Season 1, Episode 10

Requiem

Content Warnings:
-9/11 Attacks
-Parental death
-Kidnapping

[Walton's office. Evening.]

VICTOR

The Lavenzas were in finance. I'd be lying if I said that I knew any more details than that. They'd become good friends with my parents over the years, and were ecstatic when they found out that they were expecting their first child. Needless to say, Elliot and I became friends easily and early. They left him with us when they went on a business trip. They were expected home on September 11th, 2001. Elliot was five years old.

VICTOR (Cont.)

Mom and dad were his godparents. Mom was pregnant with Evelynn at the time, and suddenly there was another kid that they were responsible for. But they never made him feel like a burden, or added stress.

Three months later, we started talking to the boy a few blocks away after he stood up for me in school. There were jokes, of course, saying that I was his girlfriend. Usual kids’ teasing. We never minded, of course. We knew the truth, and that was that.

VICTOR (Cont.)

The years passed, we all grew up. In time, Elliot and I started dating. It was kind of weird at first, I’ll admit, since we lived together. But it’s not like he was my cousin or anything. A lot of people at school had assumed that we were related, though, so it did take some explaining. But we were happy. And everything was okay.

Then mom got sick. I was seventeen, I had just gotten accepted to Ingleside University. When we got the news, it was like my world fell apart around me. But I still held onto hope that things would work out. That she would make it through. She had to watch a live stream of my graduation since she couldn’t leave the house. And two days later, she was gone. I pulled away a lot after that. I didn’t want sympathy, or comfort. I only wanted one thing. The impossible.

VICTOR (Cont.)

But what if it wasn’t impossible? What if I could break down the walls that isolate the dead? I’d entertained the idea in the past, but only now did I know that I had to take that next step. To search for the key that would end mankind’s fear of death. Because why should we fear that which is only temporary?

VICTOR (Cont.)

I should have started on animals. But my work was too important to be put off with near useless trials runs. The moment I got to Ingleside, I began studying, trying to determine what I would need. Figuring out the details. And preparing the perfect subject for my experiments. There were plenty of cadavers, and I didn’t lose a moment of sleep over taking what I needed. They’d all donated their bodies to science, after all. I was particular in the selection of body parts. This new form of life had to be perfect, and his large size would make it easier for me to work. This was the first time I was doing it, after all. Soon enough, the weather called for a severe storm, and it was the lightning that would be the literal final spark I would need. I prepared. And I waited. And like God Himself, I watched as my creation began to show signs of animation.

But... it wasn’t the beautiful moment I’d dreamed of. Somehow, it felt… unnatural. Wrong. And I began thinking of every possible way that this could come back to haunt me. Or… almost every way. I felt… something. Something as if it were speaking to me, and I felt myself begin to panic. And in a desperate attempt to be sure that no one would discover what I had done, I did the only thing my mind felt I could do. I rifled through the cabinets, found any flammable material I could. And I left my life’s work to turn to ashes.

CHRISTINE

The man left lying on the table woke up long after the fire was set. He was scared, confused, and in pain. He managed to escape the building without being seen and wandered the town, with no idea who or what he was. The flames had burned his face, leaving severe scars that would never heal. 

CHRISTINE (Cont.)

He found himself taking shelter in an old theater, hiding away in a sealed off and forgotten sub basement. Here, he learned language through the plays performed, watching the actors and stagehands from the shadows. Including me.

CHRISTINE (Cont.)

I’d heard the stories of the ghost that haunted the theater. But I’d also heard stories that my father had told me before he died. Stories of an angel that he would send to me when he was gone. So when I first heard the voices, the faint music, I was sure I knew who was responsible. I just never expected him to be flesh and blood. 

It was around this time that Raoul found me. We were childhood sweethearts, but he’d moved away when we were thirteen. He didn’t even know that I was up in Maine at the time. Coincidence, fate, call it what you want. But he saw a performance at that theater one night, and he recognized me immediately. But… I panicked. I didn’t know how my angel would react. So when he approached me after the show, I pretended I didn’t know who he was.

A few months later, and we were rehearsing for our winter show. That was when I first saw him. He brought me down to where he’d lived for the past three years. And he told me his story. How he was brought back from death, only to be left to die again. I don’t know why I believed him, but… there was something about his voice. The sadness, the calm bitterness that told me that everything he was saying was true. I visited him at least once a week for months. He’d taken the name Erik by this point, and I found myself intrigued by him. Even after curiosity got the better of me, and I managed to take his mask off and see his face. I stayed with him for two weeks after that, just to reassure him that I wasn’t going to abandon him.

CHRISTINE (Cont.)

Eventually, I faced my fear and connected with Raoul. It didn’t take him long to propose, and even though we were so young, of course I said yes. And then I told him everything. And he didn’t believe me. I don’t see why he would, looking back, but at the time, I was furious that he’d think I was lying. But after some convincing, he eventually did take my word for it. We decided to run away together, as stupid as that might’ve been. But I couldn’t help but worry about how Erik would take it.

CHRISTINE (Cont.)

The answer was Not Very Well. I don’t know if he overheard us or what, but it was during the middle of a performance that he took me. He begged me to marry him, threatened to kill everyone in the theater if I refused. So I said yes. I don’t know why he changed his mind. When he told me to go, to live a good life with Raoul. But even after all that, even with how scared I was, hearing the pain in his voice as he said it…. It broke my heart. But Raoul and I left. And for a long time, I thought it was over.

VICTOR

He didn’t tell me most of the story when he found me again. Only enough to try and gain sympathy from me. But I didn’t pity him. My heart was still aching from the loss of my brother, and I wanted nothing to do with any of this. And it only got worse when he explained that despite what the courts found, it wasn’t Justine who had killed him. My brother had died as a warning to me. Showing me what would happen if I didn’t obey his commands. If I wouldn’t once again delve into the unknown and create another like him. This time, a woman, with whom he could spend his life.

I didn’t want to. I wanted to run, to do anything else. I’d have died myself rather than do what he demanded of me. But he made it very clear that I wouldn’t be the one he’d kill. So once more, I got to work.

HENRY

Victor had pulled away a lot over the past few years. Starting when his mom died, the worst of it being when he was in school. When he moved back home after Billy died, I figured that must have been the reason why he was still so distant. Elliot and I had no idea what else was going on, and as much as we tried to pry an answer out of him, he wouldn’t say a damn word about it. It was after we got word that Justine had been found dead in her cell that I convinced him to take a vacation with me. Just to try and make him feel better, even just a little. I took the week off of school, and used what money I had saved to rent a motel in upstate New York, not far from Rockefeller State Park. I didn’t know what he was planning for while we were there. And I still don’t want to know how he managed to transport all the shit with him. But one night, I’d gone for a walk in a nearby town and gotten lost. It was maybe two in the morning by the time I finally got back, and a storm had rolled in fast. 

I walked in, and I thought I was having a nightmare. Victor standing over a woman’s body, bloody scalpel in hand. Cables and wires shoved through holes in the ceiling he must have drilled himself. 

HENRY (Cont.)

And weird as it sounds? Everything made sense. I thought about all the times he’d told me that he’d been working on something, that it was a discovery that could change history. About how he’d isolated himself for all this time, about how paranoid he’d been lately. I thought about his mom. And I knew what he was trying to do.

But I didn’t know everything. I didn’t know that this wasn’t the first time he’d done it. I didn’t know what he meant when he said that he had to do it. I didn’t know what would happen when I told him that I was going to stop this so that he wouldn’t destroy his life. Maybe Erik had snuck up on me, maybe he’d been there the whole time. But next thing I knew, there were hands around my throat, and I was being thrown down the stairs from the third story.

VICTOR

I didn’t go through with it. I wouldn’t reward this murderer. I…. I cleaned up the motel first. I knew that the police would want to investigate, and I didn’t need them finding a corpse. I still hate myself for that. For worrying about myself first. But sure enough, I was taken in for questioning. Lucky for me, there wasn’t enough evidence for a conviction. And whether or not it was intentional, Henry survived. Elliot and I visited him every day, where he’d hold my hand and promise that everything was gonna be okay.

VICTOR (Cont.)

I thought that this was the lowest I could sink. I desperately needed just a spark of light in my life. So four months later, I took Elliot on an overnight trip to Boston. It was February, so not the best walking weather, but we still had fun. What he didn’t know was the reason I brought him. We’d spent our whole lives together, and there was no doubt in my mind that I never wanted that to end. I’d bought a ring, and I was finally going to act on what I’d known since we were kids. I was gonna marry him.

VICTOR (Cont.)

I proposed in Copley Square, and he said yes right away. And for the next few hours, I thought that maybe things wouldn’t be so horrible.

...I’d only been gone twenty minutes. I ran to the package store to get some champagne to celebrate. Elliot was cold, so he stayed at the hotel. He told me he loved me, and to be safe. And that was the last time I ever saw him alive.

CHRISTINE

When Erik found me again, he told me about what happened. He didn’t spare a single detail. I thought for sure that he was going to kidnap me again, maybe even kill me. But he said that he just wanted to say one last goodbye. Victor would undoubtedly hunt him down, and when he did, he intended on killing both him and himself. I was horrified, and I knew that I had to do something. But even though Victor Frankenstein was an infamous name for a while, it didn’t take long for everyone to forget who started the fire. I had what little information there was from the news, and even less from the one class we’d had together. I didn’t know where to find him, let alone how to warn him about what could be coming. It took months of research and Raoul’s help to finally track him down. We came across the police reports. Not enough evidence for Henry’s attempted murder, arrested for Elliot’s death before they decided that it was a break-in. Just a little more work after that, and we had an address. And so I moved to Marksbury.

VICTOR

I called my dad from jail. Crying, begging him to believe that it wasn’t me, that I hadn’t been the one to kill Elliot. He said that he believed me, not to be scared, because he was going to make sure that everyone else believed me, too. But it was too much for him, I guess. ‘Cause two days later, I got word that he’d died in his sleep. And just like that, there was nothing in my life worth living for.

VICTOR (Cont.)

[He takes a few moments to compose himself]

You know the rest already. Christine found me, Henry woke up. But... there’s more. The woman in red from outside the bar is back. She knows something about what’s going on, about all the supernatural events that have been happening around me. And I get the feeling that whatever is causing them, it’s not intending for me to get out of it alive.

[Victor lets out a shaking breath in relief as he concludes the story]

HENRY

[Softly]

Good job, man.

CHRISTINE

So. What do you think?

WALTON

[Absolutely dumbfounded and overwhelmed]

I….

VICTOR

You wanted the truth. There it is, witnesses and all.

WALTON

Victor, I…. As much as I appreciate you all coming in, even after business hours, you can’t honestly--

HENRY

Dr. Walton. You have every right to believe that Victor’s story is a manifestation of guilt or a delusion to cope with his family. And you can think that my side of it is brain damage from all my shit, that’s fine. Makes sense. But then, how do you explain Christine? Out of the three of us, she’s the only one you don’t have an excuse for. And yet, her story matches up. It sounds impossible. It should be. But what would any of us have to gain if we were lying?

WALTON

[He takes a few moments, clearly shaken and not so subtly trying to get them to leave]

This is… definitely something. Thank you all, I think I need some time. Victor, I’ll see you at our next session.

VICTOR

Right, yeah.

[They open the door]

HENRY

Love your work, by the way, Dr. Walton. The past couple weeks I haven’t been able to take my eyes off of your paper on the workings of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex.

WALTON

Thank you, Henry.

[The door immediately shuts, and we hear the sounds of crickets as they exit the building]

CHRISTINE

...That went well.

VICTOR

He’s committing me. He’s makin’ a call right now, and he’s committing me.

CHRISTINE

He is not. It’s just a lot to process. I’m sure he’s just--

HENRY

Having an existential crisis.

CHRISTINE

...Maybe.

VICTOR

...Thank you guys. You didn’t have to do that.

HENRY

[Audibly smiling]

Fresh out of the hospital for the first time in a year? Nothing I’d rather do than relive traumatic events. 

CHRISTINE

[Sharp]

Henry!

HENRY

...That was supposed to be a joke, it didn’t come out right. In all seriousness, I really don’t mind.

CHRISTINE

Me neither. You needed a little help, Victor, there’s no shame in that. Now that he knows, maybe you two can make some faster progress.

VICTOR

Yeah. Y-- Yeah, you’re right.

CHRISTINE

C’mon. Let’s get you two home.

VICTOR

You two go ahead, I’m gonna walk.

HENRY

Uhh, no, you’re not?

VICTOR

Please. That was… really something, I-- I just need a little time. 

HENRY

...Text the group chat when you get home so we know you’re safe, okay?

VICTOR

I will.

[There are a few seconds of silence before a faint, familiar humming echoes. It fades out, and the recording ends]