Save Yourself

Mrs. Hudson, my new landlady, closed the door behind herself as she exited the small flat. I stared around me, trying my best not to wrinkle my nose. Water damage was the first thing anyone would see, but she'd been terribly straightforward about the state of the place - offering very small rent. I'd just moved to a foreign country with no job, no references - solely being allowed to look at a a place was a gift. Thankfully, Mrs. Hudson had been an extended family member's friend sometime back; and she was very inviting.

All I'd managed to buy so far was a small sofa that folded out into a bed, a decent-sized dresser for my clothing, and a coffee table. Thankfully, the place came with a refrigerator and those types of things - otherwise, I'd be eating at the sandwich shop for a few weeks. Mrs. Hudson went to the trouble of circling a few ads in the paper for me, something that was a wonderful act of kindness - though she did mention there was some kind of detective living in the room above me who may be need my "expertise" in one form or another at some point. Whatever that meant. Back home - if you could call it that - I was a simple crime reporter for a simple newspaper. Mostly ridiculous speeding violations and accidents, but there was a fairly famous homicide I'd accidentally stuck my nose in and how I'd ended up on the other side of the world. Another story for another time.

I settled myself down on the small sofa, glancing at the ads. One for a nanny, another for a dogwalker. Well, she did say they were beneath me, I laughed to myself. It was more one of those sad, "how did I get here?" laughs that people tend to have before they find themselves in a closet with a rope around their throat. I shook the stupid thoughts from my mind and stood up as I could hear banging from upstairs, deciding to see what was going on.

"You have to stop leaving me in the middle of nowhere alone, Sherlock!" A very short, gray-haired man shouted, "I barely got home alone!"

"Perhaps if you paid attention to your surroundings, John," A much taller, much... sleeker man responded, almost arrogantly.

Mrs. Hudson stuck her head out into the hallway, "Is this how you two are going to introduce yourself to our new flatmate?" Raising her eyebrows as she did so. Both of the men snapped out of their argument, almost a trance - I could tell they did this often - and stared at me.

"Oh my, I'm terribly sorry," The shorter man, John, said while extending his hand, "I'm John, John Watson."

"Josephine Black." I shook his hand, expecting the other man to do the same.

His eyes roamed over me, a small smile appearing on the corner of his mouth. It felt like he was undressing me, but in a strange sort of way.

"Sherlock Holmes." Was all he said, before turning on his heel and walking upstairs.

John rolled his eyes, before following Sherlock upstairs, "You'll get used to that."

"What a strange couple." I laughed.

"Oh, they're not a couple, dear. Sherlock is a detective and John is a doctor. He helps Sherlock on his cases. Quite a pair they are, but not a couple."

"They bicker like a married one."

"They do," Mrs. Hudson seemed to agree, "Though, John has a girl. I don't think I've ever seen Sherlock with a woman, though... My, he does need one."

"He may want to work on his conversational skills first," I finished the conversation, before heading back into my new home. I've heard many people say "that was the first day of the rest of my life..." and thought it was strange, but that truly was the first day. Nothing would ever be the same.