Nyctophilia

The Letter

Mary unlocked the house door with a spare key she had. She was in good mood, because she knew that her son would be awake by now, and he would probably be reading that book of classics again, with his lovely blue eyes going through line after line, never stopping. Oh his eyes, she thought, his beautiful eyes. She could not wait to see him again. But a strange silence greeted her as she entered the house. She couldn't hear the fire crackling, nor could she hear her husband, who always seemed to be speaking over the phone to one of his colleagues. But there was no sign of them anywhere. Panic crept inside her.

"Clarice!" she shouted. "Where are Hubert and John?"

Clarice, who had made her way to the kitchen, replied, "I haven't seen them madam! Maybe they have gone for a walk. The weather is quite nice outside."
Mary highly doubted that. She entered the living room, as if she was expecting to find them crouched behind the table, hiding. That's when she saw an envelope, with her name written on it. Guessing it must be a letter from her husband, she picked it up. Hubert always had this habit of leaving her a note explaining where he had gone and what he was doing, instead of directly telling her before. She opened it, knowing that most of it would just be about a new machine he was working on with his friends and that he had take John along with him to teach him a few things and maybe get a taste of the fresh air.

Dear Mary,

I know that by now you would be wondering where I have gone. You might have noticed that John is not there too. Fear not, because he is with me. You needn't worry about his health too, because I bet that the next time you see him, it will be as if he never became sick at all! You'll have you dear John back to normal, just like before. Doctor Lancaster- you remember him, I had introduced him to you when we had gone for that Duke's party- yes, he, told me that he has developed this fantastic operation that will blow everyone's mind away. I don't want you to be alarmed, my sweet, because this is an absolutely new development and I want to tell you about it, because you, as my wife, have the right to know about everything I do. I want you to read patiently, though. This idea may seem outrageous and horrific at first, but I assure you, darling that by the end of this letter you would be as willing as me to try this out.
So, Lancaster, a few weeks ago, told me about this downright absurd idea he had, about bringing the dead back to life. You know that when a person died, his heart stops pumping blood. He said that if we used the correct amount of electricity, we could get the heart to start. There would be few changes but. The heart would need power of its own to work. So, we would have to take out the dead man's heart (by cutting up his body, of course) and mechanize it. The mechanizing part is easy- all we have to do it place the outer covering of the heart (already made before- with metal), join a few wires, place a few gears and put a few pieces here and there. What is difficult is placing the heart inside the body, stitching the body up and giving the right amount of electricity-just right enough to start the heart. Once the heart starts pumping blood to all the parts of the body, the brain starts working automatically and the body comes back to life. The best part about this is that because of the metal around the heart, chemical processes inside the body are affected this removes all traces of disease from the body and prevents more from entering! Isn't that wonderful, my dear? Lancaster, along with me and a few of our other colleagues have worked this operation successfully on animals, but we need a human to confirm our doubts.
This is the part where it pains me to write any further. As you know, our son John is growing weak every day. And it is quite possible that he may have died by now. I'm sorry for lying to you about his getting better, my love, but I had to do it to keep you at peace. But you needn't worry- he will be back. You might have guesses by now what we are about to do. John is dead- and this gives us a perfect opportunity to work on the operation. I'm sure it is going to work, with all the hard work we have put in. By the time you finish reading this letter, the deed will already be done. Again, I'm really sorry to have given you any trouble, dear, but you see, we had to do this. And don't you worry; John is going to be back with us and we will live happily ever after again. I'll get your son back, darling, as soon as possible.

Your Husband,
Hubert.