The Case of Twisted Time

okay, so many of my earlier writings have turned to be shit. I'm gonna try a little something different with this one, so bear with me. I' haven't written in a while so I'm a little rusty, but I think I can manage. as always i do not own any of the characters, just the ones i made up.

Billie was late for school. She could have kicked herself she was so late. Her parents had left for work and her brother had left with her parents earlier that morning to be taken to daycare. Now it isn't the usual "I got up late" late it was "Well, I couldn't find my classes at first first, then I had to turn the house upside down looking for my arithmetic book, then it turned out I hadn't taken enough money for a bus, then while running it started raining and I tripped while running and fell on the sidewalk, and finally I decided to give up on going to school today all together once I realized I had left my English paper at home" late.

She walked into a cafe, dripping wet from her hair to her feet. Making the transition from the U.S to England had been a giant leap for her, not just King Kong giant, but King Kong, Godzilla, And T-Rex giant. Her black Invader Zim jacket was soaked through, so she took that off, and her big brown shoulder bag she used for a book bag was pretty wet so she laid that next to her in the booth. The waitress didn't take a second glance at Billie before bringing her some hot tea and asking her if she would like anything else, which of course she didn't. Billie had immediately decided that she hated English weather. There never was a sunny one, as far as she had seen, and on the lucky days it was only mildly cold and gloomy. But today it had decided to storm on her. Gee, thanks England.

Her throat, sore before, was soothed by the tea, it's steam clearing her nose and liquid making her insides warm. Her jeans were wet, her hair was wet, her shirt was wet, everything seemed to be wet. Billie looked back outside watching the rain fall on the sidewalk, forming puddles and getting other people wet. Billie sighed. She hadn't moved to England more than two months ago and already she was messing up. She straightened her glasses on her face and asked the waitress for the bill. She paid, though not without trying to remember how to do English money, and gathered her things up. Her coat was still slightly wet, but she didn't mind much. It helped keeping the rain off. Billie decided not to go home, but instead decided to walk around what she called her new city. She knew most of the roads by now, she just hadn't gone into any of the buildings. As she walked, the rain getting slightly better, she noticed a sign.

"The Sherlock Holmes Museum.", Billie read to herself.

She was about to go to the door until she saw a sign up the said Closed. She sighed to herself and her luck. She then continued on down the street and stopped into a library. Now this was one of the buildings she had been to before. She went near the back and sat down in a brown, faux leather chair. She pulled her bag onto her knees and pulled out a book. The Complete Sherlock Holmes had been a gift from her grandmother before she left the states and came over the water. She hadn't looked at it much, but today would be a perfect day.

Billie read story after story, taking in all the details and falling in love with the writing abilities and imagination of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. At some point during the day, in between reading and checking the clock from time to time, she seemed to have dozed off. She was awakened by someone shaking her. The old librarian from the from the desk was the one. Except something was different about her. But Billie didn't even let her brain have time to compute that piece of information once she caught sight of the clock. It was ten at night. Billie jumped up, grabbing her book and bag, and ran past the old woman, all the while mentally kicking herself for falling asleep. She leaped from the steps and onto the ground, almost slipping. But then something caught her eye. The sidewalk, it was different. The road was different too. The road had gone from it's regular asphalt to cobblestone and the sidewalk had changed from the regular plain cement to separate stone pieces. The streetlamps had changed too. Now they looked as though they were from the nineteenth century, all gas lamps. And in the roads, instead of cars, were horse drawn carriages. What had happened while she had fallen asleep? Suddenly a rough hand grabbed her from behind and whirled her around. He was a big man, had on a rather large coat, hat, scarf, and fingerless gloves. Out of his mouth came a gruff voice, like sand paper.

"I've goot orders to breeng ye to a certaint someone. Juste cum wit me and ye won't git 'urt, much."

After a moment of shock, Billie twisted her body, brought her right leg up on the inside of her, and struck out with a side kick, giving the man a hit in the stomach. He staggered back in surprise and pain, the breath knocked clean out of him and him gasping for air. Billie didn't wait long to find out what was going on, oh no, she ran. She ran as fast as she could, but she knew the man was right behind her. She looked back for a second and in just that small amount of time. Two things happened. One she saw ugly was right behind her, almost in grabbing distance. Two, she ran into someone and bounced right off, onto the wet ground. She looked above her and saw two men. One very tall and lean looking, with a stern face, an unreadable face. Another man was beside this one, not as tall or as lean, but with a much more readable face, a face of concern. He quickly grabbed Billie's arm and brought her up, away from the man who had been chasing her. He smiled at her reassuringly and mouthed an Are you all right? She nodded yes and made sure to stay behind these two men. Then the very tall one spoke.

"I suggest you carry on with other duties and not bother this girl any longer. I myself am not a violent man, but I will not stand for such acts to be committed. Now please leave."

The man spoke with a steady voice, never wavering for an instance. His face was set like stone, his eyes as gray as the storm clouds that rolled above them. The man who had been trying to capture Billie looked hesitant for a moment, but then his rage and toughness came back.

"Get out of me way! I was told to git this gurl and breeng 'er to someone. He's paid me half of me money so far and I git the rest when I return. Now move out of me way before a break ye in two."

The taller leaner man looked to his companion and the other man nodded and swiftly pulled out a revolver.

"I'll say it again. Leave, now, or my friend will shoot and it would all be in self defense."

Billie looked at the man to see him back away the run away. The man put his gun back in his coat and the other man looked at Billie.

"I suggest we get you inside. You'll catch your death of cold out here."

The two men ushered Billie inside and immediately they were met by a much older woman. She had shock all over her face as she saw Billie, sopping wet from the rain.

"Oh dear! We must get you out of your wet things deary. Doctor, where did you find this poor girl?", the woman said as she took Billie's bag and coat and placed them near the fire.

"She was being chased by some big burly man. Holmes and I stopped him. That is the extent of my knowledge.", said the doctor.

Then a though struck Billie.

Doctor? Holmes? If this mean what I think it means then I know exactly where I am!

"Um, doctor, could you tell me what the date is?", Billie asked.

"Why of course. It is the twenty-ninth of September, 1889."

Holmes looked over me and then spoke.

"I see you had some tea earlier. It will help that throat of yours. You don't get out in the sun much, but you do at least one sport that requires some good physical activity and you favor your right arm more than your left and you are also right handed. You are also near sighted and that you should be getting more sleep, but you would rather not. Also Mrs. Hudson, please get this girl some food as well as clothes. I believe that she's quite famished.", he said, all very coolly.

Billie was awestruck at how he knew all those things and, with a little time, could probably know her life story.

"How...how did you know all those things Mr. Holmes?", Billie said like any other person would.

Mr. Holmes smiled.

"So I was right then? Well I usually am. I knew you had tea earlier because of a small stain on your shirt. I knew you had a sore throat because of a slight rasp in it and I knew you were near sighted because the way your lenses were shaped. I know you don't get out in the sun much because of the complexion of your skin, but you do do a kind of sport because of your body structure. I knew you favor your right arm more than your left because your right arm is bigger than your left and I saw some slight cuts on your knuckles from when you were probably punching a punching back and the cuts are more frequent on your right than left which led me to believe you were right handed. You need more sleep because of the bags under your eyes and you're hungry because of the sounds coming from your stomach."

Billie reddened slightly, not even noticing her stomach before, but now that she did she could tell she was quite hungry. Mrs. Hudson soon came back with a dressing gown and ushered Billie down the hallway to the bathroom to change. She stepped inside a nice, clean bathroom. There was only the tub in here with a chair and some lovely flowers on a table. There were bottles of soaps, sponges, and robes in here. The bath looked like it had little feet and Billie imagined it running around. She quickly changed into the slightly larger dressing gown. It was comfortable and she put on one of the robes, instructed to do so by Mrs. Hudson, and exited with her wet clothes. Mrs. Hudson took them somewhere and Billie noticed her coat and bag were gone too. She sat near the fireplace in one of the chairs. As shock wore off she began to get a homesick feeling. She missed her mother and father. She missed her brother, her cat and even missed the familiar things that had surrounded her everyday in her bedroom back home. She felt like her world was crashing down on her and she couldn't do anything. The Mr. Holmes spoke.

"You don't know why that man was chasing you, do you? And you are definitely not from London, or England as far as I know.", he said.

"I'm not even from this time period. Mr. Holmes, Doctor Watson, I know this may sound crazy and just a bit cliche but I'm from the future. I recently moved to England this year and somehow I ended up back in time."

Both men looked like they thought Billie was crazy. "Preposterous.", said the doctor.

"No, I'm serious! My name is Billie Shears, I know, weird name for a girl, and I moved to London two months ago. This morning I was late for school, like mega late, so I decided to skip it all together.", Billies said. Holmes made a tut-tut sound. Billie rolled her eyes and continued. "It was pouring down rain and eventually I ended up at a library. Well I fell asleep and when I woke up a clock said the time was ten, and I knew it couldn't be ten in the morning so I then concluded it was ten at night. When I got outside everything looked so different. And then suddenly that man grabbed me! It was so freaky! I kicked him and then ran. That's when I ran into you two. So, yeah, I'm really not from this time period. Actually, I live more than a hundred years into the future."

Holmes thought for a moment. Then he spoke.

"You realize, Watson, this girl could be right. She doesn't talk like she's from here and her clothes are definitely some I haven't seen."

"I am telling the truth!", Billie said in exasperation. Then she spotted her books lying near the fire place, drying. The book on top was the one her grandmother had given her before they moved away. The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. She quickly picked it up and gave it to Mr. Holmes.

"See. My grandma gave that to me before we moved away from the U.S. Those are your stories, your adventures. I always thought you guys were fictional, but I guess I was wrong."

Doctor Watson and Mr. Holmes looked at the book and looked through the pages.

"Isn't this the young chap who works at The Strand? I say Watson, it seems you'll have plenty of adventures to write about."

Watson nodded and looked at the book himself. He saw the title of the first story and smiled. It had been their first adventure together him and Holmes.

"it seems you weren't lying. I apologize if I spoke too quickly. Now that that matter is over I suggest we find you a place to sleep. Uh, Holmes, where will she sleep at?", Watson asked.

Holmes though for a moment.

"Well there are certainly other rooms available, but I doubt that she has the money. Mrs. Hudson is a kind woman, but this is how she makes her living and I doubt she wants to spend extra money to heat an extra set of rooms, change the sheets in, or clean. I propose she stays with us, if that is all right with you Ms. Shears."

Billie nodded her head, not minding too much about sharing rooms with the greatest detective in the world and his friend. Mrs. Hudson brought in some tea and then sat down, pouring it into cups. After talking for a bit they retired to their rooms. Billie walked the seventeen steps up to where Mr. Holmes and Doctor Watson resided and opened the door to their rooms. There was a fireplace, two chairs and a couch, a rug, a table near the back of the room with all kinds of papers, beakers, and chemicals were. There was also a writing desk where Watson wrote his famous stories of their adventures. There was a window with a seat beneath it, curtains closed. Watson started up a fire and the rooms quickly warmed. Mr. Holmes said he was going to stay up a little longer so she could sleep in his rooms. On the way up Doctor Watson whispered to Billie that she shouldn't be surprised if she woke at three in the morning to the sounds of a violin or an explosion, for it would just be Holmes. She laughed and then said good night.

Mr. Holmes room had papers strewed everywhere, clothes on the ground, and other oddities. Billie climbed under the unfamiliar covers in the unfamiliar room. She was getting a feeling of homesickness again and had tears brewing in her eyes. All at once she heard something come up from the floor below. A soft sound of music, a lullaby a mother would sing to her angels before they drifted of to dreams. It was very calming and soon Billie was asleep.

And so begins the new adventures of Baker Street.

Good? Bad? Cheese? R&R!