The man watched as the green glowing substance oozed through his partner’s esophagus. The substance’s glow could be seen going down into his stomach.

 The man shivered as he watched. His partner inhaled deeply waiting for a result. Little did he realize what events and reactions were already taking place within him.

 After a half hour of waiting for something to happen, the man’s partner gave up.

  The man was quite surprised that there were no immediate effects. He was a good scientist and while he was watching his partner he came up with a list of quite a few immediate effects that could happen, even if the medicine’s main purpose was never achieved.

 Charles spoke to the man in his perfect English (This was still surprising to the man, for he had not dared to inquisite upon how his partner had learned English.) and said, “The medicine seems to have slow effects. Perhaps you should stay overnight and see if there are any noticeable effects tomorrow.”

 The man checked his watch and saw that it was 7:00 pm already. He had spent all day at the lab. He looked at his partner, who stood waiting for his answer to the question he had posed. The man was weary of staying overnight in this uncomfortable place.

 “I really should go back home,” The man said, “what if I came back tomorrow?”

 “That would be such an annoyance. Just stay here, I insist. In fact, I even prepared dinner for you.” Charles said.

 The man found it quizzical that his partner had planned for him to stay for dinner, and wondered if this was all some trap that his partner had made up to do something horrible to him. He quickly scolded himself for thinking these barbaric things, then followed as his partner lead him to the kitchen and dining room that had most certainly not been there before the remodeling.

 They ate in silence, and afterwards the man’s partner lead him to his room. He walked in, shut the door, and waited for his partner to leave before rushing into the storage room across the hall from him. Once again he scolded himself for these ludicrous actions. What machination would his partner be planning against him?

 The next morning the man was alive. At least that was something. The man found breakfast prepared on the table, in the dining room that his partner had added to the lab during the renovation. He sat there contemplating what made him decide to stay overnight at the same lab that he had tried tirelessly to avoid ever seeing again. Charles walked out of a nearby room and smiled.

 That’s when the man noticed that his partner’s face looked different. Instead of dull brown pupils in his eyes, his pupils were glowing green. Upon further inspection he saw that his partner had a nuance of glowing, green throughout his whole body.

 The man’s partner walked to the other side of the table, sat down, and picked up a knife.

 “You’ll never guess what I have discovered about the effects of this medicine,” his partner said. Then, without warning, he brought the knife down on his finger completely detaching the digit.

 “Charles what is wrong with you?” The man shouted.

 “Just watch,” his partner said, as he touched his detached finger to the rest of his hand. A thick, green substance dripped from his detached finger, where it had been separated. The dripping, green substance then began to change. It changed from green to brown, the same color as his skin. That’s when the man realized that it was now, in fact, skin. His partner’s finger had been reattached by this strange fluid.

 “Th-this is extraordinary,” The man stuttered.

 “Yes it is, and we must do more to research the effects,” The man’s partner said, picking up a glass of water.

 The man’s partner downed the water, and where it flowed down his esophagus, his skin turned green, and became semisolid.

 “It seems that liquid causes the substance to react.” The man said.

 “Let’s run more tests,” said Charles, now excited by the fascinating event that he and his partner had both witnessed.

They left from the newly added dining room into the newly added testing room.

 “When you swallowed the water, your skin became semisolid,” The man said, “I’m wondering if a larger amount of water would be able to transform your body’s state of matter into a more gelatin like form.”

 The man’s partner stood, quiet and motionless, for a while, considering what the man had just said.

After a while he replied, “There’s water in the janitorial closet.”

 They both retrieved the bucket of water from the janitorial closet, (that was there before the renovation) and brought it back into the testing room.

 The man lifted the bucket and began to swing it back and forth, the swings getting bigger as he generated more momentum.

 “Get ready,” The man said. Then he thrust the bucket towards his partner. The water crashed down upon The man’s partner.

 His partner’s skin quickly turned green. He then began to liquify, turning into green goo, until he, along with his clothes were nothing more than a puddle of green, glowing liquid upon the floor.

 The man began writing about what had happened, as he watched the motionless puddle on the floor. After awhile he became concerned that the puddle remained motionless.

 He stared at his liquified partner on the floor. That’s when he noticed the liquid start to stir. Then it bubbled. Then it rose and took the shape of his partner, exactly as he had appeared before.

 “I-“ The man began to say, but found that he couldn’t get any utterance out of his mouth.

 “Words cannot describe the feeling one has when they accomplish their life’s work,” said Charles, “the next logical step is for someone else to take this medicine, so we can test the effects of it on a different host.”

 Charles gestured toward The man.

 “Charles, let us not jump to any rash decisions. We have tested the medicine, not even for an hour. Let us slow down.”

 “We don’t need to slow down,” His partner said, “we know that the medicine works, we know what it does.”

 “You’re not thinking this through! There are still things we need to research.” The man said.

 “I have finally completed my life’s work! Why is it that you try to hold me back?” Charles shouted.

 He stormed off into an unmarked room. The man could tell that his partner was still mentally unstable. He attempted to leave the lab, but found the door sealed, and unable to be opened. He turned around and found Charles standing behind him with a medical needle. In it was a light blue substance.

 “I prepared this special alteration of my medicine. I made it after the creation of my first medicine. You will be the recipient of it.” He said.

 “I will be the recipient of no such thing.” Said the man as he turned to the door to try to open it once again.

 “You will not be leaving until you have received this medicine.” Said Charles.

  He lunged at the man who barely dodged his vicious attack. The man pulled a knife from his pocket (it was one that he always carried with him, not as much for self defense as for productivity: it really was a useful tool).

 “You really think that will kill me?” Charles scoffed.

The man had a different plan in mind. He was a genius, and he had just witnessed his partner cut off his finger, then watched it regrow. He knew that any attempted attack to wound his partner would be a wasted effort. Running straight towards Charles he quickly slashed his partner’s eyes, causing them to turn into green gooey liquid. Charles cried out in surprise and anger. He grabbed left and right, but he could see nothing. The man quickly ran across the lab, looking for something to help Him. He ran (literally) into the janitorial closet door. He opened the door and stepped inside. He pulled a match from His pocket, (Another something He always carried with Him, just in case.) and lit it against the door. He used the dim light to search the closet for any items that he may be able to use against his former partner. Fortunately, the first item in the closet was a large container labeled H2SO4 (more commonly known as sulfuric acid). He decided that even though the sulfuric acid could not permanently stop his partner, it could possibly liquify Him long enough for him to find an escape.

  He then heard the sound of Charles walking by each door, pushing it open. He grabbed the acid and the box behind it fell, shattering a rack of test tubes.

          “That was a grave mistake.” Charles smirked. He started toward the closet with the injection in His hand. He put his hand on the doorknob and pulled the door open. The man threw the open container of sulfuric acid at His partner. His face boiled. It turned into green, boiling liquid. The acid slid down His body turning everything it touched on Him into boiling, green liquid. The man watched His partner until He was a puddle of boiling, green liquid on the floor of the lab.

            The man searched the lab until he found a window that He smashed with the butt of his knife. He jumped out of the window and ran to the train station. He boarded the train, thinking about how He never should have opened the letter.

            After getting off the train, He walked gloomily back to His house. When He got to the front door, He found that it was already open. He pulled His knife from His pocket, and stepped cautiously into the house. On the floor there was a puddle of green liquid.

           Without warning, the liquid quickly took the form of Charles, who was holding an injection in his left hand. The man tried to quickly gash Charles’ eyes, but Charles caught His arm, and immediately counter struck the Man with the injection pressing the Medicine into Him…