The Curious Case of Ashdown
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Prologue
Maria Ashdown sat behind the library's main desk. Sighing a bit, she rubbed at her head. It had been aching annoyingly for weeks. Sipping her tea, she glanced around the large area. 'College student, student...university student. There's a professor.' A young boy sat alone, staring wistfully into space. Maria followed his gaze as it fell on another woman on the other side of the hall. 'Having an affair with...her!' Her jewelry was clean but her wedding ring was almost filthy. She neglected it and yet her other precious things where clean, a clear sign of an unhappy marriage and apparently an affair. 'Now, where is Mr. White?' She put down her tea and rolled over to the filing cabinets. Watching another woman Maria recognized as a professor's helper, she recognized her queasiness. 'Oh my! She's Pregnant, isn't she? Poor Dedee, from her earrings... she doesn't know that she's pregnant yet... She'll find out soon enough.'
Maria knew everyone in the library. She had been working there for 2 years and she could easily name off half the students and professors. She knew what they did, who they where or even who they did it with. She saw it all, and she hadn't even talked to most of them.
For the few people who actually noticed her wandering back and forth from the storage racks, she was just the anti-social, oddly knowledgeable librarian that liked the dark. If she was asked to describe herself, she would have said that she was plain, boring and "just a librarian." She thought she looked plain enough, except her dark ginger hair and dark green eyes. She was actually quite pretty, if not beautiful, but no one would ever actually tell her that. Along with her long, almost auburn, ginger hair, green eyes and freckles, she was also uncommonly pale. She rarely went out, and that was normally at night. She had red lips and a curvy figure. She had old muscle, but she didn't use it much these days. She suffered from headaches often, though most weren't from overuse, but under-use of her mind. She had this large aching hole is her psyche, some might even call her sick. She didn't mind it, though, no one really noticed anyway.
On occasion, she was asked to fill in at the front desk, to her discomfort. She liked working in the racks because it was secluded and if she worked fast enough, she could sneak in some reading. It was amazing what types of books you could find back there. Sadly, today was one of those days Maria had to work up front. Suzy, the other librarian that normally worked up front, had a "hot date". Apparently the man was some rich doctor, but from what Maria could see he was nothing but a gambler.
'Poor Suzy,' thoughtMaria. Though she didn't actually pity her. She had a problem with men and Maria had given her advice more than once. If she wasn't going to listen to Maria, then this is what she gets. Maria was known for being cold-hearted and logical but for some reason the librarians always asked her for advice. If she was feeling up to it she might give them some logical tid-bit, but it seemed like her statistical knowledge never mixed well with love.
Maria sighed and kept looking for the file she needed. Once she found it she took it into the back office and placed a card into it. She glanced out of the small window, glancing down a level at the people below. 'Look at all those people, interacting with each other. How in the world do they manage to do that so much? Why couldn't I stay in the back today?" Maria thought bitterly. She didn't completely hate people, but with her past and experiences, she really didn't like talking with others. She looked over her shoulder back to the front desk.
'First this, then they'll actually start assuming I like or am okay with talking to people.' She really didn't need people interacting with her, the more people she talked to, the more likely her "personality quirks" would appear. She already had one friend; she didn't need any more fake ones. She hunched over a bit while leaning againced the office desk. She ran a tired hand through her ginger hair, sighing deeply. She wanted to be normal, and already a few workers and professors knew she was a bit off.
She was still able to hide her talents from people. She didn't want people see her observe and make connections, expirament or do anything crazy like before.
'I just wan't'be normal, not sick... please, never like before.' To Maria Ashdown, the lonely librarian, her amazing abilities where like a curse, one that has haunted her since she was able to think and talk. It was drilled into her that what she did, how she acted and what she saw was unacceptable. She must be made to think like everyone else, because everyone else is always right. She was broken, and had been for a long time.
But for her, that was for the best.
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Disclaimer for the whole story: (if I forget to put a disclaimer later)
I do not own Sherlock BBC or any of it's characters. This story is for entertainment purposes only. I do, however, own the created character respectively.