“Welcome to hell,” I heard a loud voice say and saw a large man sitting near a fireplace ahead of me.
The first few years were hard. I almost lost my mind learning to live in the solitude of eternity without the things I was used to. Foraging for food around the castle in the blinding snow until I was frozen from head to toe became a regular routine. There were days I starved, days that I thought I would simply die, but when my weak eyes finally tasted sleep, I woke up to find that the torment still remained. Others came that weren’t as strong as me. They tore their roses from the vine and withered away as the petals fell. Alexander and Gill had been there longer than me, and they seemed to be survivors—and victims of the witch.
I kept myself up for a while, trying to maintain some semblance of my humanity, but as the years carried me further into the suffering promised by the witch, I felt it slipping away. I became nothing more than a beast like the other survivors with the primal monster inside of me taking over. The wolves around the castle became prey instead of something to be feared. The cold became a welcoming sign that I was still alive. I stopped aging, even though my body showed signs of wear. Time lost all meaning and I was nothing more than a vessel for the torment the witch had cursed me with.
“YOU GAVE HER A BOOK?” Alexander sat down near the fireplace and glared at me.
“I did.” I nodded and looked over at him. “I felt sorry for her.”
“I thought you were convinced she was a witch?” His throat rumbled with a disapproving growl.
“There was real emotion in her eyes—sorrow on her breath. She’s a victim like we are, trapped in the agony of another’s sins.” I shook my head. “I don’t think I’ll keep her caged when you are gone, but I will respect your wishes until then.”
“I prayed for death once.” He let out a sigh. “I used to stare at my rose and wish it would just fall to the ground or get blown away by the wind. Now that it is a certainty, I don’t welcome it.”
“Maybe you should pluck them all from the vine before you go—put us all out of our misery.” I stared at the fire.
“Have you lost hope?” He turned to the fire.
“Hope is a fragile thing.” I closed my eyes and tried to imagine death, but my brain refused to comprehend it. “But I guess I’m not ready to die yet either.”
Chapter 7: Anabelle
I finished the book that Boone had given me and then Alexander brought me a second one. He sat me for a while and watched as I sat alone in my cage, but he didn’t say a word. I tried apologizing until my throat was nearly raw, but my words didn’t seem to have meaning to him. That went on for nearly a week until one day he walked in and unlocked my cage. I wondered if it was my time to leave the mortal world behind and he had decided I would die for what my father had done.
He pulled the door open and walked out of the room, motioning for me to follow with a wave of his hand. I stretched my legs and felt the feeling returning to them as I was finally able to stand. I walked behind him to the stairs and when we reached the bottom, I felt real warmth for the first time since I had arrived in the castle. He led me to the kitchen area and I saw a large table that had a feast laid out on it. Alexander took a seat at the head of the table and pushed out the chair next to him. I was so hungry that my stomach practically did a somersault with excitement as I sat down and stared at the food. The excitement passed when I saw Alexander’s rose and realized there weren’t many petals left and the green stem had started to turn brown.
“The rose is dying...” I felt overcome with more grief than I had when I first heard the tale of his fate.
“Yes.” He sighed and nodded. “I’m coming to terms with what is in front of me, and my anger towards your father is passing. I know he didn’t do it on purpose.”
“He would never intentionally hurt someone.” I lowered my eyes and blinked away the tears.
“There was a time when I thought the same of myself.” He reached for some bread and tore it in half, putting a piece on my plate. “Eat. There’s no reas
on for the food to go to waste.”
“Thank you.” I picked up the bread and pushed it into my mouth. It tasted incredible after having nothing but foul smelling broth since I arrived.
“I’ve decided that I will not die as the beast the witch created with her curse. I would like for you to bear witness to my final days and I want to be remembered as the kind of compassionate man I thought I was once was.” He bit into his bread and chewed it quickly.
Alexander told me of his life as we ate—the man he was before he was cursed to spend eternity as a beast. I saw genuine emotion and life behind the eyes that had previously appeared to be nothing more than those of a tortured soul. I couldn’t believe he had been in the castle for over two hundred years. He had lived more lives than I would ever have, even if they were spent in torment. When his story got to the day that brought on his curse, I could see sadness return to his eyes. He was remorseful for what he had done and he even tried to save the witch before the curse consumed him. His crime hardly seemed as terrible as I imagined as he laid it out in vivid detail. Hearing how hard it was being alone for so long before Gill came tore at my heartstrings.
In the light, I was able to see more of his features and I realized he wasn’t entirely a beast. He had given up on his appearance at some point and his curly hair had become woven into his beard, but there was still a man underneath the layer time had created.
The witch that created this brand of cruelty is the real beast—not him.
I wasn’t taken back to my cage when my meal was done. Alexander took me to a room at the top of the stairs that had an actual bed fashioned with straw and what appeared to be wolf pelts. I stretched out on the warm fur and felt sleep quickly consuming me. When I woke up the next morning, I started to explore the castle a little bit. There were times when I felt like eyes were on me, but I never saw anyone when I turned towards the darkness.
As I ventured into the eastern side of the castle, I found a room that appeared to be fancier than the others. It had a large tub in the center that looked like it was for bathing and a wardrobe filled with women’s clothing. They were old, but they were still in good shape. It seemed like everything in the castle was paused in time and did not decay—everything except the rose on the table downstairs. I carried water until the tub was full and my muscles were sore, but when I sank into the bath, it was worth it. I found an old razor that was still sharp and soap that still smelled fresh, so I was able to properly bathe and shave—I felt rejuvenated when I was done. I picked out an auburn colored dress from the wardrobe and fixed my hair with the simple tools on the dresser. When I walked back downstairs, I saw Alexander standing by the fireplace.
“Wow...” His eyes opened wide when he turned to face me. “You look ravishing.”
“This old thing?” I ran my fingers along the dress. “I found it in a closet upstairs.”
“I always wondered who lived in that room. I used to make up stories in my mind about the life she had roaming the halls of the castle.” His lips twisted to the first smile I had seen on his face. “You’re a lot prettier than I ever imagined she would be.”
“Come with me.” I walked over and took his hand in mine.