Finding Beauty

Chapter 46

~Beauty~

A cool breeze nips at my toes and face making me awake from my deep sleep. It's no longer the beach weather day it was when I drifted off. It's sweater weather and I'm still in my bathing suit laying on the cool sand. My eyes flutter open, trying to adjust to the sunlight shining directly at them.

Sunlight? Had Gale and I slept here the whole night?

"Gale, wake up! It's morning-" I turn to see no one next to me. Just a patch of sand. "Gale?" I call into the empty space.

I stand, my feet wobbly from sleep at first. Looking around, I realize that all the stuff we brought to the beach is gone. The blanket, the radio, the umbrella, everything. My heart sinks when I see that Gale's car is gone as well. My breath catches in my throat.

Did he leave me?

I feel my mind start to panic. I try to think of something that can explain why Gale and every trace of him is gone. None of them make sense.

"Gale?!" I call again. But this time it's louder and more desperate. I start to walk away hoping that maybe I'll find him parked in a different spot loading things into his trunk. He has to be around here somewhere. He wouldn't leave me stranded on this beach. Unless, maybe something happened to him?

My foot steps on a papery surface. I bend down and analyze it. It's a piece of paper, carefully folded and placed where I was laying.

Dear Belle,

these last few months have been the best days of my life and it's because of you. You have taught me so many wonderful things that I will treasure forever. One of them being that if you have something beautiful, do not cage it, share it with the whole world. That's what I'm doing. I want you to go write that book. Go travel the world. Go spend time with that Grayson guy. Do everything you want to do and more. I guess what I'm saying is I'm letting you go. Goodbye, Belle.

-Gale

I have to read the note several times. No matter how many times I do, I can't seem to understand it. Tears well up in my eyes. He actually did it. He let me go.

I sit back on the sand and ponder my new reality, still in shock. I'm free. I can go home. This is what I've wanted for so long. How come it doesn't feel as good as I thought it would? I have a pit in my stomach and I'm balling my eyes out. This isn't how imagined I would react.

I know the reason why. It's because freedom isn't the only thing I want anymore. I also want him.

~The Beast~

I take a deep breath hoping it will stop the tears from running down my face. My grasp on the steering wheel tightens as Belle's sleeping face lingers in my mind.

I knew I couldn't let her go in person. I wouldn't have been able to say the words to her. I wouldn't have been able to do it. So when she fell asleep, I left. I was gone in the morning like the stars in the sky. I will be forgotten like a past dream.

Every single moment I've had with her seems to play and replay in my head as I drive away, abandoning the best part of my life. I can hardly see the road anymore. Good thing the castle is in view and before long I'm pulling into my parking space.

I rush out of the car and inside, slamming the door after me. I take a breath telling myself to calm down. I can't seem to because I'm still crying. Giving up, I collapse on the floor and close my eyes.

It's my own fault that this is affecting me so much. I let her help me. I let her into my hardened heart and in the process she managed to steal it. She helped me become a better person and that better person had to let her go.