The Beast of Bridgewater Bay

ashsteg

There once was a town on Bridgewater Bay, where a young man lived. This young man was a recluse, and never looked further than the surface of the people who lived in the town. He would go about his day, and people would let him, for everyone knew this young man was cruel. He was selfish, and never went out of his way for anyone, judging all of them as she silently walked along.

Then one day, a women came to him while he was sitting on the docks. This women asked him for a hand to get her boat to shore. Then young man looking at her, seeing she was kind of old, and not very beautiful, he turned her away without a word. The woman ran away weeping, and the young man felt no sorrow for her.

Shortly after, he heard a woman asking for help again, but this time when he turned around, it was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. He immediately got up to help the beautiful woman get her boat tied to the docks, then suddenly a flash a light burst from the woman, and she turned into the old woman the man refused to help before.

The young man stepped back in shock, as he realized the woman before him was a witch. The Witch stepped towards the man and shamed him for what he had done. The Witch then curse him saying these words:

"This is a man who judges the skin,

Never to look further within,

Never to see a person's soul,

Never to see a person whole,

I cast this man to the depths of the sea,

As the monster he is soon to be,

Your skin will change, nothing is fairer,

And your face shall now cause nothing but terror,

Only through this lesson you shall learn,

Will the body you see before you return,

This curse will never be broken,

Until the words I love you have been spoken."

As the Witch cast her curse, the young man was pushed down into Bridgewater Bay, he tried to swim upwards, but he kept going farther and farther down. Deeper and deeper he went, until he hit the very bottom of the bay, as he felt his body transforming into a monster.
He stared up at the surface of the water, wondering who could love him to break this curse, who could love the monster that has always been inside him, the monster now that lies on the surface of his skin. Who would break the surface of the water, and looking into the dark depths of the ocean to find him?

He knew no one, and this made him angry, he became enraged, knowing that know one would ever come, then he thought there would be only one thing to do. Be the monster he knew he always was and give up on ever finding someone who could love him. He reigned terror on the fisherman's' boats, never resting his anger to the people on the docks.

He became the Beast of Bridgewater Bay, and nothing more.

Still waiting on someone who could break his curse...