The Beast (Harry Styles)

Chapter Twenty-Six

A graceful slumber is for what Adeline would wish,
But, like in archery, that target is sometimes missed;
So here is where the chapter must begin:
Inside Adeline's sleepy mind is where darkness wins. . .

~.~

I was once again in a field of flowers.

But not just any flowers, they were her flowers: roses. Yet these roses  lacked their color, and the thorns did not hurt my feet as I walked through them; nor did I seem to crush the flowers as I wandered.

Confusion spread across my mind: why was I here? Then I looked up.

Harry was at the end of the field, smiling and laughing, and a warmth spread through my heart. This quickly dispelled when I noticed he was not alone.

Accompanying him was a girl that came to about his shoulders. She laughed along, embracing him and jumping up on her tippy toes to steal a kiss from my Harry. All I could see was her beautiful blonde hair, yet for some reason, I knew it was her.

And for some other reason, I ran towards them.

But I could not: whenever I had made any progress to reach the two, they became farther away, like I was not actually moving to them. All at once I felt the stabbing pain of thorns in my feet, their tiny needles breaking my skin and sucking my blood to feed the pallid roses.  I was immobilized and mesmerized at the  same time. Soon enough I was surrounded by brilliant red roses and the sinking feeling of despair.

I dropped to my knees, giving up on my attempt to reach Harry and the girl. I just let Harry walk away from me with her, and I let the roses take my blood to color their garden.

Despite growing weaker by the second, I did not mind the thorns making their way into my skin and pushing me towards the earth where I lied until the familiar shadow fell over my face. By the time he appeared, I was nothing more than a shell of who I was when I first arrived.

"What did I tell you? Do you still think he can save you?" The giant asked, his arms crossed as smugly as his voice was.

"Yes," I croaked, "she is just a memory."

"Memories are very powerful beings, you know; it is my memory that you fear and the reason I still terrorize you."

"No, I do not give you permission anymore." My voice was barely a whisper, the gentle wind almost louder than I was. But the giant smiled.

"You said that last time, yet here I am; like the phoenix, I seem to have been reborn from my ashes, awaiting the next time we meet."

"I do not love you," I spat at him.

"Oh, sweet, sweet maiden," the giant tsked at me, "do you think I do not know that? But we are bound, in more ways than you would ever admit to anyone else. Remember what is between us. You can never escape me."

"He does not love her anymore," I tried to attack with words, but unsure of whom I was truly trying to convince of that fact.

"You are right, he does not love her anymore; he loves her memory. Why do you think it is not until recently he has gotten rid of her? Even now, after he has done it, she still comes to him in the night, as I come to you now."

"Leave me alone," I plead to him.

But as I began to sink into the earth, the roses consuming me, I heard him laugh.

"It seems she's already arranged for that, huh?"

His laugh and his face were the last things I saw before the dirt engulfed me.