Short Story Excerpt: Romance (SOTL) - Pt3

Overview: https://kaylinrosealexande.wixsite.com/kaylinalexanderbooks/post/short-story-romance-sotl

Previous: https://kaylinrosealexande.wixsite.com/kaylinalexanderbooks/post/short-story-excerpt-romance-sotl-pt2

As mentioned last time, there are two versions of this short story. Originally, Beau only came by to study, but I updated this to include their argument that I added. Everything else is the same in both versions.

“Úrsula?” I called as I knocked on her door. “Are you in there?” I took a heavy breath. “I am so, so sorry for what I said earlier. I was being stupid. You’re right, I shouldn’t have pressed anything.” I thought I heard something, maybe breathing? “Úrsula?” There was a growl of some sort, like an animal almost. “Mademoiselle? Are you okay? I’m coming in there; hold on.” I first tried the latch, but it was locked. I shuffled through the messy papers and books in my bag that I didn’t really bother to organize until I reached the pack of seeds I’d stashed at the bottom. I opened it and grabbed one, stashing the pack back inside my bag. I leaned down by the keyhole. I lifted the seed up to it, taking a deep breath. A small sprout poked its way into the outside world. I directed it toward the hole, keeping an ear close to hear the mechanism. I shifted the sapling’s shape and size, trying to find a match, until there was a small click, and I opened the door. “Úrsula?” I asked as I poked my head inside the door. “Are you in here?” I shoved the sapling in my pocket as I shut the door. “Sorry to break in like this, but I—” I sucked in a breath as I saw what was inside her dorm. Beside the bed, there lay a monster. A beast with coarse black fur and piecing golden eyes. I snatched the sapling out of my pocket, rapidly making it into a thicker, longer, hopefully weapon-esque enough. “What have you done to Úrsula, beast?” The beast growled, launching itself at me. I jumped back until I realized the beast did not move very far. My eyes landed on the beast’s wrist; it was handcuffed to the bed. “Did Úrsula tie you up? Or did you just do it yourself? Was someone else here? Is Úrsula okay?” I shot the sprout at the beast, wrapping it around its neck. I stepped closer, despite my heart pounding. “Show me where she is!” I wasn’t sure why exactly I was talking to a beast, but I got the impression that it somehow was understanding me.

The beast growled, its eyes looking at something behind me. Stepping back, positioning myself to where I could look back without turning my back on the beast, I followed its gaze. I gasped. Beside the door, Úrsula’s books were sprawled on the floor, soaking wet. Beside them, her clothes were ripped; torn to shreds. I looked back on the beast, my chest heavy and vision blurry. “You did kill her.” I shudder pulsed through me. “You killed her!” The single sprout shot out a dozen or more little vines I expanded to completely surround the beast, curling tighter and tighter around its body and neck. It groaned and moaned in pain, but I ignored its pathetic cries. I breathed heavier and heavier as my blood pumped harder and louder.

Then I stopped. I didn’t retreat, but I didn’t go further. I held the grip on the beast as I looked back at Úrsula’s ripped clothes. “There is no blood,” I muttered to myself. I looked back on the beast. The ripped clothes but no blood, the soaked books haphazardly scattered by the door, but not damaged other than the water. The handcuffs. The fact that Úrsula never told me what her curse was in the two months we’d known each other.

I called the vines back, tucking them all in until I was holding a single seed in my palm. I dropped it in my pocket, the beast curling up to the floor now. It looked at me with a pure hatred I did not recognize, but I still knelt down beside it.

“Úrsula?” I said tentatively. “I…know you’re in there. It’s me. It’s Beau. I know now why you didn’t want to tell me, but it isn’t making me think any less of you.” I sucked in a breath before reaching out my hand. The beast growled, not wanting me to touch her, but I only recoiled slightly. I kept going. The beast roared as I placed my hand on her arm. “I’m here, Úrsula. It’s going to be okay.”

The beast breathed heavily, the hatred and anger slowly fading from her eyes. I watched as the irises faded from a fierce gold to a warm brown. The black hair began to retreat to the top of the head, and the beast itself began to shrink in size, the claws forming back into normal, light-brown human hands. The snouted nose of the beast formed into the beautiful face I knew so well. My heart jolted. That face…. The first time I saw her, I thought it was plain, but just now, I thought—

Úrsula blinked a few times as she stared at me. “Beau?” I smiled. The corners of her lips twitched up, but then she looked down at the rest of her body. “Oh, God!”

“Huh? Oh! Sorry!” I averted my eyes as I reached to the top of the bed, pulling the sheet off for her to wrap in.

Úrsula curled the sheet up to her chest. She looked embarrassed, maybe ashamed. “I…am sorry…you had to see me like that. If you hate me now—”

“Hate you?” I repeated. “Úrsula, I don’t hate you. I understand now.”

Úrsula’s mouth quivered. “I…I was cursed when I was eleven. I got angry at my little brother and I—” She closed her eyes, as if to shake off the memory. “My parents kept me away from people after that. They told everyone that my brother and I were killed by a bear in the woods.” Her voice was quiet and fragile. “I do not know how the school found out about me, but my parents were desperate to send me away. They said that the school would cure me, but—” Her voice cracked.

I leaned over to her, wrapping my arm around her shoulders and pulling her against me. A sob escaped her lips as she buried her face in my chest. Her fingers grasped my shirt tightly and she seemed to sink deeper into my embrace. I lay a hand on the back of her head for comfort, burying my nose in her thick, dark hair. “It’s okay, Úrsula. It’s okay.”

I hope this was nice. I will have a very similar scene in SOTL when I write it.

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