The Beast

F O U R : M E M O R I E S A N D F O R E I G N F E E L I N G S

Jessie got up feeling weird. She felt like she had betrayed herself by talking to the very man who was keeping her hostage.

He's not keeping you hostage. You could leave at any time, a voice somewhere in her mind said. Jessie decided to disregard it and continued staring at nothing from the bed she was sleeping in.

Then she stood up from the bed and started pacing. Like the fool she was, she had never asked herself, or Theo for that matter, where the clothes she had been wearing for each of the five days she had been here came from.

Jessie frowned and shook her head at herself. She kept on asking the wrong and inconsequential questions. She was not supposed to be asking where the clothes she was wearing came from! She was supposed to be asking why she was still here and why he was so adamant in not letting her go.

She sat on the bed again and frowned. She did not want to go to the living room or kitchen because she knew Theo was going to be there and she did not want to face him.

Jessie sighed then her gaze went to the closet. She looked at what she was wearing, an old and faded t-shirt and the shorts she had been wearing the day Theo had found her and she sighed. What she wouldn't give to get out of these clothes.

She stood up and went to the closet, thinking that with her recent shitty luck, it was going to be empty. To her surprise, it wasn't. It was almost filled to the brim. The clothes hanging there were of no interest to her as they were all evening dresses.

She went to the four bags that were lying there and opened them. The first three were filled with stuffed animals, baby clothes and socks. Yes socks. Don't ask. The last one was her only hope. Jessie opened it carefully and saw that it was filled with pictures. Professional pictures, silly Polaroids, and goofy moments captured.

She carried the bag carefully to the bed back in the room and took out a picture. It was one of those pictures you took in a photo booth at a fair or something. There were two people on the picture, a pre-teenage girl and a teen boy.

The boy bore a very strong and uncanny resemblance with Theo and Jessie guessed it was him when he was younger. She removed another picture. This time around, it was one of those professional family pictures.

Theo was in a suit, sitting next to the same girl he had been making weird faces with in the previous picture. They were next to a woman in a red dress and Jessie noticed instantly that both of them had her eyes.

She was so engrossed in the pictures that she did not hear the door open or register the fact that there was someone else in the room apart from her until the pictures were violently taken from her.

She looked up and gulped. Standing there was a furious looking Theo. She had seen him look cold, had even seen him smile once, but had never seen him mad. It was a scary picture.

***

Theo could not describe the emotion he felt when he saw Jessie thumbing through memories he had tried so hard to keep away from his mind. He was going through the motions as he took the pictures away from her.

"I'm so so sorry Theo. I-", Jessie started but he was having none of it.

"Save it", he interrupted without even looking at her. He put back all the pictures she had taken out, zipped the bag and put it back in its place.

He stalked out angrily and banged the door behind him. It was because of nosy and curious people like this that most of what had happened to him actually happened. And he was damned if he let another stupidly curious person ruin his life.

***

Jessie was in the same position Theo had left her with. She sighed and shook her head. Curiosity had always been one of her major faults and here she was again, causing trouble because she was stupidly curious.

It seemed like she could never do anything right. She said mean things, snooped and kept on invonveniencing everyone around her. In a way she, she understood why her fiance had cheated one her.

With a resolve she never knew she had, Jessie stood up from the bed and headed out. She was certain Theo was not going to be in the house so it made everything much easier.

Jessie went to the kitchen, and, as she had predicted, Theo was no where to be found. She went to the drawers, marveling at how everything was perfectly organized. But that was not her priority at the moment.

Feeling a little bit guilty, Jessie grabbed a plastic bag and put some junk food in it. They were the only things she had never seen Theo eating so they were the only things she took so as to alleviate a bit of her guilt.

After taking what she could, she went out of the house, gave a wistful look at it and sighed. She had been there for only a week or so but she would remember the place her whole life. She turned away from it and starting walking, walking back to real life.

***

Theo came back to the house after he had cooled off and locked away all the memories that had threatened to come out. He walked towards the room Jessie was occupying. He was sure he had frightened her and he wanted to reassure her.

It was dumb that after she had invaded his privacy, he still wanted to make sure she was okay. It was dumb, but he didn't want her to be scared of him. He had enough people already to play that role.

As Theo neared the room, he had the sinking sensation that something was not right. And his fears only got confirmed when he opened the door and the room was empty.

He opened the closet, feeling stupid for even thinking she could be in there but he had to check. It was empty, save the clothes and bags.

He knocked the bathroom door and called out her name so he opened it. But it was not locked, and Jessie always locked the door when she went into the bathroom.

Theo walked out of the bathroom and stood in the hallway for a moment. Then he went to his room, knowing it futile but just wanting to check. As he suspected, it was empty.

He moved slowly, in the direction of the kitchen. He opened the first drawer he saw and what he was thinking all along got confirmed. Jessie had gone away. And surprisingly, the first thing he felt was not relief. No, it was worry.

For the first time in all Theo's 25 years of existence, he was worried about another human being other than himself and his family, and that in itself worried him. He did not know how in such a short period of time, he had done the one thing he had promised himself never to do: get attached.

***

Hey guys. Essie here. I know this story seems like it's lagging and is very boring, bear with me. Action, drama or whatever you call it is coming soon. Also, I'd like to thank RachealRogers for all their votes on all the chapters.

Vote, comment and tell me what you think!!

Love, Essie