Collette

Dr. Moreau awoke on a straw bed in the morning. The straw smell met his senses first. Next he heard the chickens outside a nearby window. He sat up and groaned–pain filled his head, and he felt the bandage wrapped around it.

He didn’t remember lying back down, but it seemed like a good idea to stay lying down. He stared at the ceiling thinking. His eyes teared up as his mind took in into places of despair. He began the long task of accepting his newfound time. He knew it would be hard, but it was his own fault for dropping his time machine from the second floor. Hubris had taken hold of him, and now, he was struck down.

A soft tap on the door pulled him from his darker thoughts. Then the door opened and silhouetted the most beautiful figure Maurice had ever seen. She stepped in quickly and closed the door. Her wavy brown hair captivated him, and when she turned back toward him, he saw in her eyes a mischievousness and beauty that took his breath away.

She looked a little surprised to see him awake. “I am Collette, and I’m here to clean your wounds.” She grinned and showed him the bucket and linens that she carried.

Collette sat down and began gently unwrapping the bandage around Maurice’s head.

They began to talk. She had found him half a mile from the vineyard in his contraption, so she hid the contraption and moved him to the old servant’s room in the stables. Her parents didn’t know about him, and she desperately wanted to know about the machine.

When she finished with his new bandage, she opened his shirt and gently began removing the bandage around his ribcage. He didn’t even know he had a handbreadth-wide gash in his chest.

As she worked skillfully with the linens, he told her about his time–the inventions, the city, his students, and the things he missed. And for the first time, Maurice felt a connection to a human being that he had never felt before.

Upon arrival <= Death of Maurice => Belle