Finding Beauty (Rewrite)

Chapter 8

~Beauty~

Teigan was her kidnapper. She had assumed he kept her to hurt her. Even if he didn’t, he still had a reputation for being dangerous and cruel. 

So why did he jump in front of her? Take the flames for her? 

Bethany changed into the sweatpants and t-shirt Carina had lent her and crawled into bed. The cotton fabric stuck out like a flag, refusing to cling to her body. The air between her skin and the fabric almost made it feel like she wasn't wearing anything at all. She longed for a hug, for someone to cling to her so tightly she knew it would be okay. 

She knew she wouldn’t be doing much sleeping at all - not with the oversized clothing and all the unexplained events. 

She laid on her back and stroked the bandages around her arm. Beth had accompanied Grayson to the emergency room after a brutal collision at one of his football games and her stitches were a near replica of how he had looked once the doctors had finished. Carina took out a kit and sat her down the moment she was through the front door meanwhile she sent Teigan upstairs. It was as if his injuries were the equivalent to a skinned knee.

The things he did that night . . . He had done them for her. Why? 

Trying to make sense of it made her headache. She couldn’t figure it out on her own. There was no logic to what had happened to Teigan . . . or even Ryan Daniels. 

She closed her eyes and replayed the scene in her head.  

The whole thing felt like it happened in slow motion. 

Flames shot out of the gun Ryan Daniels was holding. Beth had fallen a few feet away, safe from the growing heat. Teigan was standing in the fire, it licked at his skin as he was screaming his lungs raw. She thought she might faint from the horror of it all. 

The fire disappeared and uncovered the new Beast. Pink welts were scattered across his body, blistering and oozing. Still, he didn’t crumble or wither in pain. He stood his ground, chest rapidly rising and falling with his hands trembling at his sides. Teigan’s beastly face was on full display but what was most worrying to her was the way he only seemed to see Ryan Daniels. 

Ryan stood there, unable to move in his state of shock. The Beast took advantage of this and pounced on the arsonist. Ryan had dropped his flame thrower off of his back to run faster but he was caught by his jacket and tossed to the ground. The two wrestled, the leaves and twigs on the dirt crunching underneath their bodies. 

Beth could tell this was going to get ugly. She wanted to run. She wanted to hide. She wanted to forget this nightmare. Her limbs felt too heavy to move, encased in invisible cement blocks. All she could do was squeeze her eyes shut and melt to the ground. Her hands shielded her ears from the tortured cries to come. She didn’t want to hear the Beast kill Ryan Daniels.  

She waited for a disturbing crack or the gurgling noises of a strangled person but the rustle of nature and breathing faded out into silence. 

“Get up. We have to go.” She uncovered her ears and opened her eyes. Ryan Daniels was nowhere in sight. The only evidence he had been there was his flame thrower. She gawked at the empty space where his corpse should have been. “Come on.” Teigan winced as he scooped her up in his arms, accepting she wasn’t going to get up herself. 

She should have taken this opportunity to fight him off. He was weak and probably would have left her had she put up a fight. All she could do was cry. 

A rose glowed in his chest pocket, inches from her face. It was similar to the one that rested on his nightstand, except it was the same shade as Ryan Daniels red hair.