BBC Sherlock fic: The Doll's House
Title: The Doll’s House
Fandom: BBC Sherlock
Characters: John Watson, Sherlock Holmes, Mrs. Hudson, OMC/OFC
Word Count: 690
Rating: pg-13
Beta: Not Brit-picked so please point out any wrongness
Disclaimer: Sherlock belongs to the BBC, ACD, Moffat and Gatiss. No copyright infringement intended.Summary: Sherlock and John's investigation doesn't lead quite where you'd expect.
Notes: Written for 1_million_words's haldoor's Birthday Challenge! This is my first attempt at writing in the 1 million words comm or for BBC Sherlock fandom so please tell me if I did something incorrectly. Also, this story was inspired by the excellent movie The Conjuring.
It was Mrs. Hudson who first came to them about the strange occurrences across the way.
Sherlock rolled his eyes but John listened patiently while their landlady explained that Mrs. Turner’s tenants in 230B Baker Street claimed they were being haunted.
The recent tenants were a young couple by the name of Lucy and Tom Martin and they’d been awoken several times in the night by the sounds of clapping and giggling. Lucy also swore she could hear the whispering voices of small children but it only seemed to happen when she was alone.
Tom never doubted his wife’s story and the two of them pestered Mrs. Turner to call in a paranormal investigator, but Mrs. Turner didn’t think that was necessary. Instead, she asked her good friend and next door neighbor Emily Hudson if she could get her boys to look into the situation.
Sherlock had flatly refused, not wanting to give credence to such ludicrousness but unfortunately for him, he didn’t have any actual cases to work on, not from Scotland Yard or from John's blog, so he reluctantly agreed to take a look.
~~~
John and Sherlock exchanged horrified looks when they got inside Lucy and Tom’s flat.
Their sitting room was literally filled with dolls of various shapes, sizes and colors. There were antique dolls, life size granny dolls, rag dolls and even miniatures.
John had smiled politely at Lucy before asking, “So, you’re a doll collector?”
Lucy had looked briefly startled before she answered. “Oh no, those are all Tom’s.”
Sherlock barely managed to stifle his laugh before John could speak again. “Lots of money in doll collecting then?”
Tom scowled before he replied, “Yes, I’ve made a huge profit on EBay in the past.” He turned to lovingly pick up the doll closest to him. “I can fetch a pretty penny for these things.”
John cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Well, Sherlock and I are just going to take a look around if that’s okay with you.”
The Martins nodded their heads and moved towards their kitchen where the landladies were drinking tea and watching the boys work.
John and Sherlock exchanged another look before they both separated, Sherlock towards the main bedroom and John up the stairs to the second bedroom.
John couldn’t stop the shudder of unease that went through him at seeing yet another room filled with dolls-his attempts at ignoring the uncomfortable feeling of being watched were only increased the more time he spent in the doll’s presence.
He wandered around the room, stoutly refusing to even entertain the terrifying thought that he wasn’t alone, when he suddenly remembered the old childhood game of hide and clap that he and Harry used to play.
‘I wonder if’…?
John had to clear his throat twice before he could get the words out. “How about a game of hide and clap?”
Unsure if he actually wanted proof in the form of a response, he took one last look around before he covered his eyes and started to count: “One, two three.” He finished counting to ten and called out “Okay, first set of claps?”
It was at that exact same time that John could hear Sherlock’s voice calling his name.
He quickly dropped his hands and strode out the door, not noticing that one of the dolls had her hands raised as if to clap.
~~~~
Sherlock discovered that Mrs. Turner’s building was equipped with an old intercom system that was installed in the 1980’s. It had stopped working years ago and she’d never bothered to get it fixed, but somehow the children who lived in 230A discovered the intercom and decided to play a trick on their unsuspecting parents.
It was their voices being piped into the Martins' flat that Lucy kept hearing and not some ghostly children. Everyone laughed in relief and John and Sherlock went back to 221B to the profuse thanks of the Martins and Mrs. Turner and the gratitude of Mrs. Hudson.
That night, in the darkness of the second floor bedroom of 230B Baker Street, a voice squeaked out. “Who wants to play hide and clap?”
Fandom: BBC Sherlock
Characters: John Watson, Sherlock Holmes, Mrs. Hudson, OMC/OFC
Word Count: 690
Rating: pg-13
Beta: Not Brit-picked so please point out any wrongness
Disclaimer: Sherlock belongs to the BBC, ACD, Moffat and Gatiss. No copyright infringement intended.Summary: Sherlock and John's investigation doesn't lead quite where you'd expect.
Notes: Written for 1_million_words's haldoor's Birthday Challenge! This is my first attempt at writing in the 1 million words comm or for BBC Sherlock fandom so please tell me if I did something incorrectly. Also, this story was inspired by the excellent movie The Conjuring.
It was Mrs. Hudson who first came to them about the strange occurrences across the way.
Sherlock rolled his eyes but John listened patiently while their landlady explained that Mrs. Turner’s tenants in 230B Baker Street claimed they were being haunted.
The recent tenants were a young couple by the name of Lucy and Tom Martin and they’d been awoken several times in the night by the sounds of clapping and giggling. Lucy also swore she could hear the whispering voices of small children but it only seemed to happen when she was alone.
Tom never doubted his wife’s story and the two of them pestered Mrs. Turner to call in a paranormal investigator, but Mrs. Turner didn’t think that was necessary. Instead, she asked her good friend and next door neighbor Emily Hudson if she could get her boys to look into the situation.
Sherlock had flatly refused, not wanting to give credence to such ludicrousness but unfortunately for him, he didn’t have any actual cases to work on, not from Scotland Yard or from John's blog, so he reluctantly agreed to take a look.
~~~
John and Sherlock exchanged horrified looks when they got inside Lucy and Tom’s flat.
Their sitting room was literally filled with dolls of various shapes, sizes and colors. There were antique dolls, life size granny dolls, rag dolls and even miniatures.
John had smiled politely at Lucy before asking, “So, you’re a doll collector?”
Lucy had looked briefly startled before she answered. “Oh no, those are all Tom’s.”
Sherlock barely managed to stifle his laugh before John could speak again. “Lots of money in doll collecting then?”
Tom scowled before he replied, “Yes, I’ve made a huge profit on EBay in the past.” He turned to lovingly pick up the doll closest to him. “I can fetch a pretty penny for these things.”
John cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Well, Sherlock and I are just going to take a look around if that’s okay with you.”
The Martins nodded their heads and moved towards their kitchen where the landladies were drinking tea and watching the boys work.
John and Sherlock exchanged another look before they both separated, Sherlock towards the main bedroom and John up the stairs to the second bedroom.
John couldn’t stop the shudder of unease that went through him at seeing yet another room filled with dolls-his attempts at ignoring the uncomfortable feeling of being watched were only increased the more time he spent in the doll’s presence.
He wandered around the room, stoutly refusing to even entertain the terrifying thought that he wasn’t alone, when he suddenly remembered the old childhood game of hide and clap that he and Harry used to play.
‘I wonder if’…?
John had to clear his throat twice before he could get the words out. “How about a game of hide and clap?”
Unsure if he actually wanted proof in the form of a response, he took one last look around before he covered his eyes and started to count: “One, two three.” He finished counting to ten and called out “Okay, first set of claps?”
It was at that exact same time that John could hear Sherlock’s voice calling his name.
He quickly dropped his hands and strode out the door, not noticing that one of the dolls had her hands raised as if to clap.
~~~~
Sherlock discovered that Mrs. Turner’s building was equipped with an old intercom system that was installed in the 1980’s. It had stopped working years ago and she’d never bothered to get it fixed, but somehow the children who lived in 230A discovered the intercom and decided to play a trick on their unsuspecting parents.
It was their voices being piped into the Martins' flat that Lucy kept hearing and not some ghostly children. Everyone laughed in relief and John and Sherlock went back to 221B to the profuse thanks of the Martins and Mrs. Turner and the gratitude of Mrs. Hudson.
That night, in the darkness of the second floor bedroom of 230B Baker Street, a voice squeaked out. “Who wants to play hide and clap?”