Finding Beauty

Chapter 23

~The Beast~

(Flashback)

I stared at the claws that had seemed to just sprout out of my fingertips.

Hideous.

That's what I was. That's all I was.

My eyes found the family photo hanging over the fire place. My father, my mother, and me, their only son. We all had smiles on our faces but each of us was anything but happy. That extra makeup placed around my mother's eyes wasn't there because she wanted to look nice. It was there to hide the redness all her crying left behind.

My father... that was one of the only times I saw him smile. I didn't even know that angry, disproving look on his face could be removed.

We were a broken family that put on masks to hide it. We needed to look good. No one could see our pain because then we would look weak. If there's anything my father hated, it was looking weak.

I punched the photo as hard as I could, the glass shattering and lodging it's self into my skin. In seconds, my skin healed it's self. It was no use. Even if I tried to kill myself it wouldn't work. There was no escape. I was trapped in this form for eternity.

Using my newly formed claws, I ripped the family portrait into shreds. Gale Princely was gone. No more fake smiles, no more pretending.

"Sweetie..." her voice broke the silence. "It's going to be okay."

She was standing in the doorway, her long hair tangled and her makeup smudged. She never let herself look like that, she couldn't. My father never let her. He said he couldn't have his wife ruining the family image like that.

"How can you say that, Mom? Of course, it isn't okay! I'm a monster! A beast!" I shouted, my eyes tracing the many curvy lines running down my arms.

"You look like a beast but you don't have to be one." She walked over to me and took my face in her hands. "Because on the inside you're my son. You will always be my son."

I shook my head and pulled away. "I can't be anyone's son looking like this! I can't be a police officer now...I failed you. I'll ruin the family name-"

"Who cares?!"

"Dad does!" I yelled back feeling hopeless. "He does...He doesn't want me anymore."

Tears escaped my mother's eyes. "Your father is a bad man. I should have left him years ago. He's cruel, selfish, and foolish. He raised you to be just like him. I let him and I'm sorry," she apologized. "I'm so sorry."

"No, he isn't. He's right." My voice cracked as my reality had settled in. "I can't go anywhere looking like this. I'm a useless, hideous mistake."

My mother continued to cry until heavy footsteps led into the living room. My father stood there in his leather boots, his hand resting on his belt. I hung my head in shame.

"Get away from him, Annie. He's dangerous now! Look at those claws!" He removed his belt and wrapped it around his hand to use as a whip.

"Stop!" my mother shrieked before he could get any closer. She stepped in front of me and spread her arms like a human shield. "He's still our son! He won't hurt us!"

"You don't know that! Now back away before I make you!" he commanded, carefully coming closer. He looked like he was approaching some wild animal. Like he was a zookeeper trapped in a lion's den. Was that what I was now? Dangerous? Only capable of evil?

In one quick movement, he snatched my mother's wrist and violently tugged her over to him. She tried to resist but wasn't strong enough. "Stop squirming!" he roared at her. My mom shrieked, he was hurting her. He was squeezing her wrist and pulling her too hard.

"Wait, stop! You're hurting her!" I cried helplessly. I knew if I took a step forward he would attack me but my mother...

"Better me than you, you monster!" he hissed bitterly.

My mother made one last attempt to get back to me but my father pushed her away. It was hard enough to make her stumble back onto the floor and hit her head.

"Mom?!" I tried to get to her, to see if she was okay, but my father was there shoving me away and then pulling me into a headlock. Couldn't he see she was hurt? That I was trying to help her?

Anger burned in me. Using my brute strength, I elbowed him so he'd let go. Then I bent down next to her.

"Are you okay?" Her eyes were fluttering open and shut, like she was fighting to stay awake. She mumbled something I didn't quite get because my father had ripped me away from her.

He had lost it. He took his belt and started to beat me with it. He had never hit me like this before. He hit as hard as he could which was enough to make me yelp at the top of my lungs and fall to the ground. The pain stung my skin until it felt numb. I couldn't take it.

I blindly clawed at the air, trying to get him away, trying to get him to stop. I had only been clawing for a few seconds when he stopped beating me. I heard his gasp and the horrid sound of tearing skin. I smelt the blood on my claws and saw the puddle and droplets on the ground.

I looked up and found my father's body to be fine. He was staring at my mother. Before I could follow his gaze a blinding red light filled the air.

In my mother's place was a single red rose, drenched in blood.

"You killed her..." my father said his voice only a whisper. "You're a murderer."

And I was.

Author's Note- So that was a very emotional chapter but it was also very fun to write!

Question- Now that you know this piece of The Beast past, do you see him differently? How?

I promise I'm not trying to be an annoying English teacher with these questions. I just want to know what you guys are thinking and it helps me get better at writing.

Bye for now!