Beast to your Beauty

CHAPTER 16

 "You burned it down?" Julian chokes out. He looked down at her with fury; he resisted the urge to beat her. No, he wanted to do more than that – he wanted to kill her. "You were the one who destroyed all of our parents' belongings? The only things we had left of them?"

"I did it because I wanted to get rid of their memory once and for all!" Astrid screamed. "I wanted to forget them because remembering them is remembering that I killed them."

"That you did," Julian says coldly. "You killed them. And you killed the only thing we had left of them. You took them away from me, you took my ability to walk, and now you took the last remaining thing in this goddamn planet THAT I CARED ABOUT!"

"Not the last thing, according to you a few seconds ago," Astrid laughs through her tears, "Now you have Hannah ... But not for long. Oh I promise you that ... not for long!"

"What do you care if I like her or not? Leave her alone."

"Because you and I are going to rot in this house when we're both old and alone!" Astrid screamed at him. "Why should you get to be happy when you remind me of the agony that I have to live with every single day? Why should I be the understanding sister that nods and lets you go and make a life of your own? You don't deserve it."

"You left Hannah's father inside that fire," Julian says, shaking his head in disbelief.

"I ran when I saw him appear, I didn't know he would stay in there," Astrid said. "He appeared in the cottage and I hid behind the door until he was all the way inside. Then I ran."

"That makes everything okay?" Julian snaps. "You're everything that's wrong in my life, Astrid."

"And Hannah is everything "right"?"

"As of now, it seems so," Julian retorts.

"You two will never be happy together," Astrid tells him. "You don't deserve the attention of a woman. You are broken and have no heart. You don't deserve a chance at a normal life again."

"I deserve it more than you!" Julian roars.

Astrid reaches up and slaps him hard. Julian quickly grabs her by the throat.

"YOU DESTROYED THEM," Julian screamed furiously, his face red and his eyes with tears. "YOU TOOK THEM AWAY FROM ME AGAIN! YOU ARE NOT GOING TO KEEP MAKING MY LIFE A LIVING HELL."

"LET GO OF ME JULIAN!" Astrid choked out. "LET ME GO! LET ME GO!"

Suddenly the door flies open and Hannah and Erma run in.

"Julian!" Hannah cries and lunges towards him. Erma goes and pries Julian's hands off Astrid.

"Take him away!" Erma urges Hannah. She nods and pulls Julian out of Astrid's room. Erma closes the door and goes to help Astrid up who was coughing uncontrollably.

"You okay, dear?" Erma asks worriedly. She helps Astrid over to her table and hands her the drink that was on her lunch tray. Astrid takes a few sips, her eyes nervously looking towards her door.

"I need to get out of here," she says breathlessly. "Pack me a bag. Now!"

Hannah pushes Julian's chair back into his bedroom. She looks at him, kneeling down in front of him. Julian had his face buried in his hand and was crying.

"What happened back there?" she asked him. He looks up at her and suddenly the little shot of pain he always got whenever he looked at her was no longer there. Her father had not burned down the cottage. It had been Astrid all along. His anger and thirst for revenge had been aimed towards the wrong people all this time.