Beast spent a lot of time with me, everywhere I went he was there too. It didn’t bother me, but it made me feel like I was still a prisoner. He let me stay in the library as long as I wanted, just as long as he was there too. I tried to just ignore him, getting completely lost in all the many different lands the books in Beast’s library held.
When I got tired of the library I would play the grand piano in Beast’s room and he would dance to the music I made.
It wasn’t a bad life here with Beast now that I wasn’t a prisoner, I was actually really enjoying myself.
I missed my family a lot, but he was a good companion. I wasn’t sure why he wouldn’t just let me go at this point, now that he knew who I really was there didn’t seem to be a reason for him to keep me here. He had been very specific though and very kind to me since he let me out of the basement and I didn’t want to test him and find his temper back again.
Since I was no longer staying in the basement I had gotten a brand new room and attached bathroom on the fourth floor. It was beautiful, just like everything else in this house.
One night Beast asked me to take a walk with him outside, which I thought was nice since I wasn’t allowed out on my own.
“Tell me about your family.” I say, breaking the steady silence we had been keeping as we walked along the beach next to the house.
“Not much to tell, my mother died when I was a toddler and my father couldn’t stand the sight of me so he locked me away in this house. He hired Mrs. Potts for life to look after me and gave me my dog Wags as my only companion. He visited a lot in the beginning, but was always distracted with whatever he was thinking about. As I got older the visits became more rare, only on my birthday or Christmas. On my sixteenth birthday he didn’t show, it was the first time he wasn’t there for my birthday. He never came again after that. I guess he had always just been looking for an excuse not to have to lay eyes on me anymore and he finally got it. He hated me from the minute I was born, I was different, I had green skin for one thing. He made it very clear that I was a hideous beast and that he wanted nothing to do with me.” He paused, bending to the sand to pick up a particularly pretty shell up and settled it back down in my hand.
I couldn’t believe all that Beast had gone through at such a young age, I thought I had it bad but it was nothing compared to his story.
“Is Beast even your real name?” I ask, taking one of his big hands in my own.
“No, my mother named me Cornelius. My mother loved me very much, no matter what I looked like. Both my parents were surprisingly very beautiful and sought after. They thought, along with everyone else, they would have an equally beautiful child. They were wrong, I was born with a birth defect that makes me look this way. They brought me to so many different doctors, but no one could even look into my face without screaming. That’s what I like about you, you seem to actually like me. If I went out to try and meet someone, anyone, everyone would run screaming.”
“Beas- er, Cornelius, you’re a really sweet man. It’s not about what’s on the outside, the most important thing is what’s on the inside. I’m almost glad you kid napped me, because then I might not have ever met you.”
I pulled him in towards me and gently kissed him, he put his hand on my waist and I took that as a good sign. I pressed my lips a little harder into his and turned it into more then just a simple peck on the lips. When I pulled back his eyes were sparkling, from what he told me he had never been kissed before and neither had I. This was an extremely special kiss, for both of us and I really liked that.
I took a long drag of my cigarette, mulling over what had happened yesterday. It was crazy what Neil (Beast) had gone through all his life, it made me feel terrible for ever judging him. I didn’t really know why I had kissed him last night, if it had been me just feeling bad for him, or that I actually really did want to do it.
Even before Neil told me about his past I liked him, we had become friends but I had never thought of him in a romantic way until now.
I tried to talk to Broadway about it, he was a great listener but never gave me advice back. I missed my family, being in a house full of girls really had its advantages when you needed advice on something. I still didn’t have the courage to ask Neil to let me visit them, although, I really needed to.
Neil asked me to a formal dinner tonight, I wasn’t really sure what it would involve since I didn’t really know this side of him yet.
Mrs. Potts had brought me the dazzling dress and reported that Neil had personally picked it out for me. After I put it on, fixed my hair and was just starting to check my teeth Mrs. Potts returned to me.
“Here, dear, this was his mother’s but he wants you to have it now.” She told me as she hooked the gorgeous diamond necklace around my neck.
As I came to the door that led to the dinning room I wondered what would wait for me on the other side. I was anxious for this date to begin and hopefully go smoothly, I wondered what would happen to me if it didn’t go okay.
DisneyDreams 