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28th May
Daily log
Helena St. Just
Re: Dr. Jekyll's condition
An eventful day, the doctor regained
consciousness at approximately 5:10 p.m. His condition is fair, as of late,
the insidious Mr. Hyde still in
tact despite Henry's weak physical state, and seems, of the two, the
stronger. Despite Dr. Jekyll's weak assurance, I feel that in the following
days I
will see much more of Edward Hyde, and that he may eventually gain
control of Jekyll's being permanently unless the doctor and I can discover
a way
to destroy him. Hyde's attempts at domination have left Henry too weak
to remain conscious for a considerable amount of time, his period of
wakefulness this afternoon too short for him to comfort his wife, who
feels she is entirely to blame for him condition. The doctor and I, however,
know the fallacy of this belief . . . myself realizing, at last, that
his unnatural slumber these past five days has been resultant of the internal
confrontation of the two. Should Mr., Hyde emerge victorious, our brave
doctor will be lost forever to the results of his great experiment, and
with
every fiber of my being I refuse to let this happen. I hope to share
words with Henry in the very near future to establish a protocol in avoiding
the
surfacing of Edward Hyde again, on both a temporary and permanent scale.
"Will he awaken again soon, then?"
"Emma, it is impossible for me
to say, his body and mind are weak, perhaps tomorrow. In the interval,
I suggest you sleep, he will no doubt
panic should he awaken to see you lying ill in the bed next to him."
Helena chuckled, closing her journal and taking a sip of her tea. Emma
sat across
from her, so disappointed that she had not seen her husband in his
waking state. She had been greatly relieved when Helena had given her the
news:
Edward Hyde, her husband's mysterious mental manifestation, had festered
in the aftermath of Henry's injuries, and was reported by the doctor
himself to have been completely irradiated. Helena had found, in these
last few hours, that it would be incredibly difficult to live with herself,
deceiving
Emma like this. She had coolly given her every detail of her hushed
conversation with Henry, omitting the greater portion, the time she spent
in
frightening banter with Edward Hyde.
Overlooking her initial fears,
Helena realized shortly after the doctor had once again slipped into slumber,
that her discussion with Hyde had
actually been most helpful to her cause. Through him she had learned
that an inner battle existed at all, and was quite intrigued to discover
that the two
were acutely aware of each other, a feature in their relationship that
had not been present before the accident. It had also eluded Helena to
the fact that,
perhaps, the injury to the mutual body had had a profound effect on
the spiritual connection, and that more physical change could lessen or
strengthen
the bond between Jekyll and Hyde. It was this thought that sparked
Helena's interests and excited her mind, and this thought that she had
elaborated on
silently, responding mechanically as Emma hammered her with pointless,
and rather repetitive, questions regarding her husband's condition.
"This means he is out of all danger,
does it not?" Emma continued with her ceaseless interrogation. "Now that
he's woken, he'll grow stronger
with each day, and soon he'll-"
"Emma, please! Enough of this,
enough of your false generalizations!" Helena burst out before she could
keep her tongue in check. She
sighed, setting down her teacup with trembling hand, the look on Emma's
face as startled as if Helena had struck her. Taking a deep breath to ease
her
tired nerves, she reached out to take Emma's hand into her own, speaking
softly and calmly. "I know how upset his illness has made you, and yes,
yes
he will get better in time . . . but how much time his fragile body
will need to recover is beyond me, beyond even him at this point." Emma's
dainty
pout trembled, barely concealing more tears. "I did speak to him, yes
. . . a few whispered words . . . Emma , he's no where near as healthy
as you
think he is. You have to understand this, and when you speak to him
I think you'll understand what I mean."
"Helena . . . I just wish this
whole nightmare would end. Why is this happening to him? He's done nothing
but struggle for the benefit of
others! All this time he's slept by his father's bedside, worked in
that miniscule lab all day and then taken dinner with me in the evenings,
attending
stuffy parties where he was forced to ignore the snickers in his free
time! Helena, he doesn't deserve this . . . and still he suffers." She
said, her voice
trailing off. Emma stood, crossing the drawing room aimlessly, Helena
smiling gently behind her.
"Yes, but Emma, you've forgotten
who he spent those days in the lab with, and who defended him at those
stilted gatherings." She said,
rising from her chair to join Emma on the other side of the room, in
front of the fire. "He was awake not all of thirty seconds before he requested
I give
you all his love, silly . . . and he thanked me for giving him the
second chance to repair his broken dreams." She wrapped her arm around
Emma's
shoulders, smiling into her eyes, the fresh tears sparkling in the
firelight. "Surely you forget who is taking care of him . . . Us, Emma!
Helena St. Just
and Emma Carew, who better to keep the illustrious, though sometimes
bumbling and always humble, Dr. Henry Jekyll in line?" Emma smiled at
Helena's attempt to lighten her mood.
"Before you can bat an eyelash
he'll be up and around, writing clumsy poetry to you, and loosing gracefully
to me on the tennis court." Helena
succeeded this time in making Emma giggle, a sound it had been far
too long since she'd last heard. Helena's smile widened, and she leaned
forward
quickly to plant a swift peck on Emma's cheek. "Tomorrow, Mrs. Jekyll,
in all likelihood he'll awaken sometime tomorrow, and you will be there
to
welcome him to the world of the wakeful with a kiss."