Beauty & The Beast

One

Pine Valley, a small town in Oregon that is surrounded by hills and pine trees, hence the name, with the small town located in the centre of the valley. The town was petite with the population of 5,000 people, one of the smallest in the whole of the USA. The summer sun shone from the sky, with the warm rays of light shining against the townspeople's skins as they enjoyed their time in the sun, shopping, sitting outside whilst having lunch or sitting in the small park in the centre of the town which had a small, circular stone fountain in the centre of the park with the water squirting out from the centre.

Walking out of a small, white bricked townhouse wearing a pair of tight, denim jeans and a white, thin strapped, long t-shirt was Elena. A beautiful nineteen year old girl with olive skin, her long, brunette hair was tied up in a loose ponytail. Stuffed into her denim jeans pocket was her iPhone 6s, with a pair of iPhone earphones that were slotted into her ears. As she walked down the streets of Pine Valley towards the town centre she listened to 7 Years by Lukas Graham, she blocked out the rest of the town as she made her way towards the town centre. Resting between her right arm and her chest were two books, fiction novels, romance novels. As she made her way towards the centre of the town she was oblivious to the people who were staring at her strangely as she didn't acknowledge them, something that was new to the town as people would acknowledge each other all of the time, even if it was just the nod of their head. Two women, in their forties, one plump and one petite sat on the bench close to the fountain watching Elena as she carried walking into the town. The plump lady said to her friend, "She's rather odd, that girl."

"I agree," the petite lady nodded, "Rather peculiar."

"She's different from the rest of us," the plump lady added, "She's actually not like the rest of us."

"She really is a weird one, that Elena," the petite lady added.

Elena finally arrived at the bookshop, a old shop with flaky, single paned windows with old fashioned writing on the window saying 'Murphy's Bookstore'. As Elena entered through the door, the old fashioned bell above the door rang. The smell of musk and old books floated into her nostrils. She made her way slowly towards the counter where an old man sat; his grey comb-over covered his large bald patch that started from the front of his head back to the crown of his head. He wore a pair of round glasses that rested on his crooked nose. His attire was old fashioned also, with his brown waistcoat covering his brown and white pinstriped shirt. His trousers matched his waistcoat that was finished off with a red bowtie. He was a small, slender man. He was sat down on a stool behind the counter and his head was popping over the counter. As Elena arrived at the counter she took one of her earphones out of her ear and placed her books down on the counter. The old man looked up from his old book and produced a smile on his face. "Elena," he beamed, "What are you doing here?"

"I came to return the books that I borrowed," she informed him with a smile.

"You've read it already?" He asked her with shock as he slowly got up from the stool, "You only came in yesterday."

"I know, I couldn't put it down," she told him, "I love romance novels, they're my favourite."

"You know," he stated with a smile, "Most ladies your age are reading books on those gadgets, if it wasn't for you and some of the rest of the elderly residents, I think that I would've gone out of business by now."

"I prefer to read books this way," she replied, "If you're constantly reading a book on the screen then it's not gonna do any good for your eyes. A besides," she shrugged her shoulders, "I prefer the old fashioned way where you have to actually turn the page yourself."

"Well, Elena," he smiled, "Thank you for single handily keeping my business afloat."

"No problem," she nodded with a smile, "So, do you have anything new that I could read?"