CHAPTER FOUR

The Monster

Why do I tell you that I am destroyed, like a dead man? I say it because the power that my knowledge gave me was too much for me, or any man. Men are weak—we are not strong like the gods. I asked myself some questions. I knew how to create life, but what kind of monster should I make? Did I want to create a simple animal monster, or a person like myself?

Soon, my head was full of wild dreams and ideas. I believed that nothing could stop me, and that I could do anything I wanted! Yes, I would build a monster that would be intelligent and wonderful, just like a human being! This monster would know that I had made it, and we would travel the world together. I knew that the monster could not be a normal size. This was because the human body is made up of so many parts. The monster would be extremely big, about eight feet tall. This way, I could put all the body parts together.

In the next months, I found all the things I would need. I took bones from dead bodies, and found animal parts. Then I found whole bodies that I dug up, from the graveyard near the church! It was summer when I began my work on the monster. Night after night, for more than a year, I would not stop my work. I forgot to eat, and slept little. I did not think about my family at all, even though Elizabeth and my father wrote me many letters. I only thought about myself—and the monster. Of course, sometimes I hated what I was doing. But most of the time I truly wanted to finish making the monster. It was winter when I knew my work was almost done. But by this time, I was extremely sick and tired. My body burned with fever. I was terribly thin, nothing but skin and bones. I never spoke to anyone and was always alone. But I did not care about my health. I said to myself, "Once I have made this monster, I will become healthy again, and see my family, and all the other good things!" How wrong I was.

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