“Are you alright? Did something happen?”

Her voice from up the stairs went unanswered for a moment. Brief, flickering wonder spread across his face as the elixir took its course through his system. Soon he would be different, changed. The ingredients would do their worst and he would emerge new, wholly transformed. He could feel it, the potion pulsed in his veins. He wasn’t sure what it was he would be by the end of the night. It didn’t matter. Man or monster, Jekyll or Hyde, any outcome was welcome. Soon he would leave this basement and move on to his new life. No more visits from the neighbors, no more Sunday papers, no more mediocre weekends with his fair but boring wife.

A moment more passed. Something was wrong. His measurements were exact, the concoction assembled exactly as described, but there was no terrible transformation. After all his preparation, all his anticipation for this fateful night, he was the same. He stood in the basement, alone.

“No, nothing happened. Everything’s alright.”