Disclaimer: Anything remotely related to the Disney story of Beauty and the Beast belongs to Disney.
Chapter 4: Less than Human
A Growl, yes, that's what it was. Dare I turn back towards the sound? My legs shook and threatened to buckle beneath me. I turned ever so slowly to see-something-towering above me. A mane? Horns? Claws for hands? What sort of creature was this? Only seconds went by for my brain to process the horror before me, while my eyes widened in terror. Run! My brain signaled, but my legs refused to obey.
'What are you doing?!' The creature roared. 'Do you realize what you are doing?!' In hindsight, I suppose it was a sort of hurt scream, rather than absolute raging anger. My brain could not tell the difference at the moment.
My legs allowed me to finally run-run as fast as I possibly could. I didn't dare look over my shoulder as I ran into the street. Could the creature catch up with me? I had no idea, but I was thankful he didn't, as my dorm rose up in front of me, as I finally allowed myself to slow down. A stitch in my side made itself known, and my entire body burned with fatigue. All the adrenaline of the moment had subsided and been replaced with an overwhelming sense of wanting to ball up on my bed and cry.
I felt pain at my fingertips and realized I was still holding on to the rose I had plucked. I put it up to my eyes and thought, I hope you were worth it! Nope, so far, not worth it! I tried to calm myself down before I entered my dorm room, hoping that Emily wouldn't be inside.
'Girl! What happened to you!'
No such luck! Emily stared at me wide eyed, and I looked down at the sorry state of my dress after running through puddles along the street. I'm sure my hair was a sight, as well.
'Um, well, I had decided to get some fresh air after….and ended up walking pretty far.' I wasn't lying.
'After what?' She questioned, knowing me well enough to know something was up. What I really wanted to do was sit on my bed and think about what had happened, but that would simply have to wait.
'Oh, just Cameron being his normal jerky self.' and I told her the misunderstanding that Cameron had caused. This seemed to satisfy her and she nervously laughed at Cameron's blunder.
'Sorry about Cameron.' She said 'I think sometimes he gets a little too excited and doesn't pay attention like he should,'
Normal me would have made a remark about how it was his narcissistic personality that could hear nothing but his own dialog, and that he lived in a world that only included himself and his own fantasies. However, I was not normal me at the moment. I simply nodded my head and mumbled something unintelligible in reply to hopefully get this conversation to end. I told Emily I needed to go to the bathroom, and closed the door and finally sighed in peace.
What in the world had just happened? Or perhaps more specifically, what OUT of this world had just happened?! Anytime my thoughts went to the towering, hairy, growling…beast? Monster? Creature thing, my hands started shaking and my heart beat loudly in my chest. As I sat in silence for a few minutes, I realized that I probably should exit the bathroom soon.
Thankfully Emily was hunched over her computer, eyes glued to the screen as she watched her latest 'ship' perform their doomed romance. I unzipped my bag and got out my chemistry textbook and allowed myself to glaze over the pages as my thoughts were given the opportunity to dwell over the event of the day.
Like a grumpy old man finding kids messing around in his flower garden, was the way in which the entire thing had transpired in my head. For despite the claws, the horns, the fangs? I couldn't remember if he had those, he hadn't hurt me. He could have easily caught up with me, and he could have easily hurt me, that much was certain. He was no grumpy old man, though. He was… I don't think he was even human! As the hours ticked by and I drifted to sleep that evening, the climbing roses and menacing beast loomed in my dreams, or nightmares, I suppose.
When I woke up to the sound of Emily fumbling to snooze her third alarm, I almost thought I had dreamed the entire thing. No, that couldn't be, though. There was the rose in a plastic cup I had, declaring to me that the past 24 hours were not some sort of hallucination, but a reality full of mystery that my curious side screamed needed solving.
I absentmindedly twisted my hair in a messy bun, threw on a scarf, and headed out to my classes, making sure Emily had woken up and allowed her chaotic morning routine to begin. Try as I might, I couldn't grasp what was being spoken about during the lectures, not even during British Literature! The only thing I could think about was the beast that could talk, he had sounded offended, that could have hurt me but didn't, and the fact that for some reason, he was very angry that I had plucked one of his roses. No reason for him to get so angry over a simple rose. And yet I felt guilty that I hadn't apologized, and against my sane side's better judgment, I had almost decided to go back.
…
Cameron. The last person on earth that I wanted to see, and I had seen a beast only yesterday!
'Julie' As my name left his lips, I could almost see how close to exploding his head was, due to all the ego puffing it up.
'I think you misunderstood me about tomorrow. I'm not going!' I angrily spewed.
'What?! I already have tickets to the concert and everything!' He moaned.
'I think Emily is free.'
'I want to take you, Julie, not Emily. C'mon, come! Stop being such a weirdo loner…don't worry! You're a beautiful weirdo loner, don't look at me like that!' He added as he saw me wrinkle my nose at him in disgust.
'I don't care what I am, I'm not going. I am swamped with homework, and I simply do not want to go. I know you're not used to rejection, but seriously, please leave me alone!' I added this last part as he reached to grab my arm. I didn't let him and quickened my pace. Thankfully he finally got the hint and left me alone.
Author's note: I rewrote a lot of my rough draft to include angles I hadn't originally included. Hopefully you like it! If you do, let me know! Next Chapter should include a little more dialog between Julie and the beast :)
