Frankenstein Chapter 1 Dialectical Journal

C1 Though I may have been trapped here for some time, I have managed to stay sane through drawings. I drew how I felt when I felt it. Now however, I am growing restless, and am tempted to peer into the outer world, even though I know it will bring dread and resentment upon my mind. Yet I still have a sliver of hope in my heart and so I decided to view- the mounted screen. I turned it on and waited for the bulbs to warm themselves. Finally an image began to fade into place. I was astonished at what I saw. Stuck there in the middle of the screen was a blueberry bush. With plump fruit hanging on the branches, and not having tasted fresh food in ages, my mouth began to salivate. However, what amazed me more was what happened afterwards. A small rodent type creature ran up to the bush and grasped a berry, and almost as quickly as it grabbed it,
was thrown into the air, as if the branch had moved. Then the plant rose from the dirt and out came another creature. Which managed to catch the rodent in its jaws and swallowed it whole. It then proceeded to shrink back down into the floor where it originally sprouted. Amazed at what I had seen, my jaw hung open, and I began to pack my bags before my brain had even registered what was going on.
“If there are creatures, then there could be people too.” I reasoned, “No, people died off ages ago, if you hadn’t been warned, you would have too. You know that.” My brain countered. Feeling cornered, I thought long and hard, and eventually came up with a response, “And yet, if I had been warned, then shouldn’t others know too, or else how could they possibly inform me?” After those words, my mind stopped arguing, stopped combatting the will of my body, and I continued packing. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~䷲䷶~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I am almost done packing, I checked my list hundreds of times and I still felt I needed to check one last time.
I was in the process of walking to the heavy vault door, when I remembered the one thing I hid from myself for the reason that the pain was too much to bear. Yet at the same time, I could never rid myself of the treasure. I ran upstairs and I grasped the cold gold of the pocket watch, and lifted the cover. Hidden in the top, an image was revealed as light illuminated the paper. My son, head was revealed first. His short cropped hair, dark brown, yet it seemed to glow. Next was my wife. Her angelic face still looked incredible even on the weathered paper. Her long hair kept in that ponytail she wore so often. Staring at the image, a single tear, as lonely as I am now, rolled down my cheek and past my lip. It then fell through the air and landed on the paper, leaving a drop sized mark on the image.
“If only I had moved faster, then maybe Anaira and Tybalt would still be at my side and not just in my heart.” I told myself, with a painful knot in my
throat.
Nonetheless, I wiped my face, took a deep breath and stuffed the golden watch in my tattered jean pocket. I walked back to the steel vault door, and held the icy handle, and took one last breath. The door creaked as I pulled the heavy door open. Then I took my first step outside in a full decade.

C2 I stepped out and heard the gravel underfoot. I saw the burning sun, I felt the icy wind, but most of all, I felt alive. I breathed fresh air for the first time in years. I looked more carefully and I noticed a small creature in the distance. Two tall fuzzy formations on its head which I later realized were ears. Then I noticed something that was so obvious, yet I couldn’t think of the name. It was, I think it was a rabbit. The creature jumped in the air, but instead of going slightly off the ground, it leaped 50 feet in the air, and began to fly, using its ears as wings, and its arms to guide itself. I began to tread out into the world around, ensuring I was careful as to not anger any of the creatures. The farther I tread into the world, the more I realized that nothing was what it seemed, the animals I once knew were gone, or transformed. Even seemingly peaceful creatures could be dangerous. Therefore, I decided to try to create weapons to defend myself. I dug in the dirt beneath me, searching for sizeable stones. Eventually, I found one large enough, I grabbed a smaller stone, and began to hack away at the rock, chipping off pieces slowly. Eventually, nightfall came. It was one of the greatest experiences in my life. The stars glowed brighter than they ever did in the city, I could see the milky way, and the radioactivity of the world around added a faint glow. The animals were a bright green, and used dirt to camouflage themselves into their environment. The moon was almost blinding, and it lit up the everything for miles.