Beauty and the Beast

Chapter 7

The room was bigger than my whole house. It had blue and cream walls with a swirled pattern, the bed was big enough to fit three with a white gold frame and the white, wooden wardrobe greeted me at the door. She was kind and hilarious as she picked out my outfit for me to wear for dinner.

Apparently beast wanted me to have dinner with him. I sighed as I realized that 'beast' was the only name I had for him. Even though I had been locked in here for the past three days, it didn't seem right to call him that. Through stories I can already tell that he and the rest of his staff have treated me with more kindness than most killers or kidnappers would. Looking out the window in the beautiful room that now belonged to me, all that could be seen was the forest.

It must get lonely being here all alone with just the staff to talk to. I pressed my lips together at the ping of pity I felt for him. No one deserved to be alone, even I had my brother to keep me company. I closed my eyes in agony. No, I wouldn't allow myself to think the worst for him; at least not now. Taking a deep breath, I got up to get changed for dinner.

The dress was long as it was just a whisper from the floor beneath my slippers. I smiled at the not-too-tight bust that was covered in black lace, making it look like an elegant corset with two short sleeves. The bottom was an emerald green and wasn't too thick so the dress didn't drag me down as I walked. I wore a pair of black, flat slippers that had small ties on each one.

I took a look in the mirror and fixed my hair so that it spilled over each shoulder down to my breasts in soft, auburn curls. My smile stayed on as I realized this dress was probably the cheapest one in the mix, somehow that made me feel more at home. I sighed in delight as I smoothed out all the creases left in the dress; it was soft and silky at the same time. Never in all my twenty years had I worn something that made me feel as radiant as I did now.

"Ella, you ready?" I looked up at my wardrobe, Pearl, and nodded with excitement.

I'm positive that most people in my situation would have run screaming for the hills as fast as they could at even the mere thought of going to have dinner with the animal holding them captive. To me, though, it was a chance; a chance to find out what he really was. Though he seemed to be an animal to the naked eye, I couldn't help but feel like there was more to that story.

I took a glance at Pearl. Of course, the talking appliances that seemed to work as the animal's staff was my first clue to something odd happening. It was more than that, though. The house seemed too real to have been just abandoned and left to an animal with special furniture. No matter where I looked on my way up here there were no pictures, not a single one. Most of the furniture that I'm sure couldn't have talked was destroyed around the house and the rest just looked completely vacant.

According to Pearl, she used to be a maid. How does a wardrobe be a maid with no arms or legs to work with? Magic. I shook my head at the thought; there was no such thing as magic. Even if there were, why him? Did he used to be a man or was he a couch turned into a beast? My head ached at all the possibilities with nothing adding up to save me from such confusion.

Taking a deep breath, I walked down the hallway that was surprisingly lit the whole way down with candles. I let out a small laugh as I stared at the beauty of the building. When I reached the staircase, my mouth almost dropped. The staircase was white marble and stretched out in two different directions with a golden railing trailing down both. At the bottom was the foyer where I had originally come into the house to find Charlie. Had it looked this beautiful before?

A large chandelier was in the middle of the middle of the foyer, it looked beautiful and what appeared to be crystal that only reminded me of the beast's eyes. Slowly, I walked down as I continued to take everything in. There were two tables on either side of the double doors along with the coat hanger that had rescued me from falling face first into the marble floors. There was a rug in the middle of the foyer that was swirled much like my room's walls except this one was white and gold to go with the rest of the elegant room. Was this really only the foyer?