Finding Beauty

Chapter 10

~Beauty~

He is my kidnapper. He must have kidnapped me to hurt me. He threw me in a basement and kept me there for days, showing he doesn't care about me or my health.

So why did he jump in front of me? Take the flames for me?

I change into the sweatpants and
t-shirt Carina gave me and crawl into bed. Though I know I won't do much sleeping, not after all that happened, all the unexplained events.

And definitely not after seeing Grayson again. His hazel eyes flash into my mind. If only I got to stare into them a few moments longer.

Seeing him made me feel hope that someone was trying to get me back home, maybe I would end up going back home. It made me feel like I wasn't alone. That maybe all the craziness would end right then and there. It didn't.

I lay on back and rub my arm. Carina stitched it up. She took out a kit and sat me down while she sent The Beast upstairs. I told her she should take care of him first but he insisted she'd take care of me first. I'm not sure why. He needed more help and I am the prisoner.

The things he did tonight...He did them for me. Why?

I can't seem to make sense of it and the very act of trying to gives me a headache. Suddenly a school filled with people who hate me doesn't seem so bad. At least things weren't confusing then and I wasn't in mortal danger.

I don't hear The Beast pacing his room like I did the first night I was here. It's probably because he physically can't. I still can't believe he did what he for me or what he did to Ryan Daniels afterwards.

I close my eyes and replay the scene in my head.

It was like the world was in slow motion. The flames engulfed him and he screamed, the agony in his voice clear. I thought I would pass out from the horror of it all but then the flames were gone.

He was burned, yes. He had pink welts all over and his mask was melted on the ground. His clothes was hardly holding it's self together. But the fire was gone. There was no trace of it. Ryan Daniels stood in shock and so did I. The Beast didn't. He knew what was going on and what he was doing.

He was staring at Ryan with so much intensity I felt myself trembling. His face was still twisted in pain. Then he spoke, his voice was deep and raspy from screaming,"You deserve this."

The Beast lunged at the criminal. He dropped his flame thrower to run faster but The Beast grabbed him by his jacket and tossed him to the ground.

I could tell it wasn't going to end well. I wanted to run, far away, towards the police sirens. I wanted to forget this nightmare. But I felt weak with fear, frozen in place. All I could do was close my eyes and melt to the ground. My hands went up to my ears to shield them. I didn't want to hear Ryan Daniels death. He was evil but this was not suppose to happen.

I waited for some disturbing noise or maybe a tortured cry. It didn't come.

"Get up. We have to go." I slowly uncovered my ears and opened my eyes. Ryan Daniels was gone. There was an empty space where his corpse should have been lying on the forest ground. "Come on!" The Beast winced as he bent down lifted me and carried me away realizing I wouldn't be able to get up even if I tried.

I should have been fighting him off. I could've won, he was weak at that moment. But no matter how hard I tried, all I could do was cry.

A rose glowed in The Beast's front pocket. It was right next to my face and I reached out and gently touched it. It looked like the one that was hovering on his nightstand but it was the same shade as Ryan Daniels greasy red hair.