Tessa And The Beast

02

Fear is created by oneself and the fruit of one's imagination, hence imagination decides the size of fear.”

The voice whispered to unconscious Tessa chained to the wall.

It appeared she must have been stilled for a long time but the cold wind that brushed her face was different, her consciousness snapped back to life, making her flutter, her eyes open in fear.

Her heartbeat increased by thousands when the reality dawned on her that she'd been chained, coupled with the ancestral drawings on the wall with fire torches that lit up the dark room.

Tilting her head to the side, she saw the scariest beast ever, a very tall man with fangs, a pale white face, two horns, and a blood-stained face.

She squirmed strongly to free herself or at least to say a word, but it seemed the beast had control over her at the moment. Beads of sweat mixed with tears trickling down her cheeks as the beast advanced towards her and at the speed of the light, he sped up to her, sinking its fangs into her neck, forcing a scream out of her once caged throat.

Tessa gasped for air as she fluttered her eyes open on her tiny hard bed. She was having a dream.

Tessa sobbed silently, grabbing her bed cover in fear, her chestnut brown hair sprawled on the pillow beneath her head. She's been having the same nightmare for years. It started 10 years back when she lost her father.

She rubbed her pearl necklace with tears. “Father, I miss you.”

It's always hard for her to have a proper sleep after her nightmare, so she got out of bed to start preparing for the day and as it is, today is a good day for her as it would be her first day at the royal school.

She lives with her stepmother and two step-sisters who make life a living hell for her. They believe she caused their father’s death because no one knows what happened that night!

The Hawthorne robbed her of her normal teenage life. Because of that, they treat her like a slave and have her do all the strenuous work in the house. She's got no freedom and is limited to all the good things, yet she manages to survive. Unfortunately, her past haunts her.

She walked carefully to the window, taking in the beautiful sight of the moon and how perfectly its light reached everywhere.

Her pearl necklace shone beautifully under the blue light of the sky and a smile lit up her face.

“If you love papa, don't ever take this off” her father’s words rang in her head.

After a satisfying moment with herself, she left for the storeroom to grab the cleaning equipment. Her daily life starts with her cleaning the whole house, cooking, and washing the dishes.

************

Two hours later, she was done with everything and that was when the whole house woke up.

She was washing last night's dishes when she caught approaching footsteps behind her, an irritated and heavy one at that, and she knew it wouldn't be anyone but Faye, one of her stepsisters.

She's older than her two step-sisters but they are always rude to her.

“Do you have to wake the whole house up just because you're doing the dishes?” Faye groaned, scratching her hair in annoyance.

“Uh I'm sorry Faye,” she said simply, with a short glance at her before facing her business again, but Faye chose to take it the wrong way with her.

“What? You are sorry? I bet you don't know how it feels to be robbed of good sleep when you're a monster yourself. There's no sleep for the wicked... A murder at that” she said, stretching the last word to her.

Tessa clenched her fist to evade the anger wrestling inside of her, but pain flickered in her eyes undisputed.

Faye gave her a murderous glare as she went ahead to open all the windows. She shuddered and almost gritted her teeth as the cold air brushed her skin.

“It's freaking cold outside Faye” she snapped at her, only to be welcomed by cold water splashed on her face. Her cheeks went red with the effect of the cold weather.

“I want fresh air in the house... And that's for waking me up with your noisy activities “ she said, then left for her room again.

Even though the sun blazed the clear blue sky, the air was crisp with the wind whipping through the trees. The tears threatening to fall found their way down her rosy cheeks but, as always, she choked on them since no one would take her side.

Seeing that the day was almost bathed in sunlight, she rushed to her work and went back to her room to prepare for her first day.

She heaved a sigh of relief as hot water ran down her body and carefully washed it. She felt at peace.

A few minutes later, Tessa was done and went to the dining where the rest of the family are eating. She bit her lips in regret because they served the food already, they served the food because she was busy tending to herself.

She grips the hem of her dress ready to hear some insults.

Mrs.Hawthorne sights her standing on a spot and she smirked as she drops the big pot of soup on the table.

“So just to dress yourself up for nothing, you want my daughters to starve to death?” she yelled at her.

Tessa shuddered in fear and stuttered “ I'm so sorry mother, I didn't want to be late for school” she said.

“School?” Mrs.Hawthorne said, then followed by a burst of hilarious laughter to which her two daughters picked as well.

“Don't tell me you are going to school in this?” Mrs.Hawthorne mocked, pointing to her dress.

Faye then stood up with her plate of soup pretending to head towards the kitchen, only to trip on her dress and spill the soup on Tessa. Her careless steps tripped them over and her necklace dropped from her neck. It's been so long, that the hook has grown weak.

“Haaaa” Tessa screamed in pain at the contact of the hot soup on her skin.

“Oops! Sorry, Sis.” Faye said with her hand over her mouth in pretense.

“How will you return the clothes Bonnie borrowed you, sis?” Lola added.

Tessa examined her dress painfully, not because of the hot soup on her skin but of the stained dress, her best friend had borrowed from her.

Just then, a knock came on their door and they all froze in fear, except for Tessa, whose face lit up with hope.