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The first thing I heard upon regaining consciousness was the sound of glasses clinking. At least, that's what I thought it was. In the state I was in at the time, it might as well have been a machine gun shooting out every window in the Sistine Chapel.
"Stop it!" I said, opening my eyes, and wincing at the sound of my own groggy voice. "You're too loud!!" There was a slight gasp in response, presumably from whoever had been rattling glasses.
Blinking a few times to clear my eyes, I glanced around. Not that there was much to view; all that I could see was cloth, and a hard floor that I was lying on, facedown. After a few moments of deductive reasoning, I concluded that I was probably sprawled under a table. But trying to think was making my head hurt, so I decided to stop.
At that exact moment, the cloth lifted and rays of seemingly blinding light shone in. I moaned and raised my hands to cover my eyes; but before I could, two hands reached forward, seized my wrists, and pulled me - rather roughly, I might add - out from under the table. I looked up, willing my eyes to focus, and saw a blurred but angry face looking down at me.
"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" the blurred face demanded, in a male voice.
I shook my head in an attempt to clear it. Vague memories were returning: my best friend Jenn throwing a party; loud music; a 50 dollar bet that I couldn't finish the bottle of tequila. Ah, yes . . . . judging by the taste in my mouth, I had even eaten the worm. I figured I must have passed out under the table where the drinks were being served.
"Ok, ok," I mumbled, struggling to my feet. "I'm leaving. But first - where's Jenn? She owes me fifty bucks."
My vision was improving considerably by this point, and as i straightened, I realized that the man who had awakened me was staring, open-mouthed. I glanced down at myself, worried that perhaps I had done something idiotic in my drunken stupor and was in a state of undress - no, I was still wearing my tube top and shorts. But the guy was still staring . . . . maybe that wasn't such a bad thing, he was pretty cute, after all . . . . although, if he pulled his hair out of that ponytail and let it hang loose, he'd look nicer . . . .
The glare of sunlight off a beaker distracted me, and it finally registered in my mind that I was not in Jenn's basement. I was in . . . . a lab? "Da hell?" I exclaimed as reality slammed in. Beginning to panic, I wailed, "Where am I? Who are you?"
The man, who was looking more confused by the second, inclined his head slightly in greeting. "I'm Doctor Henry Jekyll, and you're in my laboratory. Might I inquire why?" he asked dryly.
I blinked. "Jekyll? As in, Jekyll and Hyde?" I said slowly, trying to remember the details of Jenn's favorite musical. "I've always been more of a Rent fan, myself . . . ." I trailed off as I noticed that Jekyll had gone all white. "You okay?"
"You know about Hyde?" he asked hoarsely, his eyes intense.
Ok, this was getting weird . . . . "Well, yes. Jekyll changes into his evil alter-ego, Edward Hyde, through some chemical formula . . . . why am I telling you this? You obviously know the plot . . . . you know, I really do support all kinds of fandom, lord knows I've done some really bizarre things on account of my obsessions, but changing your name to the main character's of a musical is going a tad far, don't you think, pal?" I stopped talking when I realized that Jekyll had stopped listening to me around the point I finished summing up the storyline.
"I didn't think anyone would ever find out . . . ." Jekyll sat down on a chair, apparently lost in thought. After a moment of silence, he looked up at me. "Did he tell you? Was Hyde the one that brought you here?"
"Um . . . ." I raised my eyebrows. Ok, so I was stuck with a psychopath who thought he was living in a musical? If I were to run for the door, would he catch me before I could get out? "Well, to be honest, I'm not sure. I had, ah, quite a bit to drink last night, and I'm not sure what happened . . . ." I glanced around. "Jesus, I've never gotten THIS smashed before . . . . I'm never eating another tequila worm as long as I live . . . ."
"So, you don't know how you got here?"
"Nope. Not a clue. Sorry."
Jekyll looked like he was about to say something, when the door opened. Saved!
My relief was short-lived, however. An elderly man stuck his head in the room. "Doctor, is everything all right? I heard raised voices."
"Yes, Poole," Jekyll said, sounding tired. "Everything is perfectly fine. You may go."
As the Poole guy retreated, I sat down on the floor. Hard. "Oh God oh God oh God oh God . . . ." I had no idea what was going on, but it couldn't possibly be good.
"Jenn is going to owe me a LOT more than fifty bucks for this . . . ."