For the first time in many weeks John woke and found himself alone. It had been Sherlock's habit since pretty early on in their relationshp to keep the books he currently found engaging on his bedstand, and simply grab one of them when he awoke, staying curled up in bed with John for as long as possible, accompanying him as he slept. John found he had much less nightmares with Sherlock there, and he suspected Sherlock, too, rather liked it.
Not that John had much of the nightmares anymore, almost a year after Sherlock's return, but he had had trouble those first months and weeks, not to mention the two long years when he was all on his own. He tried not to think about that.
As he put on jeans and a sweater and moved through the living room, he pondered how lucky he was to have Sherlock back, to have Sherlock at all. He really loved him so much. Living without him had been so empty, so ordinary, so dull. And most of all, it had been living without Sherlock, and was thus, by default, unacceptable.
He picked up a few objects and put them on the coffee table, mostly books. The flat was entirely silent, so he assumed the kitchen bench would hold some scribbled, highly unreadable note from Sherlock, explaining his wearabouts. He had started to do that after the first time he had left the flat without John and came back home hours later to find the doctor crying in the bedroom, thinking his genius' entire return had been nothing but a good dream.
John would later try to alleviate his guilt that he had no indication that anything was the matter, and that he still struggled, but as he stepped into the kitchen, he was instantly grabbed, and a cloth of cloroform pressed strongly against his face. He didn't breathe it in, of course, but it seemed that they knew he wouldn't, because he felt the prick of a needle, and then there was no more reason to fight, even though he did. They outnumbered him, his face was covered so that he couldn't breathe, and within moments, a different kind of darkness took hold.
Evil Cliffhanger just becomes more evil with time, doesn't it? I am sorry about the shortness of this chapter - it simply refused to be broken up anywhere but there. From here on there will be a few darker themes discussed. Without spoiling too much there should be nothing to cause concern for most. If you are, however, likely to be bothered even by very vague mentions of past violence, skipping the next three chapters will do the trick.
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