Jon returns to the lab after a walk

By the time Jon Kekyll returned to the lab, his T-shirt was clinging to him in cold patches. The walk outside hadn’t cleared his mind. If anything, it made him feel more disoriented—like the world was half a second out of sync. Lights seemed too bright. Sounds, too soft. And every metal surface he touched had given him a little bite of static.

Residual charge, he’d mumbled earlier, more annoyed than concerned. Just dry air.

Now, as he stepped back through the lab’s glass door, he paused. Something felt… off. The air in the room had a different pressure to it, as though a vacuum had been filled behind his absence.

He squinted at the workbench. The RAC was still sitting exactly where he’d left it—untouched. Or so it seemed.

He shook his head and moved toward the back fridge, intent on extracting whatever energy drink hadn’t expired.

Then—

“Dr. Kekyll?”

He turned, nearly bumping into her.

“Elena. Hey. Didn’t think anyone else was still on-site.”

She blinked at him, caught in that classic late-night researcher look: ponytail half-loosened, lab coat hanging open over a loose-fitting tee and joggers. There were faint shadows under her eyes and a faint flush to her cheeks from climbing stairs. She looked… normal. Tired. Familiar.

He gave a tight smile. “Yeah. I was just trying something. Didn’t work.”

“Still tinkering with the RAC?”

“Mmhmm. Still failing with the RAC.”

She laughed softly and brushed past him toward the coffee machine.

As she did, their arms barely touched.

A brief snap.

Crack.

“Ow—seriously?” she pulled her elbow back instinctively. “That’s like the fourth time today I’ve been zapped. You’re basically a walking carpet.”

Jon opened his mouth to apologize, then hesitated.

He hadn’t been wearing socks.

“Sorry. Static’s all over the place tonight.”

Elena shook her head and crouched to retrieve a creamer pod, but Jon’s attention drifted.

Something was different.

The hem of her shirt didn’t fall quite the same way it had earlier. There was a curve now, however slight, pressing just enough to catch his eye. He dismissed it at first—maybe just the way the shirt bunched up from crouching—but when she stood, it was still there. The faint swell of her bust beneath the fabric.

Before, her chest had been modest. Flat, even. And he knew that because he’d worked with her every day for months and had never—not once—noticed anything like what he was seeing now.

It wasn’t huge. But it was new.

“Elena?”

She looked up, stirring her coffee.

“Yeah?”

“You, uh… feeling alright?”

She gave him a puzzled smile. “Sure. Just caffeine-deprived. Why?”

“No reason,” he said quickly, averting his eyes.

She shrugged, grabbed her mug, and started toward the office at the back of the lab. “I’ll be in the data room if you need anything.”

Jon watched her go.

As she walked, he couldn’t help but notice: her hips swayed more than he remembered. There was a rhythm to it. A subtle exaggeration. Like the frame underneath had shifted while she wasn’t looking.

Or while he was.

He turned toward the RAC.

It sat there, silent.

But he could still feel the charge in his fingertips.

That same ghost of energy was prickling across his skin.

A strange thought crept into his mind, uninvited…