When I was a kid I never had imaginary friends, I wasn't scared of the dark or clowns or spiders. I didn't have time for make believe stories and the creepy big house on the corner, was just a house. But when I was sixteen I started seeing this man, the scariest thing I've ever seen, in my mind. He was the opposite of an imaginary friend. Whenever I was feeling scared or alone, he'd come and make in ten times worse. He turned me against my friends, hurt the people I love the most. Poisoning my mind and pushing me way past the brink of insanity.
All without ever coming face to face with me.
Then one day he got bored with the little game he played with my mind. So he tried to kill me.
Tori felt the wind brush past her cheeks as she ran from the greying security guard onto the street. The brim of the brown fedora she was wearing got caught by the wind and blew off to reveal her long black curly hair. She quickened her pace to turn the corner, as the security guard started puffing. He was a large man; clearly out of shape but irritatingly keen on not letting her go. She turned the corner to find Sherlock and John waiting next to a cab.
"Get in" Sherlock opened the side door and pushed her in, shutting it behind her. The guard turned the corner as she hid from view. After a few seconds of confused searching, he back tracked, thinking she'd hidden somewhere. As soon as he disappeared from view she opened the car door and stood in front of the older men, annoyance flashing across her features.
"You didn't have to push me so hard!" Tori tried to brush away the wrinkles from the front of her mussed up clothes.
"Did you get it?" Sherlock asked, brushing aside her complaints absentmindedly.
"Yes" she went through the pockets of her grey dress for the black velvet ring box before finding it in the inside her black jacket. He took the box, opened it and took out the garishly large diamond incrusted ring.
"Here" throwing it in her direction, which she caught easily in her left hand, without moving the rest of her body. "Think of it as a bonus".
"But…" John started.
Sherlock held up his hand to silence him, pulling the velvet padding out to reveal a note. "John call Lestrade. It was the fiancé". He stored it away in the pockets of his coat and turned to open the cab door and, always the gentleman, let John and Tori in first.
They reached Baker Street in a few minutes and Tori left the car, waved goodbye to the two men and ran up the orphanage steps.
She had always liked the home, a big three storey building that seemed to have had very little renovations since it was built in the 1800's. Apart from the additions of light and electricity, it could have been the set of a Victorian romance series on afternoon T.V. The expensive wall paper and net curtains created the atmosphere of an Agatha Christie novel, her favourite. It made her feel more like a proper sleuth, reading case studies by flickering candle light (a dying torch) in the dead of night, watching passer-by's from behind the dirtied windows.
She yelled a brief hello to Abby, the head care worker, and ran to the stairs, up to the first floor.
She crept lightly, it was the designated nap time for all the youngest kids, and entered her room.
It may have been the smallest, but she didn't mind, all she really needed was a bed, desk and wardrobe.
There were no posters of boy bands or movie stars on the wall, no clothes piling up on the floor. The only trace of a fifteen year old living there was the faded purple bed spread and the full length mirror in the corner.
Tori looked at her reflection with interest. She was small and thin, but not what people would call 'petite', with very ghostly pale skin that in some lights had an almost greenish tinge. Her dark grey eyes were very large and, from constant lack of sleep, often had violet circles underneath. She quite liked her hair, probably the only quality she did, it curled wildly, reaching just below the small of her back.
A boy from primary school had once told her she looked like a rag doll, the ones with black button eyes and wool hair. He had suffered multiple bruises and a twisted wrist, she'd been moved to a different school. Again.
She sighed and fell onto her bed, fishing in her pocket for the ring Sherlock had given. It was pretty and defiantly worth something. A clear cut diamond set in a simple silver band. Inscribed on the inside was the message for a love that lasts forever. Shame the fiancé was cheating on him with his now deceased brother.
Holding it up to the summer afternoon light streaming through the curtains, she was almost blinded by the sparkling light that just missed her eye.
A.N
So what do you think, do you like Tori? Think she's an interesting character? Chapter two will give some insight into her backstory and how she and Sherlock met.
Also, this is set in the summer, a few years after the Great game, Tori is sixteen, nearly seventeen, and has left school. Most of this is explained in later chapters, but I thought I'd let you know.
Most of it's already written so their won't be lengthy waits between uploads.
Please reviewers are more welcomed than chocolate! And with better health bonus's.
Love Rosie