Finding Beauty

Chapter 29

~ The Beast~

It's already December and Christmas specials are playing on TV, Christmas songs on the radio. Last year I didn't think about celebrating Christmas. I didn't even realize when it passed. I was too busy chasing criminals and... being angry.

Even before I was turned into a beast, Christmas wasn't all that great. In fact, it was a mess. My parent's family would come over for dinner and they'd try not to argue or fight. It was filled with eye rolls and biting our tongues back. The day that was suppose to be about peace and love was the exact opposite here. It always ended with frustration and sadness.

But this year, Belle is here. Maybe things can be different.

I find her sitting on the couch admiring a hand knit sweater. Her brown hair tucked behind her ears and a smile lingering on her face. I make my footsteps louder so I won't startle her with my voice. She notices and smiles at me. Smiles.

"Hey! Look what Carina made me!" she holds up a blue knit sweater that has a crystal angel ornament on it with snowflakes falling in the background. "It's an ugly Christmas sweater! Except it's not ugly!"

I almost chuckle at the happiness bouncing around in her chocolate brown eyes. "It's really nice."

"You bet! Carina's the best," she says hugging the cozy sweater to her chest like a little girl would do to their stuffed animal. At first, I think she's kind of overreacting. It's just a sweater. But then I remember what she told me about her mother and how she probably never did anything like that for her. It's a sweet little gift that warmed Belle's heart. And I like how much she appreciates it.

It gives me an idea.

"So I'm guessing you celebrate Christmas?" I ask taking a seat on top of the couch.

She nods her head. "Are you kidding? I love Christmas!"

"Good. Then you won't mind going tree hunting with me," I say and watch as her eyes light up even more.

"Wait, you mean like going out into the woods, finding a tree, and cutting it to make it all Christmas like?"

"Yep, that's what I mean."

"When are we going?"

I shrug. "Now, if you'd like." And by the look on her face I could tell we are going now.

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"So what kind of tree are we looking for?" Belle asks as we walk through the snow covered forest. She pulls a dull red beanie on her head and glances over at me. Sometimes I wonder if she even sees my beastly face because if she does, she never looks repulsed.

"It can't be too thin or else it won't stand up right and needs to have a good amount of branches so we can hang the ornaments," I answer.

"Okie dokie."

After a few minutes of walking I decide it would be easier and quicker if we split up. "Just don't wander too far and stay away from the lake. The ice is shallow and can break."

"Yes, sir," she says playfully while she strolls away. She seems in a good mood. I guess that's what Christmas does to people.

I wander the forest in search of a nice tree for about an hour. Every 15 minutes I do a check in to if Belle is okay by yelling "Marco!" She responds by yelling "Polo!" back.

I think I've found a few good trees so I carefully tie a little ribbon around them to identify them. Then I slowly make my way back to where Belle and I broke off. I'm about to call "Marco!" when I hear a scream explode in the air.

Belle's name instantly drops out of my mouth. I run in the direction the scream came from as fast as I can, almost slipping on the snow in panic.

Soon, my ears can no longer tell where the sound came from and I'm left spinning in a circle, not sure which direction to go in.

"Belle?!" I call and desperately wait for an answer. She screams again, this time it's cut short. I start running again and find myself in front of the lake. The lake I told her not to go near.

I can't see her anywhere and that makes my heart pound roughly in my chest. The air feels thin, like there's not enough of it to breath. That's when my eyes land on her red beanie floating on a piece of ice in the corner of the lake. I feel frozen for a moment.

Oh, God. She fell in.

A few feet away from the hat, I see a mass of brown hair under a layer of ice in the water below it. She's pounding on it with her fist but it hardly makes a dent in the ice.

I scramble on and across the thin sheet and over to her. I bend down to see her face and hands pressed up against the ice. Her face holds pure terror.

After gesturing for her to move over, my fist breaks through the ice in one blow, wide enough for her to fit through. My knuckles ache but I ignore it. She comes up and grabs my arms for help. She coughs and sputters, her hair sticking to the sides of her face. A sickening crack sounds as I pull her trembling body out of the water. The ice beneath me is breaking.

We give each other a look of horror right before it faults and both Belle and I go crashing down into the freezing water. The sky above us blurs and morphs into dark blue water. It's chilling to the bone and makes it harder to move. Belle, is far past freezing. Her movements are slow and her eyes look like they are about to roll back into her head. So I move my arms around her waist and try to propel us both back to the surface.

Chunks of ice are floating above us. All I need is to get her to one big enough for her to hold onto to or even lay on. I swim us up to the top and pull her out in front of me. She's still conscious enough to try and lift herself onto a piece of ice near by. She collapses onto it, taking heavy breaths. Once she's on, I push the ice to the corner of the lake where the land should be more stable.

It looks like she passed out on the ice so I tip it over, causing her limp body to roll onto the land. I can feel my body starting to give out to. It's so cold. I feel numb and so tired... It would be easy to just give up.

"Belle?" I call, wanting to know if she's okay. Her eyes flutter open and her head tilts to face me.

"Good..." I let my grip on the ice slips and start to fall back into the water.

"No!" her hoarse voice shrieks. I feel her small hand wrap around mine. She composes herself and gives me one of her fierce looks. Her chest rises and falls in strained breaths. "We can do this together. Okay?"

I force a nod. While she pulls, I hoist myself up onto the cold, snow covered land and collapse next to her. We lay on the ground, shivering so hard it hurts. Our shallow breaths make white fog around us, proof that even after all we've gone through, we're still breathing.

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