Beauty and the Beast

Her name is Annabelle, and she is beautiful. Her life is changed the stormy night her dad is arrested. She then finds out what real beauty looks like. 3 chapters; approx 4300 words, enjoy

One

 

Grey clouds hung threateningly over my city, as I battled through the wind, typical English weather.

Automatic doors opened before me, I was hit with the familiar smell of books; it was pleasingly familiar. I searched through the YA section, not really knowing what to read next.

An easily recognizable tune rang out and cut sharply through the silence inside.

“No phones, please!” the stout librarian scolded me quietly, an ever-stern look on her face.

I mouthed the word sorry but turned around to inspect my phone regardless. The text was from Madison, reminding me of the house-party we were attending together, and how late I was in meeting her.

“Ok fate,” I said to myself, “I guess you can choose for me,” I ran my hand across the line of books before stopping on the one that felt right, and pulling it off the shelf.

‘Just Listen’ the cover read. I checked the book out before hurrying to bus stop.

While on the bus I read the blurb, and it turned out to be about a girl with the same name as me, Annabelle, “Thanks fate,” I whispered to myself.

 

“Finally!” Madison said reproachfully after opening her front door and seeing me at her doorstep, “Oh my god Annie, you’re not even dressed!”

“What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?” I said looking down at my skirt and top.

She looked at me as if I was a talking peanut, “C’mon, I have a cute high-waist skirt and some long pearls that’ll look nice,” she said, ignoring my question.

“No heels though, I’ll look like a giant,” I said, letting her drag me inside.

I let Madison entirely change my look, but more for her benefit than my own, I was content to sit in my lawn chair and read all night, but she was my best friend.

We arrived at the house ‘a little more than fashionably late’ she called it and she instantly fell into the role of ‘social butterfly’, while I honed a more appropriate label of ‘awkward best friend.’

It’s not that I wanted to be awkward, or that I tried to be or anything, it was just that when popular culture music blared and lights were cut out and neighbours complained, there was little choice of things to do. I wasn’t like Tamyra or Andre in the pitch black living room, I couldn’t just get up and dance within a bunch of people, let alone be the first two to start the whole thing off.

I wasn’t anything like Madison either, somehow able to start random conversations with people �" actually I could do that if I really wanted to, but it was how she managed to stop the convo going into awkward silence that fascinated me, seeing as I could not avoid it, except by remaining hushed.

The only other thing left to do was, well, it was making out. To be honest I had no idea why Lara was always doing it, it was never as romantic as it seemed in movies or books; there was the concentrating on doing a good job, but the frequent embarrassing teeth-bumps got in the way, and the slobbering some boys do, it was just plain disgusting. Then there were the unwarranted touches that came along with it, up the thigh, or landing a hand on a breast. I just couldn’t see the fun or the romance at all. I knew that I should, I was old enough, legally an adult, which made it even more embarrassing to admit to myself that I just wasn’t ready.

“Annabelle, hey” I heard a voice say to me while I poured myself a drink. It was always so much easier when people spoke to me, instead of sparking conversation with other people.

“Hi Doug,” I said the boy with the floppy black hair. He leant against the kitchen counter, “I heard you’re in a band now,” I said, more proud than anyone should be of my randomly spontaneous social skills.

“Yeah I just found one looking for a drummer, though my mum is threatening to throw my drum kit out I’m practising so often,” he replied.

“What are you guys called?” Madison asked after emerging from the fridge with a bottle of coke.

“We’re the-”

 “Doug,” another voice said. It belonged to the spiky haired boy who was now standing in the kitchen doorway, “What the hell do you think you’re doing talking to someone as hot as Annabelle, you know she’s way out of your league,”

I felt myself begin to go red, and watched the same happen to Doug.

“She so much more my league,” he continued, this time looking at me and smiling.

“Hi Brett,” Madison said, sounding nonchalant, though I knew her well enough to know she was screaming inside.

Brett was such a pretty boy, and the fact that he knew this is what made him so ugly.

“Hey,” he replied looking at her briefly, before turning and standing in front of me, “Wanna go chillax in the garden?” he said to me, his blue eyes piercing.

“Who says chillax anymore?” Doug said, I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Shut up Doug,” Brett snapped back.

Doug turned away, silenced, and began fiddling with his phone

“Actually I’m fine in here,” I replied.

“Are you sure,” he said, taking one step closer and resting a hand on my arm, “with the two of us together it’s getting a bit too hot in here,”

“I’m fine really,” I said quickly, pushing past him out into the hallway but dropping my handbag. The contents spilled out and Brett picked up ‘Just Listen.’

“You brought a book to a party?” he said to me disbelievingly, before laughing.

By now I knew I was turning into a tomato, I didn’t know what to say in reply.

“For a nerd you’re still incredibly sexy Annabelle,” he said to me stepping closer and putting his arm around me, moving his hand onto my butt, “but you know what they say, girls shouldn’t read, they should be making babies with guys like me,”

I looked him in the eye and for a moment acted more like a heroine from a story than myself, “You disgust me Brett, get your damn hands off me!”

“Ooh, kitty has claws!” he laughed at me.

Hearing my ringtone come from my handbag, I snatched the book out of his hand and left the room.

 

“Hello?” I answered the unknown number.

“Ginger, hey, it’s me, dad,” my father answered, calling my by his nickname for me because of my long red curls.

“Dad? Where are you?”

“I’m in, I’m in prison sweet pea, I got arrested,”

“Arrested? What? Wait there, I’m coming for you, are you in Acton Town Po-”

“No, ginger I’m not exactly in London, Slough I think. They’ll release me on bail, d’y’know where I keep all our money?”

“It’s not in the bank?” I replied, noting how dark it was outside.

“I mean our life savings; it’s in my mattress, I need you to bail me out tomorrow,”

 “But dad-”

“I gotta go sweet pea, daddy loves you” he said, after that there was just the dial tone.

“Hahaha, daddy got nicked eh?” a voice startled me, it was Brett standing behind me on the front lawn, “My mom says he’s a criminal, always knew he’d get nicked for something,”

It was jet black outside but I was now seeing red. I channelled all of my anger into my arm and forced my palm squarely into Brett’s nose, a move I’d seen on TV. It was satisfying to watch him stagger back shouting meaningless profanity.

Before sending a quick text to Madison, I caught a bus home. The money was in the mattress just as he had said, and to my surprise there were hundreds. I did not want to think about where it all came from �" me and my dad were poor people - I just bagged it, shoved that bag in another and went to the train station. I knew he’d said tomorrow but something was telling me to go then and there.

Upon arriving in Slough the rain had turned to hail.

I realised all too late that I had no clue which prison my father was in; and no number to phone back. I’ll have to go home and wait for him to call again, I thought to myself, but when looking at the train times I realised there were no more departures. I was stuck in Slough.

Outside the streets were empty and no cabs in sight. The falling hailstones made the air cold, and I’d left home in only a light jacket which offered little protection against the elements.

A silver Vauxhall pulled up slowly to the station and I spotted the minicab licence in the window. I walked cautiously up to the window, which the driver then rolled down.

“Excuse me? Do you think you could take me to the nearest Bed and Breakfast?” I asked.

“Sure,” he smiled warmly, “Get in,”

We drove through the desolate streets listening to the hail beat down on the windows.

“So, you not from around here?” he asked me, trying to make small talk, but I was too anxious to follow through accordingly.

“No,” I replied.

“Course not, we don’t have pretty girls like you in Slough, where you from?” he asked.

“London,” I said.

“Oh, great place that London, have a niece there, probably about your age, how old are you?”

I picked up on that one and tried to be smart, lie, my brain told me, “23,” I figured I could go five years higher seeing as I stood 5"8.

 Before I knew it we were heading out of the built up areas and greenery showed up around us.

“Urm, excuse me, weren’t there any B‘n’B’s back in-”

“Nah,” he responded quickly, “Not any you want to stay in anyway, I know a great place, just around here,” he said before belching and patting his flannel covered gut, “Oh, that’ll be the larger, don’t worry though, I’m sober,”

My pulse quickened, my head told me something was very wrong, but to be smart. What I lacked in common sense I made up for in intellect, but it didn’t help in situations like this, knowing standard deviation and being able to calculate gravitational potential energy won’t help me in a situation like this.

He eventually pulled up in the middle of nowhere, my mind raced; running through all my options. He clicked the doors shut and turned off his engine before twisting his pudgy body in my direction.

“You never told me your name gorgeous,” he said, reaching up and stroking my hair

I thought back to how unexpectedly effective my palm had been on Brett, and tried to muster up the same courage. Giving myself a quick countdown, I slammed my hand into his face and reached over to unlock the doors before flying out, running down the road fuelled on pure adrenaline, adrenaline and fear.

It was still hailing and the cold stung, I slipped on the road and my head collided with something hard. I felt for the first time just how lost I was. For a moment all I could think of was my mother, and how none of this would have happened if she had still been alive.

Looking up, silhouetted by the moon was a giant foreboding creature. I let a shriek rip from my lungs as the thing picked me up and threw me over its shoulder.

 

 

 

Two

 

The walls were a pallid shade of green; there was wooden laminate flooring below, opposite me was a white wardrobe, and the rest of the room was empty.

“Hello,” I said, “Is anyone here?” I shouted much louder.

There was no response. I got out of the bed and noticed that my clothes had been changed; I was in a pink nightgown. I felt a shiver run through me. Walking through the wood panelled hallway I began to hear music playing, piano, I followed it.

It was coming from a computer inside a relatively large bedroom, there were rows and rows of movies, CD’s and books on the shelves and what looked like hand painted art work on the blue walls.

“You’re awake,” a voice said from behind me.

Swiftly I spun around, the voice came from the open doorway of another room, but it was pitch black so I couldn’t make out what they looked like.

“Yeah,” I replied, “Why am I here? What happened to my clothes?”

“You don’t remember? You slipped and hit your head; you were alone so I brought you back here. You passed out though,”

I took a step forward, and though I could barely make it out I was sure he took one step back.

“I don’t remember,” I said, remembering nothing after running out of the cab, “Thanks, I guess, thank you. I’m Annabelle,”

“I’m Darryl,” he said.

“Can- can I see you, Darryl?”

“P-promise you won’t scream?” he replied.

“Why would I-” but my sentence was cut short by the ultimate shock I felt when I saw the monster who called itself Darryl step forward, my memories flooded back to me; he was the gigantic wolf-man. I gasped.

“I have hypertrichosis, also known as werewolf syndrome,” he said. He was wearing tracksuit pants and his chest was bare except from the dense fur that covered it and his arms and face. “I live here out in the sticks because it’s easier when I don’t have to see that look on people’s face wherever I go,” he continued.

“Oh my gosh I’m so sorry,” I said quickly trying to control my expression, “Do you live on your own? How old are you?” I asked, realising that I couldn’t tell.

“19. And, well, my mom lives in the city because she works there, but she comes like every fortnight, I’m usually alone,” he explained, “What were you doing all the way out here in the middle of the night anyway?”

I then commenced on telling him the story of how I ended up on the outskirts of Slough, what happened and how I needed to leave as soon as possible.

“Urm, Annabelle, you can’t really leave. It rained all night and there’s been some flooding in the city, there’s no way you can get back there,” he told me.

“No,” I said incredulously, “I need to go,”

“You can leave as soon as the floods clear, I’ll call you a cab,” he offered, “Why don’t you have something to eat; I cook a mean omelette,”

I shook away the feeling of despair and smiled at him cautiously before thanking him.

“You weren’t lying Darryl,” I said after swallowing my last mouthful of egg, “You do cook a mean omelette,”

“Thanks, I like to cook, it’s always interesting to try new things out, seeing as I’m only cooking for me,” he replied.

“So what do you do, like, do you work or?” I didn’t quite know how to ask him the question I had.

“I used to have a private tutor, but I finished my exams, now I do what I like,” he said, before explaining how he liked to paint, play piano or guitar, read a lot of books and how all the interaction with humans he had was online, “It’s nice when people can’t react to the way you look because they can’t see you,”

I wondered how any mother could go and leave her son to live his life alone, but I guessed it was a tough situation and it protected him from a cruel world.

Something still intrigued me, “So do you usually wonder around in the middle of the night like that?”

He laughed, “No I was just feeling a bit miserable, and I couldn’t sleep so I went to get some fresh air,”

After that I decided to have a shower, but had to borrow some of his mothers clothing as my �" though they were technically Madison’s �" were in the wash.

In walking through the hall I realised just how beautiful the house was, and how large. There were so many rooms, and artwork everywhere and the gorgeous grounds outside spread for miles; it was like a little spot of heaven in the middle of nowhere.

 

I got to know Darryl over the next few days, as the rain only persisted, and my father still hadn’t called me back with his actual location. I had to tell someone where I was, though the only family I had in London was my dad; we were from Portsmouth so I told Madison we were there simply because Darryl asked me not to tell anyone I was staying with him.

When I got past the how strange it was looking at Darryl, I really began to like him; he painted a lot, nothing really, but things he saw in his mind, his dreams, most of the art around the house was his and a lot of the figures had wings, some angelic and some more bat-like. He even tried to teach me how to play piano �" he taught himself. But like all teenage boys, he was addicted to video games and un-like all boys, he had every console.

“So how about that re-match you promised me? You, me and the Wii in ten minutes” I said to him in the morning two days later; I’d just come out of the shower.

The news was on the TV.

“Urm Annie?” he said to me, “The flooding has stopped; the city’s active again, you can go back to London when you want to,”

It was hard to tell with Darryl but I was sure I could hear the sadness in his voice. My initial reaction was elation, which was soon followed by sorrow; I’d be leaving Darryl alone, and it wasn’t only that I thought he’d be lonely without me, I actually thought I’d miss him.

“Actually, I’d prefer to be closer to Slough, so when my dad calls I’ll be able to get to him faster, I was hoping you’d let me stay here until then,”

A smiled broke across his face, “Please, be my guest, my house is your home, except for the room directly on the left of mine,”

I smiled back at him and later that day went into Slough to by some new clothes with a small portion of my father’s money.

One night, two weeks after my arrival, after falling asleep watching Casablanca with him, I wandered upstairs to the bathroom, and in the dark went through the wrong door; it was to the room I wasn’t allowed in, but once it was open I found myself unable to close it.

Inside was a little girl’s room, pink, and the walls were covered with photos of a family, with two werewolf children, some pictures included three other children, normal ones and two parents, both normal. I looked at what must have been Darryl’s sister, but why wasn’t she here?

“What are you doing?” I heard his voice say frenetically.

“Darryl-”

“I told you not to go in here!” he roared at me, “Get out! What part of do not go in here didn’t you understand!?” he continued his tirade, sending a shelf crashing to the ground.

I ran past him back into the room that was mine and began throwing clothes into a bag and before I knew it my face was streaming with tears. Half an hour later I went downstairs and Darryl was waiting by the door. His face and neck had been shaved, for the first time I could actually look at him. His cheeks and jaw line were highly defined and his dark eyes were ever-deep.

“Annie don’t go, please don’t go,” he said to me.

I looked at him, holding back tears, “I didn’t mean to-”

“No, Annabelle, I’m sorry, it’s just that that was Crystal’s room, she was my sister,” he began, “She lived with me and my mum, but when mum got remarried she went to go and live in the city, then she began having more kids, normal ones, while me and Crystal were hidden away. Crystal got jealous, all she wanted was a normal life, we both did, then one night we get into an argument and she decides to go. But the world was too brutal for her to handle, she was only 13 and she hadn’t lived in that world so she didn’t realise how cruel people can be. One day she shaves off all her hair, except from her head, got dressed up, make-up and everything, then hung herself. She left a note saying, ‘now I can stay this way forever’,” he said, I was sure by now he was crying, “Then you show up, It’s the one year anniversary of her death, I’m out about to jump off a bridge, and you show up. You’re sweet, smart, kind and loving and compassionate, you reminded me of all the reasons to continue living, but I only need one; you. You’re beautiful Annabelle; you’re the beauty in my life,”

Before my brain had time to argue my arms dropped my bags and I ran into him, crushing my lips against his in an embrace I hoped would never end.

 

Three

 

I stayed with Darryl, I slept in his bed that night, and it was blissful, just the two of us in our little spot of heaven.

“I have something to show you,” he said to me the following day.

He took me by the hand and pulled me to a door I hadn’t been through yet. Behind it was a staircase leading to basement I hadn’t realised he had.

“Switch on the light,” he said to me, the smile was obvious on his face, though it was noticeable the hair was growing back again.

My hand went to the light switch, and the room flooded with luminosity. I gasped; below his house was a concealed library of books.

“How could you have had this hidden from me?” I said stepping through the heavenly room.

“It belonged to my Dad,” he said. I turned to him; he hadn’t mentioned his father before. He continued, “He had hypertrichosis too, and moved here before he met my mom, and this was where he spent most of his time. He didn’t just read books; he collected them, so some of their pages have never been turned. He went into the city rarely but he still went, he shaved though, and that’s how he met my mom, they had me and my sister, and he spent so much time down here. Then he died, choked to death on his breakfast, and we all stopped going down there, eventually we forgot the room even existed, this place just reminds me of when I used to have a family.”

I was speechless, when I didn’t know what to say I usually did one thing; I hugged him, you’d expect it to be like a hugging a teddy bear covered with fur, but it was different, you could fell the life radiating out of him.

 

After a few more days an idea hit me, I found online all of Slough’s police stations and penitentiaries, I called them until I found where my dad had been detained. When I did get to speak to him on the phone he claimed he’d been framed for embezzlement and I told him I’d be on my way to bail him out immediately.

This meant saying a hard goodbye to Darryl, and going back to London. But, as my worked through his court case, my friends continued to go to parties; my summer was beginning to feel empty. I still spoke to Darryl of course, ever the phone and on the internet, but it was empty, I missed him too much, and we were both dissatisfied with our decision that we were just too far away from each other.

Returning to Slough seemed to be my only option, I told my dad I was going to stay with a friend, but he was too busy to notice anything I did anymore, and he thought it was best I was out of the way while everything cleared up.

This time it was day not night, the sun shone vibrantly and there was not a raincloud in the sky. I got a real cab this time to drop me off and walked up to the ebony double doors, before ringing the ancient bell.

“Annabelle?” he said, upon opening the door. He let a smile break across his face, but also maintained a look of confusion.

“Darryl,” I said, “I’m sorry for dropping here uninvited, I was hoping I could spend the rest of the summer with you, things at home, they’re not great, I’d just, I’d like to be with you, I think, I think I’m trying to tell you that I love you. I love you,” I repeated the unfamiliar words in my mouth, liking the taste.

“Annie, I love you too, since the moment I saw you,”

I felt his lips come down to mine, and this time was not like the first; it didn’t have that intenseness, that urgency, where I think we both feared letting go of each other again, seeing as we almost had once. No, this kiss was much different; it still held the same passion, but this was more of an exchange, I knew in that kiss, in those few precious seconds I was giving my heart to Darryl, probably forever, and I was receiving his in return.

There we stayed, our little piece of heaven in the middle of nowhere, all summer long.

Author's Note

This is a short re-write I chose to do on a classic, I'm wondereing whether or not to extend it to novel sized one day, I'm not sure it has the effect I wanted it to so please be honest;
Could you actually feel Annabelle and Darryl fall in love?
Is the opening engaging?
Is it consistently good (or bad) or better at the beginning/end?
Were any points in the story particularly week?
Obvs you don't have to answer all (or any) of these questions, I'm happy if you just read it all, but I'd appreciate it greatly
I'd also like a more interesting title to give it, so idea's are welcomed