Who could ever love a beast

Chapter 6

Zayn

It’s been thirty minutes since my sister left for the market and I’m running around the house picking up all the dirty laundry. I put everything in the basket and walk out of the house to the place where everybody does their laundry. I put the basket with the laundry and soap in the water and give the horse who’s standing still something to eat. Satisfied the horse begins to walk in circles around the water well. I sit down on the stone wall and start to read the book I brought with me.

‘What are you doing?’ A little girl asks. ‘The laundry,’ I reply looking at her. ‘Come! Come!’ I say motioning her over and she walks towards me. I grab another book, this time with pictures and a few words per page and you can hear the church bell tolling. ‘The blue bird…,’ she starts to say slowly. ‘That flies..,’ she says still slowly and I smile at her. ‘Over the dark...,’ she says a tiny bit faster. ‘Wood,’ she finishes the sentence looking at me. ‘That was amazing!’ I compliment her and she smiles at me.

‘What on earth are you doing?’ the Headmaster asks looking at us. ‘Teaching another person to read? Isn’t one enough?’ he asks with a huff. ‘We have to do something,’ the woman next to him says. Before I even know what’s going on, several men walk towards my laundry basket and throw it on the stones, making all my laundry fall out of the basket. I get up from my place on the wall and kneel down to collect my laundry. I feel all eyes on me, but I feel a certain pair of eyes burn a hole in the back of my head. I look to my side and see Père Robert looking at me sympathetically. He hands me some of my laundry and I smile at him in thanks. What can I say? I’m used to it. 

Niall

I’m standing in a different part from the village, looking at myself in a mirror. ‘You are the wildest most gorgeous thing I have ever seen,’ I say to myself. ‘Nobody deserves you. But at least I know our children will be beautiful,’ I continue saying while looking in the mirror. ‘Am I catching you at a bad time?’ Dylan asks making a weird face. ‘What is it, Dylan?’ I ask turning around to look at him. ‘A certain boy is in distress,’ Dylan tells me with a knowing look. ‘Ah, it’s hero time,’ I boost. ‘I’m not done with you yet,’ I say to myself in the mirror making a smug face before walking away. ‘Me neither,’ I hear Dylan say probably making a funnier face than I did.

Zayn

‘Zayn, I heard you had trouble with the headmaster,’ I hear Niall say. ‘He never liked me either,’ he adds while I walk into my garden closing the garden gate. ‘Can I give you a little advice about the villagers though?’ he asks while walking around my garden. ‘They’re never going to trust the kind of change you’re trying to bring,’ he tells me while stomping on the vegetables before reaching me. ‘All I wanted was to teach a child to read,’ I reply looking at him. ‘The only children you should concern yourself with are your own,’ he says. ‘I’m.. not ready to have children,’ I reply walking to the gate which leads to the stairs to my front door.

‘Maybe you haven’t met the right person,’ he says while I close the gate. ‘It’s a small village, Niall. I’ve met them all,’ I tell him walking away. ‘Well, maybe you should take another look. Some of us have changed,’ he replies with a smile. ‘Niall, we could never make each other happy. No one can change that much,’ I say halfway on the stairs. ‘Oh, Zayn. Do you know what happens to suitors in this village after their sisters die?’ he asks me and I glare at him. How dare he excuse me of being a suitor?! ‘Coins? Got any spare coins?’ A man in the distance asks. ‘They beg for scraps, like poor Austin,’ he says motioning to him. ‘This is our world, Zayn,’ he says turning back to me.