Beast by Tiffini Hunt Page B

had been. She also had a few freckles on her cheeks and nose. And her smile, oh my! Her smile lit up the room. Suddenly all I could think about was her.
    This beautiful young lady had on a blue blouse, which made her eyes stand out, along with a long brown skirt similar to the other young woman’s.
    “Yes, my darling! Their smell fills up this house! Thank you for all the work you are doing!” he said to the beautiful young woman.
    “Good! Papa, why do you think the roses bloom even in the coldest winter?” she asked as she walked over to the fireplace.
    During their conversation, I could focus only on her, the one who made me breathless and caused my heart to skip a beat—the one who made me long for her.
    “You know, sweetie, I do not know. Maybe it has something to do with that story of the Beast Evaline was telling us about,” he said, chuckling.
    Then it hit me; I knew why their voices sounded familiar! These were the same people who were riding horses through the Dark Forest in the other vision that I had been seeing for years!
    “Oh, Papa! You sound just as silly as she does!” She laughed as she sat on what I could tell was her father’s lap.
    “Papa! That story could be real!” a voice that I recognized as Evaline’s cut in, seemingly moving over to the couch.
    “Well, want to prove it?” the beautiful young woman said, giggling.
    “Sure! But, umm, not personally. I would not want to find out,” Evaline concluded.
    They all started laughing.
    “Good afternoon, everyone.” Another young lady came into the house from the front door. “I was able to buy more fabric in town to make you that dress, Evaline!”
    This young woman looked different from everyone else in the house—at least from what I could see. Her face was blurry like the gentleman’s and Evaline’s. She was shorter than Evaline and the beautiful young woman. Also, her hair was short and red and completely curly. She almost looked as if she could have been related to Russel.
    “Oh, perfect! I cannot wait to wear it,” Evaline said as she walked over to the redheaded woman.
    The vision faded as the sun started to rise.
    Once I came back to reality, I made my way back into the castle to my room. The roses were still sitting on my nightstand, and I sat on my bed, gazing at them. But after seeing that gorgeous young woman at the Rose House, the roses could not compare.
    After I turned twenty-one, my body stopped changing and growing. Because of this, I considered myself to be perpetually twenty-one.
    As the years went by, I still had the visions of the Rose House, along with the beautiful young lady who lived there. Ever since the vision of her on my twenty-first birthday, something different was always happening in the visions; I was never stuck in the same event. While the others’ faces continued to be blurry, I could still see her as if I were standing right next to her.
    I saw her almost once a week; I loved listening to her soft, feminine voice. She would read stories to her family and talk with her father about life. Not only did she take care of the roses at the house, but I also overheard her saying that she worked on the garden in the back by the Dark Forest. In addition, she worked from time to time with their horses.
    It did not take long before I realized that what I was feeling meant that I was falling in love with her. Every little thing that I learned about her from her conversations with the other two young women and her father in the visions made me fall for her that much more. She truly was captivating in every aspect.
    Before I knew it, over one hundred years had passed. I wondered how long I would be like this. While I was blessed that Buttons was somehow still alive with me, I began to dread the rest of my cursed life.
    One day, I decided that I was going to go into the forest to just walk outside of the gates.
    “Lead me to the wooden doors, please,” I said to the Invisibles.
    They led me to the big doors.
    At