"The Great Mouse Detective"

Prologue {2/2}

{Olivia's POV.}

{London, 1897}

I was in my father's shop, it was my fifth birthday. While I played with a rocking horse on the table, my father, Hiram Flaversham, adjusted his apron.

"You know, Daddy, this is my very best birthday." I look at my father and smile at him. He sighs a little, "Ahh.. But I haven't given you your present yet." "What is it? What is it??" I asked excitedly. My father chuckles, "Now, now. Close your eyes." He walks over to a cupboard as I try to peak between my fingers, "Uh-uh-uh-uh. No peaking now!"

I giggled softly as I covered my eyes again, my father returns to the table with a toy that resembles a flower bud. He winds the key and sets it down, it opens up to reveal a beautiful ballerina adorned in different shades of pink. She dances for me as I open my eyes, I smile as she dances in front of me for a moment. "Oh, Daddy! You made this just for me?"

I didn't know it yet, but a bat with a pegged-leg was coming to my father's shop. His fiendish cackles were unable to be heard by me and my father..

The ballerina stops dancing, she bows and the music stops. I get down from my chair and happily hug my father, "You're the most wonderful father in the.. In the whole world!"

The doorknob rattles. My father gets a little nervous as I stare at the door confusedly, I felt strangely thankful for the fact that the door was locked. My father put his arms around me in a protective way, I didn't notice anything wrong yet.

"Who is that?"
"I.. I don't know! Quickly, dear, stay in here and don't come out!"

It was all a blur after that. I heard struggling, I opened the door a little and saw a strange and rather grotesque looking bat fighting my father. The table flew over to me and shut the cupboard door, locking me inside it. All I heard from there was "Now I gotcha, toy maker!" and my father shouting for me.

After that, silence. The silence was deafening. I pushed open that door and all I saw was chaos. The shop was a mess. The window was broken, there was paint everywhere, the lights weren't on anymore.. It was a nightmare.

...And all I wanted was my father.

"Daddy, where are you?"

I tried looking for him.

"Daddy.. Where are you?? Daddy!"

...But I couldn't find him..

"Daddy!!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I cut a piece of a newspaper away from the rest of it, it was a headline for a baffling disappearance being solved by a detective called 'Basil of Baker Street'. With the piece of paper in my pocket and tears in my eyes, I was went outside to look for my father. After a while, I realized that I hadn't seen him anywhere and I most certainly wasn't going to see him anywhere that I knew of.. And so, I hung my head and cried. I took refuge in an abandoned rain boot, sobbing heavily while sitting on an empty box of Liver Pills.

After a long while, I heard a voice.. "Oh! Oh my.." It was an old man, he had on lavender trousers and a dark red, knitted sweater vest. He had a white button down shirt underneath his sweater vest, it was complimented by a blue bow tie and a black bowler hat. There was a woman next to him, she was taller and younger  than him but she looked just as kind. She had on a pale pink dress, it had pastel pink accents on it. She also had a brown messenger bag and she had a darker red bowler hat on. Her umbrella was black, just like the man's jacket, umbrella, and bag.

The kind man spoke again, "Are you alright, my dear?" When I turned to him, him and the woman walked over to me. "Come now, come, come. Here, dry your eyes.." he handed me a handkerchief that was the same pale pink as the woman's dress, the kind lady picked up her skirt a little and crouched down in front of me as I blew my nose. I handed the handkerchief back to the man and he smiled a little, sitting down next to me on the box of Liver Pills, "Ah, yes, now that's better. Now tell me, what's wrong, my dear?"

I sniffled softly, "I.. I'm lost. I'm trying to find Basil of Baker Street." The woman in front of me must have zoned out for a moment. I noticed that she tensed a little at the sound of his name, I think she knows him from somewhere.. The man next to me put on his bifocals, "Now, let me see here.. 'Famous detective solves baffling disappearance.' Mmm, hmmm. But, uh.. Where are your mother and father?"

That made me a little sad, "That's why I m- m- must find Basil!" I started crying again, holding my scarf close to me. The woman snapped back to reality and looked up at me, "There, there, there, there! Now, now, now, now, I- I don't know any Basil." I looked at her with a saddened expression on my face. Her and the man next to me smile softly as the woman sighs, taking my hands and holding them. "But, I do remember where Baker Street is." My face brightens as her and the man stand up, they both open their umbrellas and the man picks up his bag.

The kind woman in the pink dress takes my hand, looking at me with a soft smile and a gentle look in her blue eyes. "Now, come with me, dear. Let's find this Basil lad together!" She looks up and starts walking beside the kind, tubby man whose eyes are filled with nothing but compassion.

I didn't know it yet, but these two and one other person would change my life in the best way possible..

...And that other person? Well, his name is Basil of Baker Street.

{To be continued..}