Ashes, Ashes

Last and Lasting

- c h a p t e r   t w e n t y   f o u r - 

Mrs. Hudson wasn't the sort to get frightened, simply because she normally had no reason to get frightened. But before her at the moment were men who made her feel as if she were drowning under a wave of anxiety and desperately fighting for her life. However, she couldn't simply stand there.

"Mr. Holmes said you can go right up," she said. As the a group of four men passed by her to go up to the stairs, she flattened herself up against the wall, unwilling to let herself be touched by them. She felt alone, an opposing side to these men who stood before her, and it might even be worth her while to let herself faint.

Mrs. Hudson didn't have to stand alone for much longer, as Emma soon came to join her. Despite this extra presence, very little was done to make her feel any better about the way the fourth man seemed to crack right through her skin and unearth every secret which lay within her.

Emma nearly asked what was happening, but before she could speak she found herself just as paralysed as Mrs. Hudson. The fourth man had turned his gaze over to her and now seemed to be rustling through the troves of secrets she tried to keep close to her and as hidden from the world as she could possibly manage.

How interesting she was, and yet so unimportant.

EMMA NEWMAN

WAITRESS

SINGLE

SEMI-REFORMED ALCOHOLIC

HISTRIONIC PERSONALITY DISORDER

SUICIDE ATTEMPT, 2011

FINANCES: 60% DEBT

STATUS: UNIMPORTANT

PRESSURE POINT: > SUICIDE

PROSTITUTION (SEE FILE)

The moment soon passed as the three men proceeded to make it into the flat upstairs, leaving Emma alone. She never thought she'd be so glad to be alone...except for Mrs. Hudson, of course. Mrs. Hudson still stood there, obviously terrified by what had occurred.

The fourth man waited to go upstairs, lifting his head up and wearing a mortifying smirk on his face. He knew precisely how much fear he was causing, and he didn't care. If anything, he enjoyed it. He loved the way that he managed to make everyone quiver just by looking at them, obviously.

But as he finally started to ascend the stairs, Emma knew that she couldn't just stay petrified at the bottom of the stairs. She refused to be entirely unaware of what was happening in the flat just above her. Certainly they were simply there for Sherlock - he always manage to get himself into trouble. It wouldn't surprise Emma to think he'd attracted someone else. Emma, in the same way she'd seen Mrs. Hudson do just a few minutes ago, flattened herself up against the wall. She didn't want to be seen by any of the men - they would most likely know that she was eavesdropping to hear whatever was going on within. And, most of all, she didn't that one man to look at her again. Magnussen.

She loathed the way his eyes had burned right through her, and she refused to let such a thing happen to her again if she had any say in it. She'd felt all sorts of disturbing things throughout her life and near deaths, but she refused to let such a sensation come thrugh her once again.

But then Emma, against her more logical judgement, started going up the stairs, keeping her eyes on the men ahead of her. From her perspective, she could see the first three men entering the living room in the flat. Obviously, they had to be security men for that last man - what else would they be there for?