Rivers

Chapter Five

The next morning before the wedding, Mrs. Jelekington is standing at my front door and my two cats are hissing behind me, their backs arched upwards. Her stare is threatening and sinister.

"Get out of my flat," I demand, clenching my fists and croaking out each word slowly.

"Why?" she asks, showing her smile with her yellow and crooked teeth. Her grey hair is mangily and ratty. "I just stopped by to pay a little... visit."

Out of my pocket, I grab my phone and click on the most recent person in my text history; Watson. Without looking down, I press the call button. Immediately it answers.

"Ms. Rivers, is it bad for me to come by to give you these flowers?" She holds up a bouquet of grey and black flowers, all withered away.

"Jacqueline? Hello? Who is that?" Watson's voice asks through my phone.

"Watson! Get Sherlock and everyone to my flat this instant!" I yell just as Mrs. Jelekigton throws the bouquet of dead flowers at me and they land on the floor with no hope left in them.

"I can't believe you! I come to tell you I'm sorry and you... you don't trust me!" she exclaims, adding a death full laugh.

She places her hand above my chest and backs me further into my flat. My phone slips out of my hand from the sweat. My heart is racing and my breathing is becoming abnormal.

"I have the best gift anyone could ever give you. Especially at a funeral." She reaches into pocket, not moving her sinister smile.

I slam against my kitchen counter, unable to move with her hand mortally close to my neck. I'm frozen; paralyzed. If I try to move, she could strangle me.

Mrs. Jelekigton gets her hand on something much worse than my neck.
She pulls out a knife from her pocket and waves it front of my face.

"You know, I always hated your family?" she admits, removing her hand from my neck. I grip the corner of the wall, ready to run.

My lungs feel tied in a knot, unable to move. This happened once to me when I was held at gun point in a grocery store parking lot. The fear was standing on top of my lungs, making it hard for me to breath.

"Is this a confession?" A familiar voice interrupts from my open door, standing there with a gun pointed firmly at her chest.

Sherlock is occupied with Watson, Lestrade, and Sally.

"Mr. Holmes?" Mrs. Jelekigton panics, throwing the knife to the floor. She attempts to hide her deviousness with an unflattering laugh.

Watson immediately runs to me. He grips my shoulders and looks me firmly in the eye.

"Are you okay? Did she hurt you? She had a knife," he stammers.

Slowly, my breathing returns back to normal.

"I'm fine. She didn't get to that yet," I tremble, my hands shaking.

Lestrade handcuffs Mrs. Jelekigton and a relief is lifted off of my shoulders.

"Jacqueline!" Sally belts, dashing towards me. "Please tell me she didn't hurt you," she pleads.

"She didn't. I'm okay."

If they hadn't shown up, I could've been dead by now. She was going to end me, just like she did my brother.

As I turn my head to look at the woman who could've terminated my life, I see that she is being drug out of my flat by Lestrade.

Sherlock is still standing by my doorway and my two cats are purring on his leg. He looks down at them, annoyed but brings his focus back to me.

I stand up and walk past Watson and Sally, towards Sherlock.

"Why'd you bring the gun if you weren't going to shoot?" I ask him, quivering.

"I was going to shoot her if she didn't get away from you. I wasn't going to let her hurt you," he explains, grasping me in a hug. I hug him back. "I won't ever let anyone hurt you."