Total pages in book: 27
Estimated words: 25371 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 127(@200wpm)___ 101(@250wpm)___ 85(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 25371 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 127(@200wpm)___ 101(@250wpm)___ 85(@300wpm)
Henry handed me the book.
I met his gaze as I took it. We were both aware that the day before yesterday he’d practically bitten my head off when I even tried to touch his book.
He took a deep breath. “I’ve been working on a top-secret formula called Bl88dX for about two years now. Animal trials have been complete failures, so my research wasn’t advancing quickly enough for human trials. I was going to lose my funding. So, a few days ago, I took the formula myself.”
My eyes widened. I was so shocked I started to sit down even though there wasn’t a chair near me. Henry leapt forward and steadied me before gently guiding me to a chair.
I blinked several times. “Let me get this straight. You did an unauthorized human trial… on yourself?”
Such a thing would not only get him fired, it could get him banned from the entire scientific community.
Henry nodded.
“Are you crazy? You risked destroying your career. Losing your funding for real. Holy shit, even if the trial had been successful, no reputable university or the military would have accepted the results. What were you thinking?”
“I was desperate! I thought the formula worked and the only reason why the animal trials were failing was because the formula was meant to work on the human brain.”
I stared at the journal on my lap. I opened it and flipped through the pages. Most were typed out and stapled to the journal page. I smiled inwardly. Leave it to Henry to be persnickety about even his personal journal. Then I came to a handwritten entry deeply scrawled in thick black ink.
Henry pointed to the message. “That is when Hyde appeared.”
My eyes narrowed. “What do you mean, appeared?”
He swallowed. “After taking the formula, it was like I lost control not only of my own body but also my mind. The formula somehow split my personality. It turned me into a completely different person.”
I stared at the scrawl. It was barely legible. “You expect me to believe that you became Hyde because of a formula?”
“No.”
I opened my mouth to object.
Henry stopped me. “I don’t expect you to just believe me. I’m going to show you.”
I slowly stood. My voice shook. “Show me?”
He nodded. “I’m going to take the formula and have you observe what happens.”
I backed away. “No. You’re out of your fucking mind. I can’t. I don’t want to see Hyde again. I don’t care if he’s your brother or if I even believe this craziness that he is you.”
“Please, Catherine. It’s the last thing I’ll ever ask of you.”
I was torn. On the one hand I wasn’t sure I even believed him, but on the other hand there was a small, dark, and twisted part of me that did want to see Hyde again. If only to slap him across the face and tell him that he meant nothing to me as well. It bothered me to think that he’d walked away thinking he was this God’s gift to women because of his big cock and skills in bed.
I bit my lip. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Yes, okay. But let’s do this before I change my mind.”
Henry stood staring at me for a moment, as if he were stunned that I had agreed. After his hesitation, he sprang into action. He raced over to the inventory cabinet and started pulling out ingredients. He then scribbled a list of items on a piece of paper. He tore the paper from the pad and handed it to me with his credit card. “I need you to go get these items.”
I looked down at the list and frowned. “Are you sure? What on earth do you need all this for?”
He stepped close and cupped my jaw. “It’s for your own safety.”
I looked down at the list again.
Chain
Padlocks
Eyebolts
Electric drill
Masonry drill bit
Mace
I nodded. “Okay. I’ll be back.”
* * *
By the time I had returned, Henry had completed the formula. I stood close to him and looked down at his notes. I hadn’t had a chance to learn about what he was working on before now.
I looked at the complicated formula in awe. “Henry, this is impressive.”
He shrugged. “If only it had worked.”
He took the bag of items from me and got to work. We chose a brick wall on the far side of the laboratory. Henry used the electric drill to drill two holes around waist height. He then screwed the eyebolts in tight and ran the chains through the holes.
He took a deep breath. “Ready?”
I nodded.
Henry stood against the wall and held out his arms. I wrapped the chains around his wrists and up his forearms before securing them with the padlocks. I then returned to the lab table and picked up the test tube filled with a horrifying crimson liquid.
I crossed to where Henry stood chained to the wall.