Can I Really Love A Shadow?

Chapter Nine: Beauty & The Beast

A/N: This chapter is all in Lucy's point of view. Vote, Comment, and Share.

An ominous boom startled me out of my abysmal nightmare. My cheeks were wet and my body was bathed in a cold sweat. There were sheets twisted around my limbs, it was most likely from the fact that I was thrashing around in this mysterious place and bed. I looked up around the room and it was entirely dark. No light anywhere. The remnants of fuzzy memories were still swirling around my head as I attempted to scramble out of the bed.

A flash of lightning illuminated the room in blinding light. For about a second, I could see that I was in an unfamiliar room.

Where am I? How did I get here? I contemplated, while grasping the side of the bed. I pulled myself around the length of the bed towards the wall of the room before another bolt of lightning, illuminated the room. For a second I could see where the door was located at and a light switch. I used the sides of the large bed to guide me towards the wall. When I came close enough to the wall, I nearly groped it attempting to find the light switch. Once my hand ran over the light switch, I flipped it on to reveal the mysterious room, that I was in. The walls were painted gray, with a black lining on the top of the wall. My eyes went to the queen Victorian sized bed, that was covered with a blood red blankets with gray and black pillows. The next noticeably piece was the large armoire that was positioned diagonally from the bed.

"Well doesn't this room give off a creepy vibe," I muttered, looking over the room once more. I soon realized that I was not wearing my regular clothing, instead I had a white sundress, that fell above the knees and my keys were missing.

"Shit, Aquarius is going to kill me," I said, attempting to search the room for my missing items. I searched in the armoire first, all that I found there was a bunch of other white gowns, clothes, and shoes. Next, I searched the closet that was on the other side of the room that contained the same in the armoire just some clothes and shoes. I eventually gave up on my search in the room and crept slowly towards the door and out the room to explore the house that I was staying in. I poked my head out of the door and looked down the two dark hallways on my left and right side.

I did a mental coin flip in my head and decided to go down the the hallway to my left. I put my hand on the gray walls, and let the wall guide me in the foreign area. The hallway was dead silent as I walked down it, all that could be heard was my shaky breaths and footsteps that echoed down the hall. Once I got to the end of the hall there was a small opening that lead to a grand staircase and the front door. Just like the rest of the house it had a dark grim air that resonated in the house.

"Can this get any creepier?" I walked down the stairs to the large foyer, that had the same dark color schemes like the rest of the house. The sound of my footsteps echoed through the foyer. The volume of my steps made me feel like a child walking alone through an empty house. I slowly crept closer to the ginormous black door that lead to the outside world. The door was all that stood in my way, shielding me from the perilous and almost alien world beyond its thick oak panels. My hands were trembling, as I guided my finger ever so slowly around the delicate arched etchings along the top of the door. My hands began to sweat and my breath quicken - why is it all so disquieting! Its golden hinge, dusty and worn, glowed with proud age as I admired the technical intricacies in its ornate structure - once again I was distracting myself. I started and glared directly at my tantalizing egress, my long tormentor, my ancient foe.

"Going somewhere?" I immediately drew my hand towards my chest and away from the doorknob. I turned around, locating the source in which the voice came from. There at the top of the stairwell was a young man. It was hard to distinguish his features from afar, but all I could see was that he was pale, like he was sick or had lost a lot of body temperature. His next unusual trait was his height, compared to the boys in the guild and the twin dragon-slayers, he stood another foot taller than them.