Janus - A Modern Telling of Jekyll and Hyde

Chapter Two

Woot! Next chapter! Yay! So, things are heating up! :D Read/Review please! I NEED CONCRIT! PLEASE!

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"Where are you taking me?" she asked. I refused to take my hand away from over her eyes. I had something special planned for her tonight. This past weekend had been particularly kind to me, and I was feeling very good. I felt like doing something fun.

“It’s a surprise!” I said, laughing. “Why would I tell you?” I played. I was still a little bit sore, and I wondered what it was He did. At least I hadn’t found any blood on my clothes this morning. I was still getting used to seeing that. Ever since he moved on to the next stage, he’s been getting worse and worse. First it was the girls’ clothing I would find in the nooks and crannies of my car, and now it’s the girls’ blood. With this thought, a voice shoved itself out from the deepest recesses of my mind.

You know you enjoy it, John. You enjoy the dreams and the findings.

 I could almost hear him smiling.

Shut up, Janus, I don’t need this now.

If this happened here, I don’t know how I could recover. I’d been very good at hiding my ‘special friend’, but he’s been emerging ever faster. It’s been happening more and more often now. I don’t know how long I can cover for him. I don’t know how many times I can wake up on a Monday morning and wonder what her name was before I crack. That’s what happened in the original story, right? Hyde consumed his host, and Jekyll went barking mad.

Who’s to say he wasn’t mad in the first place, John? Oh, Avery’s looking very pretty today… It that a new dress? It’s shorter than the rest… I can almost see her-

I stopped him in his tracks. I quickly shoved him back, with great resistance. I slowly returned back to reality. To Avery. To where I was leading her.

“You’ll tell me, I’m sure of it,” She said with confidence. One of the things I loved about her was her determination to know things. In every person, there’s this desire to know things. In some people, that need is much more demanding. That’s what makes her a wondrous scientist; she’s always searching for more knowledge. Her brain is always working things out. It’s analyzing every single moment in a situation and it determines what’s happen through this marvelously complicated method. Most people just glance at something, but they don’t really see it. When Avery looks at something, is it her art work or just a simple garden, she sees every brush stroke and every blade of grass. It’s marvelous.

“Oh are you? So then, Miss World-Famous-Consulting-Detective, what makes you so sure?” I enquired. I slowly moved her to our destination, we were so close.

“I’m so sure, Mr. Watson, because you can’t resist the tickle monster!” She joked in a fairly decent British accent. She quickly turned around to face me, faster than I could stop her. She immediately began the torture. I will regret telling her I’m ticklish until the end of my days.

“Ahhh! I relent! Stop it!” I said through my smile. I was laughing so hard my stomach hurt. I bent over a held my arms around my stomach tightly. My theory was if she couldn’t access the tickle spot, then she couldn’t tickle it. When she relented, I quickly adjusted my vest, then my scarf, and finally my hat. I had an unusual style, and it required constant attention. I had so many layers to keep straight, and I needed to keep them straight in order to pull it off. Even so, I’d never be caught dead in anything but my combat boots and my fedora.

“Okay… Seriously though, where are we going?” She said. She was back to being serious and a bit giggly. She does this, and I think it’s completely adorable. She’ll go from totally hilarious one moment, then straight to serious, but she’ll still giggle. It lets me know not everything in my life has to be doom and gloom all the time.

I quickly turned her around to face our destination. I smiled and said, “Welcome to my dad’s mansion.”

She left my grasp and went onto the front lawn of my dad’s home. I live with my mom most of the time -because my dad’s always out of town- and my dad told me I could use his house for whatever I wanted. It was a very large mansion on the right side of town. It was built on a corner hill and had a cascading front lawn. The walkway was framed by rose bushes and tea lights. The house itself was a light brown brick with red shutters. The walls were covered in vines and there was a fairly large willow tree casting a shadow across the property.

Inside, there was a marvelous grand entrance and a massive chandelier. There was a double sided grand staircase which led to the expansive second and third floors. Through the base of the stair case was where he had wanted to take her specifically. He grabbed her hand and broke her out of her moment of shock. “How… Why?” She mumbled. He dismissed this and took her into the pool chamber.

It was a massive room, and the walls reflected the ceiling lights off the pool to cast an eerie glow around the room. The back wall was all glass, and let the natural light in. The pool was entirely tiled and depicted some Greek god. What I was really looking at, though, was Avery. She had dropped her jaw as she took in the room. I knew she’d like this, more so than the library or art studio. Avery was like a fish out of water. I walked to her side and lightly placed my hand on her shoulder. She turned to face me and her jaw moved back up to form a devious smile. She placed her hand on my shoulder and, before I knew it, she had pushed me into the water.

I came up, sputtering, only to be splashed again as Avery cannon-balled into the water next to me. When she surfaced, she swam towards me and hugged me.

“Thank you,” she said. She seemed to know why I had brought her here. I smiled as she pulled away and I kissed her. That’s when her hands slid down my frame and began to unbutton my vest. My scarf had come off with my hat as I fell it, but my tie was still on, plastered against my chest. She pulled away once more and finally, she pulled my shirt over my head. I winced when my arms went up and I pulled further away. I held my arm around my stomach, hiding the bruises.

Those are from when she kicked us.

I heard him say. I shoved him back once more.

“Oh my god, John, those bruises look terrible,” I cursed as Avery swam to the side and got out. She walked to the table and grabbed two towels. She came over to me and handed me one as I exited the pool. I took it from her and wiped my face; I thanked her and went to grab a dry cotton shirt from the basket. I noticed she had removed her dress before diving in, and she was wearing a matching cherry underwear set.

“I’m sorry,” I said, taking her out of the pool room and up the stairs. I led her to my room and closed the door. As soon as the door had clicked in place, Avery was all over me again. Her one hand went through my wet hair; the other hand went towards my waistline.

Oh, yes John… You know she wants it… She’s dirty… I like her…

He was happening more frequent, and I had to end this before something bad happened.

I grabbed her lowering hand and moved it away from my body. I pulled out of the kiss, “I’m sorry. There’s clothing in the closet. James will drive you home,” and with that, I was gone. I hated to leave her so soon, and so rudely, but this was necessary, for her protection… And mine…