Rose and the beast

It was raining.1

Little droplets of cool, crystal water crashed on the foggy ground and smoothed it slick. A castle, dark and foreboding, loomed from the thick white shadows of the wet fog, and glared menacingly at the swirling rain. 2

The castle stood by the drenched forest, miles of black brick growing from the sagging black cliff, with roofs the sharpness of swords and torn red flags flying limply in the icy wind.3

A glimpse of the sun suddenly gleamed from its bed of wispy purple clouds, and shone brilliantly onto the castle. The building lightened, only to show it corpses for flags and its beautiful, cracked stained glass windows. Suddenly, broken images of flickering dancers and fallen flowers shone with the sun and stained the black ground a rainbow hue. But as quickly as it had come, the sun moved on with its blinding light and the colors disappeared and blackened.4

Inside of the castle, the rain did not penetrate the silence of the musty hallways. The place was old, beautiful, with a color of navy circling the rooms and an aura of peace. The rooms seemed to be sleepless, save for one restless shadow outlined by the warm glow of a flickering candle. 5

***6

The morning crept slowly in the silent sky and the clouds finished their pours. A light shone quietly through the rainbow windows yet the candle still flickered, the orange shadow slowly receding to the wood floor. 7

The room was the coldest one in the castle. It was empty, save for a few silky cobwebs and a single wooden table. On the table, the remains of the scented wax burned itself out and dripped its remains onto the dusty top, and beside it, was a golden plate, with a beautiful shining rose suspended in the air, and covered by a shining case. From the shadowed corner of the room, a monstrous hand crept out of the dark and wiped gently at the gleaming glass. 8

With the hand came the body of a huge monster, claws clicking quietly on the floor and long brown fur trailing on the dusty ground. It breathed long shallow breaths, shifting the silky fur growing from its long canine face, and moving the purple cape trapped around the massive neck. 9

The beast began to pace with the handkerchief clutched in its hand, engulfed by the bush of fur and black claws. It growled, and stared out the window with its soft blue eyes, then disappeared in the corner again as the sun peeked through the colored window. 10

Suddenly, the white face of a woman appeared at the door. 11

She was dressed in a silk nightgown, her long hair curling in small black ringlets at her tiny shoulders. The crimson dress hugged her slender body comfortably, circling her hips and ending at her pale ankles. Her eyes were a light brown, cracks of yellow sprinkled at the corners, and her pale face was a soft pretty circle. She smiled at the beast hiding in the corner and reached out a small hand to him. 12

The beast appeared from his corner, blinking at the light, and smiling at the beautiful girl. He took her hand in his, and glided a furred finger down her white face, gently, lovingly. She wrapped the other hand around the finger, and closed her eyes as she breathed in his smell. He sighed.13

"You're lovely in the morning."14

She smiled wider and opened her eyes. "You're charming in the morning as well." 15

He took his hand away and laughed. It was bitter, menacing. The girl frowned and stared at the window. 16

"Have you gone blind? Rose, I am a beast. It's a wonder that you still stay with me." She snapped her head to him and walked to where he crouched by the encased rose. 17

"I still stayed with you because... I love you." She said it simply as if it would explain everything, but the beast though otherwise. He glared at the floor with his pale eyes, and noticed that her feet were bare. 18

She saw him looking. "I'm not cold, don't-"19

He scooped her in his arms and held her like a fragile doll, and she giggled as she grabbed his fur and threw back her head, her long hair coiling out like springs and tumbling like water on the beasts arms. He smiled too, and hugged her close, wheeling her round to the window so that they both watched the sun as it settled in the clouds. They watched the colors of the windows swim with the light, the dancing people began to really dance, and the flowers moved with an invisible wind. Rose smiled. 20

"I love these windows." She sighed into his arm. "How is the rose?"21

The beast broke his gaze and glared at the suspended flower. "The usual. It tortures me. Like she does." 22

Rose struggled from his grip and he let her go. She walked to the case and gently smoothed the glass with a thin finger. She looked back up to the beast. "Did she mean it?"23

"What?"24

"The last visit. Did she mean what she said?"25

"You mean if I refused to marry her she would take you away, kill me and make you forget me? I believe she did, yes."26

Rose sighed a shuddering breath. "You should marry her. You would be restored back to your human form, you would be happy, you-"27

"I would never-" He could see that his bellow scared the girl. He tried again, cupping her face. "I would never leave you for a witch, even if it would return me to my human form. I do not care anymore, as long as you still love me. And if you don't, I might as well kill myself." 28

Rose looked away. "But then she will kill you. And I don't want to lose you."29

"You won't. You will forget me."30

"That's even worse! Don't you understand that I would rather not have you and keep you in my memory then not have you and forget you?" 31

"So what do we do?"32

"I... I don't know." This knowledge seemed to break her. A tear slid down her cheek and she wiped it with a small hand. The beast gathered it with a claw and stared at it. The little crystal of water seemed holy to him. He pressed the claw to his chest, to his heart. 33

"We will find a way. We'll always be together."34

Rose shook her head. "No we won't. She will never let us." 35

"Then we will escape somehow."36

"She will follow us."37

"How do you know more than I do about her?" He smiled. "Rose, Dear, we'll a way, I know it." 38

"How?"39

"I'll see." He let go of her and crouched in the corner again. "I'd been thinking of it all morning. I know there must be something, but..." His voice trailed away.40

Suddenly, as he watched Rose wind her finger on the glass, he gasped with an idea and walked to her, holding her shoulders.4141

"We must break the rose."42

Rose snapped her head to him.43

"What?"44

"We must break the rose, and then...”45

"Yes, and then what? She'll kill us both, and then..." The idea suddenly came to her. 46

"Will it work? The rose, I mean. Will it break?" 47

"Of course. That is why I must keep it in this wretched case. I was afraid it will break but now... We must do it." Rose watched him. 48

"Are you sure? Are you sure you want to give up your life for me?"49

"I'm sure." He cupped her face again. "Anything for you. Now hold on to me."50

She hugged his massive waist, her small arms encircling his body. With a grim smile, the beast took off the glass case, and pinched his fingers round the thin stem of the gleaming flower. He closed his eyes, and as one, Rose closed hers, shutting them tight, with a soft sigh as she smiled.51

The beast glared at the rose one more time before he pushed the table back... and dropped it.52

A scream echoed round the whole land as the castle took on a blinding white light, and rippled its dark walls. The ground was vacuumed with a whoosh of powerful air, and the scream kept echoing, screeching, as the light kept taking on a light brighter than the sun. 53

And then it stopped. 54

The ground went back to normal, and the castle flexed its strong walls another time before it became a structure of black brick pasted on a hanging cliff again. 55

The sun appeared from its hiding place in the clouds, and then illuminated the castle once again, and beamed over the stained glass windows. 56

The windows had changed. Replaced with the smiling dancing people, and the flowing flowers, there was a picture of a handsome young man, his face turned away and his long brown hair covering his gorgeous smile and closed eyes. And in his long pale fingers was a little rose. A little white rose.57