The Beast (Harry Styles)

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Mirror, Mirror

Louis must confront the man

Who causes trouble for the entire plan;

Yet things do not happen as they always should,

And both wish that they really would. . .

~.~

"I thought I told you I would keep my mouth shut." 

John continued to walk in a straight line, three steps, turn, four steps, turn, again and again until Louis grabbed his shoulder and forced his body towards him.

"Oh yeah? Then how do you explain Forthington finding out? And the small rumor circulating in the pub here?" Louis growled, spitting at John. "Of course," he let go of John and spun on his heels turning his back to the man, "John handles it! John keeps things under control. No one knows about the Beast, not a single soul. No one knows how he burnt Rutherville to the ground and tore the buildings down by his hands!" Louis brought his face close to John's face.  "Surely, no one knows that he lives a whole thirty minutes from this village!" 

The angry sarcasm fired from Louis' mouth, yet John stood calmly against the heat of accusing bullets.  Instead, he smiled. 

"Dear Louis, do you think that I can truly control the idiots of this town?" John turned to his right and began walking to his couch. Garbage was strewn everything, but he simply moved it off of the closest cushion and sat down. "Truly, sir, if you believe that, you are quite mistaken."

Louis shook his head, his hair bouncing furiously against the force of anger radiating from his bright face. "Harry trusted you. He offered kindness to you when he should have let you die on your own. Your father was right to abandon you, but Harry wouldn't have it. We all make mistakes, and you were both Harry's and your father's."

John stood up immediately and looked towards Louis. "Do not talk about my father as if you knew him," John hissed. The ice frozen in his voice cooled the flames of anger in Louis' face, but he did not back down.

"I have never liked you from the moment I met you," his voice was full of disgust, "and I believe I have found you in your natural habit: surrounded by the garbage you are. Absolute rubbish." Louis grabbed his coat from the rack upon which he placed it after he entered John's house. 

Walking to the door, Louis felt no remorse for his words. Although John was essential to keeping peace within this village, there was no reason his arrogance should be tolerated. After all, Harry knew the day would come when John would break the sacred bond of loyalty; he just did not know it would be this soon.

As soon as he stepped outside, Louis pulled out a small gadget no bigger than a normal American quarter. He tapped the thing three times: it is time. 

~.~

He was not happy. 

After Louis left, John entered his bedroom. 

"How dare he!" he screamed. "How dare he enter my home and accuse me of attempting to start a war!" John kicked his dresser. "Does he not realize how much I need peace as well? Does he not realize how incredibly smart I am?" 

He slammed his hands against his dresser and looked at himself in the mirror. "Does he know how much I know? How valuable I am?" John stretched his hand towards his reflection. "How beautiful I am?" 

For a second his felt something, an inexplainable feeling rise in his chest. Was it. . .love? Admiration?

Of course, he thought, no one else besides you deserves it. No one else is worthy of the greatness I am, the legend I will become, and the God-ship I will leave this forsaken village.

"No one is as great as you," the reflection spoke. "No one matches you, no one compares to you, no one even is half as amazing as you. You are the kingpin, you are the number one. Your father loathed you because your intelligence was far beyond what his feeble mind could process."

"Yes, yes, you are correct," John nodded at his reflection. "It all makes sense now: he hated me because he could not become what I was destined to be."

"Which is Emperor, not King. You are an Emperor, John. You deserve all of the world. You can destroy all who get in your way, all the idiots that fall on your feet will help you. You can do whatever you want because it is written in the universe that anything is yours," the image encouraged. 

John smiled at himself, attempting to mirror the dignity and respectability he saw in his own reflection, but something was off. The corners of his lips went a little too far up his face, his eyes seemed too bright, wild even, and his body shook the way one of the poor men at the pub would shake if he could not afford drinks yet stood next to his drunk friends. 

John looked like the frightened young boy he had known all of his life. He did not look like the Emperor his reflection promised that he would be. The quivering lip paired with the glossy eyes haunted his memory and his vision as the reflection turned into a cauldron of the past. John could not turn away as his face shrunk to a boyish look, a clean shave and haircut, and that ugly suit his father used to make him wear when he had friends over. The combination was pitiful, almost comical. 

So he laughed.

He laughed until he could not laugh anymore, until his sides hurt, until he lost his balance and fell on the ground, withering in an unknown pain. It was not the pain of his aching side, but a deeply rooted pain that existed far within the soul. Some might call it abandonment; John called it his childhood. 

John was not his reflection. He was not the leader meant to run a village of people with a stable sanity. 

I am great, I am the best, I am alright, he repeated to himself as he envisioned the man he saw in the mirror.

He was not alright. 

But somewhere in his twisted mind, he knew he had to be one step ahead.

And he was. 

~.~

John forgets to create his mask

In the mirror where sees his past;

Soon he will meet his fate,

But first, we will have to read chapter twenty-eight. . .

~.~

HAPPY HOLIDAYS Y'ALL! 

So, some fun facts from me:

I am a senior in high school, and college apps have taken over my life. 

So has AP Statistics. 

BUT! I leave you with this chapter, and I'm gonna be starting the next RIGHT NOW so hopefully it will be given too you guys the same day or within the week!

ALSO

Thank you SOSOSOSOSOSOSOSO much for all the support and love you have for this book. I know I'm terrible with updating, but I do see all the comments and notifications for all of you enjoying this and I'm so happy that you do. I started this after seeing a picture of Harry and thought he looked a lot like the Beast, and well, this happened.

I love you all so much!