“Don’t let it touch me! Oh, don’t let it come near me!”

“Victor! Victor!” shouted my friend. “Don’t be afraid! I will take care of you! Look! I am chasing it away!”

Clerval made believe that he drew a sword. He cut the air with it as if he were fighting someone who was really there.

“Victor, do you see? Look! Look! I have killed it! It’s dead, Victor. I’ve killed it!”

For a moment I believed him. That moment was enough. For then a darkness came over me. A darkness without dreams. And I fell to the ground.

Chapter 2

My friend took me to his home and I was put to bed. After that, I was sick for a very long time. It was months before I was able to speak. But still I would not talk about the Monster or even think of him. For when I did, I got sick again.

But you must want to know what happened to my Creature. And so I will tell you. Later, if I am still alive, you shall learn how I found out.

The Monster did not stay on in my house. Oh, no. He left soon after me in the dead of night. He was a giant and a newborn child at the same time. He knew nothing. Not who he was or where he was going. But the moon overhead was like a big balloon. He reached for it and could not touch it. He followed its soft light into the woods. And soon he was lost in a deep forest.

The wind blew in the trees. An ice-cold rain began to fall. I had thrown my jacket at the Monster. And he still had it. But that was not enough. He shivered in the cold and damp. After a while, he saw the light of a fire. He did not know what a fire was.