Sherlock - The Game Is On!

The Final Problem- Twenty Two

Chapter Twenty Two

Third POV

"Remember Daddy's allergy? What was he allergic to?" Sherlock stares towards the screen, which is now showing her rather than John and Michelle. "What would he never let you have all those times you begged? Well, he'd never let you have a dog."

Inside Sherlock's mind, a dog barks. He screws his eyes shut and sees his younger self running through the shallows on the beach.

Nearby, young Eurus runs around, smiling. In one hand she has a plastic toy aeroplane and she holds it up and 'flies' it through the air as she goes.

"What a funny little memory, Sherlock. You were upset... So you told yourself a better story... But we never had a dog"

"Victor." He mumbles in revelation. "Now it's coming."

"Victor Trevor." He shakily answers. He frowns a little as the memories keep coming.

On the beach the two boys trot away together. Young Eurus turns her head away, a sad look on her face.

"We played pirates. I was Yellowbeard, Iris was Pinkpatch and he was..." Eurus looks into the screen, her mouth slightly open and an expectant look on her face. Sherlock raises his tear filled eyes to her. "He was Redbeard."

"You were inseparable. But I wanted to play too." Sherlock looks away as he begins to realise what started his sister's behaviour. Eventually he sighs and lowers his head, closing his eyes. "Oh. Oh God." He cries softly. "What..." He pulls in several breaths before he can continue. "What did you do?"

Eurus begins to sing, very slowly: "I that am lost. Oh, who will find me. Deep down below. The old beech tree?"

Michelle cries as she recalls what her brother may of pleaded, when stuck where she and John are now. "Please let me out! Please, someone help me! Please."

In the house, Sherlock gazes downwards, lost in grief. Sherlock stands in the hall, surrounded by darkness and lost in memories. "Victor."

"Deep waters, Sherlock, all your life. In all your dreams. Deep waters." Sherlock stares ahead of himself, his face covered with tears. "You killed him. You killed my best friend."

"I never had a best friend. I had no one." Sherlock raises his head towards the ceiling.

In the well, John and Michelle struggle to keep their footing, the water now up to the top of their chests as more pours down.

Sherlock gazes upwards, his face anguished. He closes his eyes.

"No one." Eurus responds bitterly. "No one." Sherlock bites his lip and raises his head, looking towards the screen with determination. "Okay. Okay, let's play." He turns and picks up the lantern from the floor and runs outside hurrying around the side of the house, through an open gate and into the graveyard at the back of the house.

As he runs around, bending down and shining his light closely onto various gravestones, the little girl's voice comes over his earpiece: "Hello? Are you there?"

"Need your help. I'm trying to solve a puzzle."

"But what about the plane?"

"Well, the puzzle will save the plane." He runs to another gravestone and looks at the inscription. The bottom two lines read '1818 / Aged 24 and 26 Years'. "The wrong dates. She used the wrong dates on the gravestones as the key to the cipher..." Be runs to shine the lantern on Nemo Holmes' gravestone. "And the cipher was the song."

"Is this strictly relevant?" John shouts. "Yes, it is. I'll be with you both in a minute." He puts the lantern on the ground and focuses in on another, very old and worn, gravestone which gives dates of '134 - 1719'. The numbers '134' and '1719' appear in the air in front of his eyes.

He looks across to other gravestones, mentally pulling the numbers from each of them, including those from Nemo Holmes's grave, putting them beside the first set until he has a long string of numbers in front of him. Rubbing his hands over his nose and mouth, he lowers them and breathes in sharply.

"The lights are getting closer." The girl squeals. "Hush, now. Working." Sherlock dismisses.

The words of Eurus's song appear in front of his eyes. Two verses side by side read:

I that am lost, oh who will find me?
Deep down below the old beech tree
Help succour me now the east winds blow
Sixteen by six, brother, and under we go!

Without your love, he'll be gone before
Save pity for strangers, show love the door.
My soul seek the shade of my willow's bloom
Inside, brother mine -
Let Death make a room.

Two further verses are underneath but in much smaller print. They read:

Be not afraid to walk in the shade
Save one, save all, come try!
My steps - five by seven
Life is closer to Heaven
Look down, with dark gaze, from on high.

Before he was gone - right back over my hill
Who now will find him?
Why, nobody will
Doom shall I bring to him, I that am queen
Lost forever, nine by nineteen.

"Let's number the words of the song." The row of numbers whooshes away and individual numbers appear above each word in the four verses. Sherlock screws his eyes shut. The words and their accompanying numbers start to roll round in his mind. "Then rearrange the numbered words to match the sequence on the gravestones."

The words and numbers spin around in front of him, some of them stopping briefly in front of his eyes before spinning on. The sequences which stop read:

1 3 4
I am lost

17 19
Help me

28
brother

Sherlock's head snaps up and he opens his eyes with a gasp. He looks at the verses and the numbered words in front of him and the majority of the letters and their accompanying numbers shatter and the fragments fall away to the ground. He breathes heavily, looking at the remaining words floating in the air, then reaches out and starts swiping each word out of the air in the correct order, saying each word as he removes it. "I... Am... Lost... Help... Me... Brother... Save... My... Life... Before... My... Doom." He continues swiping the words away. "I... Am... Lost... Without... Your... Love... Save... My... Soul... Seek... My... Room."

He stops dead on the last word, staring up as the last three phrases float in front of him, the most prominent being the final three words, 'Seek my room'. He looks past them towards the house. "Oh God."

Grabbing the lantern he races back towards the house.