Under The Maple Tree

chapter 2

Light.Bright bright lights.I awoke to the sound of cars and footsteps and mindless chatter.It was wet and cold where I had woken and I was somewhere dark.It was night and the soft glow of street lamps were the only source of light except for the occasional harsh beams coming from car headlights.An alley.I was laying in an alley.I blinked a few times before lifting my head and shaking it a bit.I crawled to my knees and staggered to my feet.I struggled to walk into the street.As soon as I made it,a few people that were standing around gave me a horrified look.One woman even yelped a bit.Most looked at me with horror and cleared the street in an instant.I hailed a cabby and told him to take me to 221B.He glanced back and me and gasped."Woa.You sure you want to go home instead of a hospital?",he asked.I shook my head and stared out the window as he drove me home.Once we reached the building,I opened the door of the cab until he stopped me."You want me to help you up there?",he asked.I shook my head and thanked him before ascending the staircase to my flat.Once I got home,I shut the door with a loud bang and sighed loudly.There was a lot of pain in my body but it was hard to pinpoint the major places.I felt the right side of my head throbbing and my leg was in a lot of pain.There was also a large sense of soreness on my left side of my face.And when I looked down,there was blood on my hands.I wasn't sure where I was,how I left,and WHY I had even been there in the first place.I stumbled to my bedroom and flIcked on the light as I turned to the mirror.Even I gasped a bit at the sight of myself.No Wonder those people had been so appalled.My hair was matted with dried blood and there was some still trickling down my busted lip.There was a long but very shallow cut across my neck and I had a large black eye.I did a bit more examining and found a few more cuts and bruises but nothing too serious.It looked a lot worse than it really was.All of a sudden I heard the door to my flat open and shut.I thought it was probably Mrs.Hudson.'Wait...Mrs.Hudson is out of town.And I'm 100% sure I locked the door!',I thought to myself.I heard heavy footsteps thump across the floor.Too heavy to be a female.Too quick to be Moriarty.If it was Moriarty he would walk slowly.And if it was a hitman I would have never heard it in the first place.I stood stone still as the doorknob to my bedroom slowly turned.