Frankenstein

CHAPTER 16: The Accusation

I woke up the next morning still angry with myself and with the monster. I left the cottage and spent the morning walking around like a ghost. I was far away from everything and everyone I loved. I sat on the beach for many hours. I was cold, wet, and hungry. Nothing could wake me from my walking sleep. Nothing, that is, except a visit from a man who brought me a stack of letters.

There were letters from my father and Elizabeth, but I was too sad to open these. There was also a letter from henry. The sight of his familiar handwriting made me fell a bit better, and I opened the letter. It was full of funny stories about his trip. He told me about how much fun life was in Scotland. He also wrote about how well his plans to travel to India were coming together. He had gotten a letter from a friend in London, who wroe that he needed to get back there as soon as possible.

"Victor," he said in the letter, "I have to leave Scotland today. I know we were supposed to meet each other in Edinburgh, but why don't  you travel to London instead?"

There was nothing keeping me in the Orkneys now. There was only the pain and regret of making so many mistakes. There was so much for me to do before I could go home. The first thing I had to do was clean up my last, unfinished experiment.

I started packing early the next morning. By late afternoon, I had only one thing left to do. I had to pack up the laboratory. I gathered up all of my courage and opened the door. There were bits and pieces of my work spread out everywhere. This was the evidence of my broken promise.

First, I cleaned and put away my instruments. Then I took the poor creature outside. I sadi a quick prayer and burried her behind the cottage. The day had turned to night by the time I was finished. It would have been safer to wait until morning to cross the ocean in my boat. But my mind was made up to leave the island that everyday, so that's what I did.

The dark sky was cloudy and I couldn't see the moon. There was little difference between the ocean and the sky. It was all black. The stars were hidden. For the second time in my life, I was afraid of the dark. I packed my things to the small sailboat and pushed off into the open water. The waves soon rose, and it was hard to sail. The wind blew strongly in the wrong direction. I found myself being carried out to sea. Several hours passed in the way. the more I tried to control the boat, the more it sailed off in the wrong direction.

As night turned into day, the wind calmed down. A gentle breeze now hit the sails. I was finally able to turned to boat back on the right course. The boat slowly found its way back to shore. I was happy to see a little town with a good harbor in the distance.

I was tying the boat up and taking down the sails when a crowd of people gathered around me. They whispered and pointed, ,making me uncomfortable.

"Hello," I said calmly, "would someone please tell me where I am? What's the name of this town?"

A man with a deep and threatening voice answered, "You will know soon enough! You may have landed somewhere you won't like. You will soon be shown where you'll be staying!"

I was very confused by his answered. It wasn't like strangers to be so rude.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"You are a criminal!" he replied. "We don't want you here."

"What are you talking about? Please, I've been on the water all night, battling with bad winds. You must have me confused with someone else."

"We'll see about that!" he said gruffly. "you've got to go to see Mr.Kirwin, the judge. You can tell your story to him."

"Why do I need to see a judge? I haven't done anything wrong!" I said.