Title: Orchids by the Sea
Author: Rios de la Luz
Date of First Publication: 2016
Place of Publication: Eternal Frankenstein
Type: Short Story
Characters: No Character
Themes: ANDROID; SYMPATHETIC MONSTER; WOMEN WRITING MONSTERS
Critical Summary: An unnamed man with tattoos paints himself white and brings a woman back to life that had committed suicide.
After collecting multiple body parts, he drags them in grocery bags to his apartment. The apartment itself is littered with papers and books; among them are stacks of bibles. Most of them are missing pages. He has removed these pages to burn them. Then, after collecting the ash, he stockpiles them into buckets to feed the creature he creates.
He mixes and matches appendages from random individuals then sews them together. The only portion of his creature that serves any direct purpose to the story is the female brain that he’s chosen specifically for this occasion. It is from a woman that jumped off of a bridge. Once the body is assembled, a bathtub is filled with water, ashes from the bibles, and electronic equipment. The body is then submerged, and the creature comes to life. When it becomes conscious, it can recall memories from the preselected brain’s past. The man in white tells her that he will show her the right way to die. He feeds her from the buckets of ash, then leaves her in the apartment alone with gospel blaring from the radio.
The woman realizes how hideous she has become, why she was chosen for this man’s religious-based revival purpose, and how she cannot return to her old life. She wanders away from the apartment and finds herself on a hill above the docks of a town. Once at the bottom, she picks orchids near the sea wall surrounding it. Children are mocking her nearby. She climbs on top of the seawall and begins to throw the orchids she picked into the ocean when she feels the hands of the children push her into the water.
Unlike Victor’s creature, this one can remember her past life. She reflects on conversations with her mother and her slow descent into the depression that caused her suicide. Neither of the creaturess asked to be brought to life, but this creature tried to determine if this second chance could be used as an opportunity for her to reconnect with her family.
Administrative Notes: David Symonds, CSUF; Christian Bazinet (Editing)