Yay! Here it is finally, the next chapter! Sorry for the delay in updating. I had loads of stuff to do plus I wanted to take my time over this one. Enjoy!

Disclaimer- Walt Disney rules the world along with the Coca-Cola Company and the cast of Friends. I don't want to incur his wrath from beyond the grave, so I hereby admit that I nicked the basic plotline from him. Although, if you want to be picky, the original story belongs to Jeanne-Marie LePrince de Beaumont.


The heavy door shut behind Bella with an ominous slam. She was suddenly struck by the shock of how cold the house was compared to the warm sunshine she had been submerged in just moments before. The oranges and yellows of the world outside had been replaced with the blacks and greys of the room she now stood in. It was a huge entrance hall and it made Bella feel like she was Alice and has drunk from the wrong bottle. She had come from the warm and cosy rabbit warren to a strange and frightening new land.

Yet beneath the dark walls and ghostlike drapes, there seemed to be a life. Bella felt compelled to place an outstretched hand on the wall next to the door, and was surprised to feel something once beautiful underneath the cool surface. This house had once been a home with the melodious sounds of talking and laughter no doubt echoing through its grand chambers and hallways, but now buried under years of dust and neglect.

Bella shivered. Hadn't these people heard of central heating? For a moment, she simply stood in the middle of the room, trying to figure out the best way of looking for her father. She had a feeling that merely shouting his name would be fruitless.

Eventually, she decided that ascending the staircase was the best plan. If Morris had stayed the night here, he would surely have been in one of the bedrooms, and bedrooms were commonly found on the upper floors of a house. Glancing around her, as if expecting something to pop out of the shadows at any moment, she cautiously made her way up the stairs, flinching at every creak and protest from the wooden steps. As she reached the top of the stairs, she was met with a long corridor disappearing into the blackness in both directions, and dotted with door after door. Something told her to go right, and so this is what she did, unaware that something else was watching her every move.

As she peered into the gloom, she saw that the corridor bent round after about fifty metres, and ignoring the doors that frequently offered themselves as options, she followed the threadbare carpet as it led around the corner. It as just as she turned the corner and was met with yet another row of doors leading to a large window that she suddenly became aware that she was hearing too many footsteps. Another set seemed to be trying to walk in synchronisation with hers but struggling to stay accurate seeing as her own steps were uneven and shaky. Now, as she stood still, hardly daring to breathe, she listened intently, but now she heard nothing. Could she have imagined it? Bella giggled nervously to herself; she had been watching too many horror movies. Just to confirm this, she looked back over her shoulder. There was nothing there. She shrugged her shoulders and continued down the corridor.

Behind her, the voyeur slowly slunk out of his position in a shadowy doorway and once again, crept slowly behind her. Part of him wanted to confront her, but another part of him found it much more satisfying to follow her without her knowing. It was like a slightly macabre version of Tag. He realised she was heading straight for the room where her father was. How could she have known? He already sensed that she was no ordinary girl. What else would she surprise him with? He found himself moving slightly closer to her. He could almost smell her perfume.

Bella moved towards a door to her left. It had a round grimy window and she peered into it whilst whispering "Father?"

To her astonishment, she heard her father's equally astonished voice.

"Bella? Is that you?"

"Father!" she exclaimed with joy, and pulled the door handle. But it made no difference. The door was locked.

"Wha….? Father? Why are you locked in?"

"He locked me in. Bella, are you alone? Please tell me you're alone."

Bella was not listening. She was too busy frantically turning the door handle, and starting to sob.

"Are you ok? Who's done this to you?"

"Bella, listen to me. Go and get some help. He's mad……."

"I'm gonna go find a key. There's got to be one around here somewhere."

Ignoring her father's warnings, Bella ran back down the corridor.

And straight into the Beast.

The sudden sensation of hitting something solid made Bella stumble backwards and trip over a ridge in the carpet. She fell to the floor for the second time that day. She cursed and stood back up, noticing that the thing she had hit was also picking itself off the floor. As he slowly rose to his feet, Bella got a good look at him.

He was tall and of medium build, and wearing an old polo shirt and jeans. So far, so normal. But, as he lifted his head to stare straight at her, she noticed he had long, shaggy hair tied back in a messy ponytail and most of his face was obscured with an untidy moustache and beard. Her first thought was that he was a tramp squatting in the house, and so her immediate reaction was one of anger.

"Who the hell do you think you are? You scared me half to death!" she blurted out between rapid breaths.

He stood still, his eyes staring at his feet as if he dared not look at her. After a few moments, he spoke.

"I think I am the owner of this house, and you're trespassing, so I have every right to scare you half to death."

Bella was speechless for only a moment. Then she found her voice.

"You live here?"

"Yes."

"Did you lock my father up?"

"Yes."

Bella wanted to launch herself kicking and screaming at her taunter, but her common sense held her back, while ice danced up and down her spine. Too many hours watching horror movies were muddling up her thoughts. What if he was an insane axe-murderer? What if her father was sharing that room with the bodies of previous trespassers?

As if to confirm this irrationality, he spoke again.

"He was intruding. I don't like intruders."

Bella tried to stay calm, but she already felt the sting of tears at the corner of her eyes, and now they spilt onto her cheeks.

"Pl…please let him out. He didn't mean any harm."

The beast thought for a moment. He hadn't planned for her to cry. Those tears were starting to drown him internally. He found himself spluttering.

"I…I can't. He has to stay…..no-one can know….."

"Please. We'll go. We'll never bother you again, we'll never tell anyone you're here, just let him go…"

She became aware that she was now doing her puppy-eyed and droopy-lipped look. Her confused brain obviously felt that if it worked to get an extra dessert, it would work just as well now.

"I'm sorry."

The beast turned his back. He couldn't deal with this situation. He wanted to run to his attic and shut the door, but she spoke before he could lift his foot.

"Wait! Take me instead."

Bella couldn't believe the words coming out of her own lips. What on earth was she thinking? She couldn't offer herself instead of her father. It was insane. Yet something deep inside her told her that this was the right thing to do. It was mad, it was crazy, it was foolish, but it would work for now until she could think straight.

And it did work. The beast turned around, his eyebrows were raised so high they were in danger of merging with his hairline.

"You….what? You…want to stay here instead of him?"

"Yes. Would that work for you?"

Bella wanted to crack up inside. She fought the urge to laugh hysterically. Here she was exchanging her fathers life for her own with some weird guy in a derelict house in the woods, and she sounded like she was organising a business lunch.

The beast tried to make sense of this. If she stayed her instead of the old man, what difference would it make? The old man would surely go straight to the police and before he knew it, he would be forced back into the harsh glare of society. Unless….unless he held her captive and threatened the old man that if he told anyone, he would hurt her. Yes……..that might work. There was obviously some sort of bond between them; otherwise she wouldn't have come here in the first place. And he'd rather have her stay with him than the old man. Maybe she could even……….No, there was no time to think about that now. He found himself nodding his head.

"You want to stay here instead of him?" he repeated.

"If I did, would you let him go?"

"Yes. But…you have to promise you'll stay and not try to escape."

Of course, the first thing that crossed Bella's mind was the beginnings of an unsophisticated escape plan, which basically involved her running out of the door when his back was turned, but she'd humour him for now.

"Ok. I promise…not to escape."

The beast didn't believe her for a second, but he'd humour her for now.

"Done."

He pushed past her and produced a key from his back pocket. He unlocked the door and disappeared inside for a few seconds. Then he grabbed Morris' arm and frogmarched him down the corridor before Bella had a chance to breathe. Her pleas for him to wait fell on deaf ears, and somehow she couldn't muster up the strength to chase after him. All she could do was watch, her vision blurry with tears and her throat dry as sandpaper, as he took her father away from her.

Downstairs, a flustered Morris was struggling against the surprisingly strong grip of his captor. He felt himself being dragged towards the front door. Just before they reached it, he felt the grip on his arm change as the beast lowered his face to meet his own.

"If you tell anyone, ANYONE, I will hurt her. Understood?" he hissed.

The sour breath engulfed Morris' nostrils as the threat engulfed his brain.

"I….I…." he gasped.

"If I see the police, or anybody else, and trust me, I WILL see them, I'll hurt her. Do you understand?"

He shook Morris as if shaking the words into his soul.

"Yes. Yes. I…I understand."

"Good."

With that, he opened the door and threw Morris out onto the doorstep.

"You can see the entrance to town if you look to your left. It's not as far as you think."

And the door slammed behind him.

Wearily, the beast started to climb the stairs again. He hated himself even more than he already did for what he was doing, but it was the only way. They couldn't know about him, they just couldn't. He had spent too long ensuring that that would never happen.

He went down the corridor and found her slumped on the floor, her face and neck wet with tears, her throat making a strange wheezy sound. He just looked at her, completely unsure of what to say or do next.

She spoke, her voice choked with saltwater.

"Wha….what...are you…going to do to me?"

His eyes rounded in shock. She thought he was going to hurt her? He could never do such a thing even if he tried. How could she think that? A cruel logic spat at him from the back of his brain. Er….maybe because you scared her, then chucked her father out of the door before she could say goodbye? And maybe because you're forcing her to stay here with you, you of all people! You're such an asshole.

He wanted to slump to the floor like she was. He wanted to bury himself in the dust and dirt. But he didn't want her to see he was weak.

"Come with me. I'll…I'll show you to your room."

She looked at him, confused. "My room? But….but I thought….I thought…"

"You can either stay here or in a room with an actual bed instead of a mouldy piece of wood. Your choice."

Bella looked into the room. It was indeed empty apart from a few bits of wood and masonry.

No contest.

A few minutes later, Bella was walking slowly down the long corridor with the strange man in front of her. She couldn't bring herself to walk alongside him and make conversation ( an action she would normally have done with a stranger) so she chose to meander behind, occasionally stopping to look at the paintings on the wall, partly because she found them interesting, but mostly because she wanted to annoy him. However, he never once turned round, seemingly too preoccupied with his own thoughts, so after a while Bella resorted back to walking behind him. She didn't like it. It reminded her too much of a funeral procession. She half expected to see a wide open grave as their destination, but instead they stopped in front of one of the many doors.

The beast spoke, his voice scratchy as though he had been swallowing furiously.

"You can stay in here."

Bella tried to look at him, desperate for any kind of sign or emotion, but he refused to meet her gaze. Sighing, she stepped into the room. The door shut behind her and a key turned in the lock. Somehow she wasn't surprised. She waited a few moments until she thought he had gone, and then let herself break down.

On the other side of the door, the beast was listening intently. He couldn't tear himself away from the sound of her tears. He had never heard a woman cry before. It was both beautiful and terrifying. Eventually, he dragged himself wearily down the corridor, the sounds of her sobs echoing inside his head.


Woohoo! It's finally ready. You don't know how much I was tempted to stop the chapter just before the description of the Beast, but I thought that was mean, seeing as you've all waited so patiently for this chapter. I hope it was worth the wait! A couple 'a' things…….I actually thought long and hard how I wanted the Beast to look, but the end result turned out quite simplistic. Hope it works for everyone. If anyone wants to imagine what he looks like, here's what I reckon. Take Gerard Butler (the guy who played the Phantom recently) and subtract about fifteen years off his age, then add long hair and lots of facial hair, and that's roughly what I'm thinking. After all, he's had no company for a while, why bother shaving or cutting his hair?

As for Bella, she's quite normal-looking, kind of pretty in a quirky way, one of those people whose smile lights up their whole face.

And Tristan, well, he's like the original Gaston, except without the long hair (I think he'd think long hair would be soooooo two decades ago)

No two person's imaginations are the same so I'm sure you'll alter my ideas to suit you. Just thought I'd give you a helping hand.

Oh, and for anyone else who's interested, I brought Beauty by Robin McKinley the other day. Anyone else read it? It's great so far.

TrudiRose- Thanks for letting me know how to go back and change Gaston's name. I wouldn't have had a clue. When I joined, I didn't get any instructions, is that normal? Anyway, thanks again for your continuous reviews. I'm glad that I seem to be doing things right so far. :)

Beautygirl- Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying it.The wolf metaphor came about merely for practicality reasons. I mean, you can't have wolves roaming a forest near a town anymore! I still wanted to capture the idea of the wolves but thought a gang of youths would be more realistic. By the way, we haven't heard the last of them….Hope you like how I did the meeting!

Bellamegs- Yay! Glad you liked it. I actually really like writing about Tristan/Gaston cos he's just such an idiot! P.S Am loving your new story so far

Rosakara-Once again, thank you!