24 October 2012
As requested, here's the rest of the flash fiction extract (Piece In Progress) from my gothic literature essay:
It lie there before me, seemingly lifeless, the body of this creature of whom I had so sedulously crafted splayed out across a ridged marble table set into the floor. Cold candlelight bathed the room in a dim glow as I watched with bated breath that inert puzzle of a being, anticipating, counting every beat of my monotonous breathing, for its awakening, yet nothing came of my arduous task until the waxing hours of the morn. Its eyelids snapped open as mine snapped shut, and I would have not even been so much as aware of its progress if it had not been for the deafening crescendo that followed soon afterwards. Never before had I heard such a terrible sound in my life, a dreadful confusion of grunts, groans and cracking limbs, amounting to an eruption of inarticulate babbling. Lethargic, it stumbled to its feet and made its way towards me, the pale hands that I had only yesterday so painstakingly selected now grabbing at the air, trying to hold onto the beating of its once mortal heart. A crack of lightning flashed through the sky, illuminating the hideous face of that demonic being, pale skin pulled tight over the sharp motion of arteries beneath the cold jigsaw of mismatched flesh. Its bare chest only just covered the ghostly veins within, pumping blood around that of which I had created, a monster, a creature of the devil. It lumbered towards me, then, and I stumbled back, evading its every attempt to make contact. My heart flew into my throat as I tore my eyes away from that horrific monstrosity and fled towards the cobblestone pathway down towards the village. Its eyes bore into my back as I made my escape and watched my every step as I left behind the life that I had once so diligently forged, for dead.
By the way, this isn't my whole essay, only the flash fiction piece I wrote for Frankenstein's Monster.
Frankenstein's Monster • Opuss № I