Beast (2 page)

After I passed one of Father’s business rooms, the stairs that led to my parents’ and my rooms were to the right of me. The ballroom was to the left of where I was standing. My parents loved to throw balls. We had way too many, in my opinion. Mother explained to me that I had to take dance lessons, which were held in there too. We had our own dance instructor, Cantrelle.

At the last ball, my parents had made me dance with a girl—Ava. She had bouncy blonde hair and was wearing a pink dress. I really did not want to dance with her; I did not like girls then. But she was a close friend of mine. Her mother, Odelia, and my mother were good friends. Because of their friendship, we saw each other all the time.

I did enjoy the music they played at the balls. In fact, it was because of a ball that I started to learn how to play the piano. Right before my fourth birthday, I started lessons. We had a music room in another wing of the castle. I practiced in there almost every day. One day I hoped to have the chance to play the piano in the ballroom. Mother said that I had to wait until I was older and had more experience before I could play it. But I really wanted to play it more than anything, and I thought I was good enough to play on the beautiful black piano in the ballroom.

Once I was between the ballroom and the stairs, I looked at the doors leading to the ballroom before running up the stairs.

At the top of the stairs, on the second floor, a few guest rooms were on my left. We had many guest rooms in the castle. Many travelers and other people stayed with us from time to time. Because of this, I met a lot of interesting people. The most interesting person I met was a philosopher! He knew so much and seemed really nice.

To the right of where I was standing was a restroom, and ahead of me were more stairs, which led to our rooms. Our rooms were in the west wing of the castle, on the third floor. My room was to the right, while my parents’ was to the left. These hallways were not as long as the others were.

Once at the top of the stairs, I heard Mother making noise in her room, so I ran to the door and knocked on it.

“May I come in?” I asked, peering in through the partially open door.

“Of course, my son!” responded Mother. She was sitting at her vanity, fixing her makeup and hair in the mirror. There were pins all over the counter. Her hair was curled.

She grabbed a curled lock of hair and twirled it around her finger. Then, after placing it in the precise location on the top of her head, she grabbed a pin, put it in her mouth to open it, and stuck it in her hair to make the curl stay in place. She did this until all of the curls were placed on her head. Some of the curls were not as tight as others, so they hung down a little. When she moved, these curls bounced with her.

I walked into their bedroom and over to their bed. It was difficult for me to sit on their bed because of my height. The top of the bed was level with my shoulders. I had to put both of my hands on the bed and jump, spinning myself around, to be able to sit on it. Whenever I did this, Mother always giggled.

“Mother?” I softly said.

“Yes, my love?” She looked at me in her mirror.

“What time do you and Papa have to leave tomorrow?”

“Not until after lunchtime. We can go riding in the morning after breakfast if you would like to.”

“Oh yes, please, Mother! That sounds lovely!”

Mother was wearing an elegant red gown. This one reminded me of the roses outside because of the color.

Papa walked into the room with his right arm behind his back. As he turned toward my mother, with his back toward me, I saw in his hand a rose that matched her beautiful dress. When I leaned forward to try to smell it, I almost fell off the bed.

As he handed her the rose, he said, “For my love, a beautiful rose, which cannot even compare to your beauty!”

“Oh! You are so sweet!” She blushed. “I love you!”

“I love you too, my bride.”

Whenever they dressed up, they looked so elegant, almost as perfect as a painting. Papa leaned over to kiss Mother. Their love was so pure and natural; they genuinely cared for one another.

Our cat, Buttons, came into the room. His nose was pink, with an orangish-pink spot on the right half of it. His fur was orange, with white on his paws and belly. His eyes were golden like Mother’s hair. Buttons was a sweet cat who loved to be held and petted. And he was almost always purring; he was rarely quiet.

Buttons jumped on the bed next to me and then crawled into my lap. He was purring so loudly that one could have heard it from a few feet away.

“All right, Son, time for you to go to bed,” Mother informed me.

“Oh, okay.” I sighed.

I walked out of my parents’ bedroom and toward mine. It was dark, even with the candles lit on the wall and the one in my hand.

Once in my room, I set the candle on my night table so that I could put on my pajamas. When I picked the candle back up, I walked into my bathroom. As I set it down on the counter to brush my teeth, I heard Mother walk into my room.

“Make sure you go to the bathroom, sweetheart,” she reminded me.

She was sitting on a chair by my bed, waiting for me to finish. She held the vase of roses that had been on the dining table as we ate dinner.

As I walked to my bed, I began to yawn. Mother set the vase of roses on my night table, next to my glass of water.

Every night when Mother put me to bed, she would sing a song to me. When I lay down, Mother pulled up my covers and then sat next to me on my bed. She placed her arm around me and began to sing:

Little rose, my little rose,

Grow up big and strong.

Let your beauty shine,

Let your love ring

Until the end of time.

Little rose, my little rose,

Be all you can be.

You are my little rose,

And I love you so!

Her song and her voice were very soothing.

“Do you have to go out to the party tonight, Mother?” I whined.

“Yes, I am sorry. But we will be home before you know it! Do you want me to wake you once we are home?” she asked me.

“I guess,” I moaned.

As she leaned down to kiss me on my forehead, she said, “I love you more than you know!”

“I love you too, Mother!”

“Now, be careful. Do not confuse these two,” she said jokingly, referring to the glass of water and the vase of roses.

“I will not.” I laughed.

She kissed my forehead one more time, blew out my candle next to the roses, and walked to the door. Papa poked his head in to wish me a happy birthday again and to say good night.

“Good night, my son. See you when the sun comes up!” Mother said softly.

“When the sun comes up,” I repeated midyawn.

Once she closed the door, I felt my bed shake; Buttons had jumped onto my bed and was walking toward my head. He rubbed against my face before turning around to lie down on my pillow. I loved when he would sleep with me. His presence gave me comfort when my parents had to leave for a little bit of the night.

I was never alone when my parents were gone. Deleena and several other people who worked for us lived in our castle. But I felt lonely because my parents and I were the only ones whose bedrooms were in the west wing.

Although, when my parents had to leave on trips for work or were going to parties, Deleena and Leala, another one of our servants, slept in the guest rooms on the second floor, just in case I needed anything.

Leala had long, curly golden hair and green eyes. She was the same height as Mother. She was younger than Deleena. As with Deleena, I loved hanging around her. They both cared deeply for my family and would have done anything for us.

It did make me feel safer, but I still did not like it when Mother and Papa had to leave for the night or were going to be away for months at a time.

The aroma from the roses filled my room. I could not take my eyes off of them for a while. I took deep breaths to immerse myself in the scent. Slowly but surely, my eyes began to grow heavy.

“You know what, Buttons?” I said to the cat, turning on my left side to face him.

He picked up his head off his front paws and looked at me as if to ask, “What?”

“Today was a good birthday—riding this morning and my favorite foods all night. I cannot wait for Papa and Mother to come home so that we can celebrate more! Hopefully they come home faster than last time.”

Buttons meowed as if agreeing with me. Then he put his head back on his paws and closed his eyes.

I turned on my back and shut my eyes; I started to pet Buttons, who began to purr. He licked my finger and then rubbed against it. After he did this, he set his head back down.

“Okay, okay. You are right, kitty; it is time to stop talking and go to sleep! Good night, Buttons!”

I laid my head back on my pillow, this time facing the flowers.

“Okay, one last thing!” I turned toward Buttons again.

This time, he looked at me as if I were keeping him from his beauty rest.

“Fine! It can wait until the morning.” I smiled at him.

It almost looked as if he nodded at me, agreeing that it could wait until the morning.

Sometimes I thought that Buttons was human, because he gave humanlike reactions when I spoke to him. When he was a kitten, I walked around with him in my arms, babbling to him.

I laid my head next to Buttons. Shutting my eyes, I took another deep breath of the roses. The roses soothed me, making the room feel peaceful. How I hoped that I would dream of the Rose House that night. Those dreams were always my favorite.

I sang the “Little Rose” song that my mother had sung earlier until I dozed off. That day had been a better day than I ever could have imagined. It was almost as if nothing could go wrong. The last thing I heard before dozing off was my mother giggling as my parents walked down the stairs to leave for their party.

Chapter 2
 

I
t was almost midnight when a couple made their way into a carriage leaving a castle. The night was clear and calm; the moon was full and shining bright. They were on a dirt road that led to the forest. Laughter was coming from inside the carriage. A man and a woman were inside, having a good time and enjoying each other’s company.

Once they passed the beginning of the forest, the wind began to blow. Clouds started to roll in from the east; thunder began to rumble. The horses that were pulling the carriage became startled by the sudden change in the weather. Lightning began to strike on the ground near them. The driver tried to calm the horses, but he was unable to.

The couple and their driver heard trees cracking and thunder above. This kind of storm generally did not happen this time of year. In fact, these kinds of storms were rare any time of the year.

The horses whinnied and began to gallop, jostling the driver on top of the carriage and the couple inside of it. The more the thunder rumbled, the more frightened the horses became.

All of a sudden, the horses came to a screeching halt. The couple flew out of their seats, smacking into the front of the carriage.

“What is going on?” the woman asked.

“I have no idea!” answered the gentleman.

They called out to their driver to discover what was happening, but they received no response. They hesitated before opening the door to the carriage. The horses were rearing up on their hind legs. Then the carriage shook violently, as if there were an earthquake.

The gentleman poked his head out of the carriage. Since the clouds had rolled in, covering the moon, the night was pitch black.

“Give me the lantern!” he said to the woman, who was sitting next to him shaking.

She lit it and handed it to him.

He put his foot out of the carriage. Once his right foot made contact with the ground, twigs snapped under it. He placed both feet on the ground, which was still trembling a little bit, causing the man to sway back and forth.

“Please be careful!” the woman shouted to the man.

The gentleman turned and nodded at her in response. He put his left hand on the side of the carriage, with his arm bent so that he was only a few inches away from it.

Slowly he took a few steps forward toward the horses. Twigs broke beneath his feet: they made loud cracking noises that startled him. The driver of the carriage was trying to hush and calm the horses.

All of a sudden, there was a loud thud. The horses became more frightened. The thunder was directly overhead, and the lightning was striking only the area surrounding the carriage.

As the gentleman moved closer to the horses, he saw the driver fall off the top of the carriage. It looked almost as if he were shoved off of his seat.

Once the man was close enough, he held the lantern up, yelling the driver’s name, but there was no response. As he put the light up to the driver’s face, he saw that the driver’s eyes were open, along with his mouth, but he was not breathing or moving.

“Wh-who is there?” the man screamed.