Duality: A Modern Jekyll and Hyde Story

Chapter 1: Henry

"I'm going out, Poole," Henry called into the kitchen, pulling on a jacket and shouldering his bag. Poole nodded, absorbed in whatever he was doing on his laptop. "If Haz asks, I'll be at the library." Poole nodded again, sparing a brief grin up at Henry before glancing back down again. The screen illuminated his dark skin, turning it blue.

"Hang on, I'm almost done this download... D'you want company? I'll come if you want," Poole said hurriedly, starting to push his wheelchair away from the table.

"It's fine, Poole," Henry replied lightly, smiling. "I know how much you want to stay here... with your girlfriend. I meant computer. But really, is there a difference?"

Poole chuckled a little. "You only met me a week ago and you already know me too well. A'right, man. Have fun."

Henry grinned faintly, recalling the first time he had ever met the wheelchair-bound boy. He had gotten his nickname on the same day, when he had dropped his phone in the university pool. He hadn't stopped freaking out for weeks. The fact that his last name was actually Poole only added to the joke. Henry swung the door of his first-floor room open and stepped out, leaving him outside in the hallway. He inhaled deeply and set off in the direction of the library.

Henry Jekyll was eighteen years old and top of his class. He was working towards a Ph.D. in chemistry and had just transferred to a different university to study. The university had an excellent program, he reflected, but the professors were ridiculously narrow-minded. Not to mention, New York wasn't exactly a nice, crime-free town.

He absentmindedly turned into an alley, looking for his usual shortcut, and bumped into a rather intimidating figure. He stumbled, dropping his bag.

Stride.

Simon Stride was a bit of a legend among the students of New York. He had gone to the same university that Henry himself now attended before dropping out and running around the city streets with his gang. And he had taken it upon himself to make life as miserable as possible for people who were still in school. This same story had been repeated to him not only by the students, but also the professors at his school, the New York University for Gifted Individuals, or the NYUGI.

"Hey, watch it, kid," he snapped, glaring. He was wearing a dark grey hoodie and had slicked-back black hair, like most of the other members of his little gang. His face broke into an ugly sneer and he snatched Jekyll's bag, shaking it upside down. Henry's books crumpled across the ground, along with his wallet. "Where ya going? Nerd Central?"

"Well, if you mean the library," Henry said carefully, "it's a perfectly decent place to-"

"Save the lecture, pretty boy," interrupted Stride, who was around twenty years old. He looked Henry up and down critically, taking in his long plaid cardigan, his too-big red t-shirt, his black sports pants and black shoes. "Though you're not all that pretty." Henry winced. He had been trying to look cool.

"Ha," Stride shot, grinning at the hurt look on Henry's face. "Remember, kid." He gave Henry a shove, causing him to stumble backwards. "This." Another shove, this one knocking him to the ground. "Is not." A kick to the ribs, making him gasp for breath. He tried to stand, but was knocked back by someone behind him, who laughed at the look on his face. "Your city." He walked up close, prompting laughter from his friends and calls of "Get 'im, Stride!" Henry tried not to gag at the stink of Stride's breath. "It's ours. So watch your stupid little back!" He spat the last words with derision.

Henry grabbed his books and stuffed them back into his bag. He stood and staggered away as quickly as possible, scared and stunned. In the city where he had grown up, there had been no one like this. In fact, people had been impressed by his grades and ambitions. But here... here, things were different.

'This is New York, Jekyll,' he reminded himself. 'Things aren't like home here. Remember, just like Stride told you to.'

He reached into his bag and realized that they had taken his wallet.

***

"...And you're going to listen to him? Come on, Jek, I thought you were braver than that!" Haz patted him on the back bracingly. The blond jock who was somehow Henry's friend had bumped into him at the library and, after some persuading, convinced Henry to tell him what had happened.

"But I'm not and you know it, Haz. You know that I'm not brave as well as I know you hate your name."

"It's a dumb name, Jekky. You've got a good enough name, it's... respectable, but Hastie? Hastie Robert Lanyon?" He adopted a high-pitched voice, imitating a Victorian gentleman with his nose in the air. "It's ridiculous. No one names their kid that. Or at least they shouldn't."

"Maybe, Haz, but now's not the time to argue over your name. I've got to get some books on--"

"The Duality of Man," Haz chorused with Henry, rolling his pale blue eyes. "Correcting all the world's wrongs, removing evil from the human brain, et cetera. I've told you a hundred times, that stuff's silly. No matter how hard you try, you'll never make a person that's pure good. And besides," he added, nudging Henry, "there are some pretty nice things that are evil, if you get my meaning."

"Hastie Robert Lanyon!" admonished Henry, turning pink. Haz grinned unrepentantly.

"Welcome to university, buddy. But really, man, you could be doing so much more! You're smart and everything, you could be out there developing a cure for cancer, but no, you always come here and go through musty old books all the time. You could at least use a computer! I'm sure you could find some... conspiracy theorists or something that you can get together with."

"I wouldn't do that. My work is really a book-based study. And besides, it's... well, I'm pretty sure I'm the only person who's ever looked into it. I went online back when I first got the idea, and there was nothing. Except for some ads about some sports shop downtown."

"Maybe that's a hint to stop working on it."

"I can't give this up," replied Henry stubbornly. "Getting this right could solve everything. War, poverty, crime... We would live in a perfect world. Heaven on earth."

Haz shrugged. "Whatever you say. But I know and you know that I know that it's never going to work. Just enjoy life as it is, Henry!"

"It's nice to know you're looking out for me and everything, Haz. But this is what will change the world."

***

"What do you think of that new student? Henry?" asked Rick, raising an eyebrow and looking sideways at Gabriel.

"It's too early to tell. But he seems nice," replied the other boy thoughtfully, furrowing his eyebrows until his dark eyes were nearly obscured. "I might try to get to know him better, but I'm not sure."

Rick Enfield nodded and glanced across the road at the yellowish light emanating from the basement room of the apartment building, unused for many a year. The professors had opened the room for Henry and given him a key so the new genius student could conduct whatever strange things a genius student did. Gabriel had been the previous "big thing" at the school, but was okay with the title being switched. Gabriel was just... cool with things. And besides, Gabe's area of expertise wasn't chemistry like Jekyll, it was criminology.

Gabriel glanced back towards the lower window. "Tomorrow in Carew's class, I suppose we'll see."