Finding Beauty

Chapter 22

~The Beast~

Today is tomorrow, the day that I'm suppose to tell Belle what I do to all those criminals, including Ryan Daniels. I didn't want to tell her yesterday because I wasn't ready and to be honest, I didn't want to ruin the nice moment we were having. I felt like a normal person for a while and that was more than I could ever want. I haven't had one of those moments in so long.

I couldn't sleep last night and right now my stomach is in knots. I'm not sure how she'll react to what I have to tell her but I really do hope she doesn't end up hating me more than she probably already does. Belle seems like a really nice person. I want her to like me. I want to be friends.

She's in the living room today and reading on her laptop. She really loves those books of hers. I wonder if . . .

My mind starts to wander and I realize I'm stalling.

Man up, Gale.

Taking a breath, I step into the room with my own laptop in hand and quietly sit on the far end of the couch. She looks up at me for a second and then goes back to her reading, seemingly unalarmed.

Okay, this is a good start.

"Hey . . ." I offer.

"Hey," she replies with a small smile.

But you gotta keep your head up

Oh

And you can let your hair down

Eh," the radio sings at the far end of the room. Carina must have left it on.

I get up, momentarily, to turn the radio off when my laptop tips over and off the couch. Thankfully, it doesn't look broken. Belle reaches to pick it up for me when her eyes land on my research history that has appeared on the screen.

"A theft group? What are you planning on doing to them?" she demands her eyebrows turned down.

"I . . ." I start to look for a way around it but stop myself. I need to tell her eventually and I might as well do it now. Besides, this is the only way we can become friends like I want us to be. Friends don't keep things from eachother. I might have been the worst friend that ever lived when I looked human but even I knew that.

"I'll show you. I'll show you what I'm planning to do to them, what I did to Ryan Daniels, and everyone else." I take a few long strides toward the staircase to go up to my room before noticing she isn't following me. "You coming?"

Hesitantly, she follows me up into my room where I grab the illuminated rose hovering over my nightstand.

Here it goes . . .

"This rose," I say holding out the flower for Belle to see, "is kind of a side affect to the witch's curse. Remember when I said the witch made sure I couldn't hurt myself or others?"

"Yea . . ."

"Well, she made it so that if I ever tried to kill someone they wouldn't die . . . they'd live on. . . as a rose." I meet Belle's eyes and find they are wide. She takes a shaky breath and grazes the rose in my hand with her fingers.

"This is Ryan Daniels?" I nod, feeling a little frightened about what she may say next. "This is crazy but . . . " She swallows hard and shakes her head. "I believe you."

A few minutes pass and all we do is stand in silence. Belle stares at the rose for a very long time. I see flashes of thoughts pass in her eyes until she opens her mouth again.

"So you do kill them? Or at least try to? You get close enough to doing so that this happens?" she questions.

Panicking, I rack my mind for a way to word it that won't sound so horrible. "No, I mean . . . I know what I'm doing isn't going to kill them so it isn't really murder," I defend.

That's true right? That's a valid point. 

"Did the enchantress tell you this would happen? Or did you try to kill someone first?" Her questions feel like bullets, like I'm being attacked. I didn't try to kill anyone. Or at least, I didn't mean to.

"And even if it isn't really murder, how can you live with yourself? You turned them into roses! Can they feel? Think? You're making them spend an endless eternity as flowers! You're cursing them just like the Enchantress cursed you!"

"Look, I didn't bring you up here to judge me! I brought you up here to tell you the truth! Can't you just appreciate that and let it go?" I snap.

Belle huffs but stops with her questions. She turns to the other rose on my night stand, touching it's blood red petals with her delicate fingers. It's the one that her mother stole. The one that started this mess. "Who's this?"

I feel my heart clench in my chest and I sit on my bed for support. The memories flood into my brain until it feels like I'm drowning in all the pain that they bring. "I didn't mean to hurt her. I really didn't."

Belle's eyes soften and after a moment she sits down next to me. "Who was she? What happened?"

I bite my lip pondering if I want to go on. Talking about it will bring all the feelings back. It'll be like reliving it. Do I really want to do that?

Friends don't keep things from eachother.

The words slip out of my mouth and darken the atmosphere like ghosts. "She was my mother."