Emilia hobbles through the poor community as the alarms sound. Alarms that warn everyone of an invasion. Now the alarms warn of beast invasions. Her invasion. She looks at the small worn house of her family.
Emilia strays against her better judgement. She watches the house closely waiting for a glimpse of her mother, father, or one of her sisters. She jumps over the fence and moves to the dim kitchen window. She rests her paws on the ceil propping herself up.
Inside, her mother, her father, and her sisters laugh as they it a warm family meal at a table covered with a red table cloth. Mom has her special dinnerware on the table. Mom made her famous duck pastries; the ones Emilia used to love help making.
Emilia used love making the puff pastries. Rolling the dough, kneading the dough, and playing in the flour was so much fun. Mother always complained about Emilia being messy when she made the puff pastries so much so that Mary took on the role of making the puff pastries. Mother didn’t even allow Emilia to put the duck filling inside the pastries.
Noodles sit on the table next to brownies. When Emilia was removed from puff pastry duty, she made the brownies, but Gracie complained that Emilia’s brownies were too sweet. Everyone preferred Gracie’s tasteless brownies to Emilia’s. No, Emilia just sucks at cooking.
The family giggles and jokes with each other for the first time. When Emilia was at the table with them, everyone was quiet, awkward, and rolling their eyes. The family have adorable, warming, and welcoming smiles that Emilia has never seen before. They are happier—better off without Emilia.
Emilia pushes off the window ceil and gently drops down to all fours and makes her way to the wall. The explosions from the wars left a small opening in the wall.
Emilia climbs over a few rocks and through the opening slowly not really caring if soldiers see her. She makes her way slowly through the woods. If Teddy were here, he would tell her not to read into anything. He would tell her that she’s amazing even if no one else sees it.
After wandering in the forest aimlessly for hours, Emilia comes to the tree she slept under her first night as a beast. Teddy stands outside jumping up and down clapping its paws. The bear runs to her with a warm plush hug. Emilia nearly bursts into tears.
No one has ever been excited to see her. People usually don’t want her around. She matters to someone.
Grrrrrrrrr! A beast growl alerts Emilia. She turns to see a beast bounding toward her just before the beast knocks her over. Emilia rolls until she is back on her feet.
The beast knocks her over again as she tries to get away, but he won’t let her. He bites her ankle sinking his teeth deep into her bone. He spins around swinging Emilia through the air then releasing her ankle. Crunch! Her body slams into a tree.
“What did I ever do to you?” The prince’s voice rings from the beast.