Handsome & the Hideous
XVI
She’d tossed the hat and veil aside,
refusing to hide any longer.
All was laid bare now, suffering with endless
itching seemed a pointless torment.
She kept the dress and gloves on,
feeling long-forgotten emotions at her previous
nakedness: bashfulness and shame.
Despite Handsome’s reaction she was hopeful
when he ran to his room instead of the forest,
where he’d risk death to leave.
She retrieved the knife from the table and
made her way outside, but it was not the moon
who called to her tonight.
She stood by the flowerbeds with the knife
in plain view, a strange peace settling over her.
‘You gave him this, didn’t you?
So that he’d understand and stop plotting my death.’
A bouquet of tulips and edelweiss
floated towards her hands.
She dropped the knife to cradle it in both arms.
‘You really do love me, don’t you? Thank you.
I promise I’ll break the curse.
I’ll make him love me so I can set you free.’
She was patient, animal instincts quelled
and human rationality in control.
She let Handsome hide from her for a week
before the dinner dates began again.
Now, they were held in a smaller area,
an old drawing room once used for post-supper
drinks and the puffing of cigars.
Handsome seemed to appreciate both of these,
his intake of alcohol a daily need that she
tried to ignore, the smell of tobacco
his new signature scent.
She gave up her throne and crammed into the
same chair design he had, uncomfortable but willing.
She even ate instead of staring, though food did nothing for her.
‘I can’t leave,’ Handsome slurred. ‘I’m a criminal,
and will be hanged. But I can’t love you either, it’s impossible.’
‘Then let’s be friends and keep each other company.’
She said easily, undeterred by his answer.
There was plenty of time to change his mind.
Their slow friendship grew easier, now daylight
didn’t deter them from seeking each other out,
and soon they would stroll the gardens together.
Handsome would be oblivious to his surroundings
while she was always searching for another.
‘You like flowers, don’t you?’ Handsome observed
as she accepted a rose from an invisible hand.
‘They’re always giving you them out here.’
‘Yes,’ she smiled, sharing a secret glance with Jeremy.
‘I love them.’
‘Then that’s what I’ll call you,’ Handsome announced,
snatching the flower from her and holding it up in the air.
She suppressed a snarl. ‘Rose.’
Naming her seemed to give him a sense of power
and he became more confident, like he’d tamed her.
He talked of his past crimes with haughty gusto,
expecting no reprimand or opinion.
She kept her thoughts quiet, knowing the key
to his affection was to be docile.
As months passed he talked more of
his female conquests, lust in his eyes.
She saw him scanning her hidden body,
focusing on her breasts, her human-looking curves.
Memories of the sorcerer who’d cursed her
resurfaced, and she longed to strike him
for daring to view her as an object
instead of his better.
But instead she did nothing to resist when
he began leading her to his room at night,
fumbling over her body in the dark
and avoiding unnaturally hairy areas.
She prayed no one watched as she
finally submitted to the humiliating defeat
and let him part her legs,
making her long punishment seem pointless, all their suffering for nothing.
Scribbled Thoughts 