His Empty Chair

Chapter 9

17th September 2017

Moriarty haunted Sherlock's dreams constantly, he was like a poisonous fog always finding a way into his mind no matter what Sherlock did. And he couldn't escape it. Everywhere he ran Moriarty was there, forcing him to do despicable things. He saw John die too many times and too often it was by his hand that he died. No matter what he did John would always die and it was always because of him. Moriarty taunted and tortured him. His mind was no longer safe from the onslaughts but he could not wake up, he tried and tried, he willed for his mind to wake up from the terrible pain he felt.

Eventually he managed to break through and he was finally free from the realms of fantasy. He could finally escape Moriarty. It took all of his effort to open his eyes even though he could not see. The drugs in his system tried to drag him under again but he fought them and kept his eyes open even if all he could see was fuzzy outlines of everything. The only thing that Sherlock remembered was when he shot himself, after that everything became too blurred for him to recall.

He knew that he was in a bed in the hospital but that was all he could really see but he did notice the slouched figure in the chair nearby. They were wearing dark clothes and looked as if they were staring straight through him. The image of Moriarty's empty eyes flashed into Sherlock's mind and feared sliced through him. What if that was Moriarty sitting there, come to taunt him further. Here to finish the job.

All of a sudden it was only fear and panic in Sherlock's mind. He needed to get to John, he needed to save him from the monster sitting next to him. He needed to ask the questions on his mind. It was as if the drugs weren't in him and the fear propelled him as he lurched forward and off the bed. Instantly pain ripped through his body, his entire being was pain. And then he hit the ground and impossibly the pain increased, he lost himself in it and passed out for a few seconds. When he came to it was as if the energy that had given him the power to get off that bed had disappeared, he groaned as the agony sliced through his very being. His head was now at the foot of the bed and he could see the doorway. But the fear was still there and he still needed to get to John so painfully and with so much effort he started to pull himself across the floor by the bed, inch by inch. The agony was so much he almost passed out again but then he heard someone say his name and the fear arose again. He needed to get to John, he needed to ask him something and he needed to protect him. He tried to call out but he only managed a loud croak. "John!" he tried to move that bit further but he simply couldn't manage it. Then surprisingly gentle hands were rolling him over but he still panicked thinking it was Moriarty, he tried in vain to avoid the touch of the man which Sherlock was now able to realise wasn't Moriarty. The blinding fear in him subsided but he was becoming delirious now, having spent what little energy he had Sherlock couldn't stay conscious. The man was kneeling over him gently tapping his face and repeatedly saying his name. Blearily he tried to respond to the man trying to say, "I need to find John, I need to ask him something. I need John." but it ended coming out more of a jumble of barely verbal words. He only hoped that the man had gotten some of it because his vision was fading and he was already barely awake anymore. Although Sherlock was glad when the man stopped his incessant tapping and instead merely rested his warm hand on his face. His other hand tightly clasped one of Sherlock's as he simply said "Oh, Sherlock." That was when Sherlock realised who the faceless man was.

***

Authors Note 

Hoooray! Its finished! A bit bittersweet I know and sorry about the short chapter but I wanted to leave the story where I am in the position to continue if I want or I can just leave it where it is. Now I hope that if you read this and stuck till the end that you really enjoyed reading it as much as I loved writing it. Please comment or message me and tell me whether you think I should continue. :)