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Beautiful Creatures. Chapter 48
(Insecurities.)Hercules divided the low branches with his hands. Behind Dahlia's Inn, there was a jungle of dry twigs.He went to a place where the darkness was heavy and lit a cigarette. He could see the grey tail of the smoke curling into the sky.He finished that and lit another, as he was preoccupied with other things. Specifically, Buttercup.Buttercup was not lacking in confidence; he could see it in her. She simply had a habit of restraining herself from being happy. What was she afraid of, given that life happens and we move on? However, he had the impression that she was a woman who carried pain as a precaution. She preferred to become best friends with her pain. It was necessary for protection.He wanted to be her protector.He thought.He finished his cigarette and slid his hands into his pocket.She was damaged badly, he could tell that much. Yet, she needed to understand, that if we're all honest, we're all damaged in some way.****"**************************He saw h
Beautiful Creatures. Chapter 49
(Mate Bond/Soulmates.)Raquel was on her way to her office at the back of the store when she noticed three people enter, one of whom she recognised immediately.Here comes the bitch! She thought. She did not normally serve customers. She had employees who did so, but this was an exception.She heard the bell jingle as the door closed and made a swift walk across the store to arrive at the customers before her employee did.She greeted them politely."How may I help you?"The beautiful blonde woman looked at the curvy, dark lady, with her short pink hair. A pretty teenager had already approached a rack of blouses."We are simply shopping around."The dark skin woman smiled."Is there a special occasion?"Raquel smiled back, there was something about the woman that made one want to be kind to her.Jatray looked at the woman again, silently.They had arrived in Mala three days now and she had vowed to herself to make this a wonderful experience for Izzy and Journey. Where they had cried
Beautiful Creatures. Chapter 50
(Through Her Eye.)It was their fifth night in Mala, and little had changed. Doug had said they would take it easy for a week to recoup for whatever lay ahead. So rested they did, spending most of their time at the Inn.Hercules was sitting on a bench beneath a tree with his laptop, working on his new book. He did not even see Buttercup approach him; he never expected her to, because she did her best to avoid him even when they were eating lunch and dinner together."Hey." She said.He looked up."Hi."She wore blue jeans and a white blouse, with her hair in a high ponytail."Let's go somewhere."She was not asking, but rather telling him. She had been watching him from her room's window for several hours before making this decision.He closed his computer and placed it in the bag."Let me take this back to my room first."Ok."She said.He told his mind not to think about it as he walked to his room. Just go with the flow. He placed the laptop on his bed, locked his room up and retu
Beautiful Creatures. Chapter 51
(No Silver Lining?)"Lucinda.""Jatray."It was a chilly meeting and in that space where the two women met, Antarctica couldn't even come close to rivaling the climate."Any news?""Nothing yet."Jatray had allowed Izzy and Journey to go off on their own today. The carnival had come to Mala and they had said that they wanted to experience it."Are you coming Jatray?"Journey had asked."No I am allergic to being out in the sun all day."Izzy, who though it was a joke, laughed and said."Really, that is your excuse?"Izzy picked up a brush from the dresser."It is and I am sticking to it."Jatray had replied. Izzy brushed her hair and Journey held up a white shorts, wondering if white was a good shade to go dancing in the streets all day in.Jatray had returned to her room and picked up her cellphone. *******************************Jatray couldn't think of them now. As the old saying goes, there is no pleasure in business.There was something peaceful about the mountains of Mala. N
Beautiful Creatures. Chapter 52
(Love Conquers All.)It was cloudy in the afternoon. Buttercup and Hercules spread a towel and lay on it while sitting in a meadow. Since that night on Bridget Street, they have been having peaceful days together.Butterflies took effortless strokes across the land, wings flutter colourful and soft as blush on a woman's cheek. A caterpillar climbed a nearby stalk of grass, hunching and extending its boneless body, while a bird sat on a tree branch and scratched its feathers with one leg. They both smelled the rain, but knew it was not near its hour to pour.It was a perfect day, warm enough to wear strapless blouse, which Buttercup did. Yet it was cool enough to wear sweatpants, as Hercules did, and neither was uncomfortable. "So we are going to the country in two days, right?""Yes."Buttercup replied, picking an apple from the bag of fruits she had carried with her."Opal and Moonstruck said they grew up in that region. What is it like?"Buttercup bit, chewed, then swallowed."
Beautiful Creatures. chapter 1
(Opal.)I flew above the clouds and through the windows of the old mansion. I wanted to be home before the storm. I hated storms.It reminded me of the day I died."Would you be needing anything else, Miss. Bloomfield?"Doug asked as the door opened."No thank you Doug."With that, he closed the door. I knew where he was going, as I looked through the windows and watched the clouds turn as black as a phantom's robe. Doug loved storms.It reminded him of the day he was given life.Why had I returned to the mansion?I asked myself. Yet after so many years, I felt compelled to come home. I grew up in this small town with its Ferris wheel by the ocean and endless fields of golden corn. I could hear the engines on the neighbouring farms shutting off from a long day of raking the soil for planting.Shutting out the sound, I wondered if anyone would recognise me. If they did, which Bloomfield woman would they associate me with?Looking up at the walls I saw pictures of the Bloomfield generat
Beautiful Creatures. chapter 2
(Opal's Rebirth.)Another clap of thunder had me scurrying beneath the blanket. I settled down and thought that, unlike Doug, I had not asked to be saved.Again my mind took another path down memory lane. I felt the recollection as if it was just happening, the hairs on my body stood to attention. There was a man in my father's study, the door was locked and I peeked through a crack in the wood.It was the loud arguing that had shaken me from the sweet, lullaby of sleep and I had tiptoed to the source of the disturbance. The walls of the study were lined with agricultural books and lately, my father had added some hardcover historical books to the shelves. Two half-filled glasses of brandy and an open bottle of liquor was on the wooden desk. There was the stench of fear in the atmosphere and my father was mopping at his face with a handkerchief. The light shone and cast shadows on the walls and the man took out a gun and aimed it at my father's chest. I felt faint but it all happened s
Beautiful Creatures. chapter 3
(Catching The Past.)As we drove down the highway I remember when there were more houses than trees and skinny, one lanes that horses had to squeeze by on as dust flew up into the carriages. I watched the world and watched it change before my very eyes. I saw war, peace, then war again, boats, cars being made, and then the invention of planes. Telephones, computers, microwaves, humans got really smart. Ball gowns became skimpy dresses, jeans emerged, ballroom music replaced by rock and roll, then pop music and yet this continuous change in the quest for a better way of living brought us down roads of destruction. I looked out the car window as Doug drove, trees became only decoration on the lawns of expensive, show houses.Finally, after half an hour, we started to enter the heart of Mala. Mala is a small island folded neatly at the edge of the world, at least that was how tourists described it. The land creased the borders of a sea frothing at the mouth, appearing like beer trapped in