Frankenstein Returns

By: Mikiya Fennell

With a flick of the switch, I observed the progress of my scientific experiment with growing excitement
until finally I exclaimed, "At last! It works!"

Suddenly, a man burst through the door and frantically shouted, "No! You must stop!"

“V-victor? Is that you?! Oh, you do not possibly understand what the results of my experiment means.
With this love potion, I have solved heartbreak for all of humanity!”, said Dr. Bellamy Nottoli as she
zoned out looking at the storm brewing outside window.

When Bellamy was 5, she lost her twin sister, Natalia, to childhood leukemia. As a result, Bellamy
devoted her life to finding a cure to all cancers. After years of hiding away from her family and friends,
Bellamy, a now renowned scientist, found the cure to cancer at the ripe age of 18. By 20, cancer was
eradicated from the entire of Western hemisphere. At 23, she met Arlo Nottoli, a brain surgeon, 20
years her junior that secretly practiced sorcery. It was love at first sight. After only 2 weeks, the duo
married. The two were inseparable.

Sadly, on the dark, stormy night of their 10th wedding anniversary, a woman that witnesses described as
looking young or old with each glance you took approached the couple on their way home from a
celebratory dinner.

The woman touched Arlo on the shoulder and instantly he fell. The cloaked woman warned, “If you
dabble in the same sin as he, your day will come too, sweetie.” Bewildered by her words, Bellamy
grabbed Arlo’s lifeless body and screamed, “WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?!”

But, when she looked up, the mysterious woman had vanished.

A few months later, no longer being able to bare the absence of Arlo, Bellamy began to pack up the
house to move to the countryside alone. However, she could not force herself to enter Arlo’s private
den where he said he could study his medical books more peacefully.

After spending another month avoiding it, Bellamy decided it was time to pack up Arlo’s private den.
While stacking his medical books into a box, Bellamy found Arlo’s sorcery book hidden amongst his
notebooks. Shocked that her husband kept his practice of magic from her, she became quickly intrigued.
She noticed a page was folded and flipped to it. To her astonishment, it was a spell for a love potion! In
his notes, she read:
“Bellamy will be mine. To hell, with that crazy wife of mine. I have loved Bellamy from afar for too
long. With this potion in my system, with a single kiss, Bellamy will be mine.”

“Potion successful. Today she fell for me almost instantaneously upon kiss.”

In horror, Bellamy closed the book. Realizing her whole marriage was because of a spell, she began to
sob. However, thinking about the credit she could receive from the science community, Bellamy decided
to create the potion herself with science and magic. How hard could it possibly be?
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Victor Frankenstein screamed in anguish getting Bellamy’s attention, “I DO UNDERSTAND, BELLAMY!”

“Where do you think I have spent all these years, darling? Vacationing? NO. I have spent a decade in
isolation trying to escape the own horrors of my mind that were conceived upon the guilt of all the
deaths that are my fault because of MY creation.”, cautioned Victor Frankenstein.

“YOUR creation could have been saved if you would have created another being for it to love. My potion
is for love and will be perfect”, sneered Dr. Bellamy Nottoli.

“The consequences are not predictable Bellamy! Science, magic, they’re two of the same. Too
dangerous!”, bellowed Victor Frankenstein.

Suddenly, Victor Frankenstein lunged for the laboratory flask containing the potion. Before he could
grasp it, Bellamy grabbed it and ran for the door. Victor Frankenstein pinned her against the wall and
snatched the flask from Bellamy.

“I have no choice Bellamy. I cannot let you give this to the public. Who we love is not up to man to fix.
It’s not natural and will only result in disaster”, with that sentiment Victor Frankenstein dropped the
flask letting it shatter on the ground and walked out of the den closing the door behind him. Moments
later, the room filled with a thick pink gas. The potion reacted to the steel floor in a way that Bellamy
had never seen before. Choking, Bellamy tried to open the door but found it stuck.

Everything faded to black.

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Except for the shattered flask, when she came to everything seemed normal. Bellamy stood up and
dusted herself off. Hesitantly, Bellamy turned the door handle. It opened with ease. Befuddled but
relieved, Bellamy proceeded back up the dark staircase to her bedroom chamber. Sitting on her bed was
a familiar figure.

Bellamy mumbled, “A-arlo? No. It cannot be. NO. I don’t understand.”

Arlo explained, “Bellamy, my love. You never made it out that day. The gas from the potion suffocated
you. The spell it was never mine. I stole it from a witch. The day you fell in love with me, she told me if it
was ever recreated there be consequences. She was the woman that night who killed me. She warned
you Bellamy. She warned you.”

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