Finally got this finished. Sorry it took so long. Been trying my best. Hope you enjoy!(?)
Chapter 29
He was here.
He sat on this bed.
Why did I bring him here?
What was I thinking?
Oh my god. What was I thinking?
I sat there, curled up in a ball on my bed. Tears stained my red puffy eyes and fair cheeks. I was yelling at myself internally. The silence around me was deafening. My thoughts were all I could hear.
"Alice, I'm home!" John called from the entryway. I opened my mouth to respond, but no noise came out. "Alice?"
Footsteps came up to the door. I knew that any moment John would walk in. I knew he would see me in a big mess. I couldn't move, though. The gravity of the encounter finally hit me.
"Alice, I'm opening the door. 3…2…"
Uncle John opened the door. I looked up at him with bloodshot eyes that gave my eyes a violet color. Within moments, he crossed the space between my door and bed, enveloping me in his arms.
"God. Bloody hell, what happened?"
I opened my mouth to reply, but couldn't form the words. Instead, all I could do was bury my face into his chest and scream.
"Alice, I brought you some tea. I wasn't sure what kind you liked, so I made some like Sherlock's. John will be back with a sandwich for you soon."
"Hey, old girl. Got a grilled ham and cheese with tomato soup for you. Feel free to it when you're ready."
"Your mum came by to see how you were doing. It's been a day and a half. You need to at least drink something."
"Alice, I'm going to sit you up now. I have some water here. It'll make you feel better."
Uncle John pulled me up so I was leaning against his left side. Mrs. Hudson then handed him a bottle of water, which she'd opened for him. Within two minutes, I'd sucked the whole bottle dry.
After three more glasses, I felt my mind clear some. Looking around me, it'd felt like I'd woken up from a dream. The last two days were a blur. I wasn't sure what was what anymore.
"Alice, how are you feeling?" John asked.
"I… Scared. No. Terrified. I'm always worried, anxious but this…" My eyes widened and I looked him in the eye. "He was here. On this bed. He was sitting right… right here."
John's eyes widened and he shot up, pulling me with him. "God. Let's go upstairs."
"I let him in." I whispered in the doorway, causing Uncle to freeze.
"What?"
"He… I went to get some tea next door and he… he came in after me. I figured I was safer in there but then the owner noticed my distress. He began to question his being there. Jim had a gun. I-I-I had to. He was going to shoot the guy if I didn't do something. So I brought him here to open the gift. I didn't want to. I just had to. I couldn't… he… I…" Tears stung my eyes and I began crying yet again.
"God. You let him in? What the hell were you thinking? Christ, who knows what could have happened to you!"
"I didn't know what to do! He-He-He was going to lose it on that poor man! He didn't have anything to do with it! I had to do something!"
"Do you know how dangerous that was? What if he hurt you? What if he took you again?!"
"So I was supposed to sit and act innocent while he was about to kill a man? Is that it?"
"Yes! I mean, no, but-! You don't-!" John growled. We were both too emotional at this point to be rational. "You're staying upstairs tonight."
"Fair enough."
"-and tomorrow we're visiting Dr. Spencer."
I almost argued, but in all honesty, I knew that I did need to go. "Alright. Fine."
"Good. And I'm calling Lestrade."
"Fine."
"Good. Now go upstairs."
I sighed and ran up to the living room where Sherlock sat in his chair, playing his violin ominously. He paused and glanced at me, mild concern in his eyes.
"Bad day?" I asked.
"Yes, though I wouldn't say to your degree. How's Jim?"
His question caught me off-guard. "I'm sorry?"
"Is he alright? I mean, he wouldn't visit you out of the blue without a reason."
I swallowed hard and sat in the chair across from Sherlock. "He told me that he won't be seeing me again for a while."
"Why?"
"They know. The… people against him. They know by now that if they lay a finger on me there will be hell to pay. That's what the gifts were about."
"He's not watching you as a threat to you, but to the others."
"I'm an in. He's worried about people assuming they can use me to get to him."
"That's marvelous. Brilliant, even. This means you're in the grey area between the law and the lawless. You're on neither side, really. You could go either way. Either inherit Jim's empire or work to tear it down or really just ignore it. It's all up to you it looks like."
"Why are you so excited? I'm not like Jim. It's not an option to be on his side unless I make it one and it's not. Also, how could I live with myself knowing that I let him get away with what he does? I couldn't."
"Good."
"Good?"
"Yes, good. Keep thinking like that."
Suddenly, the door opened and I heard something hit the ground, which caused me to jump from my seat, knees wobbling as I looked at the intruder. As it turned out, it was only Mycroft.
"Seems you're not as well as I'd hoped, Alice. Is there anything I can do for you?"
I shook my head. It seemed like he was just saying it as a formality anyway. It would be rude to accept an offer that wasn't genuine.
"Very well. Perhaps you should rest?"
"I've rested quite enough the past few days, thank you. I'm… I'm ready to stretch my legs a bit. In fact, I'm going to… I'm gonna go to the kitchen. You two… yeah." I motioned at him and Sherlock before walking to the refrigerator and seeing just a bit of cheese and Sherlock's latest project. The cheese and some crackers would work for now.
For the rest of that day, my three house mates (if you count Mrs. Hudson) pretty much left me alone. I wasn't talking much, and there wasn't much to say. We all knew I wasn't alright. I hadn't been for a while. In our line of work, it was hard to get alright.
A/N: So, Baskervilles is a ways off (right now it's January and Baskervilles is set in March) so I thought it would be a good idea to have a school-life chapter? I mean, it seems like she's a bit of a delinquent at the moment, never going to school, but she does and I thought a chapter about what it's like to go to school for her. Thoughts? If not I'll just go straight into Baskervilles.
