All my life

Aged 8

*The following chapter contains brief scenes of child abuse.*

John made him happy and John kept him safe.

But John wasn't there when he was at home.

And then came the day when the only person who protected him at home left him behind.

Sherlock hated the first week of the summer holidays. John was always away, visiting his grandmother in Yorkshire, and Sherlock was always alone. Well. He had Redbeard, he supposed, and they always had a lot of fun; they liked going outside and surveying the estate, and particularly liked it when it rained and they could play in the mud, then come in and Siger would make Sherlock hot cocoa and he'd pour some in the dogs bowl.

Sherlock could barely remember a time when his dog hadn't been with him. It had been almost two years (Sherlock was turning nine in three days) since the dog had come back to Gyfrinach and since then, the two had been inseparable.

Sherlock flopped back on his bed and sighed, rubbing his nose with one hand and running the other through his hair, curls spreading out over his forehead as Redbeard curled up next to him. The dog now came up to his waist, and was certainly no longer a puppy, but Sherlock preferred it now Redbeard was older because they could run longer distances and he was harder to lose.

Suddenly there was a sharp rap on the door and Mycroft said, 'Sherlock?'

Sherlock groaned at the wall. 'What.'

'Mummy wants to know what you're doing.'

'No she doesn't.' Father had been home last week for a couple of hours and Mummy had spent the last few days off her head in her bedroom (Father had taken to drugging her after he...hurt her).

Mycroft sighed and opened the door. 'Look, Sherlock...'

'Go away.' Sherlock sniffed. Mycroft was leaving for university in late August, and although he said he would be coming back regularly and that Sherlock could come and visit him whenever he wanted, he was still dreading it. The brothers may be different, but they were also very similar and very close, and whatever Sherlock said he knew inside that he looked up to and admired his brother very much.

'It's not my fault I'm leaving.' Mycroft tried.

'Yes, it is.' Sherlock stroked Redbeard's ears and glared at his brother. 'You're leaving me.'

'I'm only in Cambridge-'

'That's ages away!' Sherlock burst out. 'What happens if he comes back? I can't hide forever.'

Mycroft had taken to hiding Sherlock in cupboards and stuff and actually standing up to their father instead of just hiding away. Although only sixteen Mycroft was already six foot tall and all the cake had given him if not a solid figure, a slightly chunky one. Not that he looked fat, he just wasn't thin. Mycroft hadn't been beaten up by their father in a very long time.

'I don't understand why I can't come with you. You said that if I came with you, you could stop Dad from coming after me or taking me back.'

'I asked the Dean. He said that a sixteen year old was not allowed custody of an eight year old while at university.' Mycroft sat heavily on the bed and patted his brother's leg.

Sherlock sniffled. 'I'll miss you, Myc, and what if Daddy starts hurting me again?'

Mycroft closed his eyes. 'I hate leaving you with the thought that he can hurt you, but I've told Siger and all the other staff to keep an eye on you and if he does anything, anything at all, I will be back in a second. The moment I turn eighteen I will draw up documents that make me your legal guardian and take you away with me before he even realises. I swear.'