The following story is not canon.  I wrote it after being moved by a film, the name of which will become obvious later.  There is, however, a familiar face...

The Spirit of the Forest

And so he was home... as much as any place could be considered home to him.

He walked among the ruins of the castle, trying to conjure memories, as painful as they would be.

Here he had first opened his eyes, first glimpsed his creator.  Thinking of Victor no longer elicited the rage it once had.  He saw him now for what he was: his wounded, insane father.  

A brilliant red leaf brought tears to his eyes.  He gently cradled it in remembrance of her... the one who had first loved and cared for him.

Thinking of Elizabeth, he was consumed by weariness.  He looked around, spotted a bed of moss, curled into himself and went to sleep.
*~*~*

The following day, hunger drove him into the woods to hunt for nuts and berries.  He knew that might prove difficult in the winter but he had little choice.  He smiled softly as a bird chirped happily.  A nearby rustling noise drew his gaze down to where a mouse was also on the hunt for food.  His heart filled with longing as he remembered his old friends, the mice.  Frowning, he wondered if they would still trust him.  He had committed awful, violent acts since then.  His scarred hands were covered in blood... no longer literally but still he saw it in his mind.  Perhaps Nature would tell them he was no longer safe, no longer an innocent.

Hopeful but prepared for disappointment, he knelt and set his hand on the ground, placing the lone nut he had spotted in his palm.  

The mouse scurried forward then paused, their nose and whiskers twitching.  After another moment, they scampered into his hand.

"Hello...  Hello, friend," he murmured.

Gently, he reached down to pat the mouse on the head.  Untroubled, they continued to eat.

More noise revealed that a much larger creature was nearing.  Hearing it, the mouse hurried off.  

After ensuring that his hood was secured around his face, his eyes searched until he saw them: a family of deer.  Unafraid, they continued towards him.

He wept freely as one pushed their snout into his extended hand.  He hadn't expected any sort of homecoming welcome.  If animals were to be his only companions, he would welcome and love them for it.

He knelt and buried his face into the neck of the friendliest deer.  He had no reason to believe it was their buck who had been slain as he'd tried to make friends.  But perhaps...  Even if not, he wished he had stayed with them.  He could have protected them instead of creating havoc in Victor's life.  Maybe... maybe then Elizabeth would still be alive.

"I am... sorry," he murmured.  

The deer playfully butted his side then followed the others who were headed further into the forest.

Hoping they knew where to find food and wanting the company, he followed.

He was so intent upon the deer that it was nearly too late before he noticed they were headed towards another cloaked man.  He shrunk back, hoping to slip away before he was noticed.

His face shrouded by his own hood, the man turned around.

"Ah, I see the deer have made another friend."

"I... am sorry.  I... I need to go."

"Why?  You were berry hunting, were you not?  These are particularly plump and ripe.  I was about to enjoy some with my bread and tea.  Will you join me?" the stranger invited.

The man struggled to find an answer.  He knew he had to flee but there was something in the stranger's voice... something that reminded him of the blind man who had been his only friend, save Elizabeth.  His voice radiated peace and warmth.  And he was also mystified by the berry bush which appeared to have been plucked out of Springtime.  He wanted to stay and yet...

"I... people find me monstrous to behold."

The stranger sighed.

"Well, we have that in common then."  The man stretched out a beckoning hand.

He stared, wide-eyed, at the scars.  There was a particularly heinous welt on the man's wrist and red marks ran up his forearm.  Had Victor made another like him after all?

"You are... from here?" he questioned.

"No.  I am passing through.  My home is far from here.  Palestine."

So not another creature like him...  His heart sank.

"Please stay," the Palestinian pleaded.  "Let's agree to sit side by side, neither looking at the other, as we eat?  It's Christmas Day... a day God joined Himself to humanity.  It's not a day for loneliness, friend."

"I..."  His stomach growled rather loudly.

"I will take that as a yes."  

"Yes..."  Sheepishly, he took a seat on the fallen log the man indicated.

"What is your name?" his host asked.

He hung his head.

"My creator never gave me one."

"Then you must choose one for yourself.  Everyone deserves to have a name.  My name is Joshua."

His mind raced.  Lucifer.  He should say Lucifer.  Lucifer fit him.  The cast out son, the villain.  And yet...

"Adam.  I choose to be Adam."

Without looking his way, Joshua patted Adam's arm.

"Welcome, Adam.  And happy Christmas to you."

"Happy... Christmas."

"Thank you.  Now... to eat!"  

Adam watched with great curiosity as Joshua poured tea from a kettle into two cups then unwrapped a loaf of bread.  His eye brows rose as he noticed steam rising from the bread.  How could that be when there was no evidence of a fire?  Next, Joshua poured what appeared to be cream over two bowls of berries.  As he worked, even with the hood of his cloak raised, Adam could see hints of scars on Joshua's face and brow.  Still... his skin was a healthy color.  Adam tightened his hood.

Joshua set a bowl and a cup in front of Adam then another set before his own spot.  Between them, he laid the plate of bread.

Once Joshua was seated again, he bowed his head and began to pray in a language that Adam didn't recognize.  Out of respect, he bowed his head.  

Before taking a bite of the bread for himself, Joshua plucked some off and broke it into smaller pieces which he offered to the birds and mice.  

Adam smiled then glanced over to the miraculous berry bush that the deer were enjoying.

"I... love the animals," he confided.

"Then you're well named.  Adam was given care of the animals."

"Yes.  But... he... he was also given a partner to help care for them.  I am alone."  

"For now.  I don't believe that will always be the case.  There are many who would be charmed by someone trusted by the smallest and most vulnerable of creation."

Though he couldn't see it, Adam could hear the smile in Joshua's voice and suspected he had noticed him sneak a mouse into his pocket for warmth.

"I knew someone like that once... she is dead."

"I'm sorry to hear that.  What was her name?"

"Elizabeth," Adam murmured with reverence.

"Elizabeth...  A beautiful name.  I have a treasured cousin named Elizabeth.  She's a woman of great faith."

"As... as was... mine.  And yet her God didn't save her."

Joshua sighed.

"Sometimes God's salvation doesn't look like we'd wish it to."

Adam scoffed.

"She died saving me... wretched as I am."

"Then she died as her Lord did.  And he is well pleased with her... even as he weeps for those who loved her."

"How do you know that?" Adam demanded, instantly regretting the growl that came into his voice.

Joshua said nothing, only broke off some bread and handed it to Adam.

Ashamed, Adam accepted it and ate.  It was delicious and melted in his mouth.  Once calmed, he spoke again.

"You are Christian?"

Joshua shook his head.

"I am Jewish.  But I agree with the teachings of Jesus Christ.  And you?"

Adam wanted to inquire more about the seeming contradiction but was distracted by the question.  He didn't know what he believed.

"I had a teacher who read the Bible to me.  I believed it when I was with him... because he did.  Because he... lived it.  But I've seen little of God's love in the world."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

Adam shrugged.

"None of it is meant for me."

Joshua set a hand on Adam's arm again.

"Why would you say that?"

"Because I am a monster.  Because I have no soul."

"That's not possible, my friend."

Adam's voice was low and guttural as he spoke again, finally pulling down his hood.

"Look at me!  Look at the wreckage that is my body!  I am not man of woman born!"  He pulled up his sleeves to reveal the scars there.  "My creator stitched me together from the bodies of men brutalized by war!  'Before I formed you in the womb I knew you' but I had no womb!  God does not know me!"

"He does."

Adam began to sob.  

"You cannot know that..."

He turned away from Joshua and withdrew the mouse from his pocket, intending to release them to their family before he fled... but the mouse would not leave his hand.

"Adam, turn around."

Adam shook his head but made no move to flee.

"Adam... why would you not believe you have a soul?  John the Baptist... who your teacher taught you was a righteous man... said this: 'I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.'  If God could, if He wanted to, make a child from a stone... imbue a stone with a soul then why would you think He couldn't do the same with you?  Your creator wanted to be God but he was not God.  Did he create you from nothing?  Did he call you forth from the void?  No.  He used what God had already created so how could you think God could be cut out of your creation?  Your skin?  Every cell in every part that your creator stitched together has died.  Your skin now is comprised of cells that never existed in any body but yours.  In another few years, not an original cell will remain of your skeleton.  It will be entirely original to you.  The same can be said of the cells in most of your organs."

Adam was struck by these words.  He wasn't entirely sure what they all meant.  He had tried to piece together what he could from the remnants of Victor's notes but his education had been one of words... poetry and myth, story and history... not science.  And yet Joshua said them with such confidence that he wanted to believe him...

"Adam, please... turn around," Joshua requested for a second time.

Suddenly, the mouse sprang from Adam's hand and when he turned to watch it scurry away, he caught sight of Joshua and gasped.

Joshua had cast off his cloak and boots and was clad only in britches.  

Adam's breath quickened as he noted the welts on Joshua's ankles which matched those at his wrists.  His brow was covered in gashes and marks covered his entire upper body... crucifixion wounds... piercings from thorns... scourging marks.  His sobs increased and he fell to his knees.

"You are..."

"I am.  I am the one who came to Bethlehem all those years ago to save humankind... and I come to you now... because you are human, Adam.  You are a child of God... a child of mine.  And I love you... I lived for you.  And I died... for you."

The tenderness on Joshua's face bore into Adam's heart.  He had never seen such love... not even Elizabeth's love had been so... complete.  He wanted to draw closer to Joshua, to be touched by him and yet...

"I... I have sinned," Adam cried as he bowed his head.

"Yes."

"I have... held anger... rage... in my heart.  I have killed..."

"Yes.  And you have also forgiven.  Now you need to accept forgiveness.  Do you?"

"I..."  Adam looked again at Joshua's wounds.  When another sob kept him from speaking, he nodded then rested his head against Joshua's hip.

Joshua smiled and softly patted Adam's hair as he wept.  

When Adam had finally calmed, Joshua offered him a hand and helped him to his feet.

"Come, let's go home."

"Home?"

"You are Adam.  You should have your Eden."

Like a child, Adam kept hold of Joshua's hand and let him lead him through the woods.  After only a few minutes, they came to a cabin with candles in the windows.  Adam could make out movement inside.

Joshua opened the door and waved Adam inside.

"Phoebe, my dear, we're here."

Adam gaped as a beautiful woman wearing a simple but lovely dress approached them, smiling.

She hugged Joshua... who was now wearing the clothing of the day... then beamed at Adam.

"Welcome home, Adam, and happy Christmas!"

Adam was speechless.

Joshua chuckled and hugged him.

"Phoebe is your cherub.  She'll keep watch over you and your home... for the rest of your life... which, yes, will be much longer than the average man.  What Victor did... well... as a result you will be like the first Adam, like Noah, and, yes, like Methuselah.  But you will not live forever.  You will die.  There is a place prepared for you in Heaven, Adam.  But until then... I have great plans for you.  For both of you."

Phoebe squeezed Adam's arm.

"Isn't that exciting!"

Adam nodded, still stunned into silence.

Phoebe laughed gently.

"I know...  It's a lot to have happen all within an hour!  But it'll all begin to settle in soon.  Especially once you get cleaned up and get a good meal in you... I think what I've prepared is a little heartier than what Joshua had on offer."

"Only an appetizer!  Come this way, Adam."

Joshua showed Adam to a warm and cozy room decorated in calming blues and greens.

"This will be your room.  And a bath's been drawn just over here.  And there are some clothes in here."  Joshua opened a closet.

Fresh tears welled in Adam's eyes.  For the first time, he felt something like a normal man... with a normal home and normal clothes.

Joshua squeezed Adam's hands.

"Take your time.  We'll be in the dining room.  Just follow the enticing scents!"

Then, with a final smile, Joshua left Adam on his own.

Shakily, Adam stripped down then moved into the bathtub.  He sunk beneath the water.  Briefly, he remembered being plunged into the icy depths when he had followed Victor to the arctic.  But this was so different... this was warm and soft, like a womb... like a baptism.  He sprung up from the water, feeling re-born.

He was loved and he was home.
*~*~*
December 25th, 2025

Adam's eyes shot open and he turned his head to the side to look at the alarm clock.

12:33 AM

It was officially his favorite day of the year!

Smiling, he gently nuzzled Phoebe's hair.

"Mmm?  Is it time to get up yet?" she asked.

"No.  But it's Christmas day."

"Good.  Happy birthday to Joshua.  Now go back to sleep."

Phoebe patted his chest then closed her eyes and drifted back to sleep.

Adam rested a hand over hers, his heart swelling with pride and love.  For over a hundred years, they had celebrated Christmas together and yet each one still felt like an immense and invaluable gift.

As he gazed up at the ceiling of their bedroom, Adam considering how, like his own body, their home was a ship of Theseus.  So much had changed.  They'd knocked out the wall separating their bedrooms, painted and repainted a dozen times, switched out aging furniture, added guest rooms, expanded the kitchen, and yet it was still home.  Meanwhile, his skin had pinked up and his scars had faded.  His patchwork hair had settled into an even coffee brown.  A handful of times, someone other than Phoebe had even called him handsome.  And yet he was still Adam.  

During their first few decades together, he and Phoebe had carefully and gently wooed each other.  They were not husband and wife but she was his Eve, his soulmate.  And they had lived and celebrated and grieved together.  Tears welled in Adam's eyes as he recalled the foundling they had discovered in the woods in 1907, an infant with Down syndrome.  They had named him Samuel and raised him as their own for the twenty seven years God had graced them with his presence.  Caring for Sammy had healed wounds in Adam that he hadn't even realized had lingered.  He'd been so afraid he would lash out as Victor had when faced with his own delayed speech.  But he never had.  Sammy had only ever known gentleness and love from him and from Phoebe.  Tears pricked Adam's eyes as he remember how Sammy would cup his face in his hands and babble the word Adam loved best of all: Dada.  

After Sammy's death, he and Phoebe had not been alone for long.  Once more, he found himself in the role of the Spirit of the Forest... but one of two, alongside his beloved Phoebe.  The wars of the 20th and 21st centuries had brought a stream of refugees.  Joshua's "great plans" had come to fruition.  Even now there were two families in their guest rooms.  And, in Sammy's memory, Adam and Phoebe were determined to give the little ones as wonderful a Christmas as they could.

As sleep began to reclaim him, Adam peered at the Nativity set on their dresser.  He thought of Joshua... of the first Christmas and of the Christmas in the woods with the birds, mice, and deer.  He thought of Victor, of Elizabeth, of Sammy, and of all his former housemates who had since passed on.  He who had once thought he had no soul now carried the hope of Heaven... the hope of a tiny baby in a manger, the hope of a man on a cross, the hope of a scarred man in the woods. 

Adam smiled as he curled into the warmth of Phoebe's body. 

It was Christmas Day and he was home and he was loved by the Everlasting Father.
The End
Author's Note: This was written as a response to Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein specifically, not the novel.  To be clear, I think Joshua would still love any iteration of the Creature aka Adam.  However, I do think he would have handled things a bit differently with the novel's version given he framed a young woman for murder and killed a kid.  In the 2025 film, the Creature only kills men and specifically when defending himself.  Of note, he loves Elizabeth and most definitely didn't kill her either.  So I thought Joshua's gentle tone made sense. 

When I first watched the movie, I loved the performances and the visuals but was kinda disappointed in how it was adapted.  As much as I loved Jacob Elordi's Creature, he felt like a very different character from the novel.  But I also wanted to adopt him.  Ha.  The whole thing also felt very Catholic in a way I wasn't expecting.  But, over time, I've realized I actually love the movie... just as its own thing, separate from the novel.  So the very things that initially turned me off a bit, I decided I wanted to go all in on.  So, yeah, that's how I ended up writing a non-canon Joshua story inspired by a gothic horror film.  This definitely can't exist in the Dyeland-verse since the novel Frankenstein has been referenced... complete with JenniAnn having once played Justine in a production of the play in the Tunnels.  But I'll let anyone who reads this decide whether it's truly non-canon or more of a multiverse situation.  Regardless, as much as I love him, don't expect this Adam to be mingling with the Friends.  If people like him, maybe he and Phoebe will return in further stand-alone stories around Halloween.  We'll see!

Works Cited:
The Creation of Adam and Eve
Macbeth by Shakespeare
Jeremiah 1:5 - before I formed you in the womb
Matthew 3:9- "I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham."
Not sure who first pursued the "ship of Theseus" explanation of the human body but Joshua's dialogue relied on that at points.
Genesis 3:24- the cherub outside Eden
Genesis 5- the ages of the patriarchs
John 14:3- prepare a place for you
Isaiah 9:6- Everlasting Father