Hello, It's Mrs. Hyde

Prologue Scn4 - Suffered in Silence

Jessica (Narration):
"I knew something was wrong the moment he smiled.
Jekyll didn't speak like someone with curiosity. He spoke like someone with expectations."

I. The First Meeting

The lab was quiet, save for the soft bubbling of tonic in a copper alembic. Jessica stood over a parchment of notes, brow furrowed, hunting for an ingredient.
"Looking for this?" came a voice behind her.
She turned.
Not Hyde's face or voice—Not Hyde..but his clothes..
Dr. Jekyll stood at the lab entrance, a polite, almost eager smile on his lips, as he held up the vial she needed.
"Sorry," Jessica said slowly, eyes narrowing. "I wasn't expecting anyone but—"
"Mr. Hyde? he finished. "Yes, well. He's... resting."
He offered her the vial.
"And I thought you might be hungry."
He motioned to a tray laid on the workbench: two sandwiches, a bowl of soup, and a glass of Syrah.
Jessica's chest tightened.
"Oh! Uh..No, thank you. I'm fine right now. I ate before my shift started."
Jekyll's smile faltered. Just a breath. But it was enough.
"So..Mr.Hyde gets to know you," he said, voice still smooth. "Why not me?"
She stepped back. "I really do need to go grab more dried fennel from the stores—"
He moved faster than she expected, blocking her exit, that same tight smile stretched too wide.
"I asked you a question."
His hand grazed her shoulder.
Jessica's instincts flared — she tried to duck under his arm, but he caught her, and with one fluid motion, jabbed a needle into her neck.
The world blurred.
Then went black.

II. The Experiments Begin

A haze of darkness.
Voices.
Steel restraints.
Ink-stained gloves.
Jekyll scribbling frantically as Jessica lay paralyzed beneath a silver-tinted gas. Her thoughts were clear — but her body wouldn't move.
"Fascinating," he murmured. "No magic, but residual enchantment traces. I wonder what would happen if..."
Pain.
Burning. Pressure. Light.
She screamed — but only inside her mind.

III. Silent Days

Jessica awoke in her bed, covered in sweat. No memory of getting there.
The needle marks on her neck — small, precise. Her body ached, her skin cold.
She rose. Washed. Dressed. Said nothing.
Because she remembered Hyde's warning.
"Never trust him."
Because she wanted to be strong for him.
Because she was determined to free him — to give him the life he deserved, without the monster that haunted him.

IV. Escalation

The sessions came in waves.
Sometimes, she'd wake to new bruises on her arms. New incisions on her back.
Other times... she woke with a deeper ache. One she didn't speak of.
One that made her burn the sheets in silence.
The physical assaults were subtle — never full violations, but intrusions that haunted her just the same.
Lingering touches. Breath at her ear. Restraints where there had been none the night before.
"You're stronger than Hyde thinks," Jekyll once whispered in her ear as she lay paralyzed in the chair. "You should belong to someone who sees it."
She never responded.
Not even with a tear.

V. Cracks in the Mask

In public, she smiled. She laughed with the guards. She trained the new archivists on sigil identification. She sparred with Bram, the youngest of the gate knights, and beat him twice.
But at night, in the library, she sat beside Hyde more quietly than usual.
She no longer finished her wine.
Hyde noticed.
But didn't press.
Not yet.

VI. The Spiral

By the third month, her body began to falter.
She fell asleep mid-study. Her hands trembled while brewing stabilizers. Her skin turned pallid, her eyes shadowed.
Hyde sent her to rest.
When he visited her room later, he found her curled in the corner, whispering names.
"Jefferson...Gracie... they hate me... everyone hates me...I killed her..."
She didn't see him.
Her mind was somewhere else.
Hyde froze.
Then crossed the room and knelt beside her.
The bruises on her neck were fresh.
The pinpricks lined with silver — a sedative he recognized.
His own hands had never touched her.
But he knew exactly who's had.

Jessica (Narration):
*"I wanted to save him.

So I let myself hurt in silence.

But you can only carry a secret so far...

Before it begins to bleed."*