Frankenstein
Greer Barclay
Summer Reading Thing
Victor lay in the cabin bed his life ebbing like the artic waves that rolled the ship. His friend had left his side for the night to meander the ship's elaborate halls and corridors. He glimpsed out the window at the ice that covered this frozen tundra; his mission was incomplete. He knew the wretch was out there, his heart as cold as the ice and his soul black as the abyss of death. No, Frankenstein thought, the wretch has no soul; though alive Frankenstein could never have created a soul.
The window opened swiftly and quietly. Victor's hair stood on end; it was almost as if he could feel the violations of the human soul the daemon had done. The monster easily slipped into the cabin. Its large stature loomed over Victor; its glassy eyes watching him, and its yellow skin turned blue in the moon light.
"Wretch!" Victor shouted, attempting and failing to meet the monster on his feet. "Villain, murderer, demon!" he continued; losing and gaining strength at the same time.
"You have done this to yourself Frankenstein!"
"The devil fills your words!" He shouted in retort. "All I have done is make the devil mortal, here now to torture its creator in my death and its life!"
"Enough!" Bellowed the monster. "I was weak once too, and you cast me to the world, your world; your own creation to face the wrath of man! I was once gentle and feeble minded; your kind changed that! You changed that! You created me as a monster, and now you dare to punish me for it!" His words were loud, but unheard by Frankenstein. Both blinded by hate and anger and remorse for the things they could never have.
"You are a monster! And as I've tried to end your existence and failed; you stand above, consumed in darkness! The same as that morning you were alive, looming over my bed. I could see the darkness in your lively eyes! Wretch!"
"You have given me these eyes, and this tongue of which you say is the devil's advocate! All my darkness was given to me by the world! I wanted companionship, and you have denied me that! And your death will be my last act of revenge, brought on by yourself just as your families'!"
"I was not the one that took an innocent's life! Devil! You should have never been created! I was blinded with opportunity and power! Dear God, I have let Lucifer into my garden and I have suffered and suffered at his hands! Strike him dead so his evil will never see more of this beautiful world!"
"There is no god to help you. You became a god by creating me; you abandoned everything in your sins and have placed your blame upon me! You were my god! But now I am your death! You will be at peace quickly, while I must still suffer for your actions! Exalt your pain for it has become my solace!"
"You now take in my pain and grow it like a weed, a festering sore! Your horrors never cease!" Frankenstein laid still, his breathing labored and unsteady. The monster looked on, waiting for his creator to die.
"You would take as much solace in my death as I do yours." The monster commented. He laughed deeply, filling the room with the eerie noise. "You have the devil too! Hating creation!" It continued, its terrible grin on its face.
"What evils will you do once I am dead?!" Victor rasped. The monster stopped laughing. "What will you do?" He repeated. The monster waited, knowing death was near. "What…will…you-"
The monster stared at the corpse of his creator. His emotions mixed between hate and longing. Wishing he was different, that the world was different. His master was now dead and the monster was even more alone than before. There was no one to punish for his life, no one he had ever wanted to harm. He had though, and it left him without even a nemesis. His yellow eyes clouded. He reached out a limber hand and touched his master's still warm shirt. It was warmth like this he had wanted. He crushed the fabric in his hand.
"I will die in agonizing flames." The monster finally answered. "And I will join you in peace, where ever you went…."