Ok, just so everyone knows. I've changed the rating to PG because I use a swearword twice in this chapter. Don't worry, its not that bad, but I don't want to offend anyone. You have been warned!
Disclaimer:- This just isn't me! Well, the basic plot isn't. It's all my own words though!
Bella was dancing. She couldn't tell exactly where but it looked like a grand ballroom. The air sparkled with stars and fairy lights. She looked at her dance partner. He was in a blue suit trimmed with gold, but his face was hidden by a golden mask. She was wearing a matching golden ball gown that glistened as she moved to the music. She stared into his warm green eyes as they twirled round and round, and found herself almost falling into them. They seemed to dance forever to a familiar melody, and as the song ended, the couple leaned in towards one another, but paused short of each others lips. Her dance partner stared into her soul, as he spoke. "Can I keep you?"
Bella was about to reply when a harsh light suddenly blocked her vision. She felt herself falling…falling……..
Bella opened her eyes and winced. Sunlight streamed through the window and filled her vision with dancing black dots. A glance at the clock on the VCR confirmed her dread; it was morning. Bella held her head up with her hand and looked around. The popcorn lay stale on the table and the open video case of Edward Scissorhands was still on the floor in front of the television. There was one thing missing from the picture. She sat bolt upright. Where was her father?
"Father!"
The silence was deafening. Bells stood up and instantly wished she hadn't. She gritted her teeth as cramp shot through her leg.
"Shit!"
The curse made her put her hand to her mouth out of habit, but the lack of response reminded her of more important matters than a bit of cramp, and she ignored it as she ran to the bottom of the stairs and called again.
"Father!"
But the upstairs of the cottage was as quiet as the downstairs. A million thoughts paraded themselves through Bella's mind, only to be quickly discarded. Morris was sleeping. But then why didn't he wake her up when he came in? He had been invited in for a cup of tea and a croissant by the postmistress. But then cups of tea and croissants don't last for over twelve hours. This eliminated the two preferable possibilities, which left one glaringly obvious fact.
He hadn't come home last night.
Bella was just about to submit to an all-out panic attack when there was a knock on the door. Relief flooded through her as the sunlight flooded the room, and she smiled as she walked to the door. The smile suddenly dissipated as a look through the spy hole revealed that it was not her father. Even worse, it was Tristan. His head seemed even bigger when viewed through the distorted lens of the spy hole. Bella groaned. This was the last thing she needed, but she knew from bitter experience that he would keep on knocking until she answered. As if to confirm this, there came another heavy knock on the door, followed by the overly-masculine sound of Tristan's voice.
"Bella? Bella? Are you in there?"
Grudgingly, Bella removed the door chain and opened the door. The sunlight once again hit her full on in the face, although the air that hit her nostrils had the choking smell of dampness. It had been raining.
Shielding her eyes with her hands, she looked up past Tristan's square jaw to his uncomfortably piercing blue eyes. "
"Tristan……" she began but was cut off.
"Bella, you look terrible."
Her eyes flashed at his bluntness, but despite her principles, she suddenly found herself smoothing her hair back behind her ears as she talked.
"What do you want, Tristan? Now is not a good time."
"Wrong!" Now is the best possible time for what I've got lined up for you today. You lucky girl! I'm taking you to the swimming pool so you get to see me in my trunks….." His eyes quickly scanned her up and down….."but maybe we should drop by a salon first."
Somehow, Bella resisted the temptation to tell him exactly where she thought he could shove his trunks. Instead, a glimmer of hope came to her. Completely ignoring his suggestion, she asked him
"Have you seen my father by any chance? I don't know where he is."
She expected Tristan to simply say no and then waffle on some more about swimming trunks, but instead he became suddenly very interested in his feet and mumbled something under his breath. Because these actions were so rare in someone of Tristan's nature, they were made far too obvious.
"What did you say?"
Tristan looked sheepish.
"Nothing really. It's just I thought I saw……..no it doesn't matter………" he trailed off irritatingly.
"What?" barked Bella like a sergeant major, trying her hardest to resist grabbing to nearby broom and whacking him over the head with it.
"I think I …uh……..saw him talking to some guys near the edge of town last night."
"Who? What guys?"
"I don't know!" Tristan threw up his hands in the traditional gesture of protest. "Just some guys……I was too far away to see who they were."
"But you were close enough to see it was my father!"
"Well…i….uh…."
Bella rolled her eyes. This was like talking to a five year old. She found herself speaking slower and more deliberate.
"What did they do?"
Tristan's eyes kept glancing behind him as if he was hoping for someone to rescue him from this awkward situation.
"I dunno. They…..uh…..he….uh….well….they talked for a bit and ……uh…." The next part of the sentence came out in one breath………"he-ran-into-the-woods."
"WHAT?" Bella exploded. "Why? Did they………"her eyes bulged as they realised the full possibilities of what had happened "……….were they threatening him?"
Tristan's silence spoke volumes.
"They threatened him and you stood by and watched?"
The words came out more like a statement than a question. Bella felt hot tears start to sting the corners of her eyes. Tristan was now repeatedly opening and closing his mouth like a fish, as odd incomprehensible noises came from his throat.
Bella had always been more of a 'doing' rather than a 'talking' person, so while Tristan was doing his best trout impersonation, she stormed back into the living room and retrieved her coat from the back of the armchair. Fighting back the urge to either break down in tears or hit Tristan, she pushed past him and slammed the door behind her.
Something told Tristan that this wasn't her acceptance of his invitation to go to the pool.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm going to look for him."
"Hey!" Tristan ran after her and spun her around. "You're not going in those woods! It's dangerous!"
Bella's teary eyes flashed again. "I'm going to look for him. If you care so much about my well-being, you're welcome to accompany me."
Tristan was still.
"I thought so." Bella shook her head his lack of enthusiasm. Despite all his boasting and bragging, he was just your average coward. Bella wondered how she could have thought any thing better of him. She buttoned her coat and marched towards the forest, only for a rough arm to grab her again. She turned around furiously.
"Let me go!" she hurled at Tristan's stony face.
"No!" he hurled back. Then he tried to hold her as if to carry her away from her destiny. But Bella was not the kind of girl to let Tristan boss her around. Pulling her arm back as hard as she could, she slapped him hard across his left cheek. She hadn't properly thought through the consequences of her actions, and she gasped as she hit the ground with a thud.
"Shit, Bella! I've got a modelling job tomorrow!
He patted his face, which was already starting to turn a funny shade of red, and winced.
"Fine! If you want to get yourself killed, don't let me stop you. Good luck!"
And with that he stomped back down the road.
Bella sighed with relief and gingerly got up, pausing only to pick the mud and stones off her own face. She once again started to walk towards the forest. Now any other girl would probably have been straight on the phone calling the police, but Bella had more common sense. The policemen in her town were notoriously bad at their jobs. She could just picture their sniggering faces at the police station if she went up to them and said her father had run into the woods. They probably were fully aware of a gang of youths mugging people and had just decided it would sort itself out. She found herself cursing the day she and her father had ever come to the town.
Now just in front of the barrier between known and unknown, Bella stared into the wilderness. Everything was deathly quiet, water lay in soggy puddles here and there on the path, and were slowly contributed to by lazy water droplets falling from the green canopy above. The ground was muddy, and Bella found herself groaning at the fact she was wearing her very impractical pumps. Suddenly, her eye spied something in the mud that didn't belong. She bent down to examine it more closely, and gasped when she realised it was her father's wallet. She picked it up and looked at it. All money and anything valuable had been stripped from it, of course, but yet the presence of the wallet warmed Bella's heart just a little. It meant her father might be ok. Pocketing the wallet, Bella moved into the woods.
After a few steps, she became aware of the forest's stillness. There was no activity anywhere from either animals or plants. No wind seemed to blow. The mud squelched beneath her feet as if protesting at her steps. For a long while, she just wandered, unsure of where she was going, her head turning this way and that, her eyes scanning the ground for signs of her father. Rationality fought against devotion in her head. Her heart told her that she would find her father, but her head kept reminding her that the forest was vast and dark. It would take her forever to find him among the tangle of roots and branches, but forever was the one thing Bella had. She had finished school the previous summer, and was yet to find herself a job. She had gone from place to place in the town searching for her vocation, but so far nothing had sparked her interest. However, careers were far from her mind as she negotiated the forest.
Something beyond the trees caught her attention. Was that a roof? Was that a house? Her mind became riddled with questions. What was a house doing in the middle of the forest?
Logic leapt back into her mind triumphantly. If there was a house that meant that was where Morris was most likely to be. He would not be out in the forest when he could be in a nice warm house putting his feet up in front of the television. Bella smiled at the image. He was probably sitting there right now boring his host with tales about his life as an inventor.
Bella almost ran to the house, and was even happier when she noticed her father's hat upon the ground just before the immense doorway. She laughed to herself. It was like a trail of breadcrumbs. She picked up the hat and knocked on the door.
Like Morris, she was met with no reply. Frowning slightly, she tried again, but to no avail. She was just about to try the door handle when a noise above her made her step back and look up. In the sunlight, she swore she saw something glint at the top window. Shielding her face with her hand, she spoke to the glint.
"Hello? Is someone there? Hello?
But the glint had disappeared. Was it just a trick of the light? Bella shrugged and tried the door handle. To her astonishment, it opened. Bella hesitated for a moment. Something about this house bothered her. Why hadn't she known about it before? Should she really be entering strange houses in the woods? Nevertheless, her search for her father had brought her here. If he was anywhere in the forest, this is where he would be. Taking a deep breath, Bella entered the house.
The voyeur stared at the girl approaching his house. What was going on? First the old man, now her. He had had no visitors for ten years, and then all of a sudden, two had come in the space of twenty-four hours. He reached for his binoculars and put them to his face, careful not to lean out of the window too far. He focused in on her face, and then almost accidentally dropped the binoculars on her head.
It was her! The girl from the village! She was here! But why? Maybe she and the old man were connected somehow. The image of the old man made him seethe. Stupid meddling old man! How dare he intrude on his property? If she was coming to get him, then good riddance!
He couldn't help picking up the binoculars again. He zoomed in on her face. Dried tears scarred her cheeks. Was this girl always crying? He felt his heart lurch beside his stomach. She was beautiful………and she was here. Bitterness consumed him. Most likely, she would take the old man and leave, never to brighten his doorstep again. He couldn't let her do that…..
Suddenly she looked right at him. This time he didn't fall off his chair. Somehow, he had been expecting it. She was calling to him. How he longed to call back, but he knew his dry throat and shyness wouldn't let him, almost like they had teamed up together against him. He turned his back to her cries of greeting and tossing his binoculars aside, he walked to the door, wondering what he would do next.
Ah! The end once again is upon us. I ended it here cos I need to do some serious thinking about the Bella/Beast meeting, and how I'm gonna present it. Hope this chapter satisfies you all for now. Once again, thanks for all of your wonderful reviews. You're the best! I'm glad you got the wolf/gang metaphor. I was worried that I'd either not made it obvious enough or layed it on too thick, but it looks like it worked the way I wanted it too, so yay! I'm not gonna do individual replies to reviews today cos to tell you the truth I am absolutely knackered, and starving as well, but please everyone know that you're all great and I do really appreciate your input. Bye for now!
