The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Dr. Lanyon receives a frantic letter from his old colleague Jekyll, begging him to retrieve a mysterious drawer from Jekyll's cabinet and give it to a messenger at midnight. Though he thinks Jekyll has lost his mind, Lanyon feels obligated to help. The letter is so desperate and specific that Lanyon can't ignore it, even though the request makes no sense. He breaks into Jekyll's cabinet with a locksmith and finds strange powders, a red liquid, and a notebook filled with cryptic experimental records. At midnight, a repulsive small man arrives - someone who fills Lanyon with inexplicable dread and disgust. The visitor is clearly desperate for the drawer's contents. When Lanyon hands it over, the man mixes the chemicals into a potion that bubbles and changes colors dramatically. He then offers Lanyon a choice: leave now and remain ignorant, or stay and witness something that will change everything he believes about reality. Lanyon chooses to stay and watches in horror as the man drinks the potion and transforms before his eyes into Henry Jekyll. The revelation destroys Lanyon's understanding of the world. He realizes the visitor was Hyde - the murderer everyone's been hunting. This knowledge proves too much for Lanyon to bear, and he knows it will kill him. The chapter shows how some truths are too terrible to witness, and how helping a friend can lead you into darkness you never imagined existed.