This is my first Sherlock story. Many thanks to jack63kids and johnsarmylady for encouragement and helping to make this readable. Inspiration must have come from JAL's "17 stairs".
John walks up the stairs.
John walks down the stairs.
It feels like he has lost something. Something important. But he can't quite figure out what.
Next he walks all the way down, then turns and stands in front of the stairs and stares up. He walks up and looks down. Something is wrong. Something is amiss. He can sense it. He is sure something is out of place in the staircase.
John walks up the stairs to his bedroom, then back down to the living room, looks up… and down… and counts them. They are all there. He wonders if he is going mad. Why should the number of stairs have changed over the weekend? He was only gone for three days after all.
He walks down and after a moment's contemplation knocks on Mrs Hudson's door. Mrs Hudson opens the door, delighted to see him. She fusses over him until she notices his worried face.
"Mrs Hudson, it's nice to see you", he manages before he awkwardly asks "Did something happen to the stairs?"
Mrs Hudson looks at him, puzzled. Then she breaks into a smile. "Well, yes. I had a cleaning company in on Saturday. You know how they are. You have to wait ages until they show up. But they finally came and removed all the blood!"