Chapter Text
It has been quite a while since Henry actually went on vacation.
Standing on the train’s platform with his luggage, holding his hat in one hand to not let it get blown away by the stronger gusts of wind, was everything but familiar to him. The many people around him, the shouting of the train conductor, the loud whistling of leaving trains…
No, Traveling, especially like this, hasn’t been a frequent thing for him! At least not anymore.
If he remembers correctly, the last time he actually left the city must have been around his College Days when he decided to travel to Scotland with his family. It wasn’t only the last time he has travelled in over 30 Years now, but it was also the last time he was able to spend time with his mother before she passed away a few years later.
If he was being honest tho, it wasn’t like Henry had missed traveling too much.
Standing on this crowded platform really seemed to remind him of that. Having to get into a stuffy train, sleeping in a bed that doesn’t even belong to you and only being able to take the bare minimum of your belongings with you just seemed like something that shouldn’t be worth the few nice views you get to see on the way. Especially when thinking about all the work he wouldn’t be able to do in that time, which would pile up until he eventually returned.
Henry already felt his bad mood getting stronger as he kept thinking of the troubles ahead of him. And worst of all, he wasn´t even able to take half of his lab equipment with him.
He just knew that this vacation would be more than just a bit frustrating. How did he even let himself get talked into all of this…?!
His first instinct was to blame Hyde for this terrible idea but, miraculously, it wasn’t really his fault this time.
Hyde never actually even brought something like this up before, given that he too had more than enough stuff to do within London to really want to leave their familiar environment.
To Henrys surprise, his counterpart seemed not to fond of this whole thing either, leaning sluggishly on Henrys head and watching passersby´s, murmuring silent curses every now and then.
With a sigh Henry looked at his pocket watch for a moment, noting that they still had over half an hour before their train left.
It was more than frustrating. Normally Henry would be too late, be it a meeting or one of the lectures he´s giving at university. But of course, fate decided to let him be just on time this once and it had to be right now of course! If he would have missed the train, he would have had an excuse to go back home and stay there, apologizing afterwards for missing his vacation because of an emergency or something like that. But of course, things couldn’t go his way…
He sighed frustrated and a bit overwhelmed with all the strangers bumping into him every now and then even with his attempt to stand as much on the side as possible. That was until he finally spotted the persons responsible for all of this. His two friends Lanyon and Utterson, who both came through the large crowd, instantly spotting their friend. He could see how a smile crossed their faces upon approaching him, which only slightly lifted his sour mood…
“Its unusual for you to be the first! What happened? Couldn’t Poole wait to get you out of the house for a few weeks?” Lanyon´s usual joking tone couldn’t be overheard as he greeted his friend.
“I´m glad you made it, Henry.” Utterson greeted him with his usual soft tone while nodding to him, not able to shake hands with what seemed like a bit too much luggage for the usually humble lawyer.
“We already suspected you to dump us last second with one of your usual excuses” Lanyon´s teased slightly, which got him a side glance from Utterson. Although he didn’t usually minded Smalltalk too much, today just seemed like one of those excruciatingly tiring days where he wouldn’t mind skipping the light conversation.
“I couldn’t come up with a lie this time” he replied half jokingly, earning him a light pat on his shoulder as Lanyon had to laugh.
“Don’t worry, I´m sure this will do us all some good! A nice quiet cabin in the woods is just the kind of relaxation one could need after spending way too much time in the big city! And since it’s my family´s the old Cabin we won’t even be bothered by other guests!-…” Lanyon started rambling.
“Oh great!! In a lousy cabin in the middle of nowhere with only the two most boring idiots as company!! Theres not even a city nearby!!!! Stupid Lanyon! Stupid fucking Lanyon Cabin!! It’s probably just as mouldy as he is!” Henry couldn’t help but roll his eyes slightly amused by his counterparts sudden complaining, still trying his best to stay focused and composed as Lanyon kept on rambling how nice this vacation was going to be.
After a few minutes Henry didn´t really bother to listen anymore tho, as he was sure Lanyon´s rambling wasn´t that important after all. He just nodded and smiled every now and then which seemed to suffice for now as they started walking to the right platform.
After the three (four?) of them arrived there, Utterson and Jekyll both had to wait for Lanyon to buy the train tickets. Having a short moment of solitude between them, Utterson looked at Henry with slight concern, seeing his friends’ obvious discomfort.
“Are you alright?” he asked in his usual gentle tone.
Jekyll knew very well that Utterson was able to read him like a book, and that he would not want to actually force him to go with them on vacation if it would be discomfortable for him. He tried to smile reassuringly, but trying to mask the obvious unwellness the whole situation brought him, was a task he currently was much too tired to do.
“I guess I´m gonna be much better once we´re not on this crowded platform anymore…” he said still trying to be slightly reassuring.
“Are you certain? You know you don’t have to do this if it´s too much?”
Henry looked at him for a moment considering going back home but instead shook his head and tried his best to look less uncomfortable. It wasn’t like he could back out of this anymore anyways. Not with how excited Utterson was with finally being able to have a vacation with him and Lanyon…
“Thank you John, but i´m certain that i´m fine” he finally said, trying to smile a bit more genuinely, which seemed to work as Utterson smiled slightly underneath his Mustache too.
“Yeah! We can´t bloody wait for this trip Utterson! It´s gonna be soooooooooo much fun” came the complaining voice of his other half, who tried to sound as sarcastic as his voice allowed him to. Henry tried his best to ignore Hyde who was easily distracted from their misery with cursing out passerby´s as they kept on bumping into them.
Seeing his counterpart trying in vain to curse out strangers as they just passed right throw his ghostly form at least slightly lifted Henrys mood as Lanyon finally returned with the train tickets.
He would at least try to make the best out of this.
It was too late to turn back now anyways.
The train ride itself was unspectacular to say the least. They luckily had their own little booth to sit in, so they at least didn’t get interrupted by other passengers.
Henry passed most of the time just staring out of the trains window, watching as the landscapes changed from the well known city into more and more rural terrains. He did participate in a few nicer conversations with Lanyon and Utterson after a while. What exactly it was that they had talked about seems to have slipped from his mind tho.
Hyde seemed rather silent for most part of the ride, which was quite unusual for him. Sitting directly in front of the window he just watched as the landscape changed more and more, making a few comments every now and then.
Henry argumented that his silence must have stemmed from the fact that it was technically speaking the first time Hyde himself was in a train. Sure, he knew what it was like from Henrys memories, but being here more or less by himself seemed to be a different experience, if his counterparts intense staring out of the window was anything to go by.
Even with how little Jekyll liked all of this vacation stuff beforehand, he had to admit that at least the train ride wasn’t too bad. Although he knew he wouldn’t really experience another ride in a while after having promised Hyde that he would be the one piloting the body on their way back to London.
They arrived at their destination just as scheduled and after a longer cab ride, they were finally at their destination, the cabin Lanyon couldn’t stop gushing about.
Funnily enough it was actually Lanyon´s jar that first dropped seeing the old cabin he had so many fond memories about.
The smaller house was old… or at least it looked very old, maybe even older than it probably was. Beside the few cracks in its facade and the dusty windows, there seemed to be almost no spot on its exterior not covered in vines and other plant life. If he was being honest, it looked as if it would collapse if Henry just so much as sneeze to hard.
It was quite obvious that no human being stepped foot into this once beautiful and rich looking home. Henry couldn´t help but snicker a bit seeing Lanyon´s disgust and disbelief.
“You were right Hastie, this is astounding!” Henry snickered, trying his best to not laugh at just the sheer amount of emotions that crossed his friends face.
Hyde seemed very intrigued now.
“Man! If you would have told me we would sleep in a haunted house I might have actually looked forward to this! You think we´ll see a ghost? Or that we see a corpse? If I catch a racoon can I keep it?” his excitement of exploring this old cabin seemed to barely be containable.
“Hyde asks if someone was murdered in there and if we could keep the corpse if so?” Henry asked Lanyon, still holding back a laugh as his friends face finally settled on a shocked expression.
“No! No one was murdered in there and we won’t go in to find out!” Hastie finally said getting a bit of his composure back. “I don’t understand what happened here after the last time my family and I visited but we sure won´t stay to find out how bad it is!” he said firmly.
“Did you pay the personal that cleans this house?” Utterson said, his expression being the usual the whole time.
“What? No I didn´t. The house is still in my father´s possession and he´s responsible for administering it.”
“Your Dad is over 90 Years old Hastie. You sure he didn’t transfer the authorization to you?”
Lanyon turned silent for a few moments.
He then decided to just turn back making a move to leave.
“We can´t stay here! If it´s in such a bad shape on the exterior, how bad will it be on the inside!” He said as he already made his way away from the house, clearly without a set destination in mind tho.
Utterson looked at him with his a more stubbornly look now. “We won´t leave. The last train already departed for today and there are no Inns nor cities for quite some miles. Staying in here for a night surely won´t kill us.”
Lanyon´s expression seemed to suggest otherwise.
“I´m with John on this. It can´t be worse than our dorms at college back then and i´m sure it´s better than sleeping in the woods.” Henry chimed in, still not able to contain his slight amusement about all of this.
Lanyon just continued to look shocked and betrayed at his two friends.
“Besides, we already paid for the ride here and we better don’t waste it leaving again.” Were Utterson´s final words as he walked through the lively garden to the cabin. Henry shortly followed him, leaving Lanyon standing there in disbelief. Internally cursing he finally followed his two friends inside.