THE DAY KAY KILLS A MONSTER
This has by far been the rarest adventure yet.
The Amazon was like no other place I had ever been, the lush jungle with fractal moonlight beaming down to the water. It made me feel entrapped. Even the musky hot air seemed to weigh me down.
As I looked past the murky water I was startled, I felt a hand brush my waist. It was David, “you shouldn’t be out here on the deck Kay. It is not safe. We don’t know how long the creature will hold in that cage. Let’s go to bed”
He fell asleep within minutes.
But as we laid in bed I couldn’t help but think about the creature. I know I should be afraid, but there was something that told me not to be. So many times before we have treated the unknown as unequal and I am just not sure if that is right anymore.
I couldn’t go back to sleep. Before I knew it, I was walking up the stairs stepping on to cold deck floor. In a chair next to the cage sat Dr. Thompson.
“Hi, I just thought I’d come up and get some air,” I said as I reached the final step.
His eyes looked sunken in fatigue.
“How ya doin Kay?” he finally mumbled.
Loud screeches began to wail from the trees. I looked at him startled. “Don’t worry those are just hunting birds” he explained.
“Some of them sound like cries of fear” I whispered “I don’t understand why we must keep this creature locked up this way. There is something that makes me feel wrong to do so.”
“I know, Kay. But it’s Mark’s orders.“
After a few moments of silence, he asked “Say, you’ve been working with him for a while now haven’t you? Why haven’t you published your own work yet?”
“Yes, six years”
“I just feel like I will never be able to repay him for the training and job” I sighed.
“Listen here Kay, a good part of his current position at the institute is because of your work”
“I don’t know” I guess I hadn’t thought of that.
But he was right for years now Mark has only been the face of the projects. All these memories came rushing back to me of how he had detached himself from the research but managed to place himself first in the publications.
I couldn’t believe I had let it all go unnoticed.
Then I remembered the night after the Scientific Discovery Banquet back in March. Mark had a couple drinks too many, so I decided to help him up to his room. The whole way up the elevator he began to say how much he liked me and commented on my looks, but it wasn’t until we got to his room that he began to act forcefully. He began to undress me and kiss me. I tried to escape, but his grip was too strong for me. Before I knew it he had me on his bed.
I had blamed that night on the drinks. I never told David. But maybe I should have? I was just so afraid we would both lose our jobs if I said something.
*******
That morning we were awakened by gunshots and the running steps of the crew above us. We ran up to see what had happened.
“The creature has escaped!”
“We must go back and capture him! I am not leaving without him!” Mark demanded.
Captain Lucas looked at him with horror. “We have lost 3 people already. We need to put an end to this.”
“Then we must kill him”
“No! We can’t kill him!” I implored.
“Kay is right. We can’t do that to the poor creature. It was us that invaded him in the first place.”
I could see Mark’s face flush red with anger. “I am the leader of this expedition. We are killing it and bringing it back to camp. Period.”
The rest of the day he continued to bark orders and treat us like animals.
*****
“He is willing to put all of our lives in danger just to grow his prestige” David complained.
“I know sweetheart he must be stopped before we all end up dead.”
Mark burst through the door “Get ready we are going down to its cave!”
They got their gear and dove down.
30 minutes later and there was still no sign of them.
Then Mark rose from the water.
“Where is David?” I felt my eyes begin to swell up in tears.
“He is dead. The creature got him.”
I fell into tears.
Mark continued to bark orders.
This was all his fault. Mark had ruined our lives.
I felt my hand reach for the handgun that laid next to the bedroom window.
Mark continued to scream his muffled remarks.
He didn’t even stop to mourn his partner.
This is not worth it anymore. He won’t stop until we are all dead.
I felt a cold rush of blood through my body.
Then heard a gunshot.
I looked at Mark and all I could see was the red stain begin to grow on his chest. He clenched his heart, his hands now tainted with blood.
He collapsed.
Everyone began to bustle around me trying to take the gun away.
My eyes were set on him.
The world around me began to go dark, then mute.
Suddenly the air didn’t feel so heavy, I felt relieved and free.
The real monster was now dead.
Reflection:
When I watched Creature from the Black Lagoon there was one scene that struck me the most and it was when Kay and Dr. Thompson discuss her work with Mark. It is in that moment that the audience finds out about the hard work Kay has done and how Mark has used her to grow his prestige. Although this scene only lasts about 3 minutes, I wanted to use it as the basis of my fanfic. Through a feminist revision, it was my hope to give Kay a voice. I wanted her to realize that she was worth more than the common female portrayal in old Hollywood movies.
My second focus was to use the fanfic and rewrite it so that it violated the Hayes Code as much as possible. To me, the Hayes Code is a violation for creatures and felt the need to retell the story and give it the justice it deserves. For this purpose, I included Kay and David in bed together, sympathy for the criminal (in this case the creature), rape and even murder. I was also inspired by The Shape of Water and the character of Dimitri to give sympathy for the creature. Like Dimitri, Kay refuses to allow Mark to kill the creature because she starts to realize that what they are doing is wrong. In my adaptation, I also wanted there to be a focus on human monstrosity, which dictates why Mark is now the villain of the story and Kay, in some weird twisted way, the revengeful heroine.
