Victoria Frankenstein was a peculiar person. Possibly the strangest of all the humans Évelyne had observed during her two years of solitary pilgrimage around the world.
Scientific or not, there was no doubt that she was a busy person. Every day, she left home shortly after dawn, carrying a pile of folders and documents that the creature was forbidden even to breathe upon, and she didn't return until the sun began to set.
What was Victoria doing outside the apartment during all those hours of absence? Évelyne supposed that most of the time she spent on that campus she was so familiar with, not only because her own creator had mentioned it from time to time but also because in the letters and documents she had glimpsed, Évelyne could distinguish the name and seal of the University of Ingolstadt.
And what could be there that would be of such interest to Victoria? Well, the creature's main theory was that the place would be teeming with individuals like her, people with questionable principles who, out of pure ambition, would not hesitate to sell their own souls to the devil to succeed in whatever experiments they were working on.
Évelyne imagined the university facilities as a set of private laboratories run by sociopaths who, despite boasting of impeccable morality, had no good intentions whatsoever.
Needless to say, the creature had no idea about the management of such institutions, much less that more than one discipline could be taught there. Perhaps due to the bias that divided her from Victoria, she preferred to stick with her altered version of the facts and not try to think beyond, thus spreading her resentment towards the rest of the scientific community.
Maybe Évelyne would have liked to complain, make some sharp comment more with the intention of provoking Victoria to talk about the newest perversions she must be brewing within her alma mater than because she was really having a hard time.
But, ultimately, she didn't have the heart to do it: Almost three weeks had passed since they both moved in together at that end of the city, and although it was true that Victoria could have been a bit more friendly and approachable as a roommate, she wasn't mistreating her creature.
By the time Évelyne got up in the mornings, Victoria had long since left the apartment. So, after a brief breakfast, she usually used the morning to study the books that Victoria used to leave her, being surprised by every little thing that caught her attention and noting on a separate paper each of the questions that those texts made her wonder but couldn't answer, intending to present them later to Victoria so that she could clear her doubts.
Évelyne also had lunch alone, and in the afternoons, either she returned to her fiction novels—a guilty pleasure she had recently become fond of—or she started cleaning the house, not only to fulfill her household chores but because it was a good distraction from being stuck to a manuscript all day.
With the apartment keys securely stored in one of her pockets, never separating from them, Évelyne knew she had permission to go out and go wherever she wanted. No trick or consequence from her creator.
The creature was supposed to be able to go on long walks to the other end of Ingolstadt, enter establishments and consume whatever she fancied—Victoria had even bothered to give her some money, in case she ever wanted to buy something on her own—do something as routine as having a trivial conversation with a stranger on the streets...
But Évelyne didn't usually make use of this permission very often. Maybe two or three times a week at most, for no more than three-quarters of an hour. She never interacted with the inhabitants of the city. She didn't enter any stores, no matter how much they piqued her curiosity—she found it difficult even to approach a shop window! But above all, she never lost sight of the building where the scientist now resided, as if she feared that by divine grace, the place would disappear at any moment if she dared to look away.
No, the times Évelyne went out, her destination would usually be a nearby park, a couple of blocks from the apartment. The place was large enough to spread over several tens of meters in all directions. Covered by a well-maintained layer of grass, various stone paths crossed the entire grounds, giving Évelyne the impression that this place could well be a small forest in the middle of the city.
The best part was the abundance of trees and varied vegetation planted there. One could sit on any bench to enjoy the scenery without worrying too much about being seen or approached by others: there, most of those who crossed the grounds were either so engrossed in their own walk that they didn't notice the other citizens with whom they shared the retreat, or they had the pond in the middle of the grounds as their goal and tended to ignore everything else.
Évelyne would have liked to take a look at the pond, where it seemed that ducks were raised, and children enjoyed feeding them whenever they came. But that was the most popular area of the park, and again, the creature didn't feel like joining the crowd.
Most of the time she dropped by, she would stroll where there were no people, or simply sit on a bench away from the busiest paths, enjoying on her own that small piece of nature in the midst of the city.
Her favorite times to take this walk were either right after getting up or late in the afternoon. Since at either of these times, she usually didn't encounter many people on the streets, and, why not admit it? She also felt safer thanks to the prevailing darkness.
By the time she returned home in the evenings, if she had gone out, Victoria was already back. They didn't talk much. Nothing at all if it was about the scientist's private life; whether it was work or family, she tended to close up and change the subject, perhaps out of distrust or because she wasn't a person accustomed to talking about her things, regardless of who was listening. Évelyne suspected that there was something of both in her reasons.
If they talked at all, the topics were always the same. What had the creature done during the day? If she went for her walk, how did it go? And the studies, what had she learned?
Victoria tried to answer all the questions Évelyne extracted from her readings and didn't press the creature if she couldn't or refused to answer any of her own questions. Not only did she give her time to process the new information, but she also ensured that a sense of discretion prevailed in their interactions.
"I'll appreciate it if you answer when I ask you a question," Victoria had mentioned on some occasions regarding this— "but I won't force you. Just as I expect to receive the same treatment if, for whatever reason, I decide not to answer something for you."
At first, the deal might sound like a trick—an ideal excuse to refrain from facing all the questionable things she did in her past, and for which Évelyne still had a hundred and one questions about. But upon further consideration, it seemed fair.
Évelyne told herself that, living in the same apartment as Victoria, it didn't matter much if she refused to talk because sooner or later, the place itself would reveal something important. Some evidence of her secret agenda, her malevolent plans...
Or maybe Évelyne was reading too much fiction after all, and each of these paranoias and dark thoughts stemmed from a desperate attempt to explain what she had experienced. Changed or not, it was true that it had been more than proven that Victoria wasn't hiding anything potentially dangerous in her apartment. At least, outside of what constituted her bedroom, Évelyne hadn't found any incriminating evidence. No documents, schematics, or materials that she could suspect belonged to the same apparatus used to give her life.
And when Victoria was at home, she remained as distant as she was cordial. She kept herself away from her creation, avoiding touching her or engaging in deep conversations, but she also didn't leave her entirely to her own devices. For example, during this period of coexistence, Évelyne had noticed that whenever provisions in the pantry began to run low, it wasn't necessary to point it out to Victoria or venture out herself into the streets for her own loot because after a few hours, the same pantry would be restocked with everything needed.
It was pleasant for Évelyne not to have to worry about these things anymore, although it was also irritating. Perhaps she had gotten used to being independent, despite the harsh conditions. Maybe it wasn't easy for her to accept kindness when granted, even though her brain indicated that it was okay to do so, that she deserved it, and there was no impending danger. It might be a combination of both.
The fact was that, although Victoria's room had no way to lock, Évelyne never made any attempt to enter when she was alone. And not only did she not enter, but she didn't even do something as simple as opening the door and taking a look inside the room without crossing the threshold. It didn't seem appropriate.
As much as she wanted to know about Victoria, about what she was hiding—if she was hiding anything, as she sometimes began to doubt—she had so far behaved like an exemplary guest, making sure she was comfortable and lacked nothing. So, Évelyne wasn't going to disrespect her by breaking the only rule she imposed.
If one day she found concrete evidence that she was being deceived in some way, if she discovered that it was a well-thought-out plan to imprison her in some cell... then she would see. For now, she had decided to make the most of her stay in this apartment, knowing that she wouldn't know how long she would be allowed to stay.
Every night, unless Victoria had to stay longer than the pre-established time at her university, they usually had dinner together with some pre-made or easy-to-cook food. Typically something that Victoria bought on her way back to the apartment.
Later, the scientist usually retired early to her room and wasn't seen on her feet until the next day. So, if Évelyne had to keep track, she could say that on the vast majority of days, she didn't spend more than a couple of hours a day with her creator. Which was convenient for her, as she preferred not to have Victoria around all the time.
At night, Évelyne would take care of clearing the table after dinner, clean the kitchen a bit, and, if she no longer felt like being in the living room with her things, she would also retire to rest. She always did it that way, having turned it into her new routine, but today was different.
It wasn't different because Évelyne had planned to do something unusual, but because just as she was about to retire to her own room, something stopped her: screams were heard, coming from the same room where Victoria had disappeared more than half an hour before.
Évelyne would have liked to feign ignorance, as she had already done in those first times when she discovered her creator like this. Nightmares seemed to be a recurring thing for Victoria; the creature had discovered it during the journey to Ingolstadt, having to share so many nights in her presence. And no, initially, she didn't try to pull her out of her misery by waking her up because she believed she deserved any torment she was going through in her dream state. But after a couple of nights, she did start waking her up by shaking her bed or abruptly moving one of her pillows, regardless of the roughness with which she did it.
At this point, Évelyne didn't do it to help Victoria but out of simple practicality. With her whimpering or moaning by her side, from her own bed, there was no way the creature could fall asleep.
This day when Victoria had nightmares again was making more noise than usual. To the point that, while Évelyne tended to leave her alone every time this happened since they were in the apartment, knowing that the walls were thick enough to dampen part of the sound and not bother her so much when going to bed herself, this time she considered that if she didn't do something soon, the scientist would end up waking up the whole building.
And it wouldn't be nice to explain why there was a woman screaming in the middle of the night, with a guest no one had heard of or seen before.
Évelyne could imagine what the police would think of the whole ordeal, and she didn't plan to waste another second considering all the things that could go wrong in such a scenario! She had to act immediately, she told herself.
Therefore, with urgency, she didn't even stop to think about how morally inappropriate it would be to enter a bedroom where entry was prohibited. And once inside, she didn't stop for a moment to look around for those answers she still longed for.
No, instead of that, Évelyne approached the bed where Victoria lay. Although she was no longer screaming, she still seemed agitated. And then, crouching beside the cot, she gently touched Victoria's shoulder and called her softly a couple of times, succeeding in waking her creator a few moments later.
Contrary to what Évelyne imagined would happen, Victoria didn't startle. It was true, however, that at the moment she saw her, she seemed disoriented and surprised, as if she still hadn't grasped where she was or why the creature was by her side.
"What happened?" she ended up asking after a full minute, sitting up in bed.
The room was dimly lit, with the only light coming through a nearby window preventing the place from being completely dark. Despite this, Évelyne could still discern the drops of sweat rolling down Victoria's face, as well as the slight trembling of her body and her agitated breathing—clear signs that she was trying to recover from the shock.
"Another nightmare." No further explanation was needed; they had had this exchange enough times. However, despite this, Évelyne dared to ask, "Can you tell me what you dream about?"
"No, you can't," Victoria interrupted, something that hurt the creature without knowing exactly why, as she was only trying to be kind.
It was the first time in all those weeks that she was interested enough to bring up the question, and although she didn't expect to be Victoria's confidante, it didn't feel good to be dismissed so abruptly.
"It's better if you don't know, simpler," Victoria continued in a slightly gentler tone. "What time is it? You better go to bed too. I'm fine, I'll try to go back to sleep, and hopefully, I won't wake up until morning."
Évelyne observed her for a moment, skeptical. She knew that most of the time when Victoria had a nightmare, those terrors prevented her from going back to sleep immediately, often resulting in sleepless nights.
But she had been made clear that it wasn't necessary for her to stay there, so Évelyne stepped away from the bed, obedient as few times. And after taking a final glance at Victoria from the hallway, she closed the door behind her.
It didn't occur to her, until she had already entered her own room, that Victoria hadn't protested at all for her entering her room without permission.
