Finding Beauty (Rewrite)

Chapter 17

~The Beast~ 

The sleek clock complimented the shade of blue the walls were painted but the manner in which the hands ticked past the roman numerals made Teigan’s stomach turn. Maybe it was because each passing second brought his impending doom closer. 

“You see! This is so much better than the deer head you wanted to hang up there!” Bethany exclaimed. Carina nodded, her curls bouncing with the movement. 

“I’ve always said the dead carcass of an animal has no place in a home.” 

The three of them were standing around the clock and admiring it. More so, Beth and Carina. Teigan was too busy twitching and thinking about how depressing the endless continuation of time was. He wished he had the power to make moments last forever. Why didn’t the witch curse him with that? In a way, his condition did stretch out time but that had been when he was alone in the house. Now that he had Bethany as company, he found time moved too fast for his taste. 

“Ha! I told you, Teigan!” It was only because she had punched his arm that he came back from his daydreaming. It was the first time she willfully touched him or used his name in a sentence. A double whammy to set him off when he was already shaken up. 

“We’re surrounded by woods,” he stated dumbly. “The people buying this house will probably like hunting so can you blame me for thinking a deer head would work?” 

“Gross.” 

He rolled his eyes. City girl. 

“I’m going to finish up dinner. You two better be down stairs within the hour or else you're eating cold pot roast!” Carina hobbled off, leaving them alone, a state Teigan didn’t wish to be in. 

He wasn’t the only one who was feeling worked up. He noticed Beth’s bouncing around and she was more chatty than normal. In the quiet moments, she stared at him expectantly and he knew why. He had avoided it for long enough. He couldn’t go back on his word if he wanted things to stay civil between the two of them. Gosh, how he wished he could go back in time and eat his words. He should have never said he would let her use his laptop to contact someone. It was a stupid idea in more ways than he could count. 

Low and behold, there Bethany was, staring at him expectantly. 

“I’ll set up the laptop.” 

She didn’t need an explanation as she followed him into his room. Her smile was beaming and it made his chest tighten. 

Tegian sat on his bed with a sigh, “Listen carefully to me. You cannot tell this person anything that can indicate where you are or who I am. You have to keep it short and sweet. If you mess this up you’ll only make things worse for yourself. I’m working on letting you go, remember that.” 

“Okay. Whatever you say. I’ll be careful, I promise.” 

She sat on the chair with the wall behind her. Her fingers were moving at lightning speed the moment the device was in her possession. Since there was an abundance of programs downloaded on it to protect it from being traceable, it was slow. Bethany tucked her hair behind her ears repeatedly, her fingers trembling all the while. 

“What program are you using to contact them?” 

“An app for video chatting called Mirror Mirror.” She clicked a few buttons and sat back. “It’s dialing.” 

“Remember what I told you,” he warned. He was pretty sure he had signed his death wish. 

Teigan could tell the exact moment the call went through. Beth burst into tears. They poured out of her eyes like they had been there the whole time. Her chest caved in and her whole strong demeanor crumbled. It deeply disturbed him to see her without her fiery stare or perfect posture. It felt like she had been stripped of a layer, like someone yanked the curtain back without a warning. He felt like he shouldn’t have been watching. He had seen her emotional a few weeks ago when he first took her but with knowing her a little better . . . it felt different.