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Get More at COMMENTYOU.com Beauty and the Beast: Steel’s Version

The Beauty in this story is Mechelle, Pegasus Bartender of the Ghetto Lounge. She is beautiful, but all else is fiction.

Mechelle stood in front of her mirror, seeing herself as so many others saw her, the flawless chocolate brown skin, the large brown eyes, the long, beautifully kept black hair, but it no longer impressed her, it was all for her husband who had died five years ago, and she had never met a man who came close to touching her heart, giving her the love she needed. Slowly a large tear crept down her cheek, the latest of so very many.

Suddenly she heard a small voice behind her, it was her daughter Tasha, still only nine years old, nowhere near the full beauty she would one day grow into. She hugged her mother tightly around her slim waist and said, “Don’t cry momma, you know I loved daddy too, but it’s time for you to find someone else.”

Mechelle smiled at her and shook her head. “Not yet honey.” She said through her tears, “it’s not time yet.”

“But momma, there’s a new man moving into the empty apartment across the hall, come and meet him with me.” She said, clapping her hands, her eyes full of childish hope.

Mechelle fought back her tears and smiled at her daughter, “You meet him for both of us honey, you are much better with people than I am, but don’t go to far from the door because I’ll watch from there.”

Tasha danced out the door, still clapping her hands, and a few minutes later Mechelle heard her talking, and looking through a crack in the door could see her sitting on the top of the steps, talking to a man whose face she could not see.

Her daughter was speaking excitedly, and she could plainly hear the man’ replies, spoken with a laugh, as if not used to talking about himself, but talking because she was asking him in such an open and honest way.

“I was burnt in a fire” his voice said, catching a little, “I was a firefighter and I was saving some people who needed me, I never made it out in time.”

Suddenly he turned his head, and Mechelle stared in horror. He was terribly burnt, his ears were missing, huge amounts of his hair had never grown back, his face was totally disfigured by scars, and she gasped, loudly.

His head spun to look at where she was, and he pulled his jacket over his head, and started to cry, “I can’t be seen, I can’t let anyone see what I look like, I have to go.” and so saying, he ran to his door and disappeared.

Tasha marched back home, she was angry and it showed, “You hurt him momma” she shouted, “You made him cry. He was my friend and he was nice.” She marched straight to her bedroom and slammed the door behind her.

The next morning Tasha left without breakfast, without talking to her mother, she was still angry at her and Mechelle was worried, she has never seen her daughter angry this long. But during the day alone she took the time to think of the man across the hall, she wondered what had happened in that fire that had scarred him so badly. It was close to lunchtime when she heard the singing as she neared her front door, opening it quietly she found it was coming from the room across the hall, and decided to close her own again so she could not hear, but she didn’t. The singing was so heart rendingly beautiful so intensely painful that it made her cry. He sang about a beautiful family who had died in a fire, and their rescuer had been unable to save them. Of holding his wife as she breathed her last, of hugging the dead body of his daughter. Of almost dying himself, but the other firefighters had dragged him outside.

Mechelle knew the song was about him, and the tears rolled freely down her lovely cheeks, and she understood that he saw himself as the beast who had let his loved ones die. She couldn’t remember crying so hard in her life, that terrifying and touching song had touched her heart, touched her so deeply she could not forget it. She was still humming as Tasha got home from school, and when she didn’t come straight inside, she found her talking to the man across the hall through his door. “Just what was it about this man?” she thought. “Who had captured both hers and her daughter’s hearts, without ever trying.” She let her talk until it was time for dinner, and then called her softly inside, she couldn’t find it in her heart to ever hurt him again, in any way.

The next day was Saturday, and on her way back from shopping Mechelle could see the flames and smoke, and when she neared her apartment she could see the small group of neighbours huddled across the street. Straight away she saw the man across the hall, his face covered by an old sheet wrapped around his head, only his eyes still showing. She ran straight to him to ask if Tasha was alright, but he hadn’t seen her, crying she begged him to save her, and although she could plainly see the fear in his eyes, he never paused, even for a second, but pushed his way through the firefighters guarding the front doors to stop anyone from trying to enter.

Inside he ran for the stairs, trying to avoid the growing flames, but when his right sleeve caught on fire, he started to cry in sheer terror, and beat frantically at the flames, but always he kept moving forwards, in his mind it was his own daughter he was trying to save, and he would not fail this time.

Up the fire laden stairs, sparks and flames seeming to seek him out, each burning touch bringing another scream of fear from his trembling lips, until he was at last at the door where Mechelle and her daughter lived. He kicked the door down as the handle was too hot to touch, and ran inside, where he found Tasha hiding under her bed, and he picked her up and held her in his arms as the tears still streamed down his face.

Tasha wiped away his tears and said softly, “I’m here now, I won’t let you get hurt anymore,” and hugged him tightly around his neck. Under his make-shift bandages his tears stopped and he smiled, he was supposed to be protecting her.

He wrapped her in sheets, picked her up again, and holding her tightly, ran straight through the flames, screaming in terror again, and down the steps, but the flames at the dor were too fierce to run through, they were trapped.
But outside the firefighters had heard their screams and sprang into action, they trained hoses on the doorway, hacked a bigger opening, and charged inside. Their help was greatly needed as both had collapsed because of smoke inhalation, but they were soon carried to safety.

Once outside Tasha refused to go to hospital, and her rescuer ran away, into the park to hide. She grabbed her mother by the hand and said, “He saved my life, now we are going to help him.” There was a determined, stubborn look in her face, but Mechelle, already knew she would, she owed him more than she could say.

They found him curled up under a park bench, and Tasha said as she was taking the bandages off his face, pushing his hands away, “My momma wants to give you a kiss for being so brave.” She stared hard at her mother, but Mechelle was already in his arms, kissing him, and finding that she never wanted to stop.

“He would be the perfect daddy.” She whispered, with the over loud whisper that children used. And Mechelle just nodded, and reached behind her to hold her daughter’s hand.

Three weeks later they were married, Mechelle and Brian, and each held Tasha’s hands until it was time to exchange rings, and at last they were all a family, and would be forever.