#The strange case of dr. dog and mr. littlewood

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THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. DOG AND MR. LITTLEWOOD

a life series Jekyll and Hyde rewrite

tw: mild mentioned violence

800~ words

Chapter 1

The House On Wart Street

Cleo Zombie was a lawyer, she was stoic and straight faced to most, only allowing herself a smile, and a laugh around her close peers. She wasn’t phased by much, able to ignore or be unbothered by most situations that would’ve terrified the average person. That was something she prided herself on. Don’t get her wrong, she was normally sympathetic to most situations that came her way as a lawyer, she wasn’t that cold. She was also able to make friends with some of her clients, not the ones she went to defend in court, more the ones that wanted something like a will written up. A lot were pretentious, wealthy idiots but a few were nice enough. If you treated her with respect, you got the same back.

One of Cleo’s closest friends was her cousin, Gem Tay, she was sweet, and regularly indulged in frivolous activities. Despite being on the smaller side, she was well-muscled, and had curled, fiery hair normally tied up and out of her way .Even their closest friends didn’t know how they stood one another due to their contrasting personalities. They enjoyed sitting down and talking (more so gossiping), which may be wrong in the eyes of a higher power, but it was one of Cleo’s only hobbies, if it could be called that.

During one of these talks at Cleo’s house, Gem fell silent, tilting her head in thought.

“Have I ever told you about the house? Down on Wart Street?”, Gem asked, shifting on the armchair she was sunk in. Cleo’s eyes flickered upwards in thought and her lips pulled taut into a frown. She shook her head,

“No, I don’t believe you’ve told me any story about Wart street.”.

Gem hummed,

“Well, my friend and I, you know Joel?”, Cleo just nodded before she continued, “We were taking a walk down that street, when the strangest man caught our eyes,” Gem cringed at the thought, Cleo’s brows furrowed, what had been so bad about this encounter, that the mere memory of it triggered a physical response? “He was- I can’t quite describe him well. He was short, that’s for sure, a bit stout and he was,” she cut off again to inhale a shuddering breath, “evil, I’m sure of it-“, Cleo cut her off,

“How do you know a man is evil just by appearance? After all, you and I know better than most about judgement.” Cleo racked her memory for a face she thought could be considered evil just by a glance, but there was none. Was Gem exaggerating?

“I don’t know myself,” she admitted, “but please, as friend and family, trust me, he was evil through and through.” Cleo reluctantly nodded, she believed there was at least a little good in everyone, but she trusted Gem. She continued to speak, “He was a fast walker, almost at a running pace down the pavement, Joel didn’t see him, and the two collided.” Gem paused once more, inhaling. “Instead of apologising, chastising, scolding, or even shouting at Joel, I watched as the man walked straight over him, as if he weren’t there. There was no expression, not even glee or satisfaction. Joel was shouting and yet there was no reaction, as if the man hadn’t heard him,” Gem furrowed her brows with a sigh, “I chased after him, and Joel followed once he’d recovered, when we caught up with him we argued for a good 10 minutes before he gave in-”, Cleo interrupted once more, a thoughtful look on her face.

“Were there no police around? No passerbys?” She asked. Gem shook her head.

“No, no one except for us three.” Gem said, “Which was strange, it was dark but I’d be expecting people to be walking home about that time.” Cleo just hummed, allowing Gem to conclude. “He took us to a house, overgrown with weeds and ivy, and isolated from the rest. It was just on the corner of Wart Street, it seemed in disuse, and I was convinced it was until he walked inside. The house wasn’t too large, and only had a few windows which were either boarded up, or too dirty to see into, clearly if this was his house, he didn’t care much for its upkeep. Joel and I waited outside for a few minutes, and after that, he came back out and handed us a cheque for a hundred pounds.” Cleo blinked, a hundred pounds was nothing to sniff at, even for the upper class. “However, possibly the strangest thing was, the cheque was signed by a Dr Ren. I hadn’t an idea who this was until I mentioned it to someone else, who confirmed it to be an esteemed scientist, certainly not the man we encountered.” Cleo paused. Dr Ren? Ren Dog? He was a client of her’s, and they were friends. Why on earth would Ren sign a cheque for such a horrid man?

“That’s my client,” Cleo finally said. Gem blinked and frowned as Cleo continued, “I have his will, did the man tell you his name?” Cleo asked. Gem’s head cocked and eyes drifted upwards in thought. “Mr. Littlewood, if I remember rightly.”

“How strange,” Cleo mused. The subject was dropped for the rest of the night.

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THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. DOG AND MR. LITTLEWOOD

A life series Jekyll and Hyde rewrite

1800~ words

CHAPTER 2

In Search of Mr. Littlewood

The next day, Cleo went into her office and rummaged through her files until she produced the will of Doctor Ren Dog. It was in an envelope which she carefully pried open, slipping out the paper inside to read it. Mr. Littlewood, the name had rung a bell and she was sure this was it. ‘If I die, or disappear for three or more months, I leave all my assets to my good friend, Martyn Littlewood’. Cleo got a sick feeling which settled in her stomach, mingled with some annoyance. Did Ren know how despicable Martyn was? She couldn’t quite bring herself to visit Ren, instead opting for her old friend Doc. He had never told anyone his real name, so everyone just settled for Doc.

When Cleo let herself into his house as she normally did, she saw him sat by the fire in his lounge, with a cup of something steaming, likely tea cradled in his hands. His head tilted towards the door, though he didn’t even have to look back to know who it was.

“Ah, Cleo! Come in,” he welcomed, a rare smile tugging at his lips. Doc was a lanky, brown haired man, strewn out on an armchair. He and Cleo had been friends since college, and stayed close ever since. Cleo couldn’t help but smile back, she sat on his other armchair, they talked for a good while, Cleo was trying to work up the courage to ask him about Ren, the words just got stuck in her throat when she tried. Finally, she managed it.

“Are you and Ren still friends?” Cleo asked after a moment of silence. Doc tilted his head, appearing almost in contemplation.

“I hope so,” he admitted. “I don’t see him much now.” Cleo gave him a sympathetic look, Doc and Ren used to be extremely close, but had clearly drifted apart in recent years. Infact, Ren had drifted away from everyone. However, Cleo was also a little confused.

“You two both enjoy science, why hasn’t he, well, invited you over to do science things together?” Cleo waved her hand, Ren used to be a sociable man. The air in the room changed near instantly, Doc’s brow furrowed, and nose wrinkled.

“Ren’s changed. He began proposing things that downright ignored all laws of god, and nature,” Doc scoffed. “Far too imaginative, and unrealistic. I told him how stupid he sounded, and we’ve hardly seen one another since,” Cleo barely held back a snort of amusement, years of friendship down the drain in the name of science? If anything, they both sounded stupid. She chose to nod instead and pose her next question.

“Have you ever met his friend, Martyn Littlewood?”

“Martyn Littlewood?” Doc repeated, “Never heard of the man,” he shook his head. Cleo nodded, the two talked for many more hours before Cleo thanked him and left, retreating to her own house, and to bed. Her thoughts were plagued with Martyn Littlewood, conjuring up ideas of what this evil man could possibly look like, each new idea worse than the last. Then she thought of Ren, and imagined Martyn slaughtering the poor doctor just so he could get the inheritance. She worried deeply for Ren and his safety. When she at last woke up from her restless slumber, she’d made a decision. She would find Martyn Littlewood, to at least quell her imagination.

She spent a slightly unhealthy amount of time awaiting Littlewood’s appearance. She lingered on Wart Street so much so that people had began giving her looks, some were of pity, others of distaste and likely judgement but it didn’t matter. One night she was successful at last. It was a clear winter night with a chill that settled in your bones, no matter how many layers were used. She heard heavy, lumbering footsteps on the pavement, a figure was walking towards the house she was standing near. It was a hunched figure, concealed by the darkness of the night, it seemed even the faint light from the lampposts done little to shed light on him, as if he just absorbed it. She stepped to stand beside it, placing a hand on its shoulder.

“Mr. Littlewood?” She recoiled her hand immediately, it was cold- no, more than cold to the touch, she didn’t care for manners, she swore her hand would drop off if she kept it on there any longer. Strangely, she found herself detesting the person before it’d even said a word. She wanted to try and tolerate it, but it was as if her subconscious repulsed the person entirely.

“That's me. What do you want?” Martyn replied, near snappily. Cleo’s nose wrinkled, there was really no need for the attitude, and she had half a mind to tell him so, but decided it was better not to anger the man further.

“You’re friends with Ren Dog.” Cleo stated, “As am I, this is your house?” She left him no time to respond and continued, “May I come in?” She inquired.

“Ren isn’t home.” He returned cooly, as if that perfectly answered her question. He paused, “How do you know me?” He asked suspiciously. Cleo ignored the question.

“Let me see your face.” She demanded. Martyn paused, appearing to think this over before he stepped into the lamppost’s glow, tilting his head up to peer at her. His appearance was ingrained in her memory and she feels physically sick just thinking about it. His face was pinched, expression sour and bitter and his eyes gleamed with something Cleo couldn’t quite pinpoint. The finer details she cannot describe, but Gem hadn’t lied, he was evil. Cleo swallowed back bile and just nodded. “Now I can recognise you.” She mumbled, mainly to herself. Martyn nodded,

“Incase you must find me again.” He added, Cleo frowned, did he know about Ren’s will? Her blood ran cold for a moment before she snapped out of her momentary daze.

“Uh, yeah, yeah.” She mumbled.

“How do you know me?” Martyn repeated his earlier question, already thin eyes narrowed to slits in suspicion.

“You were described to me,” she replied, careful not to give too much away,

“By who?” He pressed further.

“I’m acquainted with people who know you,” she explained rather pathetically and vaguely.

“Who?” He snapped once more, Cleo wracked her brain for a name.

“Dr Ren?-“

“He didn’t tell you!” Martyn snarled, anger twisting and pulling at his face, contorting it in a vile way. “Don’t you dare lie!” The sudden change was surprising, Cleo hadn’t time to react before Martyn had turned and walked briskly up the path to his house, opening the door and slamming it behind him. She stood and stared at the house for a good few minutes, attempting to process it all. Gem was right, that man was evil- oh and poor Ren Dog, she’d bet he's just oblivious to the wrongness of his new friend, she was certain Martyn would bring nothing but doom.

Cleo had to warn him, she walked quickly down the pavement, feet slapping against the stone in a quick rhythm. Her thoughts were a mess, not only was she thrown off by the appearance of the man, but also the attitude. And how did he know Ren had never described him to her? She could think about the finer details later. The house which Martyn had went into, Cleo knew, was Ren’s laboratory. It connected to Ren’s actual house, which was on a parallel street, the one right behind Wart Street. She rapped quickly on the door, shifting her weight anxiously, Martyn could be killing Ren right now, for all she knew! A servant answered the door, telling Cleo that Ren wasn’t home right now.

“But, I saw Martyn come in, through the house on Wart Street?” She made a confused face. The servant nodded.

“Yeah, he has a key, comes ‘n goes when he wants.”

“Oh.” Cleo stared, this was much worse then she thought.

About two weeks later, Ren hosted a dinner party, the first one in ages. He invited many people, notably Cleo. Ren was a tall man, with brown hair flecked silver. He seemed more docile than normal, near withdrawn, only speaking when spoken too. The feeling of wrongness just grew. After everyone but Cleo, and Ren had left, she spoke up.

“I’ve been needing to talk to you, about your will.” Ren’s head turned at what must be breakneck speed, eyeing her, before his expression returned to the disquieting calm it’d been all evening.

“You worry too much.” He sighed, rising to his feet from where he was sat on an armchair. His joints clicked with the movement, Ren was what now, mid fifties? He walked over to Cleo, pausing infront of her. “It’s unnecessary, like Doc’s. You know when I talked to him, he told me it was unrealistic, and stupid.” Ren grumbled and sat beside Cleo. She nodded, pretending not to know already. “I’m just upset I couldn’t show him how much better the world will be with my ideas.” She didn’t press for more information, fearing she wouldn’t like what she found out, instead she changed the subject.

“Your will. You know I don’t agree with it.” Ren sighed, eyes darting to fix on her.

“You tell me everytime I see you.” He retorted, though without any bite to his tone.

“Yes well, this time, I’ve got evidence of Martyn’s wrongdoings-“ Ren paled immediately and interrupted Cleo.

“Say no more!” He averted his eyes and quietened his tone. “You don’t understand, I wish you could. My situation is painful.” He admitted. Cleo put a hand on his arm.

“Please, you can tell me everything, I can help you!” She insisted. Ren let out a soft laugh.

“Oh, Cleo you’re too kind, I really want to, I do, but I can’t, it’s private.” He offered a small, almost pained smile. “However, Martyn is my friend, but you must understand, I can get rid of him anytime I please.” Ren assured Cleo. “I’m sorry, he told me he wasn’t very polite to you, but I care for him as if he was my kin.” Cleo wrinkled her nose.

“I won't ever like him.” She said bluntly. Ren didn’t look at Cleo, and his smile fell.

“I don’t think you can ever, I just need my will honoured when I go.” He sighed. Cleo was silent for a few moments, heavily debating ripping up the will the moment she got home, but decided against it. She removed her hand from Ren’s arm.

“Fine.” She begrudgingly promised.