A Sign Of Two

17 - Act One

Sherlock spoke with the voice on the other end of the phone. The little girl on the plane. She sounded terrified. She told us she was on a plane but everyone was asleep and the plane was going to crash. Sherlock was trying to get the girl to tell him her name when the phone cut off and Eurus' voice could now be heard. She appeared on a TV screen at the front of the cell.

Eurus was pretty, in a sinister kind of way. She looked a lot like Sherlock, but as impossible as it seems, she was a lot more emotionless. Her skin was almost white like her clothes and her hair was brown and curly, similar to Sherlock's. Except Eurus' hair was long and flowed down to her waist. Her eyes were blank and expressionless. They sent chills down my spine.

"Oh dear. We seem to have lost the connection!" her voice was cheerful and sinister at the same time.

Mycroft stepped forward "How have you done this?!" he seethed. "How is any of this possible?!"

The room flashed red once more and Moriarty's voice was present again.

"How?" John asked Sherlock "How can that be Moriarty?"

"Oh, he recorded lots of little messages for me before he died. He loved it. Did you know his brother was a station master? I think he was always jealous..." Eurus answered John's question.

"The girl on the plane, where is she?" Sherlock's voice was low, baritone, but not the voice I was usually used to. He was under a lot of stress, and you could really tell.

"Poor little thing, alone in the sky in a great big plane with no way to land...where in the world is she?" Eurus teased "It's a clever little puzzle if you want to apply yourself to it I can reconnect you but first..."

Eurus moved to her right to reveal a middle aged woman in a purple blouse who was gagged and tied to a chair, struggling. The governor's eyes widened.

"That's my wife" his voice was weak. He stood up. "That's my wife!"

"I'm going to shoot the governor's wife" Eurus' voice was playful but her words were horrifying.

"Please...no please..." the governor begged. He turned to Sherlock. "Help her!"

"In about a minute...bang. Dead." Eurus said bluntly. 

"Please don't do that" Sherlock spoke up. His voice was calm but I knew better. Inside he was panicking. I walked over to him slowly and intertwined my fingers with his. My way of silently telling him that it was all going to be alright. 

"Well you can stop me" Eurus giggled.

"How?"

"There's a gun in the hatch. Take it."

I felt sick. I knew what Eurus was about to ask but I refused to believe it. 

Sherlock parted with me. He walked over to the hatch and took the gun. 

"If you want to save the governors wife, get either Doctor Watson or Mycroft to kill the governor!"

My breath hitched in my throat. Both Mycroft and John looked up in disbelief.

"Oh god..." the governor started to cry.

Sherlock started to move towards the governor but his sister stopped him.

"You can't do it Sherlock, then it wont count I'll kill her anyway. It either has to be your brother or your friend."

The governor looked at Mycroft, who was already losing his nerve. "You have to do this" 

Mycroft shook his head frantically.

"Eurus will kill her!" the governor pleaded with Sherlock.

Sherlock looked at the governor, and then at the gun.

"It doesn't appear we have a choice"

Sherlock handed the gun to Mycroft.

"I can't do this" Mycroft said "I cant, It's murder"

"It's not murder" the governor spoke up "this is saving my wife"

"I will not kill. I will not have blood on my hands!" Mycroft backed up against the wall. I'd never seen him so hysterical.

"Okay fine" Sherlock gave in, he handed the gun to John. "John"

John looked at the gun. I could tell his emotions were going into overdrive inside his head and I felt extreme sympathy for the war doctor. He'd already been to Afghanistan, he'd already killed people before. He shouldn't have had to be forced to do so again.

John took the gun. 

"What's your name?" John asked the governor.

"David"

"Are you sure about this, David?"

"Of course I'm bloody sure!"

John looked at the ground. I wished more than anything to wake up and for it all to be a bad dream. I wanted to wake up next to Sherlock and walk into the kitchen to see him trying to cook bacon in a microwave. I wanted it all to be okay. But it wasn't.

"You are a good man" John said to the governor. "And you're doing a good thing"

"So are you" the governor smiled through his tears

"I'll spend the rest of my life telling myself that"

John held the gun up to the governor's head and my stomach lurched. I felt like I was going to vomit.

John's finger lingered on the trigger.

"I cant" John breathed out. He lowered the gun. "I'm sorry, I can't do it"

The governor cried out. He lunged forward and grabbed the gun out of John's hand. John cried out.

The governor held the gun up to his head whilst muttering apologies through his endless tears. He was a mess, rightly so.

"Remember me" he cried, before pulling the trigger.

The gun fired and the insides of the governor's head painted the glass walls. I suddenly felt light headed, bile rose up in my throat, Mycroft turned around and threw up in the corner of the room.

Sherlock walked over to me and pulled me into his chest, comforting me. I was so grateful for his presence, his warmth. He kissed the top of my head.

"You alright?" the detective said to John. John nodded.

Sherlock and I parted and he walked over to the glass to talk to his sister.

"Alright, there you go, you got what you wanted. He's dead."

"Dead or alive" Eurus replied; "He really wasn't very interesting but you four...you were wonderful. Thank you"

Eurus spun around in her chair and fired her gun at the governors wife, killing her.

John's hands went to his head and a tear fell from my cheek.

A door opened on the left side of the room, coaxing the four of us remaining into a second game, and into the second act of Eurus' grand performance.