Alice in 221b Baker Street, Chapter 6
Chapter 6: Eyes for Edgar
John is going to work today. He makes tea earlier than usual and packs a lunch. Before he goes, he pulls Alice aside.
“Keep an eye on him, alright?” John asks. Alice tilts her head, mutely asking him to elaborate. John presses the heel of his palm to his temple. “He gets… well, you know how he gets. Just… try to keep him from completely destroying the flat while I’m gone, okay?” She follows his gaze to the wall where a smiley face made of yellow paint and bullet holes grins at them. She looks at Sherlock, who is glaring at the television as if it personally offended him, looks back at John and nods solemnly.
“Good,” he says, looking honestly relieved. He smiles at her and leaves.
~~~
Sherlock is busy shouting at the telly when she sneaks the dead bird in.
Sherlock has lots of interesting things, but apparently doesn’t like to share them. After all, he’d had an entire jar of eyeballs, and all she’d borrowed were two. He’d found her talking to Edgar, whom she had just provided with eyes. They didn’t match, but she’d found it sort of charming.
Alice hadn’t been around any children her age. There had been questionable tutors, Daddy, and Daddy’s “friends”. But even the most solitary of children need someone to talk to once in a while. Alice had Edgar. Edgar was her shadow, and she talked to him sometimes when the lights went out and Edgar took over the whole room, big and protective.
She had only wanted to give him eyes, since there were obviously plenty (an entire jar full in the microwave). And then Sherlock found them.
She’d never expected to see him disturbed by anything she did, and Alice was actually rather proud of her achievement.
Nevertheless, he’d taken the eyes away and returned to languishing (she likes that word, and it suits Sherlock very well) on the couch theatrically, announcing his boredom to all who passed (namely, Alice and Mrs. Hudson). She wasn’t quite sure how to keep him entertained (liar, be a good little girl, give Daddy a kiss) but she could keep herself amused.
Sherlock had taken the human eyeballs from the microwave, but there were two perfectly good eyes attached to the dead owl in the garbage bin. (The one that he found to replace the owl that John had thrown away when cleaning the room for Alice. John told Sherlock that the living room was not suitable for dead animals either as he was throwing it away.)
She waits until Sherlock is sufficiently wrapped up in himself before striding to her room, the owl wrapped in a plastic bag. When she gets there, she lays the owl on the floor, on top of the bag. She has watched Sherlock and John enough to know that, when you want to do something (make tea, test how different powders reacted to hydrochloric acid), you have to think it out first.
Alice doesn’t want to damage the eyes so, after a few minutes of deep thought, she decides to take the owl’s head off. Eyes are attached to the brain, and the brain is in the skull. She will just have to cut the brain into small enough pieces that she can get them out without having to hurt the skull. (She wonders if Sherlock would let her keep The Bird Skull, since she was going to get it out by herself. Then, she and Edgar could have another friend.) After that, Alice will push the eyes (gently) into the skull and then take them out. That decided, she considers what she will need.
Alice will need something sharp to cut up the brain. Another bag for the unimportant bits. (Maybe she will keep some feathers, too, since they look very nice.) She decides that she wants to bury the owl, since it was kind enough to donate its eyes (and possibly skull and feathers) to her. So, she’ll need some sort of digging implement and enough dirt to bury The Owl. (The Owl also deserved capital letters for its generosity.)
She gets two plastic bags (just in case) and a knife from the kitchen. Sherlock doesn’t notice, thankfully. She suspects that, if he knew that she’d rescued The Owl, he would want it for himself. Alice doesn’t think that’s fair, since Sherlock is just as capable of rescuing The Owl as she is, but he is an adult, so he could just take it.
She encounters a problem when she is standing over the owl with the knife in one hand and a bag in the other. This is going to be messy. She doesn’t mind getting her hands dirty, but her clothes are a problem. Since her dress had been taken “for evidence”, she has been wearing John’s jumpers and some of Sherlock’s old shirts. They are all long enough to reach past her knees. Sherlock and John may have leant them to Alice, but she is under no illusion that they are now hers. Sherlock had made a big fuss, reminding her that this was only temporary. She doesn’t remind them that she has no underwear now, even though it’s uncomfortable to have the bad places so exposed. She’d promised not to be a bother after all.
Cutting The Owl’s head off will be messy and Alice doesn’t want to mess up John’s jumper (which is old and warm and smells like the blankets in her cupboard), so she decides to take it off. She will be naked, but she won’t mess up the clothes. She strips and sets to work.
On to Chapter 7!
John is going to work today. He makes tea earlier than usual and packs a lunch. Before he goes, he pulls Alice aside.
“Keep an eye on him, alright?” John asks. Alice tilts her head, mutely asking him to elaborate. John presses the heel of his palm to his temple. “He gets… well, you know how he gets. Just… try to keep him from completely destroying the flat while I’m gone, okay?” She follows his gaze to the wall where a smiley face made of yellow paint and bullet holes grins at them. She looks at Sherlock, who is glaring at the television as if it personally offended him, looks back at John and nods solemnly.
“Good,” he says, looking honestly relieved. He smiles at her and leaves.
~~~
Sherlock is busy shouting at the telly when she sneaks the dead bird in.
Sherlock has lots of interesting things, but apparently doesn’t like to share them. After all, he’d had an entire jar of eyeballs, and all she’d borrowed were two. He’d found her talking to Edgar, whom she had just provided with eyes. They didn’t match, but she’d found it sort of charming.
Alice hadn’t been around any children her age. There had been questionable tutors, Daddy, and Daddy’s “friends”. But even the most solitary of children need someone to talk to once in a while. Alice had Edgar. Edgar was her shadow, and she talked to him sometimes when the lights went out and Edgar took over the whole room, big and protective.
She had only wanted to give him eyes, since there were obviously plenty (an entire jar full in the microwave). And then Sherlock found them.
She’d never expected to see him disturbed by anything she did, and Alice was actually rather proud of her achievement.
Nevertheless, he’d taken the eyes away and returned to languishing (she likes that word, and it suits Sherlock very well) on the couch theatrically, announcing his boredom to all who passed (namely, Alice and Mrs. Hudson). She wasn’t quite sure how to keep him entertained (liar, be a good little girl, give Daddy a kiss) but she could keep herself amused.
Sherlock had taken the human eyeballs from the microwave, but there were two perfectly good eyes attached to the dead owl in the garbage bin. (The one that he found to replace the owl that John had thrown away when cleaning the room for Alice. John told Sherlock that the living room was not suitable for dead animals either as he was throwing it away.)
She waits until Sherlock is sufficiently wrapped up in himself before striding to her room, the owl wrapped in a plastic bag. When she gets there, she lays the owl on the floor, on top of the bag. She has watched Sherlock and John enough to know that, when you want to do something (make tea, test how different powders reacted to hydrochloric acid), you have to think it out first.
Alice doesn’t want to damage the eyes so, after a few minutes of deep thought, she decides to take the owl’s head off. Eyes are attached to the brain, and the brain is in the skull. She will just have to cut the brain into small enough pieces that she can get them out without having to hurt the skull. (She wonders if Sherlock would let her keep The Bird Skull, since she was going to get it out by herself. Then, she and Edgar could have another friend.) After that, Alice will push the eyes (gently) into the skull and then take them out. That decided, she considers what she will need.
Alice will need something sharp to cut up the brain. Another bag for the unimportant bits. (Maybe she will keep some feathers, too, since they look very nice.) She decides that she wants to bury the owl, since it was kind enough to donate its eyes (and possibly skull and feathers) to her. So, she’ll need some sort of digging implement and enough dirt to bury The Owl. (The Owl also deserved capital letters for its generosity.)
She gets two plastic bags (just in case) and a knife from the kitchen. Sherlock doesn’t notice, thankfully. She suspects that, if he knew that she’d rescued The Owl, he would want it for himself. Alice doesn’t think that’s fair, since Sherlock is just as capable of rescuing The Owl as she is, but he is an adult, so he could just take it.
She encounters a problem when she is standing over the owl with the knife in one hand and a bag in the other. This is going to be messy. She doesn’t mind getting her hands dirty, but her clothes are a problem. Since her dress had been taken “for evidence”, she has been wearing John’s jumpers and some of Sherlock’s old shirts. They are all long enough to reach past her knees. Sherlock and John may have leant them to Alice, but she is under no illusion that they are now hers. Sherlock had made a big fuss, reminding her that this was only temporary. She doesn’t remind them that she has no underwear now, even though it’s uncomfortable to have the bad places so exposed. She’d promised not to be a bother after all.
Cutting The Owl’s head off will be messy and Alice doesn’t want to mess up John’s jumper (which is old and warm and smells like the blankets in her cupboard), so she decides to take it off. She will be naked, but she won’t mess up the clothes. She strips and sets to work.
On to Chapter 7!