'Captain John H. Watson of the Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers, injured in action, granted pension and treatment for injuries...'
John let out a sigh as he read through the letter again, eyes skimming the familiar words with a mix of distain and self loathing, most days he wished he had not survived the bullet that almost ended him, instead it only ended whatever potential his life once had.
After all the counselling, the therapy sessions, he was still broken. Still limping, still impossibly bored with life and he even had to abandon London in the end, instead living in his grandfather's forest home.
It wasn't terrible, it was warm and well built but it was in the middle of nowhere, quite literally within some clearing in the woods. His family used to say that their grandfather suffered delusions, that he would see creatures in the woods, he even claimed to befriend a few of them but John had seen nothing of the sort. 'Of course', he would admonish himself for even thinking such fanciful notions, 'the stories are nothing but the ramblings of a lonely old man and I am not going to become him'. He refused that fate, determined to eventually get out of this place or perhaps bring a woman into it, start a family. Either was better than dying as a lonely old man.
At least, that had been the plan initially, until one day he decided he would actually explore the forest around his home.
After a good hour of packing what he would need; some food, some drink and essentials of the sort, he finally set off. It was a pleasant autumn afternoon and the chill of the coming winter had yet to reach through the trees, it was as if they were clinging to the final dredges of the hot summer that had left them behind, not allowing even the merest whispers of winter through their stoic blockade.
Walking was not at all easy for him considering he relied mostly on his cane for support, his weak leg trembling meekly beneath him with every step. The pain, however, was all but gone within the first twenty minutes, his mind too busy on the wondrous displays of nature around him rather than the imaginary pain in his leg. He gathered up some flowers as he passed through, pressing them into a journal to keep safe, to give him some visual memories to recall in the future. Perhaps this place wasn't so bad afterall.
A small smile alighted his face as he heard some rustling in the bushes up ahead and he moved slowly, carefully, not wanting to startle whatever creature it was.
Creature was an apt term for what he found, his eyes wide as they set upon it (him?), watching with a still intensity as it was picking at eating berries from the bushes across the clearing. It had a lithe figure, a very human lithe figure, yet furred and with long pointed ears protruding from his head like a deer, they certainly matched his antlers very well, watching them flick and turn as he nibbled on the berries. Taking a daring step forward, his eyes widened as the creature turned, its pale eyes of indescribable colour setting upon him as if he was a predator. John's heart was thudding in his chest, he had no idea what to expect from such a beast and those antlers certainly looked more than enough to gore him with.
Yet, with a gruff snort, the creature turned and ran off through the bushes as quick as it could, giving John only the view of it's stubby tail as it disappeared into the trees. Well, so much for his grandfather being mad, there were things in this forest and he wondered what else he would end up meeting, what other creatures would let their presence become known.
Letting out a despairing sigh, he decided he needed to head home and think about this, it was too much for him at the moment and he knew he was still at risk of some kind of attack from any more of the creatures. Turning on his heel, he headed for home, his mind upon the beast, trying to keep the image of it fresh in his mind. His grandfather had left notebook upon notebook about the creatures in this forest, he would have to spend his time now studying them, then he would at least know if he was at risk of being killed and what to avoid.
When he finally breached the clearing to his home there was the unmistakable feeling of a gaze upon his back, making the hair at the back of his neck prickle and body to take a new speed to get to his front door, yet when he turned he could see nothing from the cast darkness that had consumed the forest in the early evening light. It didn't mean there wasn't anything there, that much he was certain of.
Without any more delay, he unlocked his door and hurried inside, locking it behind him and then checking all of the windows. He hadn't done that before, it had never seemed important before now and he had simply thought his grandfather to be mad, now he felt a little guilty for it, how many times he had just laughed off the stories he had been told. Now he wished he'd listened, then he would know if he needed to be afraid of the strange creature he had seen.
The books were dusty and damaged when he finally found them, most of the pages were utterly destroyed and he cursed under his breath, brows furrowed whilst going through the pages. His attention was quickly caught when he found the picture of the creature, 'Fawnlock', half deer and half man. There was a small sketch of him eating some berries and he didn't look any different, this picture must have been drawn over fifty years ago at least and not a single thing had changed. There were also notes about him, just little jottings of thoughts.
'Today he came up to the window, he ran as soon as he saw me move, I'm not sure he knows what windows are.'
'He's been coming around a lot more, perhaps he's the last of his kind?'
'Still won't let me close'
It seemed the creature wasn't at all a threat, it sounded more curious to him than anything else, looking for something to occupy its seemingly endless time. Resting the book down, he got up and made himself a tea, enjoying it thoroughly before finally heading to bed. After today he needed some sleep and he was surprised that he wasn't in shock, his mind full of the 'Fawnlock' as he drifted to sleep.