[a/n: ever read the book 'endless love'? it's quite strange, about a guy who keeps this woman's corpse for something like nine years. but actually this chapter was influenced by that in a way. see it talked abut how he preserved her body, and i used a bit of that in here...you'll understand when you start reading...]





~~~~~~~~~~

CHAPTER 2

~~~~~~~~~~

He was just working on the monster when it struck him--just a name, but the basis for a huge and wonderful project. Sally. Yes, that was it. Sally. A simple yet charming name. The name of his bride-to-be! All he had to do was create her. It wouldn't take much, really; he already was beginning to develope an idea of her in his mind. She'd be someone to converse with, to pass the time with, to cook and clean for him. A wife. The more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea. "Igor!" he called out. "Igor, come here! Now!" The hunchback was there in less then a minute.

"Yes, master?" he asked.

"I have a plan, a wonderful plan. But I need your help."

"Yes....?"

He sat upright in his chair as he stared at his assistant. "I wanted to create for myself a wife. So I'm putting the Halloween project on hold for a moment. I need you to go down to the graveyard and do what we've done for all our other frankenstein monsters; choose out the neccessary parts for my bride. Do you understand?"

A nod. "Yes, master....I shall go do as you ask."

The doctor grinned devilishly. "Very good, my servant. Choose wisely!"



*****



Igor started with his task, but it was difficult. He was forced to dig up many graves, only to find a great quanitity of them unsuitable. A number were too badly decomposed to be used. It was to his employer's benefit to use parts not too badly rotted. Many were not attractive enough, others didn't look right with the rest. He was forced to use only sections of the bodies; a bit of this, some of that, and so on. It wasn't a surprise to either of them when he returned that night with only enough pieces to build an arm and two legs.

The next day he went out as soon as dawn broke, working quickly with his shovel. It was around midnight when he finally returned, all the required parts in a wheelbarrow.

"Very good," Dr. Finklestein muttered as his assistant spread the collection out upon a large table in the lab. "Lovely...." He examined the parts. "A very nice skull, we should basically only need to do a bit of rebuilding on it. Repair the flesh, affix new skin to it...I see you were able to get hair, lovely brown hair..." He nodded as he continued on. "Her legs should be nice, as her arms. The basic skeletal parts you were able to pick out are well built. Her mouth will require extensive work, but her eyes are perfect. Where did you get those?"

"A fresh corpse, master," came the reply. "Just buried. She was very pretty."

"As she must have been," he smiled. "Well, this is an excellent start for now." A yawn. "We'll get started first thing in the morning. But right now, we should go to bed. It's going to be a big day tommorrow."



*****



Work on Sally commenced early the next day. Many things had to be done, and a set of blueprints would need to be made. Then construction would have to be started on repairing the salvaged body parts, plus efforts would need to be made to keep them fresh. Her skin would need to be coloured and shaped around her bones, plus mended here and there. Her arms and legs would have to be put into their sockets, and her eyes planted into her skull. A million things would have to be done, but Dr. Finklestein would make sure that they did.

He got Igor to start work immediately on the electricity machine, which they would use to send millions of jolts worth of electrical current through his bride to bring her to life. Meanwhile he started making the plans, which he hoped to have done by the end of the day.

After working non-stop for 8 AM to 9 PM Dr. F managed to complete them. But he wasn't done yet. He began work on her limbs, putting them into place. It was his idea to save the work on her skin till last, as it would certainly require the most care.

It was around 12:00 in the morning when he finally turned in. Yet he was up again by 8, to continue his work.

This continued for a number of days, this schedule of his. Always working, no time for anything else. The one time he stopped was when Jack visited to check on his progress. With a smile he made up a quick lie, shooing him away so that he could go on with what he was doing.

Two weeks after picking up his project the doctor was finally ready to start on the skin. First of all he wanted to soften her flesh. He did this by placing her body in a bath of wild herbs and oats, letting them seep into her skin. Upon removal he dryed her off, blotting over her a special chemical mixture he'd prepared. After a while he finally achieved the desired feel he wanted; now to work on the colour of her skin. He composed a blue tinted juice for his bride-to-be, which he rubbed all over her. He then let it sit for two days, letting it soak into the skin while he milled about preparing other 'treatments' for her. This turned Sally a pale blue colour.

All of this had taken a week to achieve, the softness and the colour. Now he needed to repair the flesh in itself, sew up bits that were loose or didn't fit quite right. This wasn't too difficult, just time-consuming. He'd have to pull the skin tight, pinning it in the way he wanted while he sewed it in the right place. At times Igor would need to lend a hand, keeping bits of her flesh from moving while Dr. F sewed it into place.

After a final week, he was completed. His masterpiece was ready to be brought to life. She lay there motionless on the lab table now, her eyes shut as she remained there in all her glory. It was now time to awaken her.

"This is it, Igor," he smiled devilishly as he eyed his work of art. "Soon she'll be alive, and it will be done. All this work, this effort, it will finally pay off! I'll be happy, she'll be happy, and it'll all be perfect!"

"Shall we start now, mater? Shall we bring her to life?"

"Of course!" he sneered. "What do you think, I've done all this work and I'm going to put it off another day? Never! Now come, bring her body to the electricity machine."

With a nod Igor placed her body on a metal cart, wheeling her to the huge piece of equipment. It looked rather terrifying, more like a giant ray gun, but that didn't phase Dr. Finklestein in the least.

"On that table there," he demanded. "Yes, just like that. Now stand back, put on some goggles. Are you ready?"

"Yes master," came the reply as the hunchback fixed his eye equipment.

"Good. Watch carefully!" With a hideous grin he threw the switch, and the contraption immediately started up. It began making a loud, mechanical sound as small sparks flew around the tip of the gun. "Yes!" cried the doctor. "More, more!" He turned up a dial on the control panel, increasing the flow of electricity. "Quicker now!" The noise was nearly deafening, ringing in their ears as the powerful piece of equipment worked and gained energy. The sparks moved faster and faster, growing brighter as it got ready. "That's it!" yelled the evil scientist. "A bit more!" Igor watched dumbfounded at all this; his master gone hysterical, the motionless girl on the table, the electricity machine gaining energy. "We're ready!" came the loud cry at last from Dr. F. "At last, it's finally time!" He laughed maniacly. "NOW!" He punched a button on the control panel, slamming it with all of his might. Almost instantaneously it caused a huge jolt of energy to fly from the gun, moving so quick it was almost impossible to see it. It impacted with Sally, forcing her small body to jerk upwards as it surrounded her. She remained like this for a moment, suspended in air as she was covered in a purple light. Then slowly it faded, her body lowering itself slowly to the table. The machine died away and all was silent in the lab. Neither Igor nor the doctor moved, wondering what would happen next.



*****