The New "Freak"

The Fog

You walk up to the door of Henry's rather large house and he answers very quickly. The three of you follow him into the kitchen. He fixes you all some coffee and tells you how he keeps seeing the words liberty and in. You sip your black coffee while Sherlock devises a plan.

"So we take you back out to the moor... and see if anything attacks you" he says quite matter of factly.

"Sherlock!" You nearly spit your coffee.

"If there is a monster out there, there's only one thing to do. Find out where it lives." Sherlock smiles at Henry and drinks his coffee.

At night, you follow the boys out to the moor. Sherlock keeps ahold of your hand the whole time and you are practically glued to his side. You lose John somewhere along the way and reach Dewer's hollow. You stay up above, not wanting to fall in your heeled boots and watch a Sherlock continue. Sherlock and Henry suddenly stop in their tracks and look up at the same spot. You follow their gaze, but don't see anything across the way. Sherlock is visibly shaken, but Henry, Henry looks downright terrified. Both men come running up to you and Henry starts asking if you saw it, but you tell him there was nothing there. John finally makes it over to the three of you and Henry starts shouting about how they saw the hound. Sherlock denies it over and over again, but you can tell that there's something off.

John goes back to Henry's to talk him down and you follow Sherlock back to the pub. There are three chairs in front of the fireplace, so you throw your jacket over one to claim it for John and sit in the one next to Sherlock. He's deep in thought, staring into the fire. You grab his hand which makes him look at you.

"Hey, there was nothing out there. Your mind is just playing tricks on you," you tell him softly.

He just stares back at you, not saying anything. Almost like he's looking through you. John then walks in and tells you how Henry has become manic and that he saw some sort of Morse code message while he was out there. UMQRA

You nod along with him while he recaps what we know. Sherlock hasn't said anything since the moor and it's starting to worry you. After a few minutes, he finally speaks.

"Henry's right" he spits out.

"What?" Both you and John question.

"I saw it too"

"Sherlock, hon, I was there too and I didn't see anything. There was nothing there"

"No, but I saw it. A hound, out there in the Hollow. A gigantic hound." He looks almost as if he's going to cry. The fear in his eyes overtakes any other emotion.

"Sherlock we need to be rational. Let's stick to the facts, yes?" John attempts to calm him.

"Once you've ruled out the impossible, whatever remains, however the improbable, must be true." Sherlock says as he picks up his drink. His hands are shaking from fear. "Look at me. I'm afraid. I've always been able to keep myself distant. Divorce myself from feelings, but look, my body's betraying me."

You take his hand again and force him to look you in the eye. "Sherlock, you've just gone and gotten yourself worked up"

"Worked up?"

"It was dark and scary" you reason.

"There's nothing wrong with me" he sounds more like he's convincing himself rather than you. His breathing becomes rapid and he starts to shake even more.

You place a hand on his shoulder and start to try to calm him down and he's done for you many times. "Sher-"

"There's nothing wrong with me! Don't you understand?" He shouts at you.