A Last Embrace - Chapter 1

Dr. Frank Stein gets a visit from a very beautiful woman with a strange request

“A patient to see you, Doctor,” said his receptionist from the doorway.

“Tell them to make an appointment, Nora,” said Dr. Frank Stein, whose middle name was Norman.

“She says it’s very urgent.”

“She? Who is it?”

“I don’t know. She won’t give me her name. She’s wearing a veil and sunglasses. She’s very insistent.”

“All right,” he said. “Let her in.”

Then in his doorway a woman appeared. She was dressed in black, and her face was obscured, but Frank could immediately see she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. It was in the movement of her hips, the way she stood in the doorway. He rose to his feet.

“Come in,” he said. “Sit down,” gesturing to the chair on the other side of the desk.

“Thank you for seeing me, Doctor,” she said, sitting down. “My name is Alice Mogle. I wouldn’t have bothered you, only it’s so urgent.”

“Alice Mogle,” Frank said. “Are you Vince’s wife?”

“Yes. He always spoke so highly of you. You seemed like the only one who could help in this situation.” Vince was a patient of Frank’s, at least nominally, though Frank hardly ever saw him; he was a perfectly fit man, unusually so, for one of his age. What was he? 52-53ish? And what age was she? About 30, Frank guessed.

“I’ll certainly do my best. What is it you want help with?”

 “It’s Vince. He’s died.”

“Oh, no. I hadn’t heard. I’m very sorry”

Now she took off her sunglasses for the first time. Her eyes were big and clear blue, but slightly swollen from crying “No. You wouldn’t have heard. Nobody knows except me. It was just a few hours ago.”

“Nobody knows? Then we must inform the authorities at once,” said Frank.

“Please just listen a moment,” she said, fixing him with a plaintive gaze that stopped short all his protestations. “I don’t know how much you know about my husband, but… well…he’s no ordinary man. He has been a great student of the occult and all kinds of forbidden knowledge. He has prepared for this. He wants to come back.”

Frank almost laughed, but such a face as this woman’s didn’t invite ridicule. If she believed her husband could be raised from the dead, then Frank was inclined to believe it, or at least try to believe it.

“Dr. Stein,” she said, “I want you to bring my husband back to life.”

He was listening to her, but mostly his eyes were transfixed by the movement of her lips. He felt a very unprofessional stirring in his groin.

“He knew,” she said, “he had the formula. He had done it before. He left notes and instructions. He was going to show me, so that when he died I would know what to do. But he didn’t know he was going to die so soon.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” said Frank, “did you just say he’s done it before, as in raised a human being from the dead?”

“Yes. Well, not a human being. A worm. He raised a worm from the dead.”

“Hmm.”

“He was going to move onto a mouse; then a cat; then a dog; finally a human. But now…” she began to sob.

“There, there,” said Frank. “Of course I’ll do all I can to bring your husband back to life, though I should warn you that it is generally considered a medical impossibility.”

“Oh, I know that” she said impatiently, “Vince was the first to do it.”

“It’s not something I’ve done before.”

“Yes, of course.

Frank pondered over what he had heard.

“So, tell me, what happened with the worm?”

“He brought it back to life. I saw it all. First he placed it in a sealed box to kill it, then when it was dead he injected it with his serum. Slowly, it began to move, to slither and writhe on the plate. Then it stopped. It only lived for a few minutes. It was horrible, but Vince has been working on it since, and was ready to try it on a human. I tried to do it from the notes myself, but I couldn’t make sense of it. So that’s why I came to you. I think it needs a Doctor. You have to inject it, you see.”

Frank looked dubious.

“I can pay you. Whatever you want. Vince is a rich man.”

Somehow, Frank heard himself saying, “Ok, leave the notes with me and I’ll have a look and see if there’s anything I can do.”

“Oh, thank you,” she said, and she reached a hand across the table to grasp Frank’s hand. Once again, Frank felt the unprofessional stirring. “But please make it quick,” she went on. “It must be done before rigor mortis sets in. That’s very important.”

“I’ll do it as quick as I can. Why don’t you just go home and I’ll be out to you as soon as I can. I have your address, I think

So off she went, gushing her thanks to Frank. Once she had left Frank picked up the phone: “Nora, call off all my engagements for the rest of the day. Nobody comes in. Tell them I’m out.”

Then Frank started to read Vince Mogle’s notes. It was surprisingly simple. Everything was prepared, and Frank just had to do a little mixing and then inject it, straight into the heart. What happened then?, wondered Frank. Nothing, almost definitely, but who knew. He retrieved the Mogle’s address from his files, put on his coat, and went out, telling Nora not to expect him for the rest of the day.