Volume 1 - Chapter 3: What No One Sees

"The guilt of not going back began eating away at Beauty's conscience. She used the mirror to see how the Beast was doing while she was away. " Miss Yumi said as she revealed the next page. The image from mirror took the entire class aback as much as it horrified Beauty. "Seeing the Beast half-dead beside the bed of roses, Beauty turned the ring over her hand three times without any hesitation. In an instant, she was teleported back to the castle and ran immediately to the Beast's side."

Miss Yumi pretended to sob, acting out Beauty's lines from the storybook. "I'm so sorry, this is all my fault. Please don't die, I should have come back earlier. I should have said yes to you a long time ago, but I didn't because I was foolish. Please come back..." Miss Yumi's voice realistically broke that Cathedra was actually impressed with her acting. "Please don't leave me... I love you."

The next page showed a close up shot of Beauty's tears falling over the Beast's body. "All of a sudden, the Beast's body lights up and he gradually transformed into the blonde-haired stranger from Beauty's dreams."

"'Beauty!', cried the stranger aloud," Miss Yumi said, "The blonde-haired stranger stared at his arms with amazement and held them up to his face. 'How could this be? I'm human again! Could it be that...you broke the curse? Does this mean that you love me back?', he said."

Copying Beauty's reaction as how it looks like inside the storybook, Miss Yumi scrunched up her eyebrows. "Beauty was confused at the whole scene that unfolded in front of her eyes. 'Curse? What curse?', she asked."

Miss Yumi carried on with her little skit. It turns out that the Beast was actually the Prince of a certain kingdom. Back when the Beast was but a teenager, his father died while his mother, the Queen, led her soldiers in a war to protect their kingdom. In his agitation of being left inside the safety of the castle while her mother was out there, risking her life, he grew irritable and impatient and ended up lashing out his anger at everyone within reach of his ire. His mother left him under the care of an old family friend to serve as his guardian. The Prince's guardian grew to love him and asked him to marry her. 

Not to be bothered with the affairs of the heart as his mind was only preoccupied with the pessimistic thoughts of his mother out in war and probably ending up dead like his father, the Prince ended up rejecting her harshly. It turns out, the Prince's guardian was actually a powerful fairy. To teach him a lesson about treating people well, the fairy cursed the Prince and turned him into a hideous Beast. The curse would only break if the Prince would find a maiden who would love him despite his ugly and hideous appearance.

"The Prince held Beauty's hand, 'Your love saved me.'" Miss Yumi said, "The Prince knelt on one knee and said, 'My life belongs to you. For the rest of my life, I will devote myself to making you happy. Will you marry me?'"

Squeals of giddy reverberated all over the classroom that Cathedra had to cover her ears with her hands. Miss Yumi, undisturbed by the noise, continued. "Beauty accepted the Prince's proposal and got married. And they lived happily ever after!"

The class echoed with "oohs" and "ahhs" as they clapped their hands in awe at the wonderful love story they heard. Closing the storybook, Miss Yumi gave a bow and a curtsy, pleased that the children were listening all throughout her performance.

But one child wasn't clapping. Instead of joining in the applause like the rest, Cathedra raised her hand.

"Yes, Cathedra? What is it?" Miss Yumi said, sweetly.

"What about the last page?"

Miss Yumi arched an eyebrow as she browsed through the storybook one more time. After turning to the last page, she held it up in front of the class for all to see.

"See, there," she pointed to the left side of the page where Beauty and the Beast were dancing at the ball for their wedding. "And they lived happily ever after. That's how all fairy tales end, Cathedra."

The mystified girl shook her head and pointed to the page at the right. "What about that one, Miss Yumi? There are still three words written at the top of the page. Then there's a moving picture. Then there are another five words written at the bottom of the picture."

Miss Yumi stared at the spot Cathedra was pointing to but could only find a white page. Nothing was written there. It was blank.

"Now, now, Cathedra," Miss Yumi smiled patiently at her, "We all had our share of fantasy today! That's enough storytelling for now."

"But Miss Yumi, I'm not telling a lie. I can see it. I really can." Cathedra protested, "It was the fairy who cursed the Prince and turned him into a beast. Right now, she's removing her black cloak and she suddenly transformed into a woman with raven black hair and black long gown. Her skin is as white as snow, Miss, and then she has a mole at the top right side of her lips."

Miss Yumi was stunned. Not only was the child lying, but she was telling tall tales about moving photographs. That didn't exist in real life. This wasn't some magical fantasy movie. To make it worse, she was filling the other children's mind with nonsense.

"Children, why don't you go play outside for recess while I speak with little Cathedra over here?"

"Yes, Miss Yumi!" The children agreed cheerfully, eager to see that the teacher's pet was in trouble. They all raced out of the door, eager to run around out back to peek at the windows and catch a glimpse of the little troublemaker's punishment.

When all the other children were out of sight, Miss Yumi crouched down so that she and Cathedra were eye to eye. Miss Yumi heaved a heavy sigh.

"Cathedra, I'm really disappointed in you. I knew that you weren't the one who trashed the classroom but this is way out of line! You lied and made a fuss today. I expected more from you, considering that the orphanage told me what a smart, obedient girl you are."

"But I really wasn't lying, Miss Yumi," the poor child was near tears now, "I could really see it, honest."

Not only was the poor girl afraid of being punished for a lie she never said, but she was also terrified that she can see things that no one else can. How in the world could no one else see the last page, except her?

Miss Yumi's patience snapped. "That's it, Cathedra. You will write 'I must not tell lies' at least a hundred times. You are also not allowed to have recess and play with the other kids today. Go sit at the corner and get started!"

Cathedra ran towards her spot at the corner and faced towards the wall to hide the outburst of tears that she couldn't stop. Her whole body shook with fear at the loud voice Miss Yumi used on her. She took out her pencil and paper from her bag with trembling fingers that could barely hold anything from the fear of loud noises.

She desperately tried to wipe away her tears so that it will not smudge the paper where she wrote 'I must not tell lies' for the hundredth time.