Finding Beauty (Rewrite)

Chapter 6

~Beauty~

The Beast - or Teigan - was avoiding Beth like the plague. She couldn't say she minded. If her kidnapper wanted to pretend she wasn't even there then by all means, he could. For the next couple of days, he had his meals upstairs while she sat with Carina who filled the silence with small talk.

"I like smartphones. I don't see why all the older people complain about them so much," was an example of one thing she'd say. Or, "I bet you've never taken the time to watch the morning talk shows! New York has the best of the best when it comes to those. I was watching channel 2 and I think one of the anchor women got a boob job . . ."

Bethany was trying to warm up to the maid but it was difficult to sit and chat with her when she couldn't understand why she was working for a serial killer. She could easily turn him in or save Beth but she showed no interest in either. Asking about her reasoning behind cleaning up after and cooking for a criminal would go nowhere with Carina so Beth tried her luck with other topics. She thought that maybe if she could keep her talking long enough, Carina would let something important slip. Something Beth could use to her advantage, or at the very least something to cure her boredom.

"So . . . why does he look like that?" Bethany asked, finishing a bite of the tuna wrap she'd made for her. She was only a few bites in and was thinking about seconds.

Carina finished wiping down the counter and then scratched her forehead. "I was wondering when you would ask about that. "Thought maybe you were blind."

"No, I noticed. It's just not at the top of my list of concerns." Even if she had dedicated time to trying to solve the mystery that was Teigan's face, she doubted anything would come of it. There was no possible explanation she could think of. Possible was the key word. His face took her straight back to fantasy books where werewolves and other fantastical creatures existed. Last time she checked, Beth wasn't in a book so what was going on with his face?

"Did he have surgery to make it look that way?" Carina was laughing the second 'surgery' left her mouth.

"Sweetie, no one on earth would purposefully do that to themselves." She sat down, picking up her own tuna wrap in her wrinkled hands.

"It's not so wild of an idea. People get all kinds of facial reconstruction surgeries these days and doing crazy things is in his element. He goes after criminals."

"I don't think Teigan is crazy - if he was I'd be the first one to know. Rash and short tempered? Heck yes! An idiot? Don't tell him I said this - but yes. Crazy? No."

Beth was stunned. "You're defending him?"

"I've known him for years. You know him through whatever they say about him on the news. I would have thought that you of all people would know there's always more to the story."

"What do you mean?"

She took a sip of apple juice. "Teigan told me about your momma. He said she was more than happy to call you and get you to rush over to clean up her own mess. Then she put up no fight in leaving you alone with the aftermath of said mess." She shook her head, staring off at nothing in particular. "I have children of my own and never in a million years would I put them in that much danger. I'd sooner die . . . But I bet me talking about your momma is making you upset? Don't like me judging her, huh?"

Beth was abruptly aware of the tears brimming over her eyes. "You have some points."

"I'm not banking on you liking him but you might find it satisfying being the bigger person."

As it became increasingly established that she wouldn't be released anytime soon and that help was still far away, Beth found things to occupy her time. She wouldn't join Carina in her tv watching endeavors between her cleaning breaks but rather explored the house. She took her time strolling back and forth across each room that was open to her, attempting to memorize every detail - maybe even find a means to escape or a suitable weapon.