The Happy Ending…Not Quite
The next day, Belle was wearing a green dress when she came out to walk around the castle grounds with me. She told me how she had become the beast's prisoner in order to save her father. She also let me know the names and personalities of some of the servants. By now, I was so used to unusual things happening that the barking footstool that followed her didn't faze me.
For a while, it seemed like my life was falling into a sort of routine, but then Belle decided she was going to celebrate Christmas whether the beast liked it or not. This meant another trip into the forest, this time to find a Christmas tree. I heard the wolves howling and snarling around us, but they kept their distance. (I suppose they didn't want to risk another encounter with the beast.) All was going well until Belle nearly drowned in the river, but the beast saved her.
I can imagine the beast was getting pretty tired of having to save Belle every time she went into the forest, and she must have realized it too because after that, she was content to stay on castle grounds. It seemed like she and the beast were becoming friends.
One day, Lumière and Cogsworth came to the stable. They were singing something about being "human again."
I couldn't believe this. What did they mean?
Was this an enchanted castle? It had to be! Suddenly, everything made sense. These objects, the beast's servants, were humans under a spell. So would that mean the beast was…? No, that was impossible! Or was it?
That night, the beast released Belle. She was no longer his prisoner. At last, I got to return home!
However, Maurice wasn't feeling well. We found him in the forest, and he looked as if he were dying. Fortunately, things weren't really as bad as they seemed. Maurice recovered quickly, much to Belle's relief.
We might have lived happily ever after if that jerk Gaston hadn't ruined everything.