Sherlock - Short Story

Did You Miss Me?

“And I’ll feel my world crumbling
I’ll feel my life crumbling
I’ll feel my soul crumbling away
And falling away
Falling away with you”
-Muse

John Watson and I quickly get out of the cab, heading towards St. Bart’s Hospital as John’s phone rang.

“Hello?” He paused, then put the phone on speaker. “It’s Sherlock,” he told me. I nodded.

“You okay, Sherlock?” I asked him over the phone.

“Turn around and walk back the way you came. Now,” Sherlock instructed.

“No, we’re coming in.” John protested.

“Just do as I ask. Please,” Sherlock pleaded. We both walked back a few yards, “Stop there.”

No, something’s wrong. Oh dear God, something is wrong.

John felt it too. “Sherlock?” He asked, panicking a little.

“Okay, look up. I’m on the rooftop,” Sherlock said. The words echoed in my head as I gazed up.

“Sherlock!” I grabbed the phone from John, “Get down right now. Whatever’s wrong–”

“I can’t come down, so we’ll… we’ll just have to do it like this.” He looked down at John and I as I clutched the phone in my shaking hand.

“What? What’s going on?” John asked.

“An apology. It’s all true,” Sherlock told us.

“What?” We both asked.

“Everything they said about me. I invented Moriarty.” No. No, that wasn’t true. Why would he put himself through so much turmoil? No, it wasn’t possible.

“Sherlock, stop this right now.” I growled into the phone, feeling a hot tear stream down my cheek.

“I can’t, Ellie. I’m sorry, but I’m a fake. Tell everyone and anyone that will listen to you two. I invented Moriarty.”

“No. No you’re not and you didn’t.” John said, “The first time we met, you knew all about my sister.”

“Nobody could be that clever,” Sherlock told John solemnly. This wasn’t Sherlock. This was a side I rarely saw of him. This was fear, I could tell from his voice. This was fear and sadness and regret all mixed together in his voice.

“You could,” John stated matter of factly. Sherlock laughed a little.

“I researched you. Before we met, I discovered everything that I could to impress you. It’s a trick. Just a magic trick.”