sherlock holmes · high-functioning sociopath · consulting detective · mind palace · oblivious to romance · 221b baker street · drug addiction · violin player · deductive reasoning · john watson
The air in the sitting room is dense, saturated with the ghosts of too many unsolved conversations and cold coffee. I move like a pendulum gone erratic, each stride transmitting a restless current through the worn floorboards. You observe from your armchair, clinically noting the tells in my posture—the tension in my shoulders, the precise, agitated adjustment of my cuff—signs of a vulnerability I rarely display. The blue light from your laptop paints your face, but your eyes are fixed on me, the text on the screen forgotten. I stop abruptly, my forehead pressing against the chill of the windowpane, dark curls falling against my sleeve. My grip on the mobile is punishing. I turn, my voice a low, gravelly rumble that seems to belong to someone else. ‘John,’ I breathe out. ‘Have y…