I, Henry Jekyll, was born into a rich family. I was smart and I worked hard. I wanted people to respect me. But I had a secret. I liked to have fun in ways that were not serious.
I hid this side of myself. I felt like I was two different people. In the day, I was a serious doctor. At night, I was a different man. I began to study science to understand this.
I learned a great truth. I believed that every man has two natures. One nature is good. The other nature is evil. These two natures are always fighting inside one person.
I wanted to separate them. I thought life would be easier if the good side and the evil side lived in different bodies. The good man could do good things. The evil man could do bad things without feeling sad.
I worked in my laboratory. I found a way to change the body. I made a potion (a liquid with special powers). I knew the potion was very dangerous. I knew I could die.
One night, I mixed the powders and the liquid. The potion began to smoke and change color. I felt very brave. I drank the potion quickly.
Suddenly, I felt terrible pain. I felt like my bones were breaking. I felt very sick. Then, the pain stopped. I felt young and light and happy.
I felt very wicked, but I liked the feeling. I felt free. I looked at my hands. They were smaller and darker. I was now Edward Hyde.
I went to my room and looked in the cheval-glass (a very large mirror). I saw Edward Hyde for the first time. He was smaller and younger than Henry Jekyll.
Edward Hyde looked evil. Most people were afraid of him. But I liked my new face. It was a part of me. Edward Hyde was pure evil.
I drank the potion again. I became Henry Jekyll once more. I lived two lives now. I bought a small house for Edward Hyde in Soho. I told my servants that Mr. Hyde was my friend.
I felt safe. If I did something bad as Edward Hyde, I could run to the laboratory. I could drink the potion and disappear. Then, I was just Dr. Jekyll again.
But Edward Hyde was a cruel man. He liked to hurt people. I was shocked by the things he did. But I did not stop him. I thought only Edward Hyde was guilty.
One morning, something strange happened. I woke up in my bed. I looked at my hand. It was the hairy, dark hand of Edward Hyde!
I had not taken the potion that night. I was very afraid. I ran to my laboratory and took the medicine. I became Henry Jekyll again. But I knew that Edward Hyde was becoming stronger.
I decided to choose my good side. For two months, I was a good man. I helped the poor and I was a good friend. I did not take the potion.
But I became bored. I wanted to be wicked again. I took the potion one night. Edward Hyde came out angry and wild. That night, he killed an old man named Sir Danvers Carew.
After the murder, I was terrified. I was afraid of the police. I promised never to become Edward Hyde again. I worked hard to be a good person.
One day, I sat on a bench in a park. I was thinking about how good I was. Suddenly, I felt terrible nausea. I looked down at my hands.
I had changed into Edward Hyde in the middle of the day! I could not go into my house, because my own servants would give me to the police. I was a murderer. I needed my drugs from the laboratory.
I went to a hotel and wrote a letter to Dr. Lanyon. I asked my friend to go to my house and get the drawer. That night, at Dr. Lanyon’s house, I became Henry Jekyll again.
But the change was happening more often. Soon, I had to take the potion every six hours. If I fell asleep, I woke up as Edward Hyde. I was tired and very sick.
Edward Hyde hated me. He wrote bad words in my books. I hated Edward Hyde too. I was a prisoner in my own house.
Then, a final problem came. The medicine began to run out. I sent Poole to every chemist in London. I wanted to buy more salt for the potion.
But the new salt did not work. Then I understood something. The first salt I had used was not pure. The impurity (a small part of something that is not clean or right) made the medicine work.
Now, I am writing this story. I took the last of the old powder so that I could write it. When I finish, I will become Edward Hyde forever.
I do not know what Edward Hyde will do. Perhaps he will die on the gallows. Perhaps he will kill himself. This is my true hour of death. Here, I put down my pen and end the life of the unhappy Henry Jekyll.