Nock! Nock! Nock! There were three sharp bangs at the door. Once it was answered by one of the servants, I saw an old poor woman, sitting in the rain in her rags. She walked towards me.

‘Please, good sir,’ she begged, ‘ I am sorry to ruin your party, but I am wet and cold and starving. If you could give me some food and a dry place to stay the night, I will give you this rose’ a measly rose! I declined.

‘I am going to ask one more time, and if you refuse me again, you shall face my wrath,’ the old woman replied. I laughed. Who could she ever hurt me?

‘No!’ I said again, harder this time. That was when the woman transformed. The old rags fell away, being replaced by a beautiful dress. Her old skin became smooth and young again. She was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. She flew into the air.

‘I CURSE YOU!!’ she screamed, ‘ IF YOU CAN NOT GET SOMEONE TO FALL IN LOVE WITH YOU BEFORE THE LAST PETAL ON THIS ROSE FALLS, YOU WILL STAY A BEAST AS UGLY AS YOUR HEART FORVERMORE!’ then I started to transform, my beautiful face was covered with hair, my perfect hands became paws, and soon I was a beast. The beautiful woman looked at me and smiled, then she handed me the rose, turned around, and left.

TEN YEARS LATER

As I walked through the town everyone in the town waved and said hello. ‘Alice, come here,’ one of the girls from my old school days. 

‘No, sorry,’ I called back, ‘I have to go return this book to the town library.’

‘We have a library?’ Another of the girls asked. After that I just sighed and walked away. As I walked to the library, I stared to wonder what book I should get next. Maybe if I was lucky Père Robert would have a new book. But if not I think I would get my favourite book, sleeping beauty. 

It had been 10 years since I was cursed by the witch and I was running out of time. Almost all of my petals had fallen. If I could not get a woman to fall in love with me soon, I would be cursed to look like this for the rest of my days. ‘Ms pots!’ I called, ‘ lumiare, cogsworth!’ 

The servants came into the room and Mrs pots asked, ‘yes, master?’

‘I have decided,’ I told them, ‘ I am running out of time, so I am willing to do anything. Mrs pots? I would like you to go down into the village and get me the most beautiful girl you can find. Bring her to me, and I shall kiss her like I love her, if that won’t work, nothing will!’

‘Are you sure master?’ Asked cogsworth. 

‘Yes, I am, and none can talk me out of it!’ And with that I left the room, slamming the door behind me. 

As I walked back from the library with my book, (I had to get sleeping beauty again, Père Robert didn’t have anything new for me) I realised that I was being followed. I tried to drop my stalker, but no matter where I went, or how fast I ran, she would not leave me alone. It was at that moment, that I remembered something from another book that I had read. At some point, you have to stop running and turn around and face whoever wants you dead. So that was what I did. I turned around to face this woman, and looked her straight in the eye. She was fairly old, maybe in her fiftys or sixtys. She was also rather short. There was not much of her, but that did not stop this strange woman from grabbing me by the ankles, putting a bag over my head, and taking me somewhere off with her. 

As I paced the room, waiting for Mrs pots to come back with my saviour, I started to wonder if this was the right choice. But before I could let my doubts transform into a full blown panic attack, Mrs pots ran through the door, dragging a girl behind her. Through all the grit and grime I could see that she was fairly beautiful, and I knew that this was the right choice. ‘Mrs pots, that was very fast! Take her upstairs to get her ready. I want her to have dinner with me before I get to kissing her,’ I said.

‘Of course, master. I shall take her up to a spare room, and put her in the most beautiful dress I can find!’

After being dragged away from the village, and taken to a strange house, I was put into a gorgeous yellow dress. Then the old woman, my kidnapper, said, ‘I will now take you back downstairs to dine with the master. You must remember something though. He may not be one of the prettiest people on the planet anymore, but I truly believe that he has a kind heart.’

‘NO!’ I screamed, ‘I DO NOT WANT TO DINE WITH YOUR MASTER. WAS HE THE ONE WHO TOLD YOU TO KIDNAP ME!?’

‘I would not call it kidnapping, my dear. You are free to leave after dinner. We just need you to help the master. If you stay, just for a while, you could save a mans life,’ she tried to tell me. But I wasn’t listening.

‘NO! NO! NO! NO! I WILL NOT STAY! I DEMAND YOU TAKE ME HOME RIGHT NOW!’ I screamed. 

‘I am sorry ma’am but you don’t have a choice,’ she said, and she really did look sorry. And then someone came up and grabbed me from behind. 

As Cogsworth carried her down the stairs, I noticed that she looked even more beautiful than when I saw her before, her hair was neat and curly, and her dress was in perfect condition, and fit just right. Then she saw me. There was an ear splitting scream.

As I was being carried down the stairs by a fancy little man with a moustache, I caught a glimpse of their master. He looked like an animal. He was big and huge and covered in hair, he had fangs sticking out of his creepy smiling mouth. And I wondered if instead of having dinner with me, he wanted to have ME FOR DINNER. That was when I started screaming uncontrollably.

‘NO! Please don’t be afraid,’ I begged, ‘I just need your help, and then I will be beautiful again, just like you.’

‘Wwwhat dddo you wwwant me ttto dddddo,’ she stuttered. 

‘This may sound strange, but after dinner I would like you to kiss me. And then I will turn human again. Then Mrs pots will take you back home,’ I told her.

‘Fine,’ she said, ‘ but no dinner, you shall kiss me, and then take me back home. That will be all.’ So that was what I did. I pulled her close to me, and pressed my mouth to hers. I had never been in love, but I tried to kiss her like she was my reason for being. That was the only way to break the spell. I stared to feel a tingling sensation, so I pulled away. But when I looked at her I gasped!

His kiss was interesting. Not bad, but I could tell he was trying too hard. And the I started to feel something. A kind of tingling sensation down my spine. Then he pulled away. He looked at me and gasped. The fist thing I realised was that he was still a beast. Had it not worked? Or had this strange man lied to me, just to get me to kiss him? Was he planning on killing me or something now? But then he held up a mirror. After a second, I realised that I was screaming again. The person in the mirror looked a bit like a feminine version of him. She was covered in fur, and had huge fangs sticking from her mouth. And then I realised that the monster in the mirror was me. 

She wouldn’t stop screaming. She held the mirror in her hand, started at her face and screamed. I felt horrible. Not for her. For me. I would never be human again. If this didn’t work, nothing would. It was a helpless case. Who would ever love a monster? That evil witch knew that when she cursed me. And then she decided to give me a tiny flicker of hope just to make it hurt that much more when time ran out. Making me hideous wasn’t enough. She had to hurt me even more.

A strange feeling came over me. A hunger. A get wrenching hunger. And then I was running. I was no longer in control of my legs. Soon I was in town. My new nose picked up a delicious sent. So I followed it. Then I saw the girls form this morning. And I realised a second too late, that the delicious smell was coming from them. And then I was ripping them apart, and feasting on their flesh. I couldn’t stop. And I don’t think I wanted too. It was so delicious.

‘SHES GONE. WHAT WILL WE DO NOW MASTER! I DON’T THINK THAT SHE WAS IN CONTROL OF HERSLEF. SHE COULD HURT SOMEONE!’ Mrs Potts was yelling. 

‘IS THAT ALL YOU CAN THINK ABOUT! WHAT ABOUT ME!!! IT DIDN’T WORK. I WILL BE STUCK LIKE THIS FORVER!! WHO CARES ABOUT THE GIRL!!!’ I screamed back

I WAS WRONG ABOUT YOU! YOU DON’T HAVE A KIND HEART. YOU ARE JUST AS WICKED WAS THAT SORCERESS SAID YOU WERE! YOU DESERVE WHAT YOU GOT! IM JUST SORRY THAT I SUCKED THAT POOR INNOCENT GIRL INTO THIS MESS!’ Mrs Potts admitted, ‘IF YOU DON’T DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS. I WILL DO WHAT I SHOULD HAVE DONE A LONG TIME AGO: PUT YOU DOWN LIKE THE DOG YOU ARE!

Finishing the three girls had not put a dent in my hunger. I needed more. I knew that it was wrong. But I also knew that I wouldn’t be able to stop if I tried. So why waste my energy? Next I ran to the orphanage. First I cleaned out the boys room, and then the girls. It still wasn’t enough. So I went into the bakery. After I was through with a everyone there, even the bread was caked in blood. And yet, it was still not enough. The hunger was deep, and clawing. It took over my every thought and desire. So next I moved onto the library. And I tore through Père Robert. I ripped his limbs of with my new teeth, and I ate them. Next I tore of his head. I had discovered that brains are the tastiest part of the body. But after eating the only other book worm in town it STILL wasn’t enough. 

‘WHAT DO YOU MEAN PUT ME DOWN! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT!! I AM YOUR MASTER! YOU REMEMBER THAT! WITHOUT ME YOU ARE NOTHING!! NOTHIIING!!’ I screamed. How could she want to put me down! I did nothing wrong. She should putty me! Or her. It’s her fault we were in this mess. She did this to herself. She should I have forced herself to love me. And then we would both be human. 

‘I’m sorry,’ Mrs pots said, and she took a gun from her back pocket and shot. The blood was warm and sticky as it fell from my chest. It became hard to breath. And then everything went black….

As I was walking towards my father, the last person left alive in the whole village, my mind cleared. I didn’t want to kill my father, it was not worth it. Human flesh didn’t taste that good anyway. And then I caught a look at myself in the reflection of a metal pole in the street. I WAS HUMAN AGAIN! I didn’t care why, and I didn’t care how. But when I told my father the story he did. So we went back to the castle where the beast had lived. And found him dead on the floor. And we found Mrs pots’s body hanging from the roof. We think that she killed him and, because she loved him, she had to die too. So that she could take care of him, in the afterlife. 

So anyway, after what happened we had to move, dad claimed it was because it would be to traumatic for me to stay, but I know that it was because he thought it would be to hard to live in a town where everyone else was dead. But hey, at least there would be no rotting bodies around, I made sure of that!

 PLEASE REMEMBER: this story was written by a 14 year old year 8 student for class so dont be too harsh! But I'd love to know what you think. It's my dream to become a real writer someday.

written by Aeysha Galea (Hermione evans is just my rp name!)

contact me at ajgaln@icloud.com  (my email)