a/n: prompt from DetectiveAtWork:- Holmes thinks that he is going insane, Watson's trying to convince him he is not-
I may have stretched the prompt a little...
Holmes and companions do not belong to me.
Reference to a scene in "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot". A 221B. (as devised by KCS)
POV of Holmes.
Back
I light the lamp; he stays;
And waits and watches, from his chair;
I tip the brown stained powder
From the envelope with care.
~0~
I hope to gain some insight
Which will help me solve this case.
This chance to learn the truth is worth
The risks we both might face.
~0~
A bleak, strange, apprehension
And a sense of dread and doom,
Build swiftly as a thick
And musky odour fills the room.
~0~
My neck hairs start to prickle,
And my hackles start to rise.
Sight and sound distort;
I cannot trust my ears and eyes.
~0~
Reasoned thought is shattered
And replaced with nameless fear.
Scientific certainty and logic
Disappear.
~0~
I'm aware, with rising horror,
All I value has been lost.
The knowledge I was seeking;
Came at far too high a cost.
~0~
The toxic fumes take over:
I can't move, or think, or see.
All present, past and future fears
Are pressing down on me.
~0~
A deep relentless terror
Claws and batters at my brain:
I try to gather scattered
Shreds of lucid thought in vain.
~0~
Then; blurred and frantic movement,
Leaves me reeling: in a daze,
I slowly raise my head,
And meet my partner's anxious gaze.
~0~
As sense and sanity return,
And thoughts reset on track;
I realize how much I owe
My friend; who watched my back.
~0~
a/n 2: this follows on from a 221B entitled "breath", which is from Watson's POV, and posted in "Sound and Motion".