The Bloody Bride Of Frankenstein

Into The Night

Thunder brings me back to life, waking me from the fear the steers within my sleep. The white drapes dance in the wind as the open window lets in little droplets of rain. I close the window slowly before recoiling from the boom of thunder and a flash of lighting. Both in which seem to be coming from inside of my house.

I face the door to find it completely open, then my bed to find my husband not there. He tends to work late but not on nights like this. My husband is a scientist for the highest branch of government. His work is undisclosed, his intents secretive. I don't know the things in which he does, as of now, but he was open about it before.

This is allowed since we are isolated from the world. The only contact that is allow at the time is between my husband and his partner. We change our names and our identities. For now, I'm Marilyn Stein, wife of Franklin L. Stein. I've willingly given up everything for my husband, but that's just something you do for the person you love.

I exit the room to search for my husband in the dark. I slightly trip over a wire as I make my way down the stairs. My eyes follow it up the stairs and out of the window I was too afraid to fully close. My gaze goes back to which it came to identify the cables origin.

I take slow steps down the stairs and into the living room. Another cable connects to the house, coming in through the front door, leading to the kitchen. I follow them both there, where they lead to the door disconnecting me from the basement stairs.

Slowly I open the wooden door in an attempt not to startle my husband or distract him from his work. Give or take the fact that I'm not sure if I should be here. This project he hasn't shown me, so I'm sure that it's a secret he's keeping.

I peek through the door and what I see causes me to cover up a gasp. This followed by another roar of thunder has me jerk in a way that fully opens the door. Surprisingly, my husband hears nor sees any of this.

Frank is leaning into a naked brunette with stitches covering her entire body. It's not in a sexual way, he looks as if he's trying to help her.

"Grace?" He asks hopefully while simultaneously ringing a bell in my head. That name sounds familiar. "Gracie, it's me, Benjamin. You're husband." He says going by the name he was given at birth.

Husband? This has to be some misunderstanding. He didn't mean it, he couldn't.

My eyes open wide in shock as a sob threatens to come out. Tears burn my eyes but refuse to spill over, nor will I let them. My hand immediately covers my mouth in an attempt to quiet my cries.

The brunette shakes her head fiercely. "No, no, no, no. No!" She says causing Benjamin to grow quite saddened.

"Grace, please. You're back, I brought you back. For us." He says going in to hug her, but she pushes away.

"No, away. Leave me. Alone!" She forces out in deep groans.

He backs away from her in hurt and anger. "No! Dammit, no!" He scream in the most anger I've ever heard from him. I slowly back away in fear. I never seen anything like this from him. He's always calm and collected. What's gotten into him?

His hands tugs at his hair before he storms away, leaving my field of vision. I sigh at this, not knowing what I should do or whether or not I should help her. There was obviously something between them, something she doesn't want. I would say she will be fine with him, but given his specialties and the information he's been keeping from me, I don't know if my husband -her husband- is someone I can trust.

After a small pause he says, "I have to start over again." in a realizing tone.

Before I can make a decision Benji is putting a blunt object to her head. I cover my mouth with my hand and take an unconscious step back. I slam the door to the horrid sound of him hitting her over and over again.

He curses at the sound of the door slamming. "Marilyn!" He calls to me calmly. "Mary, dear, please, it's not what you think."

I ignore him. I place a chair from the dining room under the door knob so he won't be able to get out. I make a run to his study, the place he keeps the information behind his work.

I push the bookshelf from in front of the safe. I type in the code, 02-12. My birthday. As it opens I quickly grab the box of files and his briefcase. Inside the briefcase is details of his work. The work he titled 'Project Gracelin Hellbeck'.

Within a manila folder is an agreement from the government. 'Using any specimen you want, we allow you to experiment with life and death. This will certainly help us cure "injured" soldier fighting in our most secretive wars. From now until your work is complete, you, your wife, and your partner will be working in a country facility disguised as a home in Alabama. You'll be known as Franklin L. Stein, your wife Marilyn. Come to us in the next twenty-four hours and everything will be ready to go within the next week.'

I push the case away and begin to dig into the box. There I find a newspaper clipping of a Gracelin Hellbeck who had died while fleeing her own wedding. There is a picture of her, with thin lips, a sweet smile, and eyes that color of the afternoon sky. Underneath is a caption that says the picture was taken by Benjamin Fielding, her fiance.

The sound of a firing gun pulls me from the box of pictures and other Gracelin memorabilia. I take everything, all the evidence and all her memories and throw it into the fireplace.

"Marilyn?" He calls from down the stairs. "Marilyn, if you would just calm down we can talk about this."

I slowly exit the room to where the stairwell is. Me and Benjamin make eyes contact for a second before he raises the gun to me. Before he can shot I run. I run into our room and lock the door. I quickly open the window and climb out into the rain.

My silk gown blows in the wind as I climb onto whitened bricks. I climb down the side using nothing but the growing vines. Once my feet hit the ground I run to my car, almost slipping in the process. In my desperate attempt to escape I forgot my keys. Luckily my husband leaves a spare key in his car.

I take a wet rock and throw it into the passenger side window before unlocking the driver door. His engine roars to life and I pull off, driving as quickly as possible as safely as possible. I head to the city, where Bennett is staying. He's my only hope. Benny may be my husband's partner but he might just be my last chance at life.