Chapter Text
He was supposed to be dead. He knew he had to die. If he didn't, then the world would be subjected to the evil he named ‘Edward Hyde’. He made that poison to act fast enough for a quick death. He deserved it after all. So, why did he wake up? More importantly…how did he wake up here?
Despite his eyes still being closed, he found himself very much wide awake. He found himself trying to move from the cramp and coarse prison that contained him. He punched and clawed above himself to find an opening to help himself up. After what felt like hours, he felt his hand in the air. He tried to get the second hand out as well until it had also found freedom. He began to pull himself out of the prison until he felt his prison becoming less stiff.
The former corpse sat up from the dirt and coughed as he found himself able to breathe again. The cool midnight wind filled the air as he tried to reorient himself. The small man opened his eyes for what he felt like forever and saw the scenery around him.
The place he was in was surrounded by metal beams and strange sturdy machines that resembled carriages in strange shapes (with no horse weirdly enough). There were paper-thin signs of people dressed in peculiar clothing with bright orange vests, hard yellow hats, and rubber boots on the wired fences. 'Is this construction?' he deduced as he tried to stand up using the metal bar beside him. His legs struggled to carry him for a few seconds until his body remembered how. He did the same thing as he tried to walk. He did not succeed at first.
After falling to the floor after his first attempt, he found something sticking out from the floor. It looked like it was a cane protruding out of the ground. The petite man crawled towards the cane that's sticking out and pulled himself once more. After that he pulled his new cane out of the ground. Or would it be an old cane because he recognized where the cane would've broken and the initials embedded into the dull gold handle? Many regrets began to flood his mind as he used the cane to help him walk again.
As the cold air of the city brushed past him, he realized one thing... He didn't have a bloody coat on. ‘No one seemed to bother to bury me with one it seems,’ The small man from the dirt thought to himself. Another breeze passed him by as he spotted his savior flattering in the wind. After a few minutes (well more like an hour), he got his new black cap with yellow lining from the stack beside him and went on his merry way.
Well, not so merry really. He was still puzzled about what happened to him (and what happened around him because these aren't the buildings or streets that he left behind. Also are the lampposts not gas anymore? So many things have changed since he passed). The cold air smelled different but he deduced that it was around autumn. He wandered the cold dark empty streets trying to find something to help him (well walking did help due to him being in the dirt for who knows how long). He thought he found his salvation in the library…
…only for that to be crushed when he realized that the library was closed. He hung his head down as he leaned forward to headbutt the glass window door. That was also when he finally saw himself in the door's reflection. ‘Ah… so this is the face I died with,’ he thought as he observed his reflection's coarse warm grey hair cascading his porcelain skin and nearly blocking out his unnatural yellow eyes. This was the face of a murderer after all. The face of the monster known as ‘Edward Hyde.’
‘It seems that Dr. Henry Jekyll has died after all.’ He pulls some of the hair away revealing black crack-like marks around his eyes. ‘Huh, that's new. Might have been from the poison.’ He takes a deep breath. He knew that this time the transformation was permanent (something he loathed extremely deeply) but he also knew that this could be a new start for him. Even if he is this evil creature now, it happened as a result of indulging too much in his vices. This is his punishment it seems. To live in an unfamiliar world in the face he loathed until the end of time. What cruel fucking joke.
The short corpse pondered, ‘What to do now? I don't have a life anymore. No money… No reputation... No acquaintances… No friends… This new world I've awoken to feels so foreign and familiar at the same time. It seems the world has simply progressed since my death… I wonder… How am I remembered in this new world? Have my achievements been salvaged and preserved? Am I simply a ghost story? I wouldn't blame anyone for believing so. It seemed like it would be a terrifying experience.’ The little dead man turned back to the streets as he wondered and pondered.
‘I guess I could haunt these streets. That sounds a bit like fun. Scaring passerbys in the middle of the night… but it would also mean that I live in these streets now since there is no home to call my own… No bed to sleep on. No food to eat. Not even a simple change of clothes every once in a while. Oh, what to do Henry… what to do…’
As he was lost in his thoughts, the small man felt a strong breeze pass by him. It was strange. Amongst all the other gentle breezes of the evening, that seemed most unnatural. It was as if something had passed by him quickly… but there was nothing there… ‘Curious…’ He then heard a crash of metal from a nearby dark alleyway. The metal cans spilled trash all over as the lid rolled into a rhythmic stop. However, there was no one in the streets this chilling evening.
“I wonder what did that?,” he cringed as he realized how dry and coarse his voice sounded. In an effort to ignore that ever present thought, the ash-headed man investigated the thing he couldn't see. “Is someone there?” He called out in his hoarse voice as he approached the dark alleyway. “If you think this is funny, I am armed,” he waved his cane at the potential culprit. A low growl-like noise filled the air. ‘Seems like an animal of some kind…’ The cane-wielding former maniac slowly approached the very dark alleyway. His yellow eyes searched for any sudden movements that this animal could make. The short man held his dear old cane tight in his hands as his back was up against the building wall. He took a deep breath to steady himself. The growls of this animal grew quieter. The porcelain skinned man held his cane above his head as he prepared to attack (or defend in this case) from a potential wild animal…
…Only to find nothing there…. No trace, No tracks, No shape. It was as if this creature wasn't there. The corpse lowered his weapon. ‘But that's impossible,’ he wondered. His eyes scanned the dark area for any sign of this animal. “I know that something passed by me. I know that it was quick as the wind and had a physical body of knocking those metal cans down to the ground. I know that it went into this alleyway for some reason or another…” he mumbled to himself trying to make sense of a situation that seemed like nonsense, “If there is truly nothing here in this alleyway…why can I still hear it growling…?”
The growling creature that he could not see is still here with him. That was obvious. So, why can't he see it? Some sort of camouflage maybe? Was it using the darkness as cover? He readied his cane and his resolve to find out. “Show yourself. You bastard…” he hissed at this invisible monster.
His yellow eyes were so focused on the potentially truly invisible animal that the small man failed to realize he was in the company of another human. “Excuse me, are you alright? Is there something wrong?” The corpse spun behind him the second he heard another living being and all he could say was, “...Shit…”