Beast (7 page)

Before sitting down, I placed my elbows on the table to prop up my head. I carefully watched Russel, Deleena, and Leala make their way to the table.

“Still nothing?” Deleena said, concerned when she noticed I had not eaten at all.

“I am just not hungry. I am sorry!” I said apologetically.

“Just take a bite. Please?” Leala pleaded.

“Okay, I guess I will.”

As I pushed my plate in front of me, I sunk into my chair. I shut my eyes tightly, hoping that the whole week had been just a bad dream. Then I felt a hand on my shoulder, so I opened my eyes and looked up to find Russel standing behind me.

When I saw him, I attempted to smile. He proceeded to pat my back as I pushed my chair away from the table. Before I left, I thanked them for the meal.

The next thing I knew, it was time to change for bed. Buttons was already asleep on my pillow. As I walked to my bathroom to brush my teeth, my gaze was fixed on the roses. I bumped into the doorframes, which made me giggle. Again.

Once I finished in the bathroom, I ran and jumped onto the bed. Buttons bounced into the air with a frightened look upon his face. He did not look happy.

A little while later, Deleena and Leala came in to tell me good night.

“Hey, sweetie, how are you doing?” Leala spoke softly.

“Um, I am okay, I guess,” I whispered.

“Do you need anything? Food? Water?” Deleena asked.

“Some water would be nice. Thank you.”

She nodded and walked out of my room to grab me a glass of water.

I was struggling with my covers; Leala came over to try to help me. After I was finally situated in my bed, I looked at the roses. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

I must have been staring at the roses for a while, because I could feel Leala’s eyes on me. After I realized she was staring at me, I quickly glanced at her, back to the roses, and then back to her.

“What?” I squealed.

“Oh, nothing. You love those roses; I can see it in the way you look at them.”

“Yes, ma’am. I think of my parents whenever I look at them. It relaxes me and is the only thing that can. Is that weird?”

“I do not believe so, honey. We all have those things that can calm us down or give us something we need at that moment in time.”

“Oh, okay.”

Deleena opened the door a little more, with the glass of water in her hand; Russel followed closely behind her with something in his hands.

“Here you—” Deleena began.

“What is that, Russel?” I interrupted.

“Ha, it is just a little snack in case you get hungry at night, since you really have not eaten all day,” he explained as he handed me two pieces of bread.

“Oh, okay. Thank you, Russel.”

“But do not let Buttons eat them.” He chuckled.

His laugh was deep—so deep that it made Buttons stare at him intently.

He walked across the room, grabbed the water from Deleena, and put it on the nightstand by the roses, along with the bread he had brought to me.

They tucked me in, and Deleena and Leala kissed my forehead. When they left, they shut the door behind them. I grabbed the water and took a sip. After I drank some water, I sunk down into my bed and laid my head next to Buttons. He licked my face as I shut my eyes.

Chapter 4
 

E
very day, I went out to care for the roses, but it never seemed to make a difference. They continued to look worse. On the other hand, the roses in my room were becoming more beautiful. Their scent always filled up my room, bringing me such joy.

I spent a lot of my time staring at the roses in my room, practicing the piano, reading in the library, or staring at the Rose House.

That house occupied a lot of my time. But those things were the only things allowing my mind to forget reality. At least I was able to escape from it for a little bit of the time.

As the days passed, I became more determined to find the Rose House. Every day, it seemed as if the roses around the Rose House grew, becoming more beautiful.

While I played the piano, Leala would come in to listen. She knew how to play a little, so she would sit next to me and play along.

While all of these things were keeping me busy, I still thought about Mother and Papa; I was not myself anymore. Something was different about the castle too. I knew that my parents were missing, but it was so much more than that. The roses were the first piece of evidence that something strange was happening, but it also seemed as if the nights were darker. Furthermore, the castle always seemed to be cold. My room was the only room with a comfortable temperature.

At night, I kept seeing the vision of what had happened to my parents. It made me wonder if what I saw was just a nightmare or if it had really happened.

Not only did I have this dream again at night, but throughout the days, I would close my eyes and find myself in the middle of the forest again. Once I opened my eyes, I was back at the castle. I did not understand what was happening, or how it was happening.

Buttons woke me up by licking my face. He was purring while lying on my chest.

“Okay, okay, Buttons. I am up,” I said to him.

He meowed in response.

It had been about a week or so since I had found out what happened to Mother and Papa. It was the morning of my parents’ funeral. The staff and servants of the castle had been arranging it all week. I really did not want to go and see everyone, but I had to—for my parents.

All of their friends, fellow businessmen, and basically the whole town were going to be there. I was really nervous, but luckily Deleena, Leala, and Russel were going to be there, along with all of the other servants. The funeral was being held at our castle later that day. There were many chairs being set up outside on the grass.

After I brushed my teeth, I walked over to my nightstand. The roses were even more beautiful that day; they seemed to be a deeper red than the day before. And the aroma—oh my! The aroma coming from them was intoxicating—so much so that I stuck my nose into one of the perfectly bloomed roses. It began to tickle. My laughter filled my room.

Buttons, who was still on my bed, walked to the edge of the bed so that he could reach for me with his left paw. Once I felt his paw touch my right arm, I looked at him, realizing that I needed to feed him. So I walked over and poured food into his dish. He jumped off the bed and rubbed against my legs, thanking me. I then grabbed his water bowl and filled it up in the bathroom.

I left my bedroom and walked toward the dining room. There were many people walking around the castle that day. Besides the people who worked for my family, I did not know the majority of them. They seemed to know who I was, telling me good morning as I walked past them. They all seemed to be moving so quickly; I almost felt as if I were in the way of what they were doing.

When I finally reached the dining room, I saw Leala and Russel setting the table for us to eat breakfast.

“Good morning!” Russel said as I walked in.

“Good morning, sweetheart. Hungry?” Leala asked.

“Honestly, not really,” I answered with my eyes fixed on the ground by my feet.

“I am sorry. It is going to be a rough day for you today. Please just eat a little for us,” she insisted.

“Okay,” I said unenthusiastically.

I knew where she was coming from. It was going to be a long day.

Deleena brought in our breakfast. We all walked to the table, and Russel started dishing out the food. We were having egg omelets, toast, and fruit. I asked for milk to drink instead of my usual orange juice. Then, before we began to eat, Deleena said a blessing over the food and the day.

“How did you sleep last night?” Deleena asked.

“I slept okay. But I had the dream again,” I explained.

“Has it ever changed in any way from the first time you had it?” Russel inquired.

“Not that I have noticed. It all seems to be the exact same as the night of my birthday,” I told him.

As we ate our breakfast, we talked about that day, when things were going to happen, and what time the funeral would begin. I was not really paying much attention to what they were saying. All I could remember was that I needed to change into nice clothes after lunch.

I had not wanted this day to come, because it meant that Mother and Papa were never coming back. Ever. As I was thinking about this, my heart began to sink into my stomach, and my eyes began to water.

I was not sure how I would last through their funeral, let alone the rest of my life without them there.
Who is going to tuck me in at night or comfort me when I am sick? How can I have another birthday without thinking about them? How am I going to live in this castle without them here? What is going to happen to me?

After I ate—or, rather, pushed food around on my plate—I excused myself from the table. As I scooted back in my chair, I began to weep, and I fell to the floor. Deleena, Leala, and Russel stood up to run over to me, dropping their silverware onto their plates. While I wept, I brought my knees to my chest and cried into them as I had at my parents’ door.

“Come on, honey. We will take you to your room,” Deleena said.

She picked me up to carry me to my room. With tears in my eyes, I could barely see that Leala was following, holding something in her hands. Russel stayed behind to clean up breakfast.

Once we got to my room, Deleena set me on the bed. She knelt by the side of the bed so that she would be eye level with me and began to wipe the tears off of my face.

“I know that today is a difficult day for you. And I wish that you did not have to go through this. It is truly horrid that it happened. I know this might be something that you really do not want to hear right now, but remember what your mother used to tell you all the time?” Deleena started.

I nodded.

She then continued, “Everything happens for a reason. Nothing is by accident.”

I knew that was true, that there was a plan I could not see at this point in time. Knowing this did not help me feel better, but it was something that I could not forget.

Deleena kissed my forehead before walking out of my room. Then Leala handed me Papa’s handkerchief, kissed my forehead, and walked out.

For the first time, I was alone in my room; not even Buttons was with me. The roses were staring at me; I could feel it. I did not want to leave my room.

I shut my eyes and took a deep breath. An image began to appear in my mind’s eye; I was transported back to the forest with the shadows. As the shadowy figures moved into the forest, I watched them closely.

“How much longer do we have, Papa?” I heard a young lady say.

“I believe we just need to go through the Dark Forest,” a man responded.

“You know why it is called the Dark Forest, do you not?” another young lady asked.

“And why is that?” another young lady questioned.

The image quickly disappeared.

When I opened my eyes, I was still sitting on my bed. I found myself screaming, “Why?” I was curious to know why the forest they were going into was called the Dark Forest. Now that the image was gone, I thought that I would never know the answer.

I climbed down from my bed and started taking off the sheets. I needed to do something to keep my mind off of the funeral. Once the sheets were all off, I piled them up together and slowly made my way to the laundry room. The pile was so high that I could barely see over it.

While walking down the stairs, I almost fell as I stepped on parts of the sheets that hung over and dragged on the ground. Once in the laundry room, I set my sheets next to the barrel of water to be washed and hung to dry. After I did this, I grabbed clean sheets and headed back toward my room. On the way back to my room, I had an easier time seeing, as the new sheets were nicely folded and not thrown together.

As I was making my bed, Buttons came into my room and jumped onto my bed to play with the sheets.

“Buttons! You silly kitty!” I laughed.

He always did this; he would make his way under the sheets and attack them. It was quite hilarious to watch, but he always made a mess of the sheets. Honestly, I could not help but enjoy his enthusiasm for playing around. I could always tell where he was by the lump on the bed. When I would touch him softly over the sheets, he would become excited and try to find my hand.

Sometimes his tail would hang off the side of the bed. His tail was so pretty. It was fluffy and the same length as his whole body. When we walked together, I would hold on to it and act as if I were walking him, using his tail as the leash.

After I finished making my bed, he poked his little head out from the top of the sheets. I waited for him to come all the way out so that I could put the pillow on the top of my bed. He walked over to my nightstand and started drinking from my water cup. Then I realized that I needed to change the water in the vase with the roses. So I grabbed the vase and brought it to the sink in my bathroom.

As I took the roses out of the vase to dump the old water, I was pricked by one of the thorns, but I did not feel it. It was strange that I did not notice until I saw blood on the counter. I tried to find out where I had been pricked, but I could not see any blood on my fingers or any cuts on my hands. I wiped the blood up in confusion.