Inside the Beast's Castle

Chapter 7-- The Piano

"Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between notes and turn my back to loneliness."
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It was three days before I convinced myself to look around.

The first night, I barely could sleep. Although I was tired beyond belief, I hadn't been able to find the courage to sleep. Raul assured me over and over that I was completely safe, and after he made sure I was as comfortable as I could get he left, saying only to call his name if I needed anything.

I would have believed him about the 'safe' part, but I was locked in my room at night. I supposed that Raul locked the door, considering that I hadn't heard anything of the...the beast.

Ugh.

I didn't want to call him that. It was too harsh, and the picture it brought to my mind was of a huge creature with long claws and sharp teeth, waiting to rip my throat out while I sleep.

Which could be the reason I hadn't slept that night.

On my second day in the castle, I tried the door in the morning to find it unlocked. I deeply considered leaving my room to explore, but I decided to wait until the next day.

Slowly, I glanced across the room from my bed. The door was closed, maybe locked and maybe not. I was tired of sitting in the room that I was given. Not that I was complaining or anything. It was beautiful. In the corner there was a large canopy bed with pillows that felt like air, a desk next to that, then across the room there was a dresser that held some very expensive clothes (that I was too scared of messing up to try on), and a room with a tub in it that had a weird curved silver thing hanging off it pointing inward.

The best part of the bedroom, despite all of its fancy trinkets, was the small window that looked out over the front of the castle. Every morning, I had woken up and stared out of it, admiring the outdoors, and breathing in the fresh air.

My stomach growled. I had been fed since I got to the castle--the people weren't that bad-- but not yet that morning. I opened my mouth to call Raul, but thought better of it.

I could go look around now, and if I'm caught then I could always say I was looking for the kitchen. Technically, I was never forbidden to go around the castle, it was just implied that I should wait in my room.

I got up from my crossed-legged position from my bed and tip-toed over to the door, careful not to step on any floorboards that may creak. Bending down, I peeked from the keyhole to the hallway outside.

Good. No one around.

Grasping the door handle, I let out a deep breath. Ever so slowly, I turned the knob. I stepped out of my room, looking left and right in hopes that I wouldn't be discovered. The staircases that were lining the walkway when I first entered palace crossed my mind. My goal made up, I started to go to find the stairs.

*****

Finding the staircases wasn't that difficult. I just had to walk down the hallway my room was on. When I reached the bottom of the stairs, I glanced left, then right. No one was in sight.

Good.

It wasn't being found by Raul that worried me the most, it was being found by the master of the castle. I didn't want to come across him again, especially when I was stretching the limits of his orders. Slowly, I tiptoed up the stairs.

When I reached the top, I stopped. Like downstairs, one hallway was on either side of me. I could choose to go left or right. I thought a moment, trying to remember the sound of what direction the Beast went when I first met him.