December 2020 Challenge Prompt

From V Tsuion: Bells

Holmes woke to the distant chimes of Big Ben, restrained and blindfolded, lying on his back. His mind was fuzzy and throbbing at first, but rapidly clearing, piecing itself back together. No, not restrained. But I can't move. My body is weak. Drugged? The sound of Big Ben's quarter bells drifted in on a salty breeze. Holmes felt the warmth of early afternoon sunlight cast on the right side of his face. The Clock Tower. I'm in London, two to three miles from the clock, adjacent to an open window over the Thames. I can smell the salt—I hear the faint lapping of waves. The sounds of the river made Holmes feel eerily uneasy, and blended with the populace below. Light foot and carriage traffic. Holmes was above them, on the second floor by the sound of it. The bell chimed thrice, and with each chime Holmes narrowed his location, zeroing in on his distance from Big Ben based on the volume of the chime.

There was another noise, from opposite the window; a small, metallic wheel squeaked, footsteps, and the fluttering of pages being turned over a clipboard. There's a window to my right, and a hallway to my left, and the smell of disinfectant throughout. I'm hospitalized? Seems most likely, yes, I can feel the fabric of my hospital gown. Judging by the direction of the sunlight, and the distance from the clock and river, I must be at St. Evangeline's Infirmary, in Lambeth, second floor overlooking the Thames. Did I suffer a head injury? Almost certainly. He tried to move his arm with little success. Holmes was able to produce a feeble twitch. I'm not just weak… I'm frail. I'm not blindfolded, no. My eyelids refuse to lift. After several minutes, with great physical effort, Holmes opened his eyes. He managed to peer through thin slits at his surroundings. Yes, a hospital room, and a window. The window was opened outward, and Holmes made out the pale reflection of a tree by the river's edge in the glass pane.

Someone entered the room, but Holmes could not turn his head to see. No need. He recognized the weight and tempo of the footsteps in an instant, and the familiar scent of clothing, skin and breath. Watson!

"Holmes!" said Watson. He stood over Holmes, looking down at his partially opened eyes. "Can you hear me, Holmes?"

Holmes blinked twice.

"Jesus, I was… I was afraid you would never wake," said Watson. He stepped away from the bed for a moment and put a hand to his face. "You're safe now. God, I can't believe it."

Holmes spoke in a whisper, exerting himself to the fullest to utter two words. "Three years," he said.

Fatigue overcame him, and Holmes dozed into a reflective slumber. His memories were reforming. There was a river, but it wasn't the Thames. Crashing water. The Reichenbach. He relived his near-death, recalling the weightless sensation of plummeting over the falls while grappling with Professor Moriarty. Holmes had not expected survival, he calculated that there was less than one chance in one thousand that he would resurface from that cauldron of swirling water and foam.

Holmes regained his strength slowly over the course of the many days. Watson tended to him, and within the week Holmes was able to summon the energy to speak with him in short intervals, though Watson did most of the speaking.

"A fisherman found you in the Rychenbach," said Watson. "He thought you were dead at first, but soon realized that you were in a deathlike state of unconsciousness. A coma. You were treated in a small hospital in Switzerland for a time, until I read the news story about the nameless man that survived the falls. It had to be you! I tracked you down and brought you back to London. You were unconscious for three years." Watson's eyes flickered. "When you first woke, that's what you said, three years. How did you know?"

"You've aged," said Holmes. His voice was weak. "And I've withered. There's a tree by the shore, you can see it in the window's reflection when it's open to a particular angle. I've seen that tree before, and I judged from its height that the year was most likely 1894. The passage of time was clear, even if I was unobservant until now."

"It's good to see your mind remains intact," said Watson. He wiped away a tear.

"All I need now is to grow strong enough to light my pipe," said Holmes.