Victor impatiently waited for the clock to claim that it was two. That meant the end of his lessons for the day. He shifted in his chair, drummed his fingers on his desk, tugged on his hair, something besides sitting still. He was too eager to get to his room to just quietly sit in his seat and concentrate on the lesson. He was told more than twice to stop fidgeting, though he wouldn't last more than half a minute before he heard the sound of his nails repeatedly hitting his wooden desk again. Watching the big hand on the clock slowly move was making him want to just get up and walk out of the room with every tick.
He glanced up at the clock again for what may have been the third hundredth time.
One more minute, he thought, his heart starting to race as he saw the big hand count down the seconds till the end of the lesson.
Then at last, the clock chimed.
Victor leaped out of his chair and shot out of the room before his tutor could say another word. He ran upstairs to the attic to start his experiment.
He looked around the room and decided he didn't have enough of the stuff he needed, so he searched the house of anything usable. When he was satisfied with his supplies, he started preparing for what would take place that night.
Then something dawned on him. What if there was no storm tonight? How much longer would he have to wait to give his idea a try? He knew it wouldn't be long for a storm to come if one didn't happen tonight, but he wasn't sure if he could wait till then. He just had to hope and pray that one did happen tonight.
After the attic was set up, he pondered about what to do. It had only taken him about two hours to get everything ready, and there was about another two hours till he was sure it was safe to sneak out and go get…the body.
He shuddered at the thought. Digging up Sparky's grave…
But he knew he had to try. If it meant the possibility of bringing his best friend back, he'd do it.
He went over his plan, and made sure everything was in order about twenty times to pass the two hours before the sun was totally set.
And then it was time.
Surprisingly, it was a lot easier than he had thought to sneak out. His mother was always scared to go outside after the sun set. He never knew why. She just always said, "You never know what could happen at night…" like there was some horrible experience she had he didn't know about. Then again, his mother didn't tell him lots of things.
It took him a while to find the way to the town's entrance. He didn't know much of the town since he didn't go outside much. He didn't like all the people being afraid to go at least twenty feet near him. The glares…some people refused to look at him entirely.
He never would know or understand their reason of ostracizing him. People treated him like he was a monster or something. He remembered one time the Town Crier had actually warned people that he was 'out and about' and that they should 'be on their guard'.
He had pretty much avoided going outside much after that and when he did he tried to get by without being seen by the Town Crier.
He stopped in front of the Pet Cemetery and glanced around to make sure no one saw him going in. People were scared enough of him as it is. Them seeing him going into a cemetery didn't seem like it would help the cause.
Relief flooded him when he saw no one around. He slipped into the cemetery, nap sack in hand and shovel on his shoulder.
Sparky's grave was easy to spot. He made another quick glance around to make sure no one was watching him. He didn't know why he was so paranoid. No one came outside at night. They were all afraid to death just like his mother was. Victor wouldn't ever be able to figure out the people in this town. The night was very pretty. Why were they so scared of it? Victor liked that his father agreed on the matter. Father was always going on nightly walks. Something his mother frowned upon, but Victor was glad he and his father had so much in common. It made him feel less weird.
Victor reached Sparky's grave and dropped the nap sack beside it. This was it. This either would work or it wouldn't. He took a deep breath, thrust the shovel into the dirt, and started digging.
It didn't take him long to reach the little box Sparky's corpse was in. He stared at the box nervously. It took him a while to muster up the courage to open the box, but when he did it wasn't so bad. He was still Sparky. He was just dead now…
More things to add to his list of 'Things that make Victor Van Dort Jr. a freak'. Corpses didn't bother him and he was willing to dig up graves.
Wouldn't Mother be proud, Victor thought to himself sarcastically.
He picked up Sparky out of the box and put him into the sack. He then reburied the box and covered up his tracks so no one would know he had been there.
He slung the heavy sack that contained Sparky's dead body over his shoulder and started making his way home.
He had almost cried out in joy when it had started raining on the way home.
Sneaking past his parents had been quite scary. He had almost gotten caught. But he had made it up to the attic without running into them.
He did have to patch and sew Sparky up in a few places. It was kind of scared him that he was so calm while doing this, but then again he did love Sparky, so it shouldn't matter, right?
Now he was searching threw a bucket of various things like, nails, screws…
His face lit up as his hand clasped two large bolts. Perfect.
He inserted them into Sparky's neck and then he heard the first clap of thunder. He looked up to see lightning streaking across the sky. It was almost time.
He looked around again to make sure everything was in place before releasing two kites and an umbrella out of the door in the roof he had created. He hoped he wasn't drawing attention to the house. He climbed back down the latter to Sparky and then triple checked his notes. Electricity sparked throughout the room.
Victor walked over to an over turned bike, grabbed one of the pedals, and started turning it counter clockwise. Bolts coursed through its wheels.
His heart started beating faster as he walked back toward Sparky. He looked down at his lifeless best friend and felt his eyes start to tear up. He wiped the tears away before they could fall, and attached the platform Sparky rested on to the chains that would raise Sparky up into the lightning above.
"I love you, boy…," he said softly, and then started pulling on the chain, rising Sparky into the night sky.
His heart raced even faster as he waited for lightning to hit. This was it. The time to find out if he would get his best friend back…or if he was just an idiot.
He held his breath, waiting.
A lightning bolt shot out of the sky, hit the umbrella and the kites, and raced down the lines toward Sparky. A bunch of lightning surged around the platform, sending sparks down on him.
Victor grabbed the chains and cranked down the platform. He unattached the platform from the chains, snatched up a stethoscope, and shoved the pieces into his ears. He moved the chest piece on different places of Sparky, but all he heard was dreadful silence.
He straightened himself and removed the ear tips. He stared sadly at Sparky, as tears started to run down his face.
"I'm sorry, boy," he mumbled, resting his head on his best friend's corpse.
Then…he felt it. Something that was all too familiar…
Sparky was licking his hand.
He quickly drew back to see if it was true. Sparky was wagging his tail furiously and sat up, the blanket slowly revealing his head.
"You're- You're alive!" Victor exclaimed amazed.
Sparky barked happily and pounced onto Victor. They fell to the floor and Sparky showered him with kisses. Victor looked at his little companion, more joy in his heart than he had ever had before, and stroked his fur.
Sparky was so happy to see Victor, his tail was wagging a mile a minute. So fast that it flew off and landed in a bucket across the room with clang.
"I can fix that," Victor said smiling, before giving Sparky another tight hug.