Knock Knock Knock
Three knocks on the door echoed in the luxuriously decorated room. A boy rolled down the bed and stumbled in front of the mirror.
He gasped at the reflection and touched his face in awe.
He saw himself, looking years younger than he was supposed to be. Shiny blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes stared back at him.
"Young master Beau, it seems you've locked the door. Is everything okay?" The gentle voice of an adult asked.
The boy, Beau Monet, rushed and opened the door just enough to poke his face through it.
He saw a man dressed in a butler outfit carrying a notebook on his hand, the man looked at him kindly and said,
"Mr.Sherrit is waiting for you to start the lesson."
Beau cleared his throat and asked,
"Mr.Sherrit? ahem and and he's here to teach....?", he stared at the butler for an answer.
" To teach...? Oh he's here for your Social presentation class. Is.. everything okay?"
"Ahhh social presentation class, right yes, actually Eugene, you see, ahem I am not feeling too well today. So I wanted to skip today and take a break." he added coughing dramatically.
Butler Eugene pressed his hand on Beau's head to check for fever, "Do you want me to call Dr.Hanna to give you a checkup?"
"No no, no need to bother Hanna. I'm not ill, just feeling a bit under the weather you see.
I'll just take a break for today and I'll start freshly from tomorrow. How does that sound?", Beau bent his head down and tried to make himself look tired but it looked a bit unnatural because only his head was poking out the door.
Eugene thoughtfully looked at his young master, who never skipped a class in his life and agreed.
"Then I'll inform Mr.Sherrit and all the teachers of the day regarding this. Shall I bring you something light to eat?"
"I'll call for someone when I'm hungry, you go ahead with your work Eugene." He smiled and nodded as Eugene slowly walked away.
"Then, I'll be going young master. Don't hesitate to call for me."
Beau waited until he walked a bit further and gently closed the door and locked it all the way.
He sighed in relief and lied on the bed tiredly.
'I'm thirteen again. How the hell does something like this happen to a person?'
Beau closed his eyes and remembered the moments before his death, he didn't remember all of it too clearly but he remembered running away from hordes of people. The citizens of his county were attacking him because of a rumor that went out of control.
He had been Count for half a year before that happened, someone had played an underhanded trick, otherwise there's no way for such a thing to go out of proportion so badly, but who, and why?
By the time Beau realised he was caught in a trap, it was already too late, no one believed him after that.
So many unanswered things left and now an even more complicated thing.
Beau slowly dragged his body in front of the gold plated mirror and stared at his reflection again. Eugene said he was still learning Social presentation, that means this is before father accepted him as heir, there's still time.
'If father never makes me heir then I won't be the count, which means the people can not rebel against me, which means I don't have to die !
I need to tell father.'
Beau called for help and got ready, after taking one final look in the mirror, he walked towards his father's study.
"Dad, can I come in for a bit?"
The door opened and he came face to face with a young man with dazzling long golden hair, his older brother, Bexter Monet. " Hey Bee, come on in, we were just finishing some stuff here." he patted Beaus head fondly calling him by his nickname.
Beau stared at his brother for a second and went in "Brother, hi. Dad, remember that thing I said last year?", he sat down on the sofa and stared at Herald Monet, the count of the Monet County.
His father chuckled at his youngest and rubbed his mustache, "No hi for dad?" He moved from the desk and sat down next to Bexter on the other sofa facing Beau. "By thing, do you mean the succession?"
"Yes, I've decided that I don't want to be the Count after all."
Herald and Bexter looked at each other for a second and stared at Beau in confusion at his sudden announcement.
Beau was staring at them too, but only because it has been a year since he last saw them, and that was before they died. Right now, he had many things to say to them, many things to apologise for, but he can't do any of that or ask for forgiveness for something that hasn't happened yet.
Herald added noting his seriousness, "Beau, I told you last time when you said you wanted to be count, I specifically said that you cannot go back on this decision. Bexter just told me that he didn't want to be count, so you're going to officially be named heir next month."
"But Bex is only rejecting because I said I wanted it. Now he can be the Count."
"Bee, I can't chan-"
"You can! I've completely given up on it so you should be the count brother, we know how skilled you are." Beau added, eagerly looking at his shocked brother.
Herald couldn't believe what he was hearing, the youngest who jumped with joy and showed so much passion in being count was suddenly changing his mind like this, this is not like him at all.
"Beau Monet, do you understand what you're saying? It's not a sack of potatoes to pass around like this, we are talking about being the Count, this takes great responsibility-
Beau cut him off and suggested animatedly "I know dad, that's why I'm saying that Bexter can do it and if he doesn't want to then maybe sister Annalise will want to!"
"Let's talk okay? Beau, can you tell me why you changed your mind?"
He looked at Bexter avoiding his eyes and tried to smile "Big brother, I just think you're more suitable for this. Really, I do"
It was true, the one thing Beau repeatedly thought about before dying was that Bexter would have been a better Count, he had patience, intelligence and he was especially skilled at reading people. Someone like that would not get caught up in a stupid trap like he did.
Bexter observed his younger brother and noticed how his hands trembled ever so slightly when talking, and how he avoided looking at his father. It's as if he's done something wrong, he's not just here on a whim, he's serious and also..
'He's scared of something.'
The room was silent for a moment. Beau felt desperate, he experienced death merely a few hours ago and was suddenly thrown into his younger self. In order to avoid going down the same path, he needs to convince them to not appoint him as a heir.
He didn't want to die, not like that, never like that again.
Beau who was lost in thought for a moment failed the notice the small interaction between his father and brother.
Herald looked at his sons before saying,
"Let's talk again after dinner."
Beau whined, "But dad-"
"Bee, I heard you're not feeling well today, why don't you have some breakfast first and take some time off.
I'll talk with dad and we will discuss again tonight okay?",Bexter gently suggested and guided Beau to his room. He shared a look with his father before walking away pulling his brother away.
Beau absentmindedly let himself be dragged slowly. His brother was 17 years old now, the same age as him. Well, he's 17 on the inside at least.
"Mom and Annalise went for a morning ladies tea party, so they will he back a little later today."
He hummed in reply.
Annalise was Beau's twin sister, she's older by a few minutes. She had absolutely no interest for anything in the County. As he remembered it, she always wanted to be an actress, but she died before she got to reach that dream.
Before he knew it, Bexter had tucked him in bed.
"If there is anything you need to share, you can always come to me or anyone here that you feel comfortable with okay?
Don't hold it in."
His brother waved and left the room, closing the door on his way.
Beau stayed still and stared at the sunlight leaking through the gap of the closed curtains.
He needs to make a plan. A plan to survive.
With that thought he closed his eyes for a moment before falling asleep.
In his dreams, he saw his 17 years old self, just before he died.
Beau was struggling to survive, he was wounded and bleeding in several places but that didn't stop him from running away.
Away from his home.