"Yes." She lied. "I just... my underwear got caught around my ankles and I fell over." There was a moment of painful silence. Sophia was certain that he didn't believe her. He was about to smash to door open, catch her and then tell Moriarty she was trying to escape. After that, Sophia daren't think what would happen.
"Oh," Adeem mumbled. "OK. Well, hurry up." He bought it. He believed her. He actually believed her. She felt herself smile but it didn't last too long. It couldn't. She had no time to relish in a minor success. Not when she had so much more to do.
Using all her upper body strength, she gripped the rim of the window pane and hauled herself up. It took a few tries. Eventually, she figured out to use the rubber soles of her shoes against the tiled walls for grip. After that, it was much easier to pull herself up and half her upper body through the narrow window.
The daylight burnt at her eyes . After being kept in the gloomy and permanently dark house, it was a surprise to see the sun. Her eyes took a few seconds to adjust. When they had, Sophia took only a moment to take in her surroundings.
Luckily, the bathroom was on the ground floor. Admittedly, she hadn't given much thought to this part of her plan. She knew that it would be far more difficult if she found herself hanging out of the window on the second story. In fact, she didn't have much idea about what to do now, hanging out of the ground floor window.
The windowsill, on the outside, was large enough for her to perch on. So with a tiny bit of a struggle, she was able to move around a tiny bit. Hauling her lower body out of the window whilst desperately trying not to lose balance and fall.
Soon she was sat, legs dangling over the side. Still, it was too far to jump. The hard, concrete floor looked unforgiving. If she dropped down now she'd surely crack her head open. She wondered what was worse. Being killed at the hand of Moriarty or dying, ever so slightly, outside of his grasp. Bleeding to death on the floor by her own fault.
She decided being killed by Moriarty was much worse. It wasn't a very noble way to die either. Daddy, she guessed, would be more proud if she died on her own accord. Anyway, maybe, just maybe, if she lowered herself down slowly it would be OK. There wasn't much else she could do.
She spun around so her head and chest were back in the bathroom. The window frame was digging into her stomach and her legs dangling out of the window. She took a deep, brave breath.
And slowly, she pushed herself down, ignoring the pain that came with her chest scraping against the window frame. Daddy wouldn't be bothered by pain, she thought as she gritted her teeth. He wouldn't be bothered by the burning in her arms as she pushed herself further and further out of the window. It was just as her head left the window, her fate now resting on the strength of her arms, that she heard Adeem knock on the door. He said something. His voice called through the door but Sophia didn't hear. It was too late now anyway. Even if she wanted to she couldn't go back. All she could do now was carefully lower herself. Slowly, slowly, slowly.
Until suddenly, all in one rush, her fingers slipped and she went hurtling towards the ground.
It took all her strength not to scream in shock and fear. Only letting out an involuntery gasp. The fall felt like it took hours when it must have only taken a second so before she hit the floor. It was all a blur.
If asked how she landed, what part of her body hit the floor first, she wouldn't have known. All she knew is that her arms instinctively reached out in front of her to break her fall. Or break something, anyway.
At some point during the impact, there was a sickening crack. It wasn't the usual sound of someone hitting the floor. It was a snap. Sophia briefly wondered if she had landed on a stick, scared that the broken end would be jabbed into her butt. Then the pain came. White, hot pain radiating from her wrist, so powerful that she felt herself going dizzy.
Tears began to blur her vision as she bit back the sobs that began to shake her chest. It was the worst pain she had ever felt. Being poisoned, falling over in the playground, stumping her toe on the table leg, biting her tongue, cutting her thumb on daddy's razor, none of them compared to the pain she felt now. It ate her up. She couldn't breathe through the sobs she was trying to contain.
"Oi, kid, what was that?" Adeem asked. Sophia daren't open her mouth. She knew as soon as she did she would wail like a baby. She had to get on with it. Get on with the plan despite the pain she was in. So, as carefully as possible and using the hand that wasn't radiating pain, she pushed herself to her feet using the wall next to her to help.
There was a banging coming from inside the bathroom. Adeem was trying to get into the room.
It might have been a mistake but Sophia couldn't resist taking a look at her sore wrist currently cradled by her healthy left hand. It looked strange. Whilst Sophia had never paid too much attention to her wrists before, they were pretty boring, she knew that something was wrong. It was a strange shape. It was too big, too swollen and round.
And whilst she was assessing the damage she noted that her knees, that were already dirty from day of not taking a bath, were grazed. Angry, red and bleeding with small stones sticking into the flesh. It made her want to cry more. She could feel the hot tears spilling down her cheeks and dripping down onto her shirt. Part of her wanted to give up. She wanted to sit down, curl up into a ball and wait for Moriarty to come and kill her.
A louder bang rang out through the bathroom and leaked out of the window and into Sophia's ears. Any thought of giving up was gone. She heard Adeem yelling something, asking where she was. He was in the bathroom now. She had to run even if her sore knees begged her not to. Clutching her wrist to her chest, she set off down the side of the house. Running faster than she ever had in any P.E lesson.
She reached what appeared to the back garden. It was huge and overgrown with weeds that would reach up to her waist and half erect rotting fences. The type of garden where snakes and rats lived.
The house itself, Sophia realised as she glanced back, was bigger than any house Sophia had ever seen in real life. But it wasn't fancy at all. It was falling apart. The windows boarded up and the roof had holes in it revealing nothing but black darkness. It looked sad and lonely. But there was no time to dwell on it. She heard a noise that she suspected to be Adeem trying to make his way out of the window. So she ran.
Prickly plants and thorns scratched at her legs. Nettles prickled and stung at her bare skin. In the corner of her eye, she saw movement in the grass. Her mind ran wild with possibilities of what it could be. Snakes or evil gnomes. Rats waiting to chew at her dead body once the vines and weeds had grabbed her and dragged her down. Evil fairies wanting to lure her away and kill her.
A dead, abandoned log on the ground almsot trippe her over. She regained herself before she could fall to the floor. She knew that if she fell once move, she wouldn't be able to get back up. She'd be too sore, too tired. And if she did get back up, Adeem would be there in no time. Ready to take her back inside.
She reached the edge of the garden eventually. The only hint she had that it was the end of the garden was the singular piece of fence. Sticking out of the ground like a wonky tooth. Rotted and crumbling. Beyond that was another stretch of grass. At the far end of the small field was a line of trees. Trees that masked movement and noise. The grass wasn't as tall now. It didn't seem to hide horrid, spiky plants that reached out for her and stung her cut her like the garden. They couldn't hide snakes or gnomes or rats. Hopefully.
"FUCK. WAIT THERE." A voice yelled. Sophia glanced over her shoulder. Running through the garden was Adeem. "GET BACK HERE."
If anything, that just made Sophia run faster. Wrist still clutched to her chest and tears still falling. She let herself cry now. There was no point in staying quiet. She let the heavy sobs escape from her mouth and add in a few screams for good measure. Maybe if someone heard her they'd come and help. They'd see her grazed knees, cut leg and hand that she was pretty sure was seriously damaged, and call the police. They'd keep her safe.
The closer and closer she got to the trees the more she realised that catching someone's attention was probably going to be easier than imagined. Lying beyond the trees was a road. Cars zooming past every few seconds. All she had to do was stick her hand out, like she was waiting for a bus, and surely one of them would stop. She was always told not to get into a strangers car but surely this was different. Surely this was an exception.
"FOR GOD'S SAKE, JUST COME HERE." Adeem's voice yelled. He was gaining speed, catching up to her. She couldn't go back. She had gotten so far. If all this was just for nothing she wouldn't know what to do. Moriarty would be furious.
By the time she got to the trees she was exhausted. Her lungs burned with every breath. Her wrist was still causing her immense pain. There was sweat mixing with her tears, stinging her eyes. She didn't know if she had peed herself or was just sweating a lot. She didn't care. It didn't matter. She just wanted to be safe. She wanted to go back to daddy. She wanted him to look at her wrist and tell her she'd be OK.
The grass changed to mud as she reached the trees. Squirrels scurried up trees upon her arrival. She wanted to do the same. To crawl up the tree and hide until Daddy could find her. He'd figure out where she was soon enough. He did that. He knew things that nobody else knew. Surely he'd know where she was if he tried long and hard enough. All she needed to do was get out of Moriarty's grasp.
There was no pavement when she broke from the trees. Just a country road. There was a pavement on the other side just before another, longer field. A pavement meant people. It mean that sooner or later if she followed the pavement the right way, she'd find people. Houses, shops, police stations, hospitals.
"WAIT!" Adeem tried desperately. "Sophia! Wait there! You're going to hurt yourself."
He was so close now. The moments Sophia had wasted standing at the edge of the road figuring out which way to go had given him more time to catch up with her. He was coming through the trees now. She turned around, arms stretched out in front of her. For some reason he slowed down, approaching her carefully. Like someone would do if they had found a wild animal. Like John had done when he and Sophia found a fox on their way back from the chip shop one late evening. The memory made her smile.
"Come here, Sophia." Adeem called calmly. "Just come back. We don't have to tell Moriarty, just come here. Take my hand. It's OK. You're not in trouble."
"I want to go home." She heard herself yelp. "I've hurt my arm and I've hurt my knees. I want my daddy."
"Come back to the basement and we'll sort your arm out." He promised. Sophia stood still, watching him. He looked desperate. Like he would burst into tears at any moment. He was scared, she realised. Terrified of Moriarty and what he'd do. She felt sorry for him and in that brief moment she didn't know what to do.
Then he lunged forward. Still too far away to grab her but in a few steps he would. He'd grab her and drag her back to the house. Back to an angry Moriarty, so furious that steam would be coming from his ears.
So she ran. She spun around and ran straight ahead.
She heard Adeem cry out. Telling her to stop. A panic in his voice she hadn't heard before.
There was a blur. A screeching of tires.
Everything went black.
/
It was Mary's idea to go to St Barts whilst John was in work. He had tried his best to get time off but getting every day off until they found Sophia was just impractical. Instead he and Mary took turns. And today was Mary's turn.
She thought it would be best to get out of the flat. To force Sherlock to stop wallowing in the flat surrounded by his daughter's stuff. It was torturous. It was almost as if everywhere you looked there were more and more reminders of Sophia. Like they were being taunted.
It was a relief to get out of the house. To go to St Barts where they couldn't stumbleupon pink frilly socks, books illustrated with bright coloured cartoons, plastic dolls, half-filled out worksheets, crayoned drawings of stick figures and all the other little things that littered the flat and reminded Sherlock he had a daugher. Or had once had a daughter.
"He's not doing too well, is he?" Molly asked Mary as they watched the detective. It had taken a few days for Sherlock to be convinced to let Molly know about the current situation. She was, as to be expected, absolutely hysterical.
"It's like pulling teeth trying to get him to talk about anything." Mary sighed. "I don't think he's slept. He's barely eaten anything. I don't know how he's still going." Molly's brow furrowed. Her lips parted to say something but before she could the sound of Sherlock's phone springing to life filled the room.
"Mary." Sherlock grumbled, his voice deeper than expected. "Can you answer that?" He didn't make an effort to move. His eyes stayed glued to the microscope. Under any other circumstance Mary probably would have told him to get it himself. To get off his arse and cross the room to the edge of the table where his phone sat. But due to the circumstances, she just sighed and made her way towards the phone.
Sherlock expected the call to be from Lestrade. He hadn't rang up yet to ask if there had been any updates and then say that there hadn't been any updates of his side either. It was a pointless conversation that wasted time. Sherlock tried to avoid it, finding it much more useful if Mary or John dealt with it.
"No. He's busy at the moment." Mary's voice replied. "Can I take a message?"
There was silence. A thick, heavy silence that just didn't seem right. He looked away from the microscope, up at Mary. Molly's eyes caught his. They exchanged a look. A look that Sherlock didn't understand at all but was sure Molly did.
"Oh God. Yes. OK. We'll be down straight away." Mary said, snapping Sherlock away from Molly's eyes. With saying goodbye, Mary hung up the phone, shoving it into her pocket without much thought. That was probably the first sign that something was up. Mary didn't shake or panic. She was graceful and calm but now she was fumbling. Eyes watery.
"Sherlock." She said, her voice strained. "They found her."
"What?"
"They found Sophia." A smile began to flicker onto Sherlock's face. He stared back at Mary waiting for the smile to crack on her face. She was probably doing that stupid thing that people did. That crying when they were supposed to be happy. Happy crying. Pointless and misleading but now wasn't the time to go into all that.
Mary didn't smile. If anything her face grew sadder. She shook her head. Answering a silent question that hung in the air.
And Sherlock waited.
He waited for her to burst out laughing. To say he totally fooled him. That Sophia had been found and she was ready to get now. There was nothing wrong. He waited for her to grin. To laugh and say she just couldn't believe it. To say it was sad that John hadn't been here for the news.
But it never came.
"She's been in an accident." Mary finally said, her voice cutting through the air like a blade. "A very bad accident." From somewhere in the distance Sherlock could hear Molly let out a sob. He couldn't look away from Mary. Couldn't break eye contact. "We need to get to the hospital straight away."
A/N: Oh another cliff hanger? After everyone told me they hate my ciffhangers? Even I don't know why I'm such a horrid person!
Anyway, yet again, sorry for the long wait. My excuses aren't even good enough. I promise this won't happen again. Please don't leave me, I can change.
ANYWAY FRIENDS, I always ask you questions. Always. It's fun. BUT NOW, I want YOU TO ASK ME A QUESTION! Anyway, about the story, about my sad life, about my dog, I do love my dog. I'll answer anything. Even if you ask what's going to happen to Sophia when she's like 25. Well, if she lives that long MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
please review and I won't kill anyone.