Not sure if I'm happy with this one, a bit disjointed, no? But then, just like I imagine life in the Frankenstein place! Let me know what you think...All of this belongs to Ritzy, especially the dialogue, I'm just having fun blowing stuff up;) Thanks for any reviews & alerts, you guys rock! I'm currently working on Janet… erm chapter 5 of "give yourself over", hope I'll have it finished tomorrow…
Science and Fiction
When Columbia moved into the 'Frankenstein place', she considered it the next step in her unconventional relationship with Frank. Her daydreams were filled with lovely breakfasts in bed, cuddling on the sofa and joined bubble baths... Reality, however, proved to be much different. Frank was a true scientist as she always imagined them, driven, dedicated to his craft… working all the time. Lately, literally all the time... Often now, when she talked to him about her day or her worries, his face got a faraway expression, drifting lightyears from her… sometimes he would get up in the middle of her sentence, grabbing wordlessly the next piece of paper in reach and manically scribbling foreign signs and calculations on it. Columbia forgave him easily though… he was a genius after all, her beloved genius boyfriend.
Riffraff always worked with him, stoically, his quiet shadow. While Frank's moods could change wildly from triumphal to over to angry and frustrated, Riffraff balanced his chaos with order and persistence. They'd spend days holed up in the upper levels of the house, Frank arguing loudly, Riffraff's quiet replies barely audible, bickering like an old married couple about molecular connections and chemical basepairs. She was bored mindless then, but she knew better than to go and join them upstairs. Instead, she started to spend more time with Magenta, trying to get to know her better. At first, she was intimidated and frankly a bit scared of quiet siblings. They'd often exchange secretive, loaded glances at random things Columbia would say… or ignoring her altogether, making her feel uneasy and unwelcome.
That changed after a particular loud bang that resonated through the entire house, making the old ceilings shake and spreading fumes and a burnt smell. The girls both hid under the kitchen table, coughing, waiting on the old walls to stop creaking and raining dust. Columbia screeched, scared out of her mind that they were about to blow the house up and all die, realizing even Magenta seemed mildly concerned, watching the creaks in the walls wearily through her dust-covered red locks. When the noise settled and the old chandeliers slowly stopped swinging, Magenta suddenly looked at Columbia as if she'd really seen her for the first time and told her that it might be safer for her if she left the house altogether. Surprised, she shook her head and asked in return what it was they were working so hard on that required such dangerous experiments. She really did want to be a part of this, although she felt like being left in the dark on a lot of stuff that was going on in the Frankenstein place. Magenta regarded her for a long moment, as if debating not answering at all, indecisive. Columbia wanted nothing more badly than to understand their story, their strange household she had gotten into and returned her glance pleadingly, making the strange quiet woman end up sighing, whispering that they were researching the magnificent secrets to the root of life itself. Somehow bitterly, she added that both were considered quite skilled at what they did, Frank's imagination and Riffraff's diligence a fruitful combination, although Frank unjustly claimed any success as his own. After surviving that day, Magenta opened up more to Columbia and some sort of friendship started to form between the girls.
If Frank was not busy in his lab, he was reading all the time, not just scientific volumes but all kinds of random literature. Novels, theatre plays, poems, legal texts, philosophical or religious studies… he made no distinction or explained his choice of reading material to her, showing no pattern in his current fascinations. Sometimes he would bring books to the dinner table and read aloud random passages to all them, on lengthy historical stuff or social manners or Grimm's Snow White, nothing Columbia couldn't relate to his scientific work. He did have a velvet voice though, his rumbling baritone making even the driest material worth listening to during their meals. Once he came across a particular boring passage of the newest findings on research of outer space that would have Columbia dozed off into a comatose state had someone else read it to her. She briefly wondered what had provoked his interest into that particular subject when Magenta abruptly got up, her chair falling over and shooting Frank a nothing but hateful glance over the table. He stared silently back to her, his lips pressed into thin line, his eyes narrowing and willing her to sit back down. Columbia looked helplessly from one to the other as if she was sitting in a tennis match, trying to think about something to say to lighten up the awkward moment, but Magenta brusquely left the room, Riffraff on her heels with a stony expression. She wanted to follow them, but saw Frank's icy look and stayed at the table, unhappily torn between the man she loved and the woman she started to consider a friend.
Another night, Frank brought a Bible to the table and started reading the creation myth, reciting the snake's seduction of eve with an apple in a particular dramatic voice, which prompted Magenta's hysteric laughter and making even Riffraff smirk slightly.
"Magenta… Columbia… Riffraff!"
They all three looked at him expectedly, Columbia more puzzled than anything at his weird antics.
"Tonight you are to witness a breakthrough in our research…paradise is to be mine."
Riffraff looked slightly disgusted at this, his shaky smirk vanishing, but Frank ignored him and continued "It was strange the way it happened…Suddenly you get a break… whole pieces start to fit into place… The answer was there all the time.That elusive ingredient, that SPARK…"
Startled, Columbia nearly choked on her food when he suddenly closed the heavy volume with a loud smack.
"…that is the breath of life…"
He trailed of dramatically, enjoying the now undivided attention of the three. Even though Columbia had no idea what he was talking about or what religion had to do with his mysterious research, she sent him a warm, encouraging smile to prompt him to continue and explain.
He shot her a brilliant smile back, grabbing the Bible for emphasis with both hands.
"You are all quite fortunate to witness the next step in my research…"
He shook the Bible as if it carried all the answers …even Riffraff stared at him confused now.
"You are fortunate for tonight is the night that I decided to become a priest and you all are going to assist me."