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I lay in my chair, feet draped over the side, flipping through the book I held. I was a boring book, with absolutely no pictures! Who ever made this idiotic thing just had to be dense. Getting up from my chair, I climbed one of the ladders to get a book that had some pictures in it. Out of the blue there was horribly loud noise that almost made me fall down. Groaning I ran down two flights of stairs and skidded to a stop in front of the door and heaved it open. On my door step stood an old hag. “What do you want?” I asked the hag. She was very ugly, with warts the size of platters covering her face and wrinkles like that of an elephant. “Sir, I would like to stay here. For it’s terribly cold outside, do let me stay the night and then I shall be on my way.” The hag croaked, even her voice was ugly! How could she stand to look like that? If that was me i would kill myself before I became old and ugly liker her. “No you may not. Ugly things are not allowed to come into my home. And besides it’s not like you would be able to pay me for letting you stay. Now could you?” I knew I was being mean, but papa said that being mean to the ugly and poor was the only way to teach them their place. As I began to close the door the hag called out again. “I will give you this rose young man. It is an enchanted rose; it shall make all your dreams come true.” Glancing at the pathetic flower she held in her withered hand I laughed and slammed the door shut. Pay me with a rose, which had absolutely no worth at all. What an idiot!

I crawled into bed later that night; I had eaten alone… again. Mama and papa were out on business and would not be back for months. They always went out on business and left me here with the servants. It was just me and the servants; I was relatively used to this. Today had been my birthday, and instead of being woken up by them I was awoken by the stupid nurse maid. Cuddling with my blankie, one of the few things they had ever given me on my birthday, I drifted into a fitful sleep.





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“Young master, it is time to wake up. Come now,” the voice of my nurse maid as she gently shook me. “Dun wanna.” I mumbled and rolled over. “Amo! Get your bloody arse up! And don’t be so rude to Mrs. Ulloa. You damned brat!” Shortly after hearing these words I was picked up from under my arms and carried down the stairs. Lumiere, why was he so rude? He is the servant! I am the master of this house when my father is not home! Eventhoughh I did not want I gave the tiniest of grins. “Lumiere! The dining hall is that a way! Hey! What do you think you are doing to me! Let me go! Now! I command you to!” I shrieked with laughter as Lumiere tickled me and blew raspberries.
“I wanna play too!” This came from Raoul; he is like a little brother, being younger than me and is the son of Mrs. Ulloa. With giggles, I opened my arms to allow him entrance to our tickle feast.
“Young Master! What in the world are you doing?” You have your studies to get to! Chop chop now. Let’s get moving. Into the study with you.” With a groan the fat man pushed me into the study. Lying on the desk was a single piece of paper. It peaked my interest. So while the fat man was out in the diner getting me something to eat I sneaked over, and picked up the letter. Slowly I started to read it, there were a number of words that I did not know. I guess this is karma for not paying attention to my studies. I could read my Mama and Papa’s names, simple enough. Along with crash, ship, no, and survive. It took me maybe two minutes to read over the letter and another two to figure out what the words meant. Those four minutes felt like an eternity. This letter had come in a week ago; a day after my birthday. No one had even told me of the possibility that my parents might not be coming home from their trip. My vision started to blur, and I heard a voice. One that sounded like the hag, in more ways than one. Turning around, I saw the hag, only it didn’t really look like the hag. Before my eyes she started to change, ever so slowly. As if, she was rubbing it in. no longer hunched over she stood straight, her hair was now long and yellow, like daffodils in the summer.
“Your heart and soul are black and empty. Void of all love. You need to learn to love what is on the inside of a person instead of the outside. You shall be a beast until this rose wilts; it shall stop blooming on your twenty first birthday. You have until then to learn to love what is on the inside and be loved in return.” With a flash the enchantress was gone, leaving only a horrible curse, a white rose, the same one she had offered to me that night, and a smell of perfume.

Ten Years Later

“Hello? Is anyone there? I’m in dire need of shelter for the night. My horse ran off after hearing some howling. Hello?” This reminded me of the night when Maksim, the enchantress who put this curse on me and my ‘family’. Either way he did not deserve to be here. I did not care if it was raining outside or not. Stepping outside of the shadows I took a deep breath and roared. “Why are you here? What do you want?!” The poor fool started to shake.
“Please don’t eat me. I, I have a daughter that you may want instead! I’m old and grizzled and she is plump. Just right for eating; or for bearing children. I won’t judge you. Nope. No way in hell will I judge you.” Suppressing a chuckle, I turned my back to him. Lying on top of the mantle was an enchanted mirror. One of the many that lay around the house; my only way of keeping in touch with the outside world. Quickly snatching it with my beastly claws I whispered, “Show me the mans’ daughter.” There was a faint glow as the mirror found its destination. What reflected back was a young girl, with auburn locks and the bluest eyes I have ever seen in all my years of living. Could she be the one? The one to break this terrible spell that was place on me and my family? Ma beaute. Turning to face the man once more I lowered my gaze to him. “Bring your daughter here. It must be of her own free will. Should you force her to come I WILL know. And should that happen I won’t think twice about eating you,” I roared the words at the fat man and chuckled to myself as he ran out of my castle. Soon, it just had to be soon. I would have to make her love me before my birthday. The rose has already started to wilt. With a hefty sigh, I called up the maids of my “family” and had them prepare a room for the girl. Ma beaute. If only she could love me back. With this lastthoughht I turned and went to the west wing.

The girl has been with us for a good week now and still hasn’t spoken to me. Once she first appeared on our door step she told Mrs. Ulloa that I did not force her to come here. Her father brought her here of his own free will. It must because of my beastly face that she will not talk to me. When her blue orbs looked at me the very first time there was only fear and pity. As I sat in the library pondering what I could do to get the girl to like me, the door creaked open. Turning my head slowly I saw her step into the library. It seemed that she honestly did not notice me sitting in the plush chair.

“Do you enjoy reading Miss…” I looked up from the pages of my picture book and paused upon realizing that I did not know her name. I felt like a major fool right there.

“Angelika. Most people call me Angel. And yes I do enjoy reading. It frees a person from their own troubles. Do you enjoy reading Mr. Beast?” Angel tilted her head to the side, like a cat would. I could see her being a cat; a brown one with auburn colored eyes and a white patch on her left ear.

“Ah, um, I um.” I let out a cough, slightly embarrassed. “I never really learned. Once I became like this I just figured what was the point? A beast doesn’t need to read or write.” Old Coggy had been right when he said I need to continue my studies.

“Oh! You mean to say that you were not born a beast? Mr. Beast?” Angel’s face took on a look of shock as I shyly nodded my head.

“Aye, you see, Maksim, she was, no is an enchantress and she put this spell on me and my family when I was a little kid.” I gave a small pout. “All because I was foolish and wouldn’t let her in for the night. Said I needed to learn to love what was on the inside, not just the outside.” She still seemed rather shocked that I wasn’t always a beast. But a human made to look like the beast that I was on the inside. “Angelika, that’s not French is it?” I changed the topic to her name.

“No, its German. You see my mutter is from Germany. We lived there till I was about ten years of age, but then she succumbed in childbirth. That’s what set my father off the deep end.” Her eyes clouded over with the threat of tears. Her frail looking body began to shake. Cautiously, I stood up and sat down beside her on the window seat and held her close.

A week after the meeting in the library, Angel and I have gotten along better then we did before. She taught me how to read and write, eventhoughh I attempted to fight her the entire way. Day by day I felt that beast I had become slowly fading away into nothing. In fact the only part of my beast self left are my horn; their tiny now, barely noticeable. Even my family is back to normal. Mrs. Ulloa woke me up with a nice cup of tea, while Raoul poked my sides. He became a nice young man. He and Angel are about to have their first child. Sure, I am a little jealous, but I am also happy for them. The last petal of my rose has long since fallen off, taking away the last hope to lose my horns. But without them, I would probably go back to the way I once was.