7
Edward stared up at the strange girl in his home, shaking like a leaf and cowering like a child. The shadows which danced upon his ghostly face made him appear elusive and sinister.
But this was simply another deception. Edward was harmless. Even Greta, who had only been given a few short moments to know him, could see this plainly.
After a long moment of paralyzing silence, Edward, at last, gave a small nod of his head in response to her question. Though he stared up at Greta with deep uncertainty, as though afraid she might attack him.
Greta moved slowly and cautiously towards the leather creature in front of her, fearing the same of him.
Turning the book around in her hands so that the pages now faced Edward, she pointed to one of the sketches within it.
"This. This is you?" Greta clarified again, just for good measure.
Edward inspected the drawing carefully, finding that it showed a perfect resemblance to himself. He slowly nodded again.
"Yes…" He answered quietly.
Upon seeing his response, a slow smile of understanding crept upon Greta's face as she found that she was no longer afraid of Edward, but rather…. fascinated beyond belief by his very existence.
"Oh my god…" She exclaimed slowly in astonishment and placed the book down in front of her.
"He did it…. he actually did it!" She exclaimed in excitement. Her loud voice echoed across the chamber for many moments before receding back into silence. Edward was reassured by her smile but remained the smallest bit frightened by the loud sounds she made.
What untold knowledge it must have taken to create life itself, she could only wonder. But she had time to find out. And was fiercely excited at the prospect of learning her ancestor's secrets.
Greta had so many questions for Edward. But upon observing how shy he was in her presence, she thought it best to ask them slowly, so as not to overwhelm him.
"How…how long have you been here?" She asked curiously, now kneeling down in front of the unfinished man, staring intently at him.
Regrettably, Edward had no idea. There were no clocks or calendars in the Castle. If his creator had had some way to tell the time, he would not know of it.
"I…I don't know…" He responded truthfully.
Greta took a good, long look at Edward's face, inspecting every detail and amazed at how utterly life-like he was. No one would ever suspect that he was artificial. Edward watched her gawk at him with wide and confused eyes.
Based on how gaunt looking his face was and upon observing the many scars and scratches which adorned the young man's visage, Greta guessed that Edward had been in this castle for at least a few decades, perhaps longer.
This inevitably led her to her next question.
"Are you here...all by yourself?" She asked. There was a slight sadness in her voice as if she already knew the answer.
Edward nodded slowly.
Greta sighed deeply.
"So, he is dead after all." She surmised with a slow nod of her own. Her bright gaze traveled away from Edward in a moment of deep reflection.
She hadn't really expected her great-uncle to still be alive. In fact, she knew he couldn't be from the state of his laboratory and all of the machines which had clearly not been so used in a long time.
But it was a dismal thing to imagine, her great-uncle dying in this castle, far above the town and all alone.
Well, not entirely alone.
Greta looked at Edward. She wanted to be sympathetic to him, but she also wanted as much information out of him as she could get. She had come all this way for a purpose, after all.
"…. how did he die?" She asked.
It took Edward a moment to realize who exactly she was referring to. He had been living in this castle by himself for so long, after all, he often forgot that someone else had once occupied it.
It was so long ago, but Edward did his best to remember. While the memory was far away from him, it had left him a very different man.
His creator had never really taught him about death.
All Edward knew was that people could be hurt, but also that when people closed their eyes and laid very still, that meant they were asleep.
It was only temporary, though. Sleep was not the end. They always woke up eventually.
Except his father didn't wake up.
Edward said nothing and simply downcast his gaze to the floor while Greta looked at him in sympathy. She felt a twinge of regret upon asking the question, as she was sure the memory must have been painful for Edward to re-live.
The absence of his father was felt during every moment of Edward's life. The Inventor, who had spent so much of his time with his creation, teaching him all he knew and putting him together piece by piece, was now suddenly gone. And with him, he took something away that Edward knew he could never get back.
"I…I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked." Greta mumbled apologetically.
She carefully reached out to Edward. And being mindful of the blades at the end of his arms, took him gently by the wrists and helped him up to his feet. He stood just a little taller than her and yet he seemed so much like a little boy. He looked at her with a gaze of perpetual fright, having not quite disposed himself of the shock of their first meeting. Greta tried to give him a reassuring smile.
"Don't be afraid. I'm not going to hurt you. In fact…I'm so glad I found you."
Edward gave her a puzzled look, though the tension in his body was finally beginning to disappear.
"Who…are you?" He asked quietly.
"I'm Greta." She replied and instinctively shot out her hand for him to shake only to quickly pull it back in realization. She glanced awkwardly at the floor for a moment before reaching down to retrieve the old Inventor's book.
The two sat at the bottom of the winding staircase in the foyer. There was no sound, save for the occasional scratching of rodents in the far corners of the Castle.
As Edward began to daydream about the past once more, Greta was continuing to read the Inventor's book, tracing her hands carefully over every page, studying each note with intense interest. The discovery of such fascinating research compelled her to break the unnerving silence.
"This work is just…. brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. I can't believe he figured all of this out by himself." She said out loud, more to herself than to Edward. Of course, she didn't object to him listening.
Edward was pulled back to the present by her words and curiously looked over at her.
"You knew him?" He asked curiously.
It was with great difficulty that Greta tore her eyes away from the book. But when she did, she slowly nodded.
"In a way…. yes. I'm…. I'm a distant relative of his." She explained. Edward watched her in close attention, silently asking her to continue.
Greta shut the book quietly and sighed.
Edward deserved a better explanation than that, though she wondered how she could even begin.
"I'm his great-niece.…but my family never talks about him. There are no pictures. No records. I don't even know his name…." She explained with a sad little laugh.
"The only reason I know he ever existed…was because I heard my parents talking one night when they thought I was asleep." Greta explained.
"I heard my dad whispering to my mom. He was talking about his Uncle who had run off a long time ago during the night, taking everything, he had with him. He said that after that night, his entire family disowned him and they never spoke about him again. Not even to say his name. All of this happened before I was even born…" She added while picking and scratching at her nails in thought.
"It took a while, but eventually I convinced my father to tell me something, anything about him. The only thing he said was that the very last thing anyone ever heard about him…. was that he was living in a Castle on a hill in the Suburbs somewhere." Greta explained.
"…. I've been looking for it ever since…." She said. "…so here I am." She added with a small gesture of her hands.
Edward blinked in fascination.
"What about your parents?" He asked naively. Greta gave her head a shake with a small scoff.
"They don't even know I'm here. As far as they know, I'm still studying at school." She explained bluntly.
"They…. they just wouldn't understand," Greta said, gently resting her forehead on her hand with a small sigh of frustration.
"Why?" Edward asked gently as he examined the bitterness that was swirling in her eyes. Greta looked at him as though the thought of the answer was paining her somehow.
"Because every single person in my family has never known what it's like to earn something." She replied, no longer caring to hide the bitterness in her voice.
"They've had wealth handed to them from birth. They've used it to make names for themselves in business or in law. But there's no passion in their work. No love for anything that they do. It's all so mechanical. They're so…well…" She tried to explain, her mind racing to cling to the right word.
"…. just like everyone else?" Edward asked.
Greta looked at him with a surprised glance.
"…. yes." She replied. He was absolutely right.
"You're so lucky to live here. There's no one here to force you into a career. No one is betting their whole retirement on the odds that you'll become rich and successful, just like them and their parents before you. It's a pattern, Edward… a cruel, vicious cycle. I wanted out of it." She explained, gesturing erratically with her hands for emphasis.
"…then I heard about my great-uncle. I couldn't believe it at first…but, now…seeing this place…. reading his work….I know he was different from everyone else in my family. He was an engineer….I suppose. An Inventor of sorts. And a brilliant one, too. I mean…. just look at all of this!" She exclaimed, her voice climbing to an echo as she gestured to all of the silent machines in the main hall.
"…and look at you, Edward." She said softly, turning to him.
"…. you were his greatest work, I bet." She continued, studying the artificial man before her with a smile.
A faint touch of red threatened to take over the pale canvas of Edward's gaunt features. Instinctively, he avoided Greta's gaze with a shy countenance.
"Th…thank you," Edward muttered bashfully with a faint smile.
Greta looked warmly at him, finding that the more time passed, the more she grew accustomed to his strange appearance. She was hardly frightened by him anymore.
"My…my family wants me to go to law school. But….I always wanted to be engineer….even before I knew about any of this."
"…. that's why you're here?" Edward asked politely. Greta nodded her head.
"It….it gives me hope…you know?" She admitted, feeling some tears beginning to form within her eyes.
"….it makes me think…. that maybe just a little bit of his brilliance…is inside of me. And that maybe…if I work hard…. I can make beautiful things too. Just like he did." She said with a faint smile and hurriedly wiped a tear away that had fallen down onto her cheek.
"I just had to see if it was true. I had to see if it was real." She explained, suddenly finding that the emotions of the discovery were finally catching up to her.
"I…I think I'll be okay…now that I know that it is."
Edward slowly nodded his head in response. He had rather enjoyed listening to Greta talk. It had been such a long time since he had had company in the Castle.
It was a strange thing, of course, to see someone who was related to his creator. In fact, her eyes were so similar to his, Edward found a comforting sense of familiarity within them.
It made him happy.