Après un travail sur le thème de l'imaginaire (contes traditionnels et versions revisitées), voici la "fractured tale" imaginée et rédigée par:

Célia, Faustine, Aymerine, Léna (1° EDS LLCE Anglais)

Beauty is kidnapped!

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful gamer, called Belle, in a little village. She was peacefully playing Leagues of Legend, as usual. She heard a knock on the door, probably her father. "What a pain" she thought. She stood up to open to her genitor. The first thing that she saw was his irritated face.

 "You take/took the connection of all the village, the neighbours can't watch their favourite Netflix show! Go out of your room, stroll, inhale fresh air! You haven't taken a shower for two weeks!" yelled her father.

 She obeyed, reluctantly. So she walked, exasperate, a long time, a very long time. She bumped into a beautiful and muscly girl, Gastonne, her childhood friend. Briefly, they exchange a look. After this encounter, she realized that she was lost in a thick forest. After a long reflection, she raised her head and finally noticed the setting sun. Looking for a place to spend the night, she saw a villa far away. It was not like she had a better option, so she headed for this huge house.

 The owner of the house was definitely rich like the garden proved it. There were many rose bushes, really well maintained. Maybe her father would let her come in if she brought a rose to him.

 Belle selected the most beautiful flower of all the garden, a red rose. She grabbed it and at this moment, she felt a threatening presence behind her. She heard a muffled sound and then, nothing...

She opened her eyes and tried to see something but she couldn’t…. everything was black. Belle tried to stand up but her legs were not functional and she fell down.

  "-OUCH! »

Sit on the floor she leant with the wall and touched every part of it to find any window to open and to illuminate the room. 

  "-C’mon!  A little bit of sun !!"

GROWWWWWWWR her belly cried hungrily. How many hour had she slept? Belle couldn’t know but being in a close room alone wasn’t really comfortable.

  "-Hello??? There is someone here?" She tried to say.

Belle heard a sound, a footstep, and that came there. Quickly she looked for a door to see who came. Belle saw a dark place in the room and decided to go there. It was in fact a green curtain. Without care she looked behind this and saw a red laser. Surprised, Belle touched it with her hand and nothing happened. The steps drew closer, and she withdrew abruptly. Suddenly, the curtain moved quickly and she could see a shadow, a very large shadow. A face appeared in the light and Belle could see the monster in front of her. Belle was trying to talk when this beast grabbed her by the arm, pulled her out of the room and took her down a hallway and then down the stairs to a big room.

  "-You stay here," he said with a dry voice.

Half-knocked, Belle got up as she could. 

  "-What wait please what’s happening???»

The beast didn’t reply and went out of the luxurious room.

Hours after hours Belle discovered her new house. The day after someone knocked to her door she tried to open it but impossible, it was closed with key and she didn’t have this key. A little hatch opened to the back of the door and a little tray crossed the opening with a note on which was written:

“I’m THE BEAST this is your new house for a time, get used to have everyday a tray with things to eat at 12:00 am. Oh and you are mine, my prisoner…….”

For one month, Gastonne didn't see Belle, she was worried about that and went to Belle's father's house to see if her beauty was there. She knocked and knocked and knocked finally someone opened the door. It was Belle's father, he had rings under his eyes.

  "-Oh it's you Gastonne.... I hoped it was my daughter."

  "-Belle isn't here?»

  "-Obviously not."

Without saying anything, she left and looked for her "friend».

In her room, Belle went in circle around her big bed. She heard a voice, it was telling her to come to the cupboard. Curious, Belle listened to this voice and came close to the cupboard. The cupboard moved and Belle gasped, she didn't touch it but that moved...Strange, she thought.

Belle came again at the center of the room and sat down on the bed. Next to her was a little table with a hairbrush. Again Belle heard a voice but different from the first time. That came from the hairbrush, Belle took it and examined it more closely. What was her surprise when she saw two eyes opened from this thing. She let this down shocked.

"-Ouchhhhh, oh c'mon don't treat me like that I’m not a monster!" said the hairbrush

Belle thought she was going crazy, why was an object alive? She was about to pick up the brush when the door opened on a tall man.

"-Miss??»asked the Beast. He pierced her with a cold look.

Belle let the brush on the floor and got as far away as possible from what she thought was her kidnapper.

  "-Why did you make so much noise?

   -......there is an object which talked to me and" she tried

  "-Hah! You’re going crazy my poor girl, no object speaks! «He cut her off while making fun of her. «Do you know why you are here?»

  "-obviously not, nobody explained me anything.

   -Well, it's simple, your father needed money years ago so I concluded a contract with him, I gave him money and he had to pay me back within a year or I would take the thing he cared about the most but he never paid me back. Today I need this money for my patron so I took this thing, YOU, and now you're my property and until your father pays you stay here."

Scared Belle could only stammer that her father didn’t know she was there so he couldn’t pay her jailer!!

The Beast laughed and said "-Ahhhhhh that's it, this is life." And he left, slamming the door.

Depressed, the girl was sobbing. No hope to save her. After 2 hours crying an idea came to her, she was going to escape by herself.

Gastonne had found one guard of the mafia and she followed him in the house of the kidnapper of her Belle. Gastonne hid behind the wall and she was watching the passage of the guards. She walked around the house, she sought how to get in, after two hours she saw an opening and switchboard. She waited for the guard to leave, then she climbed the wall and ran in the garden to the switchboard, she cut the electricity. She heard the guard coming towards her, she ran in the house and sought Belle, she heard the sound of a gun, she went to this one and found Belle.

At the time of the electricity cut, Belle escaped to the room, she looked around her and saw a mirror on the opposite wall. Suddenly she could see a form in the mirror she hid in her prison, she heard footstep and she kept her breath .The Guard rang the alarm after he had seen the room was open. He sought the room and left to find his comrade. Belle went out and ran in the corridor after verifying in the mirror there was nobody. Some minutes later she heard a noise behind her she looked around her and she found a door. She opened and saw a beautiful bedroom, very luxurious. Belle searched and found a gun, But a person opened the door, she turned quickly and shot: "pan". The body fell on the floor. She held back a shout. Suddenly she heard the voice that she loved the most. But she kept panicking, all of her body was shaking. She couldn't move, she was totally shocked. The voice she was hearing was that of Gastonne, she entered the room and said: “Belle come with me, quick, the beast arrives”.

Belle looked at Gastonne but didn't react. Gastonne took the gun from her hand and put it in her pocket. She brought Belle in the corridor and they started to run.

They ran as fast as they could, this gunshot ringing in their head, taking their breath away. However, Belle was extremely tired, after a month of mental torture and physical exhaustion, her body let go. She let go of Gastonne’s hand and fell down in the amount of grass and pebble mixed with dead sleeves and mud. Gastonne stopped her race and looked back were her love was supposed to be. 

She saw her, lying down on the ground. Her heart missed a beat. 

She screamed: 

-Belle!

She stepped back and knelt next to her. 

-Belle are you...

She couldn't finish her sentence, the view was too heartbreaking.

Belle was crying with all that she got.

-I'm a monster Gastonne!

-What? Absolutely not! What do you mean?

Belle sat on her knees and said between two hiccups:

- I killed him, He's dead.... I killed someone!

- Belle! He kidnapped you! He is the monster! 

-No!

- Belle please listen to me, you’re not a monster! You did what you had to! You didn’t have a choice …

Belle stayed quiet her tears for response, looking at the ground with emptiness in her eyes. Gastonne sighed, with a gentle touch on Belle’s right shoulder. 

- Listen, I know it’s hard and I know how much you suffered there but we have to go. The Beast can arrive at any moments.

Belle shivered at this thought. 

After a minute of silence, Belle tried to stand up but her legs were not very cooperative. 

- Gastonne go without me, I can’t even walk anymore. I’m only a weight for you.

- Don’t be silly, if I climbed this mountain, it was to find you. Now that you’re in front of me I’m not going to let you down !

Gastonne got up and knelt in front of Belle showing her, her back. 

- Come on saddle up! Said Gastonne with a playful tone.

Belle stood puzzle at this sight, Gastonne was still waiting and Belle’s weight still hadn’t landed on her back. 

- I’m not going to stay like this for ever you know? What are you waiting for? 

Belle knew full well that her weight was not a problem for Gastonne, especially after a month of poor nutrition but she couldn’t help asking a rather silly question. 

- Are… Are you sure? What if I was too heavy?

Belle turned her head filled with shame after such a question. 

Gastonne couldn’t believe her ears and let out a frank laugh. 

- Belle are you serious? In such situation you still think about your weight? I can’t believe you!

Belle was getting redder and redder every minutes hearing Gastonne’s laughter breaking the air.

After a moment, Belle began to laugh as well. Their laughter warmed the atmosphere and after a long time, a smile appeared on Belle’s face. After this Belle climbed on Gastonne’s back and they started their descent again at a slower pace. Fear and alertness still resided in their heart but the company of each other increased their courage. After long minutes of walking, the end of the forest appeared in the distance. Gastonne smiled at this view and tried to wake up Belle whose head was resting on her shoulder. 

- Belle wake up it’s finished, you’re free.

Belle looked up and her eyes widened. Gastonne was right, her ordeal was finally over. 

With a slight smile Belle tightened her arms around Gastonne’s blow. 

- Gastonne?

- Yes?

- Thank you.

- You’re welcome princess.

Belle blushed at the hearing of the nickname and grumbled under her breath. 

- Gastoooonne! said Belle with despair in her voice.

- What? You used to love that nickname when we were kids.

- Yeah, when we were kids! We’re not babies anymore!

- It depends on the point of view, said Gastonne with a teasing voice.

- You!

- Hush!

- Are you telling me to shut up now?

- No, I’ve heard something…

As they were so close to their goal the atmosphere had just taken a whole new turn. Gastonne walked slowly, on the lookout for any suspicious element. As for Belle, fear twisted her stomach. They left the forest without any incident but what they saw at the exit made their blood run cold. The Beast was here in front of them. Except that he was not alone. 

A lot of people wearing blue uniforms were standing next to him, he was handcuffed. The police was finally here, they were in security. It was finally over. Gastonne screamed at the officers to get their intention but her exhaustion was so big that she passed out with Belle on her back. The last things she saw, being the policies running towards them.

She woke up a few days later. With Belle at her bedside, she was covered in bandages but Gastonne had never seen her so beautiful, she was there with her and nothing would be able to separate them anymore. After this adventure, Belle was taken in by a psychologist, her trial turned in her favor categorizing her acts as self-defense. Gastonne resumed work and they settled in a small modest house sheltered from all bad weather. Belle would resume her passion for video games and make it her profession while being engaged to the love of her life, she would live happily ever after.

THE END