Belle looked at her disheveled father confused. “How did you get here, Papa? You were supposed to be heading into the city.”
“Oh, Belle, I was. I was a day’s journey in when night came and I climbed into the carriage to get some sleep. When I woke up the carriage was moving and it was still dark. I couldn’t figure out where I was. There was frost on the ground, Belle. How could there be frost on the ground in late spring? Then after circling around for a day, the wolves attacked.”
“Oh, papa,” Belle said terrified for her father even now.
“They chased Tebo and me for miles. Belle, I lost the clock. I was going to use the money from it to move you away from our horrible village,” her father said heartbroken.
Belle thought back to the broken clock she had seen on her way there. “That’s okay, Papa. But how did you end up locked away in this castle?”
“I don’t know, Belle. Tebo and I were escaping the wolves and suddenly I saw the gates of this estate. It was like they opened for us.”
“The same happened to me.”
“That’s because this place is haunted. There is a monster that lives here. Belle, you have to get out before he finds you,” her father insisted.
“I can’t leave without you.”
“You must, Belle. This place does something to you. Crazy dreams, it makes you see things. Oh, Belle, you have to get out before it drives you crazy too. I don’t even know if I’m talking to my daughter or another figment of my imagination.”
“It’s me, papa. It’s really me,” she said holding her father’s hands through the bars. “I need to get you out of here.”
Belle shook on the door rattling it. “You mustn’t, Belle. It will hear you. The monster is the one that has the key.”
“Then I will fight the monster,” Belle told her father desperately.
“You can’t, Belle. Just escape.”
A loud growl echoed up the spiraling stairway and rumbled between the walls. Belle whipped around terrified. “What was that?”
“It’s the monster. It has heard you. There is nowhere to escape now,” her father said distraught.
Belle became speechless. With her back to the bars and her father’s hand in hers, Belle shook as the sound of the monster echoed louder. Sooner than Belle could ever have imagined, a shadow exited the stairwell and wrapped around the room. A hideous beast was the next to enter. Its curled horns entered first followed by a face covered in fur, its short snout, and fang-like teeth.
Entering the room, it looked like it was seven feet tall or taller. It was huge. With hands that resembled paws, the only thing that made it look human was the coat that it wore. With its ornate buttons and gold lining, it looked like a nobleman’s jacket. On the monster, it looked both hideous and sad.
Staring at it, Belle decided that it was a horrible distortion of nature. She couldn’t imagine anything uglier.
“Get out!” the monster yelled at Belle. Its deep voice made it sound like a roar.
Surprised to hear him speak, Belle squeaked back her answer. “No,” she said gripping tighter onto her father’s hands.
“Go, Belle. Before you can never leave.”
“I’m not leaving you here, Papa. You don’t deserve to be locked up.”
The monster’s furious eyes squinted and locked on Belle. “Doesn’t deserve to be locked up?” The monster said in his bass drum voice. “Your father is a thief. Thieves get locked up.”
Finding her voice, Belle yelled back. “My father is no thief!”
“I gave your father sanctuary and food and he repaid me by stealing from me as he left.”
“That can’t be right. My father would never steal anything.”
“You don’t believe me?” The monster asked Belle confidently. “Then ask him yourself.”
Confused by the assertion, Belle turned to her father. “Papa? Is what this monster says true?”
Her father’s eyes twisted into utter sadness. “It was a rose, Belle. I picked a rose.”
Belle’s heart sunk remembering his promise when he left for his trip.
“After I lost the clock, I wanted to bring you back something. It was one rose. There was an entire rosebush full of them.”
Belle whipped around furious. “You locked him away for taking one rose?”
Angered, the monster raised up even taller. “One rose? Is that all you think it was? Your father deserves to be locked away forever for what he did.”
Withered by the monster’s words, Belle asked, “What did he do?”
This time it seemed like the monster was confused. After searching for what to say, it said, “It stole from me after I was generous to him. What crime could be worse?”
Belle stared at the monster unsure of what to say. “Please, let my father go. He doesn’t look well. I think something is happening to him.”
“Someone must pay for his crime.”
“What crime? For stealing a rose?” Belle asked frustrated.
“Yes!” The monster suddenly yelled. “For stealing a rose.”
Belle searched her mind desperately. It came to her in a flash. “Take me.”
“What?” The monster asked surprised.
“What?” Her father repeated.
Belle turned to her father. “If this is the only way to free you, I have to do it.”
“You can’t, Belle. I won’t let you,” her father protested.
Taking a longing look into her father’s eyes, Belle turned to the monster. “Will you do it? Will you exchange me for him?”
“You are willing to trade your life for his?” The monster asked her disbelievingly.
“Yes. I would trade anything for his life.”
“No, Belle.”
“Papa, I must. Will you, monster?”
The monster looked at the two of them. Belle stood confidently with her back to her father. Her father cowered behind the bars.
“It is done,” the monster said with finality.
“No!” Her father bellowed.
Belle’s heart sunk realizing what she had done. Her body shook in terror. There was no way she would change her mind, but what type of sentence had she accepted? Was this the cage that she would die in? She didn’t know.
The monster approached the jail door and bumped Belle aside. Removing the key from his waist he unlocked it. Opening it, he stepped aside to allow Belle’s father to leave.
“I won’t go.”
“Papa, you must.”
“I am your father. I could never allow you to suffer for yet another mistake that I’ve made.”
“I love you, Papa. I don’t know what is happening to you, but I think it has to do with this place. You need to leave here. I love you too much to let you stay.”
“No, Belle. I could never let you do that,” he insisted.
Overwhelmed by her love for her father, Belle ran into the jail cell and hugged him. He threw his arms around her as well.
“I love you so much, Papa. You have always done whatever you could to keep me safe. Now it’s time for me to do the same.”
Belle suddenly gripped her weak father and spun him around. Before he realized it, his back was in front of the jail door. With a final hug and a push, she was alone in the cell. With him out and Belle in, the monster through the door closed and locked her within.
“Belle!” Her father yelled racing back to the door.
“It is done,” the monster proclaimed. “Your life sentence has begun.”
“Life?” Belle asked startled.
“And now, you must go,” the monster said grabbing her fragile father by the coat.
“Don’t hurt him, please!”
The monster said nothing in reply. Instead, he dragged Belle’s father to the stairs and down the tower.
“Papa, Tebo is outside. You can ride him back home. Be safe, Papa. I love you! Papa? Papa!”
Belle listened for her father’s reply. It never came. Soon she didn’t hear anything at all. The echoing footsteps were gone. It was replaced by silence and darkness.
With only the glow from the moon- or perhaps it was the sun – Belle guided herself to the window. Staring out, she saw nothing more than the tops of forest trees. Looking out, she realized that she was alone.
What had she done? She didn’t know. But she wasn’t about to let this be the last decision she would ever make.