Belle

The breaking of the Beast

Belle

Almost a full day later and the streets I walk begin to look familiar. My feet are blistered and probably bleeding but it's alright, they're too numb to feel. The rest of my body aches in a way I'm not used to but still I continue, back sagged and head hung low.

The sun is rising and I'm just resigning to a fate of sleeping on a park bench when the glorious sight of my hometown comes into view. I feel a new burst of adrenaline kick in as I pick up the pace somehow and fall to my knees in happiness at the sight of my home. And in my front lawn I fall asleep. I'm shook awake many hours later, and my body protests any movement. "Belle?" a soft voice whispers. Not my dad's but somewhat familiar.

I shut my eyes again and turn my head away but I'm not left to sleep like I want. Instead I'm scooped into someone's arms and deposited in a car. Hey, the heater is on so I'm not complaining. I want to keep snoozing but the constant murmur of the radio keeps me awake, sparking annoyance in me. I refuse to open my eyes and instead immerse myself of the somewhat enjoyable torture of stretching my overworked muscles. A groan arises from me however as I move my feet and red hot pain returns.

"Come on Belle, let's get you cleaned up" the soft voice continues as I feel the car roll to a stop and I get picked back up. When my feet get jostled I hiss through my teeth, even more once I get set down and my shoes get peeled off. My impractical pumps.

I open my eyes at this pain to see an unexpected Beast knelt next to my feet where I lay on a hotel bed.

My feet, as expected, are red raw. Even Beast winces as he sees them, and that dude is made of stone. My heels are torn and crusted with blood whilst my left pinkie toe seems to be basically purple, the right one showing off a torn toenail. My big toes are blistered but nothing too bad. "What have you done to yourself?" Beast asks, sighing in frustration.

They're swollen almost comically but it truly is a horrific sight for someone who's used to having feet of steel that are too calloused to even get a blister.

Pretty feet are simply impractical.

To my surprise, Beast gets a massive first aid kit delivered to the room and starts gently washing them with alcohol wipes which earns a hiss from me as complaint of the pain. Once they're clean, he douses them with antibacterial cream and gauzes up my heels, cutting the torn part of my toenail and covering them both with an ice-pack to combat the swelling.

By the time he's finally done with the agonizing clean up, I'm shivering where I lay, Beast perches on the twin bed next to mine and looks me in the eye. I'm apprehensive as he says nothing at first until he breaks the silence

"What the hell is wrong with you?" he begins. I'm speechless as he goes on a rant "I'm serious, you could have really hurt yourself. Hell, you shouldn't be walking on those feet for a little while. Walking twenty damn miles in one day in a pair of slippers? Are you crazy? And just passing out on the lawn like that's safe. Your father isn't even home this holiday apparently so anyone could have simply taken advantage of you where you lay like walking alone at night wasn't bad enough. And you're probably dehydrated because you didn't even bring water with you! What am I going to do with you urgh!".

He lays back and stares at the ceiling in frustration whilst I'm trying to comprehend what he's saying. He... cares?

"I spoke to Jasmine and she was wondering why you didn't turn up to tutoring which made me realise why you turned me down. But it's fine, you had dinner anyway which I was annoyed about at first because you went against me but then I realised I was being a colossal dick by expecting you to not have dinner because I'm feeling moody. So I go to apologise and see you in my private room which makes me lose my rag because I didn't want you to see how obsessive I get but I guess it's too late huh? And then I scare you enough to do something as dramatic as this which is annoying because I feel like for the first time my roommate doesn't automatically hate me because they've been told they should."

He covers his face with his hands "And so I go looking for you and you'd taken a car so I want to apologise and follow the GPS for hours to find it neatly parked with you nowhere to be seen. So I figure you're going home and call the headmistress but she tells me that for some reason your dad isn't home for Christmas so I take the car to your house and you're not even there and I must have fallen asleep because when I wake up you're passed out on the floor and your feet are shredded to pieces. So I take you here"

He turns to face me and for the second time he's not scowling. Instead his face is plastered in concern. His beautiful face under that scowl.

"You weren't overreacting, I went into your personal place even knowing that you really didn't want me to go in there. I invaded your personal space and that wasn't okay. And yeah you scared me which was terrible but in the end I was so excited to see my dad after these months that I forgot I was running from you. Because you wouldn't listen to my explanation I probably did sound really rude just shutting you down but you shouldn't punish people just because you didn't get your own way. You may be spoilt but you're not a kid anymore" I respond, considering my words and speaking slowly.

"I don't think you're obsessive. If I was in your shoes and everything I'd ever known may be ripped away from me I'd do everything I could to try and prevent it" I swallow the lump in my throat as I think about my dad, hopelessness engulfing me.

"And... thank you for coming and helping me out, I really wasn't thinking straight and I was being stupid but thank you for caring" I whisper slightly.

In an almost unimaginable move, he does the most unexpected thing.

He comes over and hugs me. Now I hug people all the time but I could tell by his apprehension that he hasn't hugged anyone in a really long time. I wrap my arms around his waist and bury my head in my chest as he hugs me, face resting on my head and one hand gently rubbing my back in comfort.

"Just please think next time okay?" he asks, my response being a nod which he feels rather than sees. It's weird you know? Seeing his concrete facade fall in concern and now the man who was scaring me out of my own dorm yesterday is hugging me for way longer than wouldn't normally be acceptable but with him it feels comfortable.

He smells good so that might be it.