Frankie Goes to Hollywood

That particular night, the night of my birth, I was ushered into this world by a powerful electrical storm; each crash of thunder echoing my newly erratic beating heart. Alone and shivering in the darkness, I was covered from head to toe in a sticky green substance I had no name for.

I didn't know where I was, or how I'd come to be here. As I struggled to sit up, a burst of lightning from a nearby window lit up the cave like room where I'd just been born with merciless vividness. The floor, walls and even the ceiling looked like they were made entirely out of cinder blocks. Thick black hoses snaked across the ceiling from every direction and eventually fed into the top of what I later understood were six tall glass pods. Each pod was filled with a green liquid that glowed eerily in the darkness. At first I thought they were empty, until a slender hand palmed the glass.

A crash behind me made me turn to see a shadowy figure. "I can't believe it, you're alive!"

Before I had a chance to form words, the figure approached just as the power came back on. The bright lights hurt my eyes. I swung my arms wildly as if the effort alone was enough to shield me.

"Oh, shit. I'm sorry," he said, quickly flipping a switch that plunged us back into darkness. The only light now came from the pods again and a large square box with strange moving pictures. "My name is Steve," he said, before pausing to laugh. "But you already know that, don't you, Frankie? I mean, it's not like I'm a stranger. I've been with you from inception. Ever since the Professor first began bioprinting your organs one at a time. The scientists, they all said it couldn't be done. That it's impossible to create an entire human being one organ at a time. But just look at you. It's a miracle!" He continued to talk as if I was listening to him.

I wasn't. 

Instead, my eyes were practically glued to the box with its moving pictures. But it was the high voice that came out of the box that really got my attention. "I promise, Larry," the voice insisted. "I know what I'm doing. Now, leave me alone."

"You're bleeding," Steve said, stepping in front of the box. "The Professor's going to kill me." I craned my neck and leaned far to the side so I could see around him. "Oh, I see how it is. You always did have a reaction when I watched this show. What is it about prim and proper Valerie VanCamp who attends college by day and moonlights as a vigilante that you like so much?"

"Val-er-ie," I repeated.

"Oh, you can talk now?" He picked up a towel and began dabbing at my forehead. "And people say TV rots your brain." When finished, he disappeared only to return moments later carrying a small tray. "You're going to need stitches to close up that wound, Frankie. Now hold still."

I let him do whatever he wanted to me as long as I could still see Valerie.

"It must have been the lightning," Steve continued, as something sharp repeatedly poked and then pulled on my skin. "That's why your pod shattered the way it did. What you should be is dead, my friend. Electrocuted. Only somehow you weren't. I mean, your skin still has a green tinge to it from the amniotic fluid and probably always will, unless we can find a way to reverse it. Why else do you think we call you Frankie?" When finished, he stood back to appreciate his handy work. "Trust me, with a face like that you're going to be famous. Then maybe you can go to Hollywood and actually meet Valerie in person. Would you like that? I guess it's a good thing you two are the same age. Funny that today is your twentieth birthday." He paused to stare at me, completely blocking the box so I had to shove him out of the way. "Hey! If you don't behave, I'll have to turn off the TV. Let's see how you like that."

 A crescendo of gunfire erupted from the box. Valerie screamed and I stood up for the very first time.

"Frankie, watch out for the glass!"

Something sliced open the bottom of my feet, but I didn't care. I had to get to her. I had to save her. I had to go to Hollywood, wherever that was.