The Beast's Bride

seven : siete

Chapter 7

It’s finally morning. I let out a relieved sigh at not being eaten in my sleep by some monster. The sun is out shining brightly in contrast to yesterday’s gloomy afternoon. 

Yawning in a very unladylike way, I roll away from the sunlight and press my face against a fluffy pillow. I feel something sharp poke at my face. Frowning at the disturbance, I lift my head up to see a fresh wild flower. 

I sit up confused. All my flowers were on my bedside table meaning this was a new one. The wind must have blown it to bed directly on the pillow I’m using. 

Still half asleep, I pick the flower up and bring it to my nose to smell. It’s surprisingly really nice. Nothing like the flowers I’ve smelled before. I place it down beside my other flowers.

I look towards the corner of my room where the muddy paws were and sigh in relief. It wasn’t there anymore which means it really was just my mind playing tricks on me. 

The smell of breakfast is what brings me out of bed and down to the dining room. My grandpa isn’t there like he usually is, leaving only a hungry Ron eating five pieces of bacon at once. 

“Good morning!” He greets with a full mouth. 

Agatha swats him with a dirty washcloth. “Close your mouth when it’s full. Maggie come sit down and have breakfast.” 

I take my seat not wanting to anger the woman armed with a weapon. 

“Did you sleep well?” She asks, piling my plate with food. 

“Not really. There was this really loud dog barking.” I tell them, reaching for my glass filled with juice. 

Agatha pauses from filling my plate. She frowns facing me. “What did you say?”

“A dog-“ I didn’t get to finish what I was saying because Agatha gasps covering her mouth. 

Ron soothes his mom by rubbing her shoulders comfortingly. “I was up late last night. There wasn’t any barking.” 

“Well, there was. I even saw the dog. He was by the garage looking up at my room.” I explain taking a bite of my food. 

Agatha who looked a few minutes away from fainting takes my hand in hers. “Was it black?” 

“The dog?” 

She nods her head. 

“Yes. It’s probably a stray that got inside the property.” I confirm taking another big bite. 

Ron nods eyeing his mother wearily. “I’m sure it is.” 

“Grandpa left already?” I ask motioning to his empty seat at the head of the table. 

Ron, relieved for the change of topic, nods enthusiastically. “Yeah. He went to the farm early. He wants to finish before your lunch date with him.”

“Oh? Okay. Did you wake up late also?” My grandpa always has Ron with him at all times. One day, I’m sure Ron will be overseeing the entire farm. 

“No. He left me here to take you to the farm. You haven’t been there in a long time.” 

My memory of the family farm is feeding the animals and trying to take the babies away from their mothers. I’ve been chased and attacked so many times that I have all the scars to prove it. I wasn’t going to hurt the baby animals. I just wanted to play and maybe cuddle. Obviously, their mothers didn’t share the same sentiment. 

“I was thinking we can bike there like old times.” Ron excitedly suggests nearly jumping on his seat. 

My smile was so wide that I probably resembled the Joker. “Yes! Let’s bike.” 

Agatha swats at Ron yet again. “No! Absolutely not. Maggie hasn’t ridden a bike in years.”

“But I still remember how to. I’ll be safe.” I push, feeling myself pout. 

She wags her point finger at the two of us. “No. Your grandmother would raise from her grave to haunt me if I let you.” 

Ron shrugs and stands up from the table with his now empty plate. “You can just ride with me. Hop on the back.”

A look of uncertainty crosses Agatha’s face. 

“I’ll be careful. Not a single bruise. I promise.” He swears crossing his heart.

I’ll be careful, he said.

Half an hour later and we’re biking through the road at full speed. With my hair flying behind me, I scream in delight gripping Ron’s shoulder tightly. 

“Woohoo!” He shouts loudly putting his hands up. Agatha will kill us both if she sees the two of us. 

I put my hands up in the air feeling the rush of excitement and adrenaline kick in. Our laughter gets lost in the wind when we start to go downhill. It’s exactly like our childhood. Two mischievous kids acting like it’s their first taste of freedom. 

We exit the main road and enter a small dirt path lined with thick trees that blocked out the sun. Ron is using our secret way that may or may not be a shortcut to the farm.

Tall grass, stray branches and rocky paths greet us at our special road and I can’t help but giggle. Memories of our times running, walking and biking through this place flashes through my eyes. 

I’ve missed this. The wind in my hair, several bugs that I manage to swallow because I can’t stop laughing and the thrill of the possibility that we could fall on our face at any given time. This is what I lived for. 

We bike for a few more minutes, passing no one on the way until we make it to the entrance. There’s a tall daunting solid metal gate between us and the farm. 

Ron knocks on the gate. “It’s us!”

He knocks and shouts a couple of more times before we hear footsteps on the other side. The gate screeches loudly. It pulls back revealing a small house where grandpa’s office is and a plain grassy field that’s used for parking.

Ron pedals forward again in full speed and parks right beside the jeep. 

“We’ve arrived, my lady.” Ron says dismounting the bike and bows with a flourish.

I playfully shove him out of the way. “Annoying.” 

He laughs falling on the grass. “Our old Maggie is slowly coming back. You can’t fool me. The city didn’t change you at all.” 

“Are you two done bickering?” 

We turn around to see grandpa exiting his office. I wave at him and help Ron up from the ground. 

“Hi, Pa! Are there any baby chicks for me to carry?” I ask, making my way to him.

He shakes his head and sighs. “How many times do I have to tell you? The hens don’t like it when you pick up their chicks.” 

Ron stands on grandpa’s other side. He raises his left arm revealing a circular scar. “This is when you asked me to hold the hen while you took the chick away.” 

I cover my mouth to refrain from laughing. Poor Ron. “I just wanted to pet it.” 

“That chicken chased us all the way to the office!” Ron continues grumpily. 

“Pa, that was completely Ron’s idea. I was just supporting his decision like a good friend.” 

Grandpa merely sighs. “I’m sure it was.”

The three of us walk around the house to the back until I get to see fields as far as the eye can see. A lot has changed since the last time I’ve been here. 

First, the fields look bigger and more cultivated. Second, there’s three times the amount of barns from my last visit and finally we had so many workers now. I’m sure it’s because we’ve expanded a lot. Ron waves at a few of them. 

“Is that a greenhouse?” I ask, spotting a circular dome like structure at the far end of the farm. 

Grandpa nods proudly. “Yes. Ron’s suggestion. It’s helped a lot especially with the horrible weather we’ve been having these past few years.” 

“That’s our man.” I smile at Ron, flicking his nose. 

He blushes and covers his face with his hand. 

“Why don’t you show Maggie around? I just have to finish some paperwork and we can head out for lunch.” Grandpa retreats back to his office waving us away.

Ron takes the bike again and we’re off screaming at the top of our lungs as he petals fast into the fields. If we walked, there would be no chance we’d be back before lunch. He shows me everything from the new barns with the cute animals to the long line of fruit trees. We secretly pick a few which nearly enrages the worker in charge. 

I had to use the shameful ‘I’m the granddaughter card’ just to get out of it. 

We were feeding ducks when the jeep honks. Was it lunch already? It feels like Ron and I just started. 

“Come along you two. It’s time to eat.” My grandpa yells from the loud engine.

Ron loads the bike at the back and takes his spot at the driver’s seat. I watch the farm until it’s out of sight. 

Later in the day, Ron and grandpa drop me off at home because they have an important delivery that they have to oversee back at the farm. I find myself on the patio staring at the woods while drinking iced tea. 

I can’t quite put my finger on it but I just feel like I’m being watched. 

“See how much better the weather is when you’re home?” 

Startled, I see the odd girl that helped me into Adrian’s car standing over me with a pitcher of freshly made iced tea in hand. “Sorry?”

She looks up at the clear sky. “I heard the spirit last night too.” 

My eyes widen. “The barking dog?”

The girl bites her lip and looks around cautiously. “Spirit. A bad one.” 

“Your name is Lia right? Sit with me.” I tell her patting the seat beside me. She wordlessly obeys, placing down the pitcher on the table. “That-” 

“Spirit.” She repeats patiently.

“Whatever it is. It was so weird. It was staring directly at me.” I shiver just remembering it. I’ve never been a believer of whatever it is she’s telling me but what happened yesterday feels so real. Even the one in my room. 

Lia narrows her eyes at me. “Have you been receiving flowers?”

My thoughts go to my beautiful wild flowers by my bedside table. It’s slowly becoming quite a collection. “I mean, there’s been flowers on my window. Did you place them there?” 

She takes a deep breath. “He’s starting it then.”

“What? Who’s he?” I ask, now more confused than ever. 

Lia bites her lower lip worriedly. “I can’t say too much but that bad spirit that visited you last night is attracted by his claim.” 

I blink, mouth falling open. “You’ve lost me.”

She takes my hand and starts tracing the lines of my palm. “When an ancient powerful spirit like that starts his claim, bad ones will appear to try and stop it.”

“You’re sounding like my grandma.” I say with a laugh. When I was young and eager to explore the woods, my grandma would always stop me to instruct me on giving proper respect to my surroundings. 

Lia leans forward until we’re only a few inches apart. “You don’t have to worry. He will protect you. He did last night.” 

“If you’re talking about Ron taking me away from Adrian-“

She reels back, dropping my hand. “Never meet up with that boy. It angers him.”

I sigh defeatedly not this again. “Ron is like a brother. He’s just being protective.” 

Lia’s face falls. “Not Ron, ma’am.” 

“Lia! Stop investing the young miss with that nonsense.” A passing girl shouts. “Agatha forbade you from speaking of such things. Do you want to lose your job?” 

Lia jumps to her feet and lowers her head. “I’m sorry. I was just-“

The other girl seizes Lia’s arm. “Get inside and start dinner.” She turns to me apologetically. “I’m truly sorry about this. Lia’s just filled with these weird stories. Please don’t pay them any mind.” 

I don’t get to reply because she whisks Lia away towards the back doors that lead to the kitchen. 

Spirits? 

That can’t be true. 

I lean back into my seat and take my time in finishing my drink. The wind starts to pick up blowing softly against me. Suddenly, another wild flower lands perfectly on the palm of my hand. 

Handling it like an adult, I calmly stand from my seat and run like my life depends on it inside the house leaving the flower on the table. I ran up to my room breathing heavily. Closing the door with the intention of sleeping for a few hours, I head for my soft mattress. I nearly scream when to my horror the exact same flower that I left at the patio rests on top of my bed.