The Beast (Harry Styles)

Chapter Eighteen Part One: Sinister

With happiness all around,

Where could negativity even be found?

Well, here is one mad little camper

Whose mood has been tampered. . .

~.~

He caught sight of Adeline, her positivity radiating an unmistakable glow by her house. Her sunlight blinded John for a single moment before the anger surged throughout his body.

John didn't really understand the inescapable wrath that found its way floating in his bloodstream, but he never really questioned it.  

Maybe John could trace it to some point of his life, maybe some childhood memory where he had just had enough of the taunting and patronizing ways of others. . .

No: John had been the one to prey on the weak-mindedness of other children. His bullying resulted in his father to home school the young predator who felt no remorse or empathy for the victims of his seemingly harmless acts. 

John was an embarrassment to his father in situations such as these.  Not everyone could afford an education; knowledge showed wealth in the country, and so did the desire to gain it. John's apathy for school work and reading caused several tutors to quit, all of them which gossiped much about the strange young boy who rolled his eyes at Shakespeare and snorted during geometry.  

A mix of emotions followed this overwhelming fury as John seemed to lose his stamina for hatred. The man who Adeline had been with seemed so eerily familiar. He was so gentle with Adeline, treating her as though she would break it he touched the wrong spot.

John's mind wandered back to the day by the cliff.

Did Adeline's shoulder still hurt? Would it still hurt?

It was peculiar to think of such a random thought, but John would admit his brutality on that day. It was quite uncalled for, yet he would not apologize to Adeline for his actions because John felt they showed his true emotions at that point in time.

So what if he had been a little violent? He had revealed how he'd felt, and that seemed to be a step in the right direction for John.

John knew he couldn't make the scar go away, and there was no point to make up for it; it was there, and it would stay there. 

It wasn't like when Adeline was his wife he'd be looking at her back—maybe a bit farther down from her mid-back, but it still never affected his feelings for her. 

In a way, it excited John for Adeline to be marked by him: she was his and no one else's.

Now that was to be proven as she was back in town. John would parade her around in a short few months after their marriage, and he would throw a lavish party on her eighteenth birthday just to show her all the wealth he possessed.

John knew her father being hurt would draw her back to this wretched town. It was so simple: a slight moving of a ladder sent her father off the roof. Of course, John would never get his hands dirty in such frivolous business, but it didn't stop him from hiring a willing idiot to do it.

It was starting to hurt John's mind thinking so much lately. There was still the matter of who was accompanying Adeline back to her house, yet John disregarded the obvious fact that the familiar man was somehow involved with her.

No big deal, he thought, head pounding from overuse. I could easily get rid of the bump in my road.

There was nothing that would ever stop John from his goals; there was nothing that could.

John was determined to make Adeline his wife for all the wrong reasons.

Alas, who could stop a wildfire who burned on in an eternal rage? He was nearing the edge of the forest, so close to living in the imminent destruction of the peaceful Eden. It was a shame, for when fire meets a forest, it always destroys it, making sure nothing else will ever thrive in its sacred lands.

~.~

Reaching his own home, John trudged up the stairs into the catastrophe of a living room.

It was terribly dirty, clothes and food everywhere one stepped. He debated whether or not he should actually clean it, but against his better judgment, John left it as it was.  

John sat on his couch, groaning at the growing pain in his head.

Never would he think so much again.

As the headache began to diminish, John's door was rapped upon.

"What do you want!" he shouted, vexation clear in his voice.

"I have news I think you'd find quite interesting," the unwanted visitor yelled back.

"God dammit, Robert, just come in!" 

John sighed and closed his eyes, listening to his door slam open and shut. 

"What the hell do you want to tell me, you annoying little—-" Robert cut John off.

"The Beast is in town," Robert rushed to say, eyes filled with excitement.  "He visited Joshua and I! He was with Adeline, and—" 

"Wait," John said as his eyes opened, trying to process Robert's words. "Did you say he was with Adeline? As in, my Adeline?"

Robert snickered. "You might want to talk to that freak about that; she was saying that her and Harry are together."

"No way," John muttered his breath. "This can't happen." A little louder for Robert to hear, John repeated his words. "This can't happen!" 

"Joshua is also quitting the vagabonds," Robert mentioned as disgust covered his words. "He's sided with them."

"He can't quit!" John stood on his feet. "I'm going to kill that ungrateful, untrustworthy,—"

"Joshua went with Adeline and Harry to her house; you can't kill Joshua under their protection," Robert reminded the rash John.

"I thought he had turned on his father!" 

"Apparently not." Putting his hand on John's arm, Robert eagerly drew John's attention to himself. "What are you going to do to him?"

John thought for a moment. What was the best revenge?

It depended on the situation. For Joshua? He would easily become an outcast like his liberal father. Watching all his privileges disappear in an instant would sate John for now.

"Nothing," he said too calmly. Robert knew better.

"What are you doing to Harry?" he asked with caution.

John smiled, his secrets hidden somewhere within that sweet smirk. "Only time can tell you that, my Robert. But come, stay; we have a few things to. . .ah, discuss."

Both men sat down with calamity surrounding them and similar yet tumultuous intentions on their mind.

Only a bump in the road, John thought. Bumps can be flattened by force.

~.~

What could John be up to?

You will find out soon;

But back to Adeline and Harry for now,

As they wait for the big "how:"

What could have caused her father's injuries to come through?

You'll find out in chapter eighteen part two. . . 

~.~

I AM SO SORRY THIS KIND OF SUCKS AND IT'S SHORT BUT I KNOW I NEEDED TO UPDATE AND IT WAS HECTIC THIS PAST WEEK OHMYGOD

*Hopefully* you forgive me with the harry gif as a bribe? :)

I am going to 270354% try to update on Wednesday if life decides not to be prick to me (aka my teachers)

Until next time?