{"id":9,"date":"2010-06-01T11:30:15","date_gmt":"2010-06-01T15:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/afterhavoc.com\/site\/?p=9"},"modified":"2022-12-29T01:31:07","modified_gmt":"2022-12-29T06:31:07","slug":"the-beauty-and-the-beast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/afterhavoc.foxgear.net\/site\/index.php\/2010\/06\/01\/the-beauty-and-the-beast\/","title":{"rendered":"The Beauty and the Beast"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The band of men pushed through the lush thicket. Each step\nforward was agony as the thorns tore into them as if trying to stop them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They hacked and slashed the growth until the thorns bit no more.\nSweat dripped from their brow. They had to find the beast before it found her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The minutes turned to hours. Deeper they pushed, darker the sky\ngrew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There! One of the men shouted. The others peered. The young girl\nstood in the middle of the clearing. Her white dress spotted with dirt and\ngrime. At least she was alive each of the men thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They called for her but she didn’t turn. Something had caught\nher attention. Something big was lurking near. They ran towards her; they\nyelled. The ferns in clearing now swayed in the wind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the men ran, one by one each let out a scream only to\ndisappear. To the left and right, no man was safe. One by one they fell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last remaining man made it yards of the girl. She turns to\nface him and smiled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Behind her was the beast charging, it’s white fur dirty and muddy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He screamed for her to run towards him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She didn’t move.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He panicked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The beast was upon her…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The beast was charging him, not her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fear took his eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The beast took his neck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His dying gaze faded on the beauty and the beast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notes: Originally published this piece while I was in college for a writing assignment about Red Riding Hood; plus there was a woman in the class that – could have been her. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The band of men pushed through the lush thicket. Each step forward was agony as the thorns tore into them […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1233,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,5],"tags":[44,43,42,40,38,39,41],"class_list":["post-9","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gallery","category-short-story","tag-aigenerated-illustrations","tag-gallery","tag-grim","tag-red-riding-hood","tag-short-story","tag-story-time","tag-the-beast"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t