there would probably kill me, and they would probably think that
I
did
this to him. No, there wasn’t anything that I could do for him.

I didn’t want the sun to ever
come up. I was so afraid of what he would do when he saw me.

“Thank you,” he mumbled as he
regained consciousness.

“You’re welcome,” I said.

His face still looked like he was
in a lot of pain, but I could tell that he was trying to hide it now that he
was out of the rain.

“Who are you?”

I stammered, “Uhh… just a hunter,
camping out in the woods.”

“Oh,” he said, “By yourself?”

“Yes.”

“Do you have a vehicle to get us
back to town?”

“No,” I explained, “There is no
way that a vehicle could make it out this far.”

“Oh, how did you get me here?” he
asked.

“I carried you,” I said.

His face looked astonished, “You
don’t look very strong.”

I looked down at myself. I was
sitting up on the other mattress across the room with a blanket wrapped around
me so that he couldn’t see my arms.

“You’d be surprised,” I
whispered, “You probably need some rest, and then we can figure out how to make
you better tomorrow.”

He didn’t answer, and in moments,
I could tell that he was asleep. It seemed unreal to me that he couldn’t see
me, but that I could see him so well.

I didn’t want to go to sleep
because I was afraid that he might need me in the middle of the night for
something. I fought with all my might to stay awake, but I kept nodding off as
I sat against the wall. I finally gave in and lay down on the mattress. I might
have been stronger than usual on the outside, but I was emotionally exhausted.

I dreamed that I woke up and all
of this beast stuff was just a nightmare, but I woke up only to see that it
wasn’t. It was still dark outside, but the storm had finally passed. Daniel lay
fast asleep on his mattress, and it wasn’t long before I fell back asleep as
well.

The pain woke me up, as it had
throughout the night.  I also experienced the fear of not knowing where I was
every time I was woken up. It had been a long, long night.

I turned over to see if the girl
who brought me here was awake, but was surprised to see that she wasn’t there.

In her place, lay an animal,
curled up and fast asleep.

I backed up as far as I could
until I hit the wall, but I still didn’t feel safe. The fear overwhelmed me.
Why on earth would there be an animal asleep in the cabin? It made no sense.

I looked closer, careful not to
wake it up. It was unlike any animal I had ever seen. It had long hair on top
of its head, resembling either a human or a horse, and the body was completely
covered with shorter hair.

I held my breath as it turned
over.

Underneath the hair on the face
were human features, and they were almost feminine.

I exhaled. I didn’t know
particularly why, but the delicate facial features eased me in some way.

“Ahhhh,” the animal said as it yawned.
It was almost cute.

Then, it opened its eyes.

Looking back at me were the most
brilliant green eyes I had ever seen.

It sat up on the opposite
mattress and backed further away from me. It almost looked afraid of me.

I stared wide eyed as it opened
its mouth to speak. It’s canine teeth were larger than a humans and made me
think of a vampire.

I summoned up all of my strength
and addressed the beast, “Where is the girl who helped me?”

The animal stared at me like it
wanted to say something again, but then hung its head as if in shame.

“Did you eat her?!” I demanded,
fear being replaced by anger.

It shook its head no.

I sighed, relieved, because if it
had eaten her, it was probably going to eat me next, seeing as I doubted that I
could even walk, let alone run away.

“What are you?” I asked quietly.

“A beast,” it whispered.

Its voice was definitely
feminine, “What’s your name?”

It shrugged, as if it didn’t
matter.

“But, you’re a girl,” I said,
“Girl’s usually aren’t beasts.”

She chuckled, and it made me feel
warm inside, “Well, I’m definitely not the Beauty.”

I was captivated by her laugh,
even if she was making fun of herself.

“Oh my gosh, I know you!” I
explained.

Her eyes brightened, “You do?”

“Yes,” I said, excited, “You
are
the girl who helped me last night!”

She shrugged, “Yes, I brought you
out of the rain, but there wasn’t much else that I could do.”

Suddenly, I wasn’t afraid
anymore. If this beast meant me harm, then it would have left me out in the
rain to die or already killed me itself.

“Well, thank you,” I said, “I’d
like to call you something other than The Beast, if that’s okay? It sounds a
little weird and you don’t seem dangerous to me.”

“Like what?” she asked
hesitantly.

“I don’t know…” I thought for a
moment, “How about Violet?”

“Why Violet?” she asked. Her
voice was so melodic and beautiful.

“Oh, because I started reading
The
Twelfth Night
,” I explained.

She laughed, “The girl’s name is
Viola, not Violet.”

“Okay, okay, I only read the
back.”

Her laughter grew, and it put a
smile on my face.

“So, which do you like better?
Viola or Violet?” I asked.

“Violet,” she answered, “It’s a
tad more original.”

“Okay Violet, I’m Daniel. How can
you help me with this excruciating pain that is making it where I can barely
even focus on you over there?”

Her smile faded, “Oh, I don’t
really know. Where does it hurt?”

I thought about the pain, but it
only drove me crazy trying to figure out exactly where the pain was coming
from.

“I can’t tell. Both of my ankles
hurt really, really bad,” I answered.

She got up off of her mattress
and approached mine slowly.

“Can I look?” she quietly
whispered.

I nodded.

She pulled the covers back from
my legs and we observed them together. There were bruises all along my ankles,
and they were swollen up bigger than a softball.

“There isn’t any blood,” she
explained, “So you probably just sprained them really badly. Other than that, I
can’t tell anything about the bone underneath without an x-ray machine.”

I nodded, relieved that I wasn’t
bleeding to death, “You sure do know a lot about medical treatment to have
lived out here in the middle of nowhere for so long.”

Her face twisted up, “Oh, I
haven’t been here for long; I just stumbled upon this place yesterday.”

“So, no pain meds?” I asked
hopefully.

“Oh, I do have some over the
counter stuff!” she exclaimed and ran toward a bag sitting on the back wall.

Her sudden movement frightened
me, but I tried my best to contain it.

“How big is this cabin?” I asked.

“This is about all there is,” she
explained as she gestured around the room we were in. “Back here there is a
tiny pantry with some canned food and extra blankets, and then across from it
is a tiny make-shift bathroom.”

“What do you mean ‘make-shift’?”

She giggled, “It’s a five gallon
bucket with a toilet seat on it.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle
myself. She brought a couple pills to me, and I took them as fast as possible
and hoped that they would help the pain, at least a little bit.

“So where are you from?” I asked
her.

“Far off, you probably wouldn’t
know it if I told you. Do you need anything? I can grab you some of those
blankets to prop your feet up on so that they stay above your heart? That’s
supposed to help with pain and swelling too.”

I ignored the way she blatantly
didn’t want to tell me where she was from and accepted the blankets.

“I’m going to try to nap now,” I
said. “It’s really hard to sleep through the pain, but I think I need some
extra rest.”

“Yeah, that fall really tore you
up,” she agreed.

“What do you mean?” I asked,
suddenly worried, “Is something wrong other than my ankles?”

She cleared her throat, “Well,
you’re face looks pretty beat up as well.”

I felt myself blush, “Oh, that
happened before that fall, actually.”

Her face looked inquisitive, but
I closed my eyes to avoid any more questions.

“I hope you sleep well,” she
said. “I’m going to go walking around outside while you rest so I don’t bother
you.”

I nodded, and she headed out the
door.