12 4.1 — beauty and the beast

Haze of lazy smoke slowly spiralled their way up the ceiling, escaping through the small hole in his parted lips. Baylor Allantoi could tell his sister was subtly watching him from across the living room where she cuddled with her stuffed animals and the kitten in front of the fire place that sparked and burned with just the right amount of fire to keep she and the calico kittens warm. He'd set it up and burning few moments ago before he retired to seating across the room from his sister while some TV program was going on. The cute kitten meows filled the air and Baylor couldn't help but be amused at how Elle coddled them like they truly were her kids. They swindled around her, purring contendedly. His sister was seating cross-legged, her hair falling against her shoulders and forming curtains of sandy blonde silkiness against her face.

Suddenly, she looked up, and caught his eyes just as she grabbed one of the kittens and stroke its fur tenderly, clutching it against her chest with tiny, scrawny hands.

"Baylor?-" She called, and then stopped talking. A frown replaced her giddy girlish look and she looked dead straight at the burning fire place like she was in deep thoughts. The fire reflected orange and red against her small pale white face and her mouth twisted.

"What is it, Elle?" Baylor drawled, taking a slow drag of his cigarette, expecting her to ask some suicide-worthy questions before he racked his brain for some understandable answers to the kid.

Elle looked in his direction again. "Do people eat there own grandkids?" She asked, with an overly serious expression.

"Nobody eats there own grandkids," he absentmindedly said. "Nobody eats anybody. What makes you think that?"

Baylor frowned and itched at his hair awkwardly at the unbelieving look that flashed across the kids face at his answer. She looked straight at him with this expression of disbelief before she kicked her tiny shoulders in the air in a shrug and continued playing with the kittens. Gabrielle was just like every other kids in the world that liked to ask unreasonable questions and still battle with the wonderment in her small head. Baylor could swear he sometimes heard her laughing and talking to herself in the room, with no one other than the kittens around. She was turning five in a couple of weeks and it was still going to be she, him and their father who probably had no idea of their existence any longer. All he ever did was mumble incoherent words to himself. Linger in every dark, secluded corners of the house. Go out and return home very late in the evening and whisper during his conversations on the phone.

After his mother's death, few years back, his father had been a mess and Baylor had taken up the duty to do everything for his sister. Best, his older brother gained admission into the university the previous year and hardly came home anymore. He now stayed across the country, living the local celeb luxury of being an upcoming basketeer in Harvard. A couple of times, Baylor had seen him on interviews on local news channels a couple of times and couldn't help but wonder how fast he was moving on without them, considering the past occurrence in the family. Baylor saw no use in coming home either, because it was once home but then the affection and memories that made it a loving place was slowly spiraling into vanity, and no one was trying to grasp and put everything under control. He wasn't trying to either. The only thing that caused him worry was that in a couple of months, he also would be accepted into a university and then the need to leave home would be irresistible.

But then, what about Elle? He mused, deeply concerned, taking another drag of smoke and drumming his free fingers rhythmically against his temple. He couldn't just decide to leave and never look back as Best had done. The only reasonable option was going to be if he decided to send applications to some college very close to the town that he could go to school and come back every night to attend to his sister. Leaving her all alone with their dad was and could never be an option. The man wasn't in his right state of sanity any longer, Baylor knew. He could tell his father was up to something. He knew his father was up to something terrible and had an idea confrontation was probably the right thing, but how to come about it without hurting or getting to involve Elle in the matter. Through the corner of his eyes, Baylor noticed Elle shuffling about, daring to get closer to the fire place with a small strand of hair sticking out between her thumb and index finger, her right arm stretched out.

"Gabrielle, you'll burn yourself," he sternly cautioned. "Stop that."

The girl pulled away with a smile and daring eyes looked up at him, blinking guiltily. "But, it's just so pweety," she whined, attempting to throw a fuss. Her small, warm, lively brown eyes sparkled with mischief and her pink, slightly buttoned nose over her delicate pink lips wrinkled in resistance. Her smiling face upturned and her small dimple chin trembled. "I never get to do anything fun," she mummered.

"Do not get me started with you," Baylor cautioned, very serious.

Her bushy sandy brows twitched, and she exhaled heavily. "OK. OK. Big bad meanie."

Baylor, tired of watching Elle play mother and kids with the kittens, leaned his head against the comfiness of the leather couch and sighed, the cigarettes twirling between his middle and index finger. His eyes were focused intently on the ceiling and the soothing audio from the TV threatened to coerce him into a deep sleep. But then, he blinked his eyes and tried to stay awake. He knew in a couple of minutes, the need to order dinner or force some sweater and clean shoes into Gabrielle and take her to the diner downtown while she whined to bring one of the kittens along would be urgent. The scent of wood burning persisted and lingered in the air, mixing with the lavender fragranced of the air-freshner hanging somewhere in the living room.

As Baylor pushed himself off the couch and began to trudge lazily in the direction of the door, almost shirtless with just an army jacket zipped open and leaving his chest bare despite the slightly cold air and also bare-footed, he felt one of the kittens follow closely behind him, almost noiselessly walking across the carpet. When he stopped walking by the door and looked down at the small animal, it also halted and gold, beady eyes blinked back up at him. Baylor watched the calico cat yawn slowly, eyes squinting before he pulled open the door and stepped out the front porch, shutting the door quickly to prevent the cat from also stepping out.

Then, he heard his next house neighbor's noisy wooden gate close with a heavy creak. He cringed and wondered once again why the old man never built a much bigger, iron fence around his house like most of the other houses in the street did that would be noiseless when he opened and closed it. Baylor tugged at the jacket with his free hand and involuntary shuddered. Outside, it was much colder than it was inside. The air smelled of fire that made him assume few other families in the neighborhood were lighting their fire places for the first time that autumn. The fireflies that he'd seen swarming about the yard just few evenings ago appeared to be gone for the season.

Baylor took another drag of his cigarette. When he looked and spotted the figure lingering outside his neighbor's gate, a frission zapped up his body and his heart thumped unexpectedly in his chest. His bushy brows furrowed. He'd seen the slender figure of the girl several times, in school and seldomly at the street, and he couldn't help but wonder what she was doing standing outside old man Jefferson's house or what she went to do inside. Even though they'd just moved in as his neighbor, he knew the man was a complaining eld that never seemed to enjoy company of any human.

Lisa Higgins lingered outside Mr. Jefferson's mansion with her left hand shoved in her pocket and thoughts in a deep shit turmoil. A feeling of agitation and excitement filled and terrorised her greatly, attempting to numb her thumping head and brain at all cost. Her temples roared with pain and her jaw threatened to tremble from the raw, undiluted pain. She exhaled deeply, tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and then began to walk out of his yard. Dry sweet-smelling leaves crunched beneath her feet, and the sound of summer crickets chirping was noticeably absent.

Autumn had arrived.

Day dreaming as she stepped out of his wooden gate, she watched her breath escape her mouth in barely visible white puffs as the day turned into evening and the warm sun disappeared over the horizon. The orange gold stretched far and wide, the colour of fire hearths and tangerines.With a flourish of romantic hand the sunset blossoms, the sky was a mixed color of red and gold. Unaware that Baylor was watching and approaching, she looked down the street at a blue pick up truck that stealthily approached and zoomed passed her, before she made an attempt to walk back the few minutes home, deep in thoughts. Her thoughts were interrupted when a deep voice greeted her quietly.

"Hello? Never knew you were acquainted with old man Jeff."

Lisa stopped walking, looked to her right and froze, eyes round and wide. Baylor lingered close to the gate, taking another drag of his cigarette. Thick smoke emerged from between his lips, spiraled into the air and clouded up his face. He tugged at his jacket once again and smiled boyishly at Lisa. Stunned, he thought, with his smile lingering and gradually turning into a smirk. Why are you looking so surprised? He stepped closer to the small fence separating them and tapped the burning end of his cigarette against it to dust off the ashes that dissipated into the air.

Lisa, though still stunned, quickly tried to regain herself. "Hey!" She greeted, attempting a gleeful smile. "I never expected to see you here. What are you doing here?"

"What do you mean?" Baylor rhetorically asked, studying her skeptically. "I live here. I mean. This is my house. I told you I moved in, remember?"

Lisa kicked her shoulders with livid force against the air with a non challant essence, and shook her head, trying to come off as unconcerned as she could be. In her head, she was as good as lost in a tangled maze of confusion. What is happening? She wondered, gaze lingering on Baylor. He looked exactly like Matthew D. Silverstein except his chin was shaved clean and smooth. But Matthew was dead, she reasoned, many years ago. Probably even before Baylor's father was born. Could they be related? Her gut gave a sudden lurch in terror and she tried to subtly rub her temples with her left hand, without the intention of gaining Baylor's attention to her discomfort. Did Baylor send me the text? She had been seeing him around quite often that she ever did. She seldom noticed him around before that school year so she wondered if he was subtly trying to pass across to her informations and clues or just mere coincidence. He lives next to old man Jeff, she mused, maybe his dad did something to Lester?

"So I asked if you're acquainted with old man Jeff?"

"Not exactly," Lisa said, deciding to be very mild about the purpose of her visit to the old man's house. "I've just known him all my life and had some questions for him that only he could provide answers."

Baylor leaned forward and chortled amusedly. "Why aren't you at the game? Everyone from school's there."

"Not everyone," she jokingly corrected, with a disagreeing shake of her head, "you and I are exempted which makes us two. Tell me," she shoved her other hand into the warm hoodie pocket. "Why aren't at the game, too?"

Baylor shook his head in amusement and watched. Beauty, he thought within himself. That was the best definition for her and he'd seen the way the other boys in school tripped over themselves in her presence. She was that beautiful. She had a kind of understated beauty, perhaps it was because she was so disarmingly unaware of her prettiness. Her skin was completely flawless. He doubted she ever used face masks or expensive products, that really wasn't her thing. She was all about simplicity, making things easy, helping those around her to relax and be happy with what they have. Perhaps that was why her skin glowed so, it was her inner beauty that lit her eyes and softened her features to look more delicate and very attractive. She had a perfectly rounded face, slightly lighter than ivory with a rose coloured tint to her cheeks. Her eyes were brown and lively, warm, and sparkled with bliss everytime it caught even the tiniest ray of light. Her long, smooth brown hair with soft curls tumbled out of her scalp, cascaded down her back like a waterfall and fell just past her dimpled cheek. Her cherry lips were pink and small and she had slight, buttoned nose that was just above her delicate lips that always had a faint smile that exhibited crystal white teeth.

"Total craps like that cramps my style," Baylor said, slowly. "I don't do things like homecoming."

"That makes us two. You and I think alike," Lisa began, "but then, a couple of weeks ago, I was so looking forward to the school dance, I could not stop imagining scenarios."

Stall longer, Lisa commanded herself, maybe you'd be able to get something out of him. Her legs unexpectedly wobbled and she almost staggered. Figures began to double up and a strong wave of dizziness came with coercive forces against her vision. She could see Baylor's features, but they doubled up with time. The headache was really getting to her it could develop into a fever, she realized and Baylor was starting to notice her discomfort. As he patted the end of his cigarette against the wooden fence again, his eyes glinted with concern that he leaned his propped hand away from the fence and attempted to unlatch it to get across to her on the other side.

"Are you okay?" He asked, brow arched over his eyes. "You look pale."

Baylor, sucessfully on the other side of the fence, made an attempt to grab her hands, but Lisa held them up and stylishly but sternly rejected his offer. "I'm fine," she muttered, shuffling nervously about, hands held out. "It's just headache, not a big deal."

Tugging at jacket once again, Baylor stepped back with a shy smile. Not that she was too stable on her own wobbly, jelly-fying legs and not in need of his assistance but the fact that she didn't want him too close to her. His current appearence pertubated her and even though she didn't want to make unnecessary fuss about it, she was still mentally flustered. As Baylor watched her through his smolder eyes, thick smoke evading his slightly parted lips, she felt herself begin to blush feverishly, color rising to her whitened, pale cheeks and tinting them a rosy shade of pink. He was too good looking. The big, unzipped army jacket revealed his broad chest, and down his neck, a silver lavilier with the cross of Jesus hanging down the chain dangled. It swung with every movement of the body and still managed to catch the evening light enough to glimmer and glint.

"You should come-"

Baylor was interrupted by the sound of his front door swinging open with force. Both he and Lisa's head snapped in the direction of the door just in time to notice the small, petite figure walking bare-footed out to the front porch. Noticing that her brother wasn't alone, Elle stood there, looking fazed and in discomfort. She clutched against her chest two of the calico kittens that meowed and pawed contendedly into her, paws clawing at her sweater. The lower part of her face were covered with the kittens small heads that only her eyes were visible, brimming with tears. Her face was pulled up in a grimaced developed from trying to suppress the crying.

"Kathy stepped into the fire and burned her right paw," she confessed, voice small and quivering.

Baylor settled his gaze back on Lisa who had on a derisive smile crawling up her lips. He dropped the cigarette on the sidewalk and Lisa stepped forward and willingly crushed it with her flip flop, and then he led the way into the house. The look in his eyes told Lisa it was an invitation, and she was more than willing to accept and make use of it.