Chapter Eight: Momentary Lull

                                    

                                          


                          
That night I lay in bed staring at the ceiling and just thinking. I knew that I wouldn't be able to sleep - the events of today were still too fresh in my mind. My phone was vibrating on the table next to me, the clatter annoying me, but I didn't pick it up. I knew that it was probably just Sherlock texting me because he had nothing better to do. 
                          
'Better that than shooting the wall,' I thought. I had heard all about his adventures with John and I must say it had inspired a little flower of jealousy within me. Sherlock had been my closest friend (even though we had known each other for little over a week) but I was happy that he was happy. I knew that I had to make my own way in life, make new friends, but it was difficult for me. People tended to be scared off by my close connections with people like Sherlock and my job. It wasn't dangerous per say, but maintaining a steady relationship and leaving everything that happened at work outside the door could sometimes be...difficult. I came in such close contact with very messed up people and I would be lying if I said that it didn't get to me sometimes. Accompanied by my phone's buzzing, and such lovely thoughts swimming around my head, I was eventually pulled under the violent wave of sleep.
                          


                          


                          
I was woken by a large crash from the flat underneath me. 
                          
'Sherlock. That man will never change,' I think, remembering all the whacky science experiments that I had heard him talk about and some that I had even had the 'honour' of experiencing. I pushed back my covers and started to get ready for the day. After being away from London for so long I decided that today would be a good day to go exploring. If I was right (and I usually was,) then my time with Sherlock and John was coming to an end. The case hadn't proved to be too difficult though, so I was wondering why Sherlock had asked for my help. 
                          
My half-asleep brain protested against such complicated thoughts and I let go of that thought for a while, promising myself that I would return to it later. 
                          
After stumbling around for a while I managed to make myself look half decent. I picked up my bag containing a few essentials and shrugged on my coat before leaving my borrowed flat. The stairs creaked under my weight and I waited for a comment from Sherlock as I passed his and John's room, but none came. 
                          
'They probably went out earlier,' I thought. I continued down the stairs and out into the cold London air. Buttoning up my coat, I started to walk in the vague direction of Hyde Park, letting the cold air clear my thoughts for a while.
                          
I arrived at the park a while later, my hands stuffed into my pockets and the tip of my nose red. I sat down on one of the benches for a while, watching the water. The ducks bobbed along the water and small children cried in delight when they managed to throw a piece of bread near a duck. Everything was as I remembered it before I moved. I use to live here when I was younger but ended up moving out to Australia with my family. I had always missed the grey skies and the bustle of London and here I was, back again. I was lost in my thoughts when a lady sat down next to me. She had platinum blonde that was tightly pulled back into a bun, and a business-like air about her. She seemed to be engulfed in her phone when I looked over and I could immediately tell a lot about her. Workaholic, stressed out, on a new diet and just recently got her hair died. I would guess that she had a high-paying government job but she didn't have any real identity within it by the way she held herself. She turned and caught my gaze, her steely eyes not registering surprise like I would normally have expected. Her voice was as cold as her eyes and her words only half surprised me. 
                          
"You're to come with me ma'am."