Beauty and the Arrogant

Chapter Five

Up and About

Each branch, each twig, each bade of grass

Adam left Maurice's cottage and headed back to the Village. Maurice had told him the Villagers usually were up and about early in the morning to make sure they didn't encounter the Beast. Adam thought it seemed pretty reasonable. The people didn't want to upset the Beast.

He entered the bakery and was greeted with the delicious scent of baked goods. His mouth watered as he welcomed the scents and sights they offered. There was a huge crowd there, some impatiently checking their watches to make sure it was still early.

He stopped by an empty table that stood at the back of the bakery. Adam always enjoyed some peace and quiet when things were getting rough. He preferred to be in his own world instead of one where he could always think about how that bad thing was happening to him and make him wonder, Why?

He was in one of his worlds when someone came up to him with a smile. She was older than him by a lot, but he didn't mind the attention. The lady looked like someone he should know, but he couldn't place his finger on the reason. "Are you Adam?" she asked.

"Uh, yes I am. Who are you?"

Her smile grew even bigger. "Oh dear, don't you remember me, Mary? Your mother asked me to help you find a pretty girl, and here I am! I didn't know you were here already, or else I would've came out and let you in. Things are in a bit of a . . . rough patch, as you would say."

"Yeah," he said, "I know all about it. I actually just met with Maurice yesterday. He's a kind man, letting me into his lovely home with shelter and food and –"

"Wait, you met with him?" Many heads were turned to this question. "You met with Maurice?"

Adam wasn't sure what was the problem. Maurice was a great man. It wasn't his fault his daughter turned into some hell-beast. He raised her right, but that's how she ended up. "Yes, I did. Maurice isn't the Beast. He's greater than all of us. I don't see a problem with him."

"Yes, yes, but it's not him. It's his daughter. Have you not met her? I hope you don't. We call her the Beast for a reason, dear. We don't know what's happened with her, but she's completely changed for the worst. There were times when we thought she was coming back from her phase, but it just – it never happened."

Another voice interjected. "She used to be the sweetest girl in all the Village, but now we don't know where that part of her went. I remembered when she would come to my library and read all my books twenty times. My library was tiny, and there were other better ones, but she always came to mine because, as she always said, I had the classics and knew what good taste was. She was always recommending people to read the books only from my library. Oh, how dearly I miss that girl. I just got a new book and was almost tempted to go up to her and ask to see if she would like to read it . . . but it will never happen now."

"Yes, she always knew what a good book was," a voice said. "I'm Gaston. I was always asking her for recommendations because she was the one who knew the best ones. The books moved me, and I devastated when I found that she would never give me another recommendation."

The baker came out from the kitchen. "She always came here for bread." He started wailing. "Her kindness was the only good this world had. Now we're here to attempt to create our own good. It's hard to do that when the person who always made you smile causes fear in all the Village."

Mrs. Baker said, "She was so pure . . . and now, she's as ugly as the Beast we named her."

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