Rustam had been a renowned doctor in his home country of Russia. Many lives had he saved with his new scientific procedures but never had he been tested quite like he was now. Only two months ago his young bride had fallen ill with a mysterious disease no educated man yet understood. As days went on and doctors could not give a diagnosis he decided to take actions into his own hands. If no one else could save her then he would, he would save her if it was the last thing he would ever do.
January 15th:
Bianca sat in her bed sipping her tea and looking over to the warm fireplace, oh how the flames danced in their beautiful display and tempted a weak smile from her ruby lips. Her completion had become pale since her illness took hold but there was no mistake that she was still an enchanting creature. Too weak to walk on her own she spent most of her time locked away in her bedroom taking the bitter medicines her husband had given to her. The only person she could hold much of a conversation with anymore had been her dearest husband when he was not busy and of course her truest friend Dimitri. It was a lonely existence but a cure was promised and for it she would fight, she would go on and one day all of this would be but a bad memory. Taking a small sip on her tea she smiled again and hummed a small tune, a tune alive and fully of joy, a melody of hope that reflected her stormy blue eyes so alive with her passion for life and the fire that fueled her desire to get well again.
January 19th:
Rustam paced back and forth in his lab looking over the maze of beakers and brass coils. Where had he gone wrong, what was he missing? Down here all was peaceful and quiet but above him there was chaos as the maids tried to aid in his lover's pain, her cries at night ripping his heart to peaces. She cries to him in the dead of the night to be saved, to be helped, pleading and begging him to never let her go, he would never let her go. Sitting down at his desk he took up his old recorder and fixed his tie. "The patient has been complaining of sharp pains, her left arm falling numb and since this afternoon immobile. The patient has shown no signs of recovering but I have faith this next drug will be the cure I have been seeking. All I need is to relieve her pain and suffering. She will be well by next week I am sure of this." Taking hold of his pen he glanced over the papers once more and gave a confident nod. All would be well in a week.
January 27th:
Falling to his desk Rustam panted, clearly he had not slept in for hours, his eyes bloodshot and sunken in from the stress and endless nights. Taking hold of his recorder he pressed down on the buttons wearily and gathered his thoughts. "The patient has…started to deteriorate. The medication had held off the illness for a short time but now symptoms continue to…worsen. The patent had lost her speech but still she looks to me smiling, the light of her eyes dim while she watches me with hope every night. Please god give me the answer to this riddle and forever I shall be in your dept. All I ask is for you to spare her, so young and alive, she never did wrong…but there is no god only man and the unknown. If he can't help her then I will, don't give up Bianca."
February 2nd:
"The patient has grown far worse, her body has become immobile, she is paralyzed and unable to react to any stimuli. I am confident that somewhere deep inside she is still there waiting for the cure. All I need do now is keep her stabilized until I can find the answers. No one will stop me from saving you my love, I'll never let you go. There is hope yet, an answer I have yet to find in these medical books. Yes, an answer, I know there must…yes…"
February 7th:
"I turn to my machines now for the answer, somewhere hidden within their workings is my key to bringing the one I love back. Only the night before her heart gave way to the illness but I had gotten to her just in time. Now my machines keep her other organs alive, her body is still to some use but she must be rebuilt. Soon Bianca, soon I'll hold you again, soon I'll see your smile and the sparkle of your eyes. Soon my love soon, I know the way, it is clear now."
February 8th:
Rustam followed the road along St. Petersburg to one of the many work houses, his hands stuffed in his pockets while he moved along the cold gloom of night. He needed to find his materials if he was to save Bianca's life. Stopping at a small inn for just a moment he gazed in through the window at the elderly owner and his wife. They moved around preparing their small establishment for any guest who might stop by, the warm glow of the fire beckoning him inside from the cold. It was then he saw what he had been looking for, a young woman prancing forward to give her father a small kiss. Her eyes filled with the glow of life, her smile as enchanting as any lively young girls would be. Rustam started to wonder, like lighting a fireplace all one needed was the fire. This he would collect from other sources.
February 9th:
"I have harvested the organs, new and healthy well prepared for their new body. My love your answer is here I have your cure. If I can not save you as you were I shall rebuild you. Soon you will awake and see this as nothing more than a nightmare long forgotten. Together we will be again."
April 3rd:
"14 girls dead and still my lover slumbers. I have constructed perfection, gone against what others have believed in but I am beyond them all, I am beyond gods understanding. I am…I am the second chance, immortality, forever life I have found the cure. It had always been in front of me. The bodies pile high in graveyards, organs missing from each useless maiden but here in the darkness I have designed the first organic machine, the giver of life. My love will live again all I need is but one more thing before I can give her life. I need a heart, strong and pure like Bianca's own heart. Then there I will place her mind and breath into her a new life, to laugh and hear her sing once again. I'll never let you go my darling, I'll never give up even if it is the death of me, THE DEATH OF US ALL."
April 17th:
Dimitri had grown worried of his friends; Rustam had kept to himself never speaking of Bianca or if she had recovered yet. As women vanished from the streets and Rustam slipped deeper into seclusion it had crossed his mind to pay his friends a quick visit. No maid had answered the door when he had knocked so the young man let himself in. Looking about the cold dark halls Dimitri shivered. A small light flickered from the western wing of the house leading into what he knew was Rustam's lab. Curiously he followed along moving down the winding steps and finding himself faced with a wave of stench so fowl he nearly passed out.
As he reached the bottom of the steps he looked upon a gruesome scene, there before him a large collection of copper wires and brass tubes moved through a maze or bodies strung together with organs exposed and leading to small wires that trailed into another room locked away behind a single wooden door. Dimitri took a few steps back in shock that his own friend could have done such horrible things to these women. What were they being used for, what had driven Rustam to such crimes? With another step back he felt his back press against a human body. From behind him came his friend's familiar voice, a booming and maddened voice. "I have found my heart, as pure as her own heart."
Dimitri spun around facing Rustam, nothing more than a twisted shadow of his former self. Eyes darted to the bloody scalpel in his hand, his dark eyes watching Dimitri's every move behind a surgeons mask and thin rimmed glasses. "Come to me my friend, come and help me SAVE HER." He screamed in a mad rage before launching himself at Dimitri in a wild fashion. Drawing the gun upon his hip Dimitri fired, three rounds to the chest dropped the dark monster upon the ground. His blood ran black over the floor while his life flickered out. There he laid, Rustam dead, driven to madness from his own obsession and depression, driven made by his love.
Turning away from his murdered friend Dimitri stepped towards the wooden door hearing the faint sounds of a heartbeat and an almost beautiful and haunting tune. Turning the knob the warm light from inside ran out from inside the room and there it was locked away in this dark home light and hope, a lively fire, a bedroom made for a queen. There upon the bed he could see a familiar face, ivory skin and ebony curls belonging to the beauty he had once loved. Her smile, her laughter, her voice, all the memories came back to him and there she rested like a peaceful angel, Bianca.
Stepping into the room Dimitri was baffled as to whose voice had drawn him into the room yet it had been familiar, heavenly and familiar. Walking closer to the bed he could now see the source of the heartbeat. A hand clasped in shock over his mouth when his eyes befell Bianca's chest wide open with the wire's and cords connected to her organs keeping her body alive as if never her illness had touched her. Over the exposed organs rested a glass case protecting them from the elements, a twisted scene no better than the one just in the other room. Tears ran down his face then as he pulled the covers up to her neck and bent on his knees to kiss her on the forehead. "I'll never forget you my darling."
His eyes wandered to a single cord holding the wires to a machine resting at the side of her bed. "I have found your cure Bianca, you will be well again to dance and laugh. To be free to love and live forever…here in my heart." Pulling the cord he felt his last tear roll down his face. Her skin grew cold and pale while her heart fluttered into silence. So it was she was set free to live again. Holding her hand in his Dimitri smiled down at her and hummed a familiar tune, the last tune he could remember. The last song Bianca had sung.
"Don't forget me my darling
Hold me safely till the morning
When the lights fade away
Please let me free."
