The Forgotten Creation, page 7
Stitch Head smiled and began to retreat into the darkness, but as he did so, he kicked the small red potion bottle, which lay empty upon the ground. It skittered and clinked along the floor. Stitch Head froze. The professor looked down—and right at him! Stitch Head held his breath, but after a few seconds, the professor reached down to the bottle and picked it up.
“Shake ‘n’ Wake,” he said, reading the bottle. “Hmm…I don’t remember adding any of that. Genius! I must be even better than I thought! Either that or I’m going mad.”
Stitch Head sighed. Everything had changed, but some things, it seemed, never would. He turned away and headed toward the door.
“Stitch Head?” whispered a voice.
Stitch Head froze again. It couldn’t be…. The professor’s voice! Was he hearing things? He slowly turned around. Professor Erasmus peered at his first creation as if he were searching for some long-lost memory.
“Stitch Head,” he said again. “I called you Stitch Head.”
He remembered…. He remembered!
Stitch Head brimmed with almost-life. It was as if all the sadness he had ever felt had been suddenly banished into the dark corners of Grotteskew, and a great weight had lifted from his tiny shoulders. He felt as light as air, as if he might float up into the rafters.
“Yes, master,” he whispered. “You called me Stitch Head.”
Then, a scant moment later, the professor cried, “Okay! On to the next experiment!” and immediately began rummaging through a half-open drawer. “Yes, yes! THIS will be my greatest creation ever!”
Still, Stitch Head smiled. It was enough, for the moment, that the professor remembered him at all.
Epilogue
UNFORGETTABLE
(Stitch Head chooses almost-life)
Mad Musing No. 1
“You never forget
first creation.”
From The Diary of
Erasmus Erasmus, Age 10
Stitch Head and Arabella talked for the rest of the night about monsters, creatures, mad things! Although he still thought she was distractingly scary, he couldn’t help but like her. She even helped him give a calming tonic to the professor’s newest monster…but only after it had chased Fulbert Freakfinder out of the castle. The bewildered beast quickly made friends with the other creations in the castle, and by chance, decided to call itself “Fulbert.”
What’s more, Arabella refused to return to Grubbers Nubbin until the Creature had returned home, which it did, with the first light of sunrise.
“That was FUN!” cried the Creature, sitting down beside them. “One minute I was all, ‘Oh, NO! TOWNSFOLK!’ And then I was like, ‘GRAAAOWOoOO! I’m a MONSTER!’ What a night…. Plus, I DEFINITELY didn’t EAT anyone!”
“Glad to hear it!” chuckled Arabella.
As the sun crept through the cracks of Castle Grotteskew, Stitch Head, Arabella, and the Creature climbed up to the rafters above the professor’s laboratory and watched as Erasmus began work on yet another creation.
“Suppose I’d better get back to Grubbers Nubbin,” said Arabella. “Grandma will probably be wondering where I am—I ain’t been missing for this long since I tried to join the army.”
“Come and visit ANYTIME!” said the Creature. “We make quite a TEAM, right? BESTEST friends FOREVER!”
“Friends…,” repeated Stitch Head. He looked down at the professor and remembered the years he had spent watching from a distance. Perhaps, he thought, he had spent long enough as a ghost. Perhaps it was time to try living. Or at least, almost-living.
“That—that sounds nice,” he said.
“What a bunch of girls! We should be out there trying to find Fatfinder to smash his face off, not sitting here getting all cuddly! Still, at least you both are completely bonkers. I like mad things. The madder, the better.”
“GREAT!” cried the Creature. “So, what should we do NOW? Wait, I know, let’s play cowboys! No, wait—let’s play hide-and-seek! No, wait—let’s find me a NAME! What do you think? Bob? Brian? Benjamin? Benedict? Balthazar? Bill? Boris? Bertie? Badger?”
Stitch Head and Arabella began to giggle as the Creature knocked on its own head, hoping to loosen more names from its brain.
This is the almost-life, thought Stitch Head. He no longer knew what the future held for him, but one thing was for sure….
It was going to be unforgettable.
Guy Bass, The Forgotten Creation
