Beauty and the Beast 1987
Breaking Free
Sitting in her white chair on the terrace in her light blue silk robe with her white lace nightgown peeking out, Catherine sighed. A gentle, icy breeze brushed across her body as the stars glisten in the night sky. Car horns scorched the skies, followed by yelling and screaming in the streets below, but that all fell upon deaf ears for Catherine as she stared at the shell she twirled between her fingers.
Catherine's head swayed as she kept staring at the shell. It was strange, it's like she could hear a lullaby echoing through her ears. She soon hummed it as her body swayed to the song. Such a sweet melody that no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't resist.
This shell caused her so much trouble from her outburst at work, hallucinations that brought on countless stares and whispers to the constant paranoia. The more she kept clinging to the shell, the less she felt like herself, but something more sinister. It scared her, but what could she do, it kept pulling her closer and closer to darkness that only people read about in books. But worst of all, it cost her Vincent, her most beloved treasure of all.
Why couldn't she let it go, oh how she hated feeling weak and vulnerable. Tears stung her eyes, and she kept jerking her hands away from the shell, but they wouldn't listen. She even tried to stand up, but her legs felt like jelly. They were lost to the power of this shell.
Was this it? Would she be pulled back into the abyss that this she shell seem to have? No, she couldn't she wouldn't go without a fight. Taking a deep breath Catherine went to move when a familiar furry hand laid its self across her hand and took a hold of the shell.
Pulling her eyes away from where the shell was, she looked into the welcoming eyes of Vincent. He had returned to her. She wondered how she returned to her apartment, but now she knew it was him. For even in her drugged state, she could hear his voice whispering to her.
"You can rest easy now I am here with you Catherine, the dark cannot have you I won't let it,"
"I'm scared, Vincent,"
"Then dream of me Catherine, dream of me taking your hand and bringing you back to the light where fear has no power,"
Oh, those words, how they helped her push away the darkness and walk back toward the light.
Catherine thought he wouldn't come back after all the things she said while lost to the dark spirit's power. Her heart ached for she thought she scared him away, but here he was once more looking at her with his warm eyes on this chilly winter night.
Able to move her legs again, Catherine rose to her feet, never once looking away from her beloved. She wanted to tell Vincent how sorry she was, but she had a feeling he already knew.
The melody that filled her ears steadily diminished for Vincent is her light, warmth, and love no song could ever take that from her.
As the moonlight glistens upon the two star-crossed lovers, they both looked to the shell that now laid in the palm of Vincent's hand. No longer did its darkness hold any power over her.
Wrapping her arms around Vincent's waist, Catherine watched as he crushed the shell and threw it away, its dust floating upon the wind.
Free, that's all she could think of as she stared back at Vincent, his eyes wrapping herself within his warmth that held her tight.
With the darkness gone, only the light remained, its warmth shined bright as Catherine rested her head upon Vincent's chest. His arms now wrapped around her, wanting to pull her as close as he could to him.
It's over… she is free, breaking out of the darkness into the light with Vincent, keeping his promise to always be by her side forever.