The Invisible Man
A scientist discovers the secret of invisibility, but loses his sanity in the process.
Page 1
The stranger came in early February, a solitary figure battling a driving snowstorm. He walked from the railway station, his face hidden, his body wrapped against the biting wind. When he staggered into the Coach and Horses inn, he was covered from head to foot in snow. Mrs. Hall, the landlady, hurried to help him. "A fire," he said through his muffler, his voice rough. "And a room." He stood with his back to her, a man made of winter. His face was completely swathed in bandages, and great blue spectacles covered his eyes. He was a dreadful sight, but he was a customer, and he had thrown two gold coins on the table. "This is for the room," he told her. "And for being left alone. Do you understand?" Mrs. Hall, though unnerved, nodded and went to light the fire, wondering what kind of man took a room but wanted no company at all.
Page 2
The stranger did not leave his private parlour. Crates arrived filled with books and hundreds of glass bottles, which he arranged on every surface. He worked at all hours, the clinking of glass and the sharp smell of chemicals seeping under the door. He grew short-tempered and fiercely private. One afternoon, Mrs. Hall entered without knocking, carrying his tea. She saw him for a second without his glasses: his eyes seemed to be empty, pinkish sockets. He roared at her to get out. Later, she tried to talk to him through the locked door. "My bill, sir," she called out. "It's been a long time." The reply was a snarl. "Don't bother me! I have work to do!" Then there was a crash of glass. The villagers began to whisper that he was a mad scientist, or a criminal in hiding. Mrs. Hall just wanted him to pay his bill and go.
Page 3
The vicarage was burgled, and suspicion fell on the strange guest. Mrs. Hall, her patience gone, confronted him in the common room before a crowd of nervous villagers. "I want to know what you've been doing!" she demanded. "And I insist you take off those bandages." The village constable, Mr. Jaffers, stepped forward. "You'll have to come with me, sir," he said grimly. The stranger laughed, a hollow, terrible sound. "You want to see?" he cried, his voice muffled. "Very well!" With his gloved hands, he began to undo his disguise. He tore off the false pink nose and the whiskers. He pulled off his hat and wig. Then he began to unwind the bandages from around his head. The people in the room gasped, staring in horror. There, above the collar of his coat, was nothing at all. Just empty air.
Page 4
Fleeing Iping, the Invisible Man made his way to the house of Dr. Kemp, a man he had known at university. Kemp was working late when a voice spoke from the empty air. "Don't be alarmed, Kemp," it said. It was Griffin. To prove his story, the disembodied voice directed Kemp's attention to a glass of whiskey. "Watch," the voice commanded. The glass lifted into the air, tilted, and emptied itself, then set itself down. Kemp stared, his scientific mind reeling. Griffin then told his impossible story: how he had made himself invisible but could not reverse it. "I am a man who has erased himself from the world," the voice said with despair. "And I need your help, Kemp. You are the only one I can trust."
Page 5
For a day, Kemp listened, half in pity, half in awe. But Griffin's tale grew darker. He spoke of the freedom of being unseen, of the power he had over others. He revealed he had stolen from his own father, and the ruin and shock of it had led to the man’s death. "This is only the beginning, Kemp!" the voice whispered with a terrible excitement from the study. "We can start a Reign of Terror. We will find a way to make others invisible. An invisible army! We will rule this country!" Kemp looked at the empty space where the voice spoke from and felt a cold dread. This was a monster. Making an excuse, he went to the front hall. "Take this to Colonel Adye at the police station," he whispered urgently to his servant, pressing a note into his hand. "Go now. Do not run, but go quickly."
Page 6
Kemp’s betrayal was discovered. With a roar of fury, the Invisible Man smashed his way out of the house. Now at war with mankind, he wandered the country lanes and came across a tramp named Thomas Marvel, who was contemplating his boots by the roadside. Suddenly, a voice spoke from the thin air. "Those are good boots," it said. Marvel yelped and scrambled up. An unseen force grabbed his collar. "Don't scream," the voice commanded. "I am an Invisible Man. I need a helper, someone visible to carry things for me. You will do it." Pushed and prodded by invisible hands, the terrified tramp was forced to become his first and only servant. "Where are we going?" Marvel whimpered, stumbling along. "Back to Iping," the voice said grimly. "I have some books and money to collect."
Page 7
Griffin’s first act of terror was to lay siege to Kemp’s house. He shattered windows with stones and promised revenge. "Kemp!" his voice boomed from the street. "You thought you could trap me? I declare war on all of you!" The house was put under police guard, with Colonel Adye, the chief of police, in charge. He stood on the front steps with Kemp, trying to reason with the empty air. Suddenly, an axe, stolen from a woodpile, flew through the air and smashed the front door. Adye drew his revolver. "Surrender!" he shouted. "We know you're there!" The revolver was snatched from his hand by an unseen force. "It's mine now, Colonel!" cried the voice of the Invisible Man. In the struggle for the weapon, Colonel Adye fell, and did not rise again. Panic erupted as police fired blindly into the empty street.
Page 8
Meanwhile, Thomas Marvel saw his chance. Weighed down by stolen money and three thick notebooks filled with Griffin's scientific secrets, he ran. He fled into the town of Port Burdock and burst into the bar of the Jolly Cricketers pub. "He's after me!" Marvel screamed, collapsing against the bar. "The Invisible Man! Help me!" The men in the bar thought him mad until a window shattered and the door flew open on its own. An unseen force began smashing glasses and overturning tables. "Give me the books, Marvel!" a furious voice echoed through the room. But the patrons, a tough crowd of sailors and locals, rallied. An old mariner with a revolver fired towards the voice. Others threw bottles and chairs. They fought back against their invisible attacker, driving him away and saving the terrified tramp. Marvel, clutching the precious notebooks, was finally safe.
Page 9
The hunt was on. Griffin, wounded and exhausted, was losing his advantage. He left faint, bloody footprints as he ran. An entire town was his enemy. He chased Kemp through the streets, but the alarm was raised. "There he is! By the timber stack!" someone shouted. Workmen with shovels and sailors from the docks joined the chase. They saw the shimmer of a man in the air and cornered him in a working yard. "You can't get me!" Griffin screamed, his voice thin with exhaustion. The crowd surged over him. "Hold him fast!" a workman yelled. In the desperate struggle, he was brought down and held fast by a dozen hands. When they finally pulled back, he was still. And as the life left him, a miracle began. Slowly, terribly, the form of a man began to appear on the grimy ground, his pale, bruised body finally returning to the world he had tried to conquer.
Page 10
Years passed. In the quiet coastal town of Port Stowe, a man named Thomas Marvel owned his own small inn, 'The Invisible Man'. He was a comfortable man now, but he had a secret. Every night, after the last customer had gone, he would lock the front door and go to a heavy sea-chest in the corner. "Nobody knows," he'd mutter, unlocking it. He would take out three old, leather-bound notebooks. He would light a candle and puzzle over the strange symbols Griffin had written, which he denied to everyone he had. They were his treasure. "It's all in here," he'd say to himself, tracing the diagrams with his finger. "The whole secret." He would sit for hours, the landlord of a quiet little inn, dreaming of the impossible power to walk through the world unseen, a power he could possess but never, ever understand.
About this story
- Audience: general readers
Read Wonder Novels on your phone
Wonder Novels is available on Android. Get Wonder Novels on Google Play.