Beastly's Arc

Chapter 3 of 7

The email arrives two days after the bulletin board notice. Beastly reads it standing at the desk in his studio, still wearing his practice shoes. The award committee acknowledges receipt of his documentation — the photos, the video timestamps, the scoresheets signed by three judges. They confirm everything is in order. But they are opening a formal investigation anyway. Someone filed a complaint. They cannot say who. The review will take four to six weeks. Until then, the results stand but remain under scrutiny. Beastly burns the video evidence onto a disc and walks to the committee clubhouse that afternoon. The building sits at the edge of town, all carved stone and polished brass. He climbs the steps and hands the disc to the attendant at the front desk. The routine is on there, start to finish. Every leap, every turn, every movement that earned the scores. The attendant takes it without looking at him. She says they will add it to the file. Beastly asks when he can present his case in person. She says the committee does not hear testimony during investigations. He leaves the disc on her desk and walks back out. Outside the clubhouse, a small garden plot borders the pathway. Flowers bloom along the stones, bright and tended. A handful of townspeople stand there, talking in low voices. One of them holds a copy of the bulletin board notice. Another mentions the complaint, speculates about who filed it. Beastly walks past them without slowing. One woman meets his eyes for a moment, then looks down at the flowers. He does not stop. They have his evidence now. They have always had his evidence. If they choose not to look at it, that is a decision they will have to name. That evening, Beastly moves the award back to the window. He sets it on the shelf where the streetlight hits it, where anyone passing can see his name engraved in the metal. The investigation can run as long as it needs to. The truth is already on record. He has given them everything they asked for and everything they did not. Now they will either confirm what they already know or prove they were never looking at the dancing in the first place. Either way, he will keep the studio open. Either way, he will be here when they decide.