All was quiet in the Frankenstein household as the morning's sunlight filtered through the curtains. The only audible noises were the soft chirping of the native songbirds, the gentle movement of the leaves in the gentle morning breeze, and the occasional rustling of Edward and Susan's comforter when one occasionally shifted in their peaceful sleep. For the first time in months, things finally seemed truly peaceful and quiet.
And then came the dreaded alarm clock.
"Five more minutes..." Edward tiredly muttered as he made several somewhat lazy attempts to hit the snooze button. After about 10 misses, give or take, he thought he finaly got it when the beeping stopped. But just as it seemed his sleep would resume a little while longer, the alarm seemed to decide it would first.
"Come on, it's the weekend for crying out loud!" Edward tiredly exclaimed, his voice barely louder than last time, reaching for the alarm again. "Can't a guy get five more minutes every once in a while?"
"Edward," Susan, now half awake herself, groggily said as she lifted her sleep mask, "what are you doing? It's still early."
"I know sweetie, that's why I'm trying to hit the snooze on this alarm clock. Who's idea was it to get this anyway?"
"Okay, first of all," Susan started, a smile now on her face despite the early wake up, "it way your idea to get the alarm clock so you wouldn't be late to work. Second of all, you not only knocked the clock off the nightstand, but you also unplugged it."
"Oh," Edward replied, a slight blush of embarrassment in his cheeks, "Then where is that beeping coming from?"
"Must be from a construction truck fixing the damage from Dutch Day." Susan stated with a yawn, lying back down as she slipped her sleepmask back on, "They've been passing by our street almost every other week."
"As long as there's an excuse for sleeping in." Edward tiredly responded, falling back on his pillow, trying to close his eyes.
Safe to say the morning was far from peaceful now. The previously singing songbirds were likely scared away by whatever was making the beeping, and the rustling of the comfortor seemed to increase ten fold as both husband and wife tried to enter some form of rest again. Any form of quiet would do at this point.
So of course the morning got a whole lot louder.
"Easy, Sparky! We at least have to tell mom and dad!" Victor shouted, audible from the other end of the hall as he ran to his parents' room with the family dog.
"Sweetie, you know I love our son, but why does he have to be a morning person?"
"Your guess is as good as mine, Edward."
"Mom, dad, wake up!" Victor shouted, now knocking on the door.
"Victor, its only seven o' clock on a Saturday. Go back to bed." Susan managed to say.
"But a movimg truck just pulled up across the street, and now Sparky really wants to meet the new neighbors!"
"Can't it wait a few more minutes, champ?" Edward groggily asked, only half aware of what his son said.
"Don't you remember the last time Sparky was this hyper and we waited 'a few more minutes?'"
"And we're up!" Edward stated, now more awake than he's been all morning so far, which isn't saying much.
"Easy, Sparky! Come on!" Victor managed alongside all the laughter, trying to get the now hyper dog to follow him out to the backyard.
Edward couldn't help but look through the curtains at the moving truck across the street as he put on his coat. "So that's where the beeping was coming from," he muttered to himself, "You were at least half-right, Susan."
"I'm just hoping you-know-who," Susan said, subtly gesturing to next door, "doesn't put the new neighbors under too much scrutiny. He's already been on edge for quite a while, and the last thing anyone needs is for him to take it out on someone."
"Come on, Susan. Robert's honnestly a very bad guy, I'll admit, but he wouldn't go that far. At least not with the condition of his reputation after... the incident." Edward reassured, trying to not ruin the morning so early with such a touchy subject, "If you ask me, he's probably too focused on fixing that to care about someone new moving in."
"Uh, might want to think again, dad."
"Why would you say- of course he is."
Looking out the window again, Edward soon realized he might have just jinxed any chance of a peaceful first day in New Holland for whoever was now across the street. Why would he think that? Simple, the mayor was currently walking over, and he clearly was not in much of a welcoming mood.
Susan, curious about what her husband and son were looking at, sighed a little as she saw what was going on. "We should probably start heading over before things get too out of hand."
"Victor, did you get Sparky outside?"
"I finally got him through the door a few minutes ago."
"Alright then, let's head over before Mr. Bergermeister ruins the morning for whoever just moved in."
And as they walked out the door, both Edward and Susan knew one thing: this morning was going to be tense.
The cool early morning air nipped the Frankensteins as they walked across the street. The sun was barely risen fully in the sky, but still able to give enough light for any early risers to see as the sky was painted hues of red and orange. The house they were walking over to was bigger than most of the other houses on the street, but not by much. It actually wasn't too unlike the Frankensteins' own home: two floors plus an attic, an off white paint on the walls contrasted by a brown roof, and a backyard fenced off with a white picket fence. The only real differences was that there was no garage, and that there was a small porch, currently slightly cluttered with boxes.
The mayor was already standing on that porch as the Frankensteins got close, and had just rung the doorbell.
"Hoping to meet the new family, Robert?" Edward asked, a slight edge to his voice from the tension that mounted between the two over the last few months.
"I'm just... making sure they're settling in well." the mayor resopnded, barely looking at Edward.
"Are you sure there's-" Edward began, cutting himself off as the sound of the door being unlocked became audible, followed by the image of the new resident. She was relatively tall, having a few inches on even Edward. Her hair was a dark ebony, contrasted by red and orange streaks and slightly messy. She wore a red t-shirt, black shorts, and what appeared to be cosplay fox ears with a long tail that dragged on the ground slightly to match. The way she stood in the doorway gave off a deeply casual tone.
"Morning." the girl said, her voice matching her stance, "Let me guess, you're here to welcome 'the new girl who just moved in', right?"
"Yes, actually." Susan answered, a little surprised, "I'm Susan Frankenstein. This is my husband Edward, and our son Victor."
"I'm Robert Bergermeister, the mayor of this fine town." the mayor followed, extending his hand, "And you are?"
"Lily Vermillion Vulpes," the girl stated as she quickly but calmly shook the mayor's hand, "but everyone where I'm from called me Vixie."
"So what brings you to New Holland?" Edward asked, "It's been a while since we last had someone vacation here, much less move in."
"I just needed a change of scenery, and New Holland seemed perfect for me."
"Where are you from, anyway?" Victor asked, curious about the new neighbor.
"Oh- I- uh..." Lily studdered, her once casual tone quickly replaced by a heavily implied anxiety, "I don't talk about it."
"Don't talk about-"
"Victor!" Susan said, gently nudging her son a bit as she gave him a serious look, "Sorry, he's always been the curious type."
Lily gave a forgiving expression as she leaned against the doorframe, trying to appear calm again. "No, no, it's okay. I'm new in town, so boundaries need to be set. Victor didn't know, so just let it slide this time."
"Alright then, we'll let you get back to unpacking. Unless you need help with anything." Robert stated, clearly trying to get on Lily's good side.
"Nah, I'm good. Most of the stuff I have is relatively light, so it's not too hard to lift."
And with that, the Frankensteins and the mayor walked back to their houses, the brisk nip of the morning air still present. Lily had gone back to unpacking, taking a few more boxes into her house. After a hectic wake up call, it seemed the morning would finally, at last, be quiet. Until...
"Oh by the way, mayor Bergermeister, was it?" Lily shouted from across the street, making both Robert and Victor's parents turn around, "I just wanted to let you know that I already know about Dutch Day, and wanted to let you know that you're doing a terrible job of hiding how incompetent of a politician you are!"
The mayor didn't say anything, bit it was clear that was mainly because he was holding back words he knew he shouldn't say aloud. His anger was still very much clear despite this. Even as he walked into his home, his face red with anger, Lily's words lingered in a way no one else's did since Mr. Rzykruski's speech at the last PTA meeting. And just like after that speech, Edward and Susan could only give worried looks to each other.
"And now there's two of them." Susan muttered, clearly worried for a number of reasons.
"That poor kid's going to get eaten alive." Edward followed as he turned back to the door.
Author's note: Hope this chapter was okay! I'm still working on how to do OC introductions, this chapter being my second one (my first one, of course, being with Nightshade in my Corpse Bride fanfic Fluttering Hearts), so feel free to give your input and criticisms. Just no flames, the only good flames are the ones you can roast marshmallows on. I also want to clear up a few things early on:
1: While I'm aware that the setting of Frankenweenie is based on the 1950s, I also found out that the time period of the film was kept purposefully ambiguous while researching for this fanfic. It is mentioned durring the PTA meeting scene that pluto was re-classified as a dwarf planet, which happened in 2006, so this fanfic will take place in the 21st century. Just wanted to make this known ahead of time to avoid confusion later on.
2. For how much time has passed between the events of the film and this fanfiction, I decided to have the prologue take place a month after the film, and have this chapter be three months after. As for the specific time frame, I decided to go based off of the film's release in October, so the story officially starts in January, with Susan and Edward having the nightmare from the prologue in November.
3. I am aware that Elsa referred to the mayor as "Uncle Bob" in the film, but for the sake of this story, Bob will just be a nickname, his actual name being Robert to differentiate from his son if the two ever appear in a later chapter together.