If talk of Hyde had been scarce before, it stopped altogether after Jekyll's incident. Rebecca worried about her friend, but whenever she went to visit, she either received no response or was turned away by Poole.
Mr. Utterson had also had the same concern. He also received the same results. However, he was given a different reason. Dr. Jekyll had locked herself away in her laboratory, with no one in or out. She had Poole bring her food and water.
Many months after Jekyll's illness began, it happened that Mr. Enfield and Mr. Utterson were on one of their Sunday walks when walking past Dr. Jekyll's house. At that same time, Rebecca was going to check on Jekyll. The two parties met in front of the house.
"Why, I don't believe we've met. Rebecca Carew," Rebecca said, reaching out for a handshake.
The two men introduced themselves and shook her hand.
"Are you two coming to visit Dr. Jekyll as well?" she inquired.
"No, I don't think so," Mr. Enfield said, glancing at his partner.
"We weren't planning on it, no," Mr. Utterson confirmed.
"Oh, that's a shame. I was hoping she'd actually admit us if a group came," Rebecca pretended like she was trying and failing to hide her disappointment. She decided her feminine charms might play to her advantage.
"Why would I when I can see you from the window?" Dr. Jekyll called, leaning out of an open window.
"Dr. Jekyll!" Mr. Utterson called. "How are you?"
The doctor sighed. "Not as well as I would like. It shouldn't last much longer, thankfully."
"You spend too much time indoors, Jekyll. You should be out and about getting your blood flowing like my friend Mr. Enfield and I. Come on, get your coat and come with us, all four of us can take a walk together."
"I would love to," replied the doctor. "But I'm afraid that's not possible. I would very much like to invite all of you up here, but that is impossible as well."
"Why," Rebecca cried, "we can carry on as we are right now, talking to you from the ground."
Dr. Jekyll smiled. "That is what I suggested from the beginning of this conversation." No sooner than those words were uttered, then did the Doctor freeze in place. Her face twisted to a look of abject terror and despair, and she quickly shut the window and drew the blinds.
"Heather! Heather come back!" Rebecca called.
"My god," Mr. Enfield murmured. And that was the last anyone saw of Dr. Heather Jekyll for another three months.
YOU ARE READING
Jekyll, Hyde, and Pride
Short StoryA retelling of the classic story by Robert Louis Stevenson set in the late 1960s, along with a few other changes. Mr. Utterson has an issue weighing heavily on his mind. That issue being the will of one Dr. Jekyll. The will is an abomination, a leg...
