Finding Beauty

Chapter 33

~The Beast~

The vision flashes away, making Belle dizzy. She falls back almost knocking into me. I wrap my arm around her waist to steady her and then step away, my gaze hanging low.

I don't want to hear all the horrible things she probably wants to say to me after seeing why I was cursed. I know I deserve her harsh words but I just can't bare to hear them. So I say them first. "I know you must hate me more now that you've seen that and you don't have to help me-"

"I don't hate you," she quickly clarifies. Shrugging, she tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "I still want to help you break the curse."

Did I hear her right? She still wants to help me? "Oh..."

"We can't let those people live the rest of their lives as roses and living the rest of your life as a beast...seems pretty rough."

I try to suppress the smile that's creeping onto my face. She's going to help me...Maybe I can be human again after all? And all those people I hurt and changed into roses, they'd be human again too! They could be put into jail and all my wrongs would be set right. I won't have to feel guilty anymore!

My mother...She would come back too...Wouldn't she?

I put the thoughts to a stop. I can't get my hopes up. Besides, it's going to be a hard task to reverse the curse. "Thanks," I state, finally realizing my tear stained cheeks and the whole break down I let Belle see. How could I have let my guard down like that? But it did end up with gaining a chance at redemption. Maybe letting your guard down, letting people see your true feelings, isn't so bad?

I quickly wipe my face and clear my throat. Then I gesture to a closet just outside the room. "We can get the decorations and discuss while fixing the tree."

Belle follows me into the roomy closet and takes the boxes I pointed out as the ones that contain the ornaments and decorations. I grab some myself and lead her back into the living room. We place them down and straighten the tree. I take a knife and cut the tape off the top of the box that has the word Lights scribbled on the side.

"So did the witch say anything about how I could break the curse?" Belle nods and comes over helping me unravel the string of colorful lights.

"She said you have to have a change of heart and perform an act to prove it." She creases her eyebrows in thought and then turns to me. "A change of heart happens within a person. It's all up to them. There's not much I can do to help you with that."

The lights are untangled and we both wrap them around the tree. They settle on the pointy branches almost perfectly. It amazes me how well Belle and I are working together without any verbal communication.

"Do you think you've had a change of heart?" Belles asks, her brown eyes softly questioning mines.

I bite my lip and pause for a moment. "Well... There was a lot of things wrong with me back then...Probably still wrong with me. What exactly needs to change? That wasn't very specific."

"You're right, it wasn't," she says running her finger through her long brown hair. Caught in the fire's light it almost looks red. "The whole encounter with the little girl was a test. How you responded to it was why she cursed you." She walks to another box and takes out some more lights, all while looking very pensive. "Whatever trait you showed that night is what needs to change."

I fight a frustrated sigh that wants to escape my lips. In order to figure out how to break the curse we'll have to play the "List All The Horrible Things Gale Has Done" game. Great.

"I was selfish," I start. "Part of the reason why I didn't help that girl was because I was too busy being worried about myself."

"I think selfishness is the root of it all if you think about it. That's the change of heart that needs to happen," she says with a small smile curling the edges of her lips. They are a soft pink shade due to the lipstick Carina had applied on her early today. They were doing each others makeup like little girls at a slumber party. It was nice how Carina and her were bonding. And somehow, Belle came out looking even more beautiful than she already was.

"Why are you smiling?" Her smile widens at the statement and it makes me want to smile too. Belle is starting to have that effect on me.

"Because I'm proud of you," she replies with a shrug. "Now can you help me put up the lights? I'm a little too short to reach the top."

I laugh at the size difference between Belle and the tree. It's a foot and a half taller than her. "Sure thing."

After putting up all the lights we pull out the ornaments. Some of them bring back memories from when times were better. Some of them bring back memories when times were much worse. Like the ceramic angel one who's wings are broken off.

It shattered the day my mother and father had a big fight that ended it being thrown across the living room. I watched hiding behind the entryway wondering why we couldn't be like those happy families in the movies. The ones where the daddy's didn't hit their wife or kid and everyone's smiles were real.

Belle notices and quickly brings back the curse topic to distract me. Even though she has no reason to, she still tries to comfort me. She's beautiful in that way.

"Thinking back to when I first met you and comparing that to now, I think you're a lot less selfish," she says hanging a red and green striped ball on a branch.

"Thanks," I reply. "Going after criminals was selfish. I was doing it to make myself feel better. I don't think stopping it was enough of an act because I'm still," I gesture to myself,"this and those roses are still roses."

Belle's eyes light up in what I recognize as her 'I have an idea' face. "Stopping isn't really an act. What if you did the opposite of what you were doing before? Instead of going after them and turning them into roses-"

"I bring them to the cops!" I finish for her, my eyes wide.

"Exactly!" she shouts matching my volume. Excitement and hope rush through my veins and before I know what I'm doing I grab Belle by the waist, lift her up, and spin her around in a circle.

"You're a genius!"

She squeals and laughs as she spins. I put her down feeling as though I could kiss her -although, I don't because that would be weird-

Carina watches us from just outside the living room. In her hand is a dusting brush that hangs just above a vase. She notices we see her and scrambles into a more natural position. "I...I was just dusting. Don't mind me. I'll just dust over there..." she points to a vague area and hurries off.

"Um...That was strange," Belle says with a giggle.

"Yea..." I turn back to the Christmas tree and take it in. It's definitely better than I expected it to turn out. It looks like a mini version of the one in time square. All it's missing is a star on top.

Belle shuffles through a box and pulls out a large crystal star. "Here we go." She hands it to me but I give it right back.

"You can do the honors."

"I can't reach it," she points out. Without another word, I lift her up again. She carefully places the star on the tree and I set her down. She backs up to get the full view of the tree and smiles beside me.

"It's perfect."