is it silly ?

Back at the castle Beauty had been placed in a large hanging cage in the beast’s “museum room”. Her wing was hanging limp on the floor of the cage, and it hurt her terribly. The cage was still swinging from when the beast had but her in it. She watched the beast shuffle about the room, she almost felt pity for him, his arms were bent, crooked and twisted. His one leg was longer than the other, and each of his arms and legs ended in a gigantic paw with long curving claws. His face was pinched, and beauty could see he had suffered much pain, for his eyes were dull.

He began to speak, slow and slurred though his words were, beauty could understand them.

“I shall fix that wing, and when it is healed, she should be set free.” The beast came over and peered at her in the cage, beauty could see now the compassion in his eyes, they were not as dull as she had thought them to be, but very pale green. He opened the cage door and reached a paw in, beauty shuffled back against the back of the cage.

“Shush now, I won’t hurt you. Come eat.” The beast opened his paw; it was filled with water plants. Still beauty hesitated, the beasts paw was about the size of a pillow, and he would have stood about fourteen feet tall if he wasn’t so bent. Fearfully she crept forward keeping her eyes on the beast she came close enough to grab a plant from the beasts paw. Swallowing it hurriedly she shuffled back to the far end of the cage. The beast sighed.

“You needn’t fear me so, swan, I may be ugly but I won’t hurt you anymore than you have already hurt yourself trying escape. I can’t blame you though if I saw me coming after me, I would be quite frightened too. If only you hadn’t struggled so I would have set you free right away.” the beast walked back across the room leaving the cage door open. Beauty realized her mistake the beast had not been trying to harm justice, he had been trying to protect her, he had thought justice was attacking her.

The beast left the room and hours seemed to pass, the plant had dulled the pain in Beauty’s wing and caused her to feel drowsy, she fell asleep. Beauty woke to a very dark room, it was after midnight and she was in her human from again. She lay still for a moment waiting for her eyes to adjust. When they did, careful not to put pressure on her broken arm, she inched forward. She could just barely see the opened cage door, as she moved the cage creaked and groaned under her human weight. Before she reached the door, the floor of the cage dropped out from under her, she screamed as she fell, and landed in a bruised heap on the floor. Stunned she was unable to move for a moment, but when she heard the sound of a door opening on the other side of the room; she forced herself to sit up. She had forgotten about her arm and put to much pressure on it as she sat up, causing her to yell out in pain. She could hear something coming closer, so she sat perfectly still. After a short while she couldn’t hear it anymore, and she thought perhaps she had only imagined the sound of something coming.

“I can see you, you know.” The voice came from her right but still she dared not move.

The beast, from his vantage point could see beauty and the man standing off to her right. He could see the man strike the tinder and light a candle, he watched as the man came and helped beauty up from the floor, and he saw her wince, he also saw the look in her eyes when she saw the handsome man’s face. A face that once had been his.

But it was a price he would have to pay, and a test she would have to pass.

Thea