Chapter Three: Letters
Kaitlyn was a new nurse, working at a private facility for long-term care patients. She had just been assigned to watch over a young girl who had been in a coma for about ten months. Apparently, there was no real cause for her to be in a coma, but she just never woke up from surgery. It happened sometimes, it was rare, but it happened.
About a week in letters began to be sent to Emily's room from an unknown source, and one day Kaitlyn decided to read them to her. Some people say that people can still hear the things that go on around them while in a coma, so maybe it would help her.
"Dear Emily, please wake up," She paused, "Love Sherlock."
The nurse turned to the sleeping girl, Emily. "This Sherlock character, he isn't very creative."
The next day...
The nurse entered the room with another letter in her hand, "He's written another one." She opened the letter and read. "Dear Emily, I didn't know what to write yesterday, and I still don't. I'm sorry. You deserve better. Love Sherlock." Then Kaitlyn turned to Emily, "Well, that was kind of sweet."
A few days later...
The letters to the sleeping girl began to increase in size and also in adorableness. This particular day Emily's nurse, Kaitlyn, had invited two other nurses from the ward to listen in.
"Dear Emily, today I went to your flat and I..." Kaitlyn paused, "And I could barely breathe. I'm not used to feeling these sort of things, you were always the emotional one. Your violin was covered in dust and I thought that I should take it back to my flat. You always played so beautifully, you tuned it every single day without fail, so I thought I would continue doing so for you."
The women around Kaitlyn were smiling at each other sadly as Kaitlyn continued, "I've been thinking about what you did. You crashed the car so he couldn't get you alone, it made sense to me after a while. You were always so brave, braver than me. You would rather kill yourself than let someone else take your life from you." Kaitlyn and the nurses shared pitiful glances at Emily. "I miss you, please wake up. Love Sherlock."
"Oh, dearie," One of the older nurses spoke towards Emily.
A few months later...
Kaitlyn would receive letters from Sherlock a few times a week, and soon whenever she read them many of the other nurses would gather in the room. They thought the letters were romantic, and they felt bad for the young woman who had been in a coma for about a year and a half now.
Today's letter attracted a larger crowd than usual because Sherlock hadn't sent any that week.
"Dear Emily," Kaitlyn started, "I'm sorry I haven't written to you recently. I learned how to play your favourite song on your violin by memory and it took some time, but I finally figured out how you made that... noise on the last note. I don't know how else to describe what you sounded like. I miss you. Emily, I-" Kaitlyn stopped and had to clear her throat, she knew that they were getting to an emotional part. She always got emotional when reading these letters, she felt both Sherlock and Emily's pain.
"Emily, I miss you. I miss you so much it hurts. I want you to wake up, why don't you just wake up? You told me you would do anything to keep me safe, and I'm unravelling. I need you, desperately. All I can think about is-" Kaitlyn stopped and re-read the next sentence again, not believing it.
"What is it, Kaitlyn?" One of her close friends asked.
"Sherlock, he's... a drug addict," Kaitlyn said with shock apparent in her voice.
"What?" The small group gasped, "What does he say?"
"All I can think about is morphine. How easily it helped me sleep when you were gone to school, and how easily it might help me now. I know I promised you that I would stop. I did, I have, but you can't understand. You're probably dreaming of a perfect place, with Dvorak playing softly in the background, but I'm here in reality. I'm without you and I don't want to be." Kaitlyn looked around the room, there were more than a few tears being shed.
"Please, Emily, if you're not waking up because of what happened that night then let me explain now. I lied to you because it was dangerous, there were dangerous people involved. I didn't want you to come with me because I didn't want you to get hurt. In doing so I pushed you away and I broke your trust. I am so sorry, Love Sherlock."
Kaitlyn looked at her patient and grabbed her hand, "Emily, you need to wake up, this man needs you to wake up..." She paused, hoping for something, the flutter of an eyelid, or the slight movement of a finger, but there was nothing.
"I'm sorry Kaity," One of the more experienced nurses said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "That's just not how it works."
There was no letter from Sherlock the next day, or the next, or the next... eventually, it had been eight months without a letter and Kaitlyn was fairly convinced that Sherlock had killed himself in a drug overdose. That was until one day a letter showed up.
"Girls! Girls come quick!" Emily called while poking her head into the safe lounge. Everyone inside instantly recognized the letter she held in her hands and quickly followed her down the hall to Emily's room.
Once everyone had settled, Kaitlyn began to read. "Dear Emily, I almost died a few months ago. My first thought was that it was inevitable, that perhaps it was even what you might've called fate. I was in my flat, and I was overdosing. I had fallen on the floor and was laying next to the coffee table when I spotted something underneath it. I reached in and I pulled out a picture of us when we were kids. You were losing horribly to me at chess and I was laughing at you I think."
"At first I didn't think much of it. It was just another reminder that you aren't here, but then something dawned on me. If I died, and you woke up... you would be so disappointed. I remember how hard you slapped me when you found me in the alleyway on new years day. I remember how much you cried and shouted. And then I remembered something I'd forgotten entirely. You told me you loved me." Kaitlyn gasped along with the rest of the room.
"You told me you loved me and I never said it back. I love you. Wake up and I'll tell you in person, Love Sherlock."
After that Kaitlyn didn't receive any more letters.