Another Beauty and the BEAST story

Chapter XIV

The worst part of imprisonment is the not-knowing. For the following seconds, minutes, hours, all I do is wander back and forth in the confined space of our basement, going over ever possible scenario in my head, each worse than the last. Every now and then a whistle of chilly air seeps through crevice of the locked wooden doors that makes me and mother shiver. After a while heavy raindrops starts to fall, and I hear them impact with whatever surface as loud as the banging of a blacksmith. My head is spinning, my brain desperately trying to come up with an idea to get out of here, while trying to exclude the sound of the raindrops and the ever presence of time running between my fingers. Like sand in a sandglass. Unable to stop, unable to escape. 

Mother sits down on a broken stool in the corner, slowly talking to herself while fidgeting with some gears she found on one of the dusty shelves. I envy her, being able to stay calm and sit still during a stressful time like this. 

The only thing silent is my heart. Strangely enough. Ever since my brain subconsciously realized that I'm hopeless, and that I can do nothing to help Elsa, it's fallen silent, barely beating in my empty chest. And that hurts more than anything. I almost want to rip it out and yell at it to feel something. Despair. Desperation. Sadness. Utter destruction. Anything. But it remains silent, barely keeping me alive and sucking the life out of me at the same time. 

I don't know how much time passes, but eventually I hear something approaching outside. It's not as loud as the raindrops drowning my ears, yet remarkable enough to be heard despite it. I stop wandering, and turn toward the small crevice in between the basement doors. A single shape takes form, and a small heartbeat indicates hope returning like the warning of a tidal wave. Recognition fills me, and if there was time, I'd break down and cry on the basement floor. 

"Chip! Oh, dearest Chip, am I glad to see you!" I whimper, my mother slowly rising from her corner at the sound of my voice. 

"Jack! There you are! Why... Why are you down there?" The little cup asked as I force my index finger through the crevice to pat his porcelain figure in gratitude.

"It's a long story, but right now I need to get out to warn Elsa, can you help us?" I answer, my heart starting to beat slowly in my chest once more. I welcome its steady rhythm, forcing blood through my veins and making my entire body wake up from the earlier coma-like state I was stuck in. I feel alive again. 

"I can try," Chip answer and jump away. I turn to my mother, hope gleaming in my eyes. 

"He'll help us. Don't worry, Mother, Chip'll help us," I say, embracing her quickly. She looks at me with a hint of fear in her eyes, but doesn't say anything. 

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The next thing I know is Mother's invention breaking through the door and the cloudy night sky becoming visible once again. Chip stands at the base of the broken doors and grins like a child. I kiss him on the cheek before sprinting off towards the pasture. Without looking back, running in my almost shredded white shirt and brown pants, I jump over the wooden fence and continue into the pasture. 

"Philippe!" I yell as I enter, and a weak neigh responds in the distance. "Philippe!" I yell once more, and he trots out of the small wooden area in the pasture, grass still in the corner of his mouth and his usually auburn golden back darkened by the rain. Being such a wise horse, he doesn't question when I sprint towards him, probably looking maniac, and swing myself up on his broad back, without saddle or even a bridle. I kick my bare feet into his sides and off we go, galloping towards the fence at high speed, the rain and wind whipping at my face. 

Flying over the fence is not a problem, and Philippes hooves hitting the ground as we sprint across the front yard of my house sounds like thunder. At the edge of our lot, I meet my mother. I halt Philippe, who exhales annoyingly at the sudden stop. My mother reaches Chip at me, and I grab him and put him inside the front pocket of my shirt. He giggles like a child. Mother looks at me with wisdom in her eyes, but not as much as understanding. She knows why I have to go. She understands why I return. And for that, I am forever grateful. 

"Do what's right," is all she says as a goodbye, and once again I kick Philippe forward, who surges forward towards north without me telling him to go that way. Like the trustworthy horse I know him to be he sprints through the dark shadows of unknown woods faster than he ever has before. I cling to his mane with one of my hands, the other one gripping Chip in my pocket to prevent him accidentally flying out and getting smashed to pieces. The wind whistles in my ears, the raindrops whipping at my face, forcing me to squint and blink repeatedly. Philippe's hooves continue to smash against the ground like thunder, as we quickly closes in on the castle. I notice small familiar changes in the surroundings that hint so. The air gets colder, and some of the trees don't appear so frightening. More like old friends than looming, dark shadows at the edge of my sight. And sure enough, soon we're rushing out on the fields that me and Elsa raced on only a few months ago. I remember it in a flash as we surge through the long grass, tickling my bare feet. I remember the cold biting my cheeks, the breath of the horses and the marks we left in the snow. I remember her hair gleaming like ice in the sunlight, her eyes even brighter, her skin as fair as the sky and her dress as white as the snow around us. I remember her, so clearly I could drown in the memories without noticing my lungs not breathing. 

The flash of memory vanishes as Philippe jumps over a ditch and lands gracefully on the other side. The forest is the only thing segregating me and the castle at this points, and I urge Philippe to run a little bit faster. My heart is no longer silent. It screams and beats like lightning in my chest, filling me up with electricity and energy. Without seeing, it knows before my eyes that we're close. The low-hanging tree branches whips my face as we enter the forest. I don't let them stop me. I can't afford to stop. Chip laughs in my front pocket, sensing our home appearing in the distance, and I feel a smile spreading across my face as well. 

Hang on, my winter queen, I'm coming back for you.