What you fear the most (part 3)
The final part.
.
.
“The demon’s Form has arrived,” whispered Sherlock. His fox-like eyes shone.
“Oh, let them come. For my invitation is what they fear the most.”
***
Six people sat in a darkened lecture room and watched each other. On the ceiling, the spider’s web was half-finished. Every portrait hanging on the walls had a yellow stripe across their eyes. The scales settled in front of the woman. Soo-Lin began recounting her story.
“Liang - my brother - and I were twins. With the Chinese one child policy, our parents were never well off, and when they died in a street accident, we were orphaned at the age of fifteen. There was really not much choice, where we lived. Either you worked for the bosses or you starved on the streets like beggars. My brother could find a job, but there’s no livelihood for an orphaned underage girl aside from illegal brothels. So I became a smuggler for the Black Lotus, a crime syndicate.”
She put her right foot up on her opposite knee, unlaced her shoe and took it off. Right under her ankle, there was a tattoo of a chain, bound around the ankle.
“Every foot soldier bears the mark.”
“The sign of slavery,” Sherlock remarked. His eyes were fixed on the sword, waiting for more clues.
“There were actual chains, you know. At the beginning.” She covered her ears as the distant sound of chains filled the air again.
“They’d do everything to break you, to make you their puppet. Shan - the general - she’s a cruel woman.
“As children, Liang and I were very close. They say that twins share a soul, we got along so well. Perhaps too well. For me to join the Black Lotus, it meant our ways would be separated.
My brother wouldn’t hear of it. He tried to dissuade me from it. He wanted to keep me, but how, when his job paid off hardly to keep him from starvation? What was I supposed to do?”
She paused. “I changed my name, I tried to forget him. I told myself he’d be better off without the burden of keeping me. I’ve submerged myself in the organisation, I bore through things that would make others go crazy. And yet, every day, I wanted to be with my brother. I dreamed of him every day.
“But I knew that it was impossible. I imagined that, one day, my brother would want to marry. It would be the reasonable thing to do.” Resentment crept into her voice.
“I couldn’t accept it.”
Andy gasped: “You mean-”
Soo-Lin turned to him: “I’m sorry, Andy. I tried to warn you off, repeatedly. I didn’t want you to fall in love with me. I’m unworthy of your feelings.”
“But what happened to your brother that he became a ghost?” John tried to get her back on the track.
“Three years after I became Black Lotus’ soldier, the organisation gained notoriety. The smuggling business became increasingly difficult. More than half of the foot agents were caught. I was getting afraid. Then, one day, I came home to find my brother waiting for me. He found me.”
She sighed regretfully. “He was such a gorgeous young man. I should have never seen him.
“At any rate, I suddenly felt I couldn’t live in that danger any more. I was so afraid that I would get caught, and too terrified to quit the organisation. They never let you really leave, you know. There was another job for me imminent, a large amount of drugs, and I simply knew that this time, it would be the time I would get caught.
“My brother saw my cowardice, and he took pity in me. He said: ‘I will carry that in your place, sister. You can take the money and escape to Europe. Nobody would suspect me of smuggling, and I could join you later, I have enough money saved for both of us.’
“Of course I told him that I couldn’t accept his proposition. But when the hour came for me to take over the package, he spoke to me again. ‘There’s no life for me in this world when you’re not in it. If you should go to prison for life, I would have nothing to live for. I dreamed of you every day you were away. I’d rather die than to watch you go waste as a slave.’
Tears streamed freely down her cheeks. Sherlock eyed the silent sword distrustfully.
“I couldn’t believe it. My forbidden feelings for him - it was mutual! After he told me, we should have escaped together. I was simply too afraid. I let him carry out his plan, and it went horribly wrong. He was caught, he was sent to jail, and he was killed there in a brawl during a prisoner mutiny, all within two months. I wanted to take my own life, but I was too frightened to do even that. I came to England.”
She took a deep breath. “They gave me a job here. Everything was good; a new life.”
John: “Then he began to haunt you.”
Soo-Lin nodded. “To punish me for my fear.”
“Poor bastard,” Lestrade muttered.
“Wrong.” Sherlock announced loudly. A choir of “What?” echoed in reaction.
“It was not the vengeance of your brother that brought forth the demon on you. That is not the Truth. What is the spider above us? What are you hiding in a web of lies? You weren’t afraid of your brother - you feared your own heart. Fear gave rise to fear, and soon they became a shadow, dark beyond human understanding. It separated from you, at yet it never left you completely. The Truth is you!”
The dragon head on the sword sheath clicked its teeth in approval.
Soo-Lin slowly rose to her feet. Half of her face was contorted with dread, the other half still as if carved from marble stone. A wisp of dark smoke began to spill out of the dead eye-socket. She put a hand to her face in an attempt to cover it and when she parted her lips to scream, another stream of venomous smoke escaped her mouth. Everyone scrambled as far as they could to get away from her. Sherlock stood there, holding the sword like a challenge.
“Your brother has not become a demon, he sacrificed his life willingly. The demon is a part of yourself that you’ve kept hidden all your life.
“I have to ask you, Soo-Lin.” He put stern seriousness in every word. “To kill this demon would mean cutting your very soul. It would mean the return of your real feelings, those you’ve denied for so long that they caused your soul to split in two. Do you still wish it?”
Soo-Lin’s body swayed from side to side as if she was in a fit. Only one half of her body was controlled though, the other arm and leg were limp; half of her face was darkened beyond recognition. The dark cloud coalesced into a vague figure of Soo-Lin’s height, but of a male shape - it lifted its arm as if it tried to take her by the hand. She recoiled from it.
Suddenly, John was under the impression that he could hear a voice - like of a young man, similar in intonation to the normal speaking voice of Soo-Lin Yao. The shadow spoke.
“Sister, I’m so glad to see you!”
The black part of Soo-Lin’s face moved on its own accord and a horrible, sneering voice came out of her mouth:
“If only I could get rid of them. Why should I rot in jail. I could live a prosperous life somewhere, why do I have to throw everything away like that?”
The shadow didn’t seem to hear that. “I’ll go in your place, sister.”
“I’m so sorry,” said the sound part of Soo-Lin, full of tears, while the black one cried out exhilarated: “I’m saved! Is he an idiot?”
“Before I go, I wish only one thing.” The shadow touched her white face in a loving caress.
Her dark face went on spitting venom: “What is it, money? If I had any, I wouldn’t be in such a mess in the first place!”
“I always wanted to be with you. If you should go to prison for life, I would have nothing to live for.” The shadow made of smoke thinned and vanished.
Soo-Lin regained full power over her body and covered her face. “My brother...loved me. I did not really ever love him. I knew nothing at all. Not even the joy of being loved.”
She turned to Sherlock: “Please. Kill it.”
The sword roared with delight and sprung from its sheath.
There was no way to describe properly what John saw for the second time of his life, a Sword of Exorcism released. There was no blade. It changed Sherlock himself, his black locks turning white, his pale skin darkening, his eyes glowing with golden fire. He stood there bigger, stronger, and as he grabbed the sheath, a glittering flame came out of it, consuming everything in its path. They were one, the Sword and the Exorcist, and John understood that Sherlock might have been on the side of humans but nobody could for one second think that he was one of them. The demons feared Sherlock so much because he was one of them.
When all was over, John crawled close to check on her unconscious body: “She’ll be fine. She’s breathing.”
“She looks so young...” Dr. Anderson observed.
“It looks like she’s... smiling? I never saw her smiling before,” Andy said.
Sherlock picked the mechanic lock of the door. It opened with a loud creak.
“All the time - you could have done that any time!” John didn’t know if he had any more energy for a proper angry fit. “There was no need for us to go through this!”
“And let you miss the adventure?” Sherlock smirked.
John folded his arms. “Still a bit not good, Sherlock.”
Later that night, John found himself falling into step with a tall, dark figure of Sherlock Holmes at his side.
“So...” Sherlock smiled widely, showing just a hint of his canine teeth. “Aren’t you, by any chance, looking for a flat share?”
THE END
.
.
“The demon’s Form has arrived,” whispered Sherlock. His fox-like eyes shone.
“Oh, let them come. For my invitation is what they fear the most.”
***
Six people sat in a darkened lecture room and watched each other. On the ceiling, the spider’s web was half-finished. Every portrait hanging on the walls had a yellow stripe across their eyes. The scales settled in front of the woman. Soo-Lin began recounting her story.
“Liang - my brother - and I were twins. With the Chinese one child policy, our parents were never well off, and when they died in a street accident, we were orphaned at the age of fifteen. There was really not much choice, where we lived. Either you worked for the bosses or you starved on the streets like beggars. My brother could find a job, but there’s no livelihood for an orphaned underage girl aside from illegal brothels. So I became a smuggler for the Black Lotus, a crime syndicate.”
She put her right foot up on her opposite knee, unlaced her shoe and took it off. Right under her ankle, there was a tattoo of a chain, bound around the ankle.
“Every foot soldier bears the mark.”
“The sign of slavery,” Sherlock remarked. His eyes were fixed on the sword, waiting for more clues.
“There were actual chains, you know. At the beginning.” She covered her ears as the distant sound of chains filled the air again.
“They’d do everything to break you, to make you their puppet. Shan - the general - she’s a cruel woman.
“As children, Liang and I were very close. They say that twins share a soul, we got along so well. Perhaps too well. For me to join the Black Lotus, it meant our ways would be separated.
My brother wouldn’t hear of it. He tried to dissuade me from it. He wanted to keep me, but how, when his job paid off hardly to keep him from starvation? What was I supposed to do?”
She paused. “I changed my name, I tried to forget him. I told myself he’d be better off without the burden of keeping me. I’ve submerged myself in the organisation, I bore through things that would make others go crazy. And yet, every day, I wanted to be with my brother. I dreamed of him every day.
“But I knew that it was impossible. I imagined that, one day, my brother would want to marry. It would be the reasonable thing to do.” Resentment crept into her voice.
“I couldn’t accept it.”
Andy gasped: “You mean-”
Soo-Lin turned to him: “I’m sorry, Andy. I tried to warn you off, repeatedly. I didn’t want you to fall in love with me. I’m unworthy of your feelings.”
“But what happened to your brother that he became a ghost?” John tried to get her back on the track.
“Three years after I became Black Lotus’ soldier, the organisation gained notoriety. The smuggling business became increasingly difficult. More than half of the foot agents were caught. I was getting afraid. Then, one day, I came home to find my brother waiting for me. He found me.”
She sighed regretfully. “He was such a gorgeous young man. I should have never seen him.
“At any rate, I suddenly felt I couldn’t live in that danger any more. I was so afraid that I would get caught, and too terrified to quit the organisation. They never let you really leave, you know. There was another job for me imminent, a large amount of drugs, and I simply knew that this time, it would be the time I would get caught.
“My brother saw my cowardice, and he took pity in me. He said: ‘I will carry that in your place, sister. You can take the money and escape to Europe. Nobody would suspect me of smuggling, and I could join you later, I have enough money saved for both of us.’
“Of course I told him that I couldn’t accept his proposition. But when the hour came for me to take over the package, he spoke to me again. ‘There’s no life for me in this world when you’re not in it. If you should go to prison for life, I would have nothing to live for. I dreamed of you every day you were away. I’d rather die than to watch you go waste as a slave.’
Tears streamed freely down her cheeks. Sherlock eyed the silent sword distrustfully.
“I couldn’t believe it. My forbidden feelings for him - it was mutual! After he told me, we should have escaped together. I was simply too afraid. I let him carry out his plan, and it went horribly wrong. He was caught, he was sent to jail, and he was killed there in a brawl during a prisoner mutiny, all within two months. I wanted to take my own life, but I was too frightened to do even that. I came to England.”
She took a deep breath. “They gave me a job here. Everything was good; a new life.”
John: “Then he began to haunt you.”
Soo-Lin nodded. “To punish me for my fear.”
“Poor bastard,” Lestrade muttered.
“Wrong.” Sherlock announced loudly. A choir of “What?” echoed in reaction.
“It was not the vengeance of your brother that brought forth the demon on you. That is not the Truth. What is the spider above us? What are you hiding in a web of lies? You weren’t afraid of your brother - you feared your own heart. Fear gave rise to fear, and soon they became a shadow, dark beyond human understanding. It separated from you, at yet it never left you completely. The Truth is you!”
The dragon head on the sword sheath clicked its teeth in approval.
Soo-Lin slowly rose to her feet. Half of her face was contorted with dread, the other half still as if carved from marble stone. A wisp of dark smoke began to spill out of the dead eye-socket. She put a hand to her face in an attempt to cover it and when she parted her lips to scream, another stream of venomous smoke escaped her mouth. Everyone scrambled as far as they could to get away from her. Sherlock stood there, holding the sword like a challenge.
“Your brother has not become a demon, he sacrificed his life willingly. The demon is a part of yourself that you’ve kept hidden all your life.
“I have to ask you, Soo-Lin.” He put stern seriousness in every word. “To kill this demon would mean cutting your very soul. It would mean the return of your real feelings, those you’ve denied for so long that they caused your soul to split in two. Do you still wish it?”
Soo-Lin’s body swayed from side to side as if she was in a fit. Only one half of her body was controlled though, the other arm and leg were limp; half of her face was darkened beyond recognition. The dark cloud coalesced into a vague figure of Soo-Lin’s height, but of a male shape - it lifted its arm as if it tried to take her by the hand. She recoiled from it.
Suddenly, John was under the impression that he could hear a voice - like of a young man, similar in intonation to the normal speaking voice of Soo-Lin Yao. The shadow spoke.
“Sister, I’m so glad to see you!”
The black part of Soo-Lin’s face moved on its own accord and a horrible, sneering voice came out of her mouth:
“If only I could get rid of them. Why should I rot in jail. I could live a prosperous life somewhere, why do I have to throw everything away like that?”
The shadow didn’t seem to hear that. “I’ll go in your place, sister.”
“I’m so sorry,” said the sound part of Soo-Lin, full of tears, while the black one cried out exhilarated: “I’m saved! Is he an idiot?”
“Before I go, I wish only one thing.” The shadow touched her white face in a loving caress.
Her dark face went on spitting venom: “What is it, money? If I had any, I wouldn’t be in such a mess in the first place!”
“I always wanted to be with you. If you should go to prison for life, I would have nothing to live for.” The shadow made of smoke thinned and vanished.
Soo-Lin regained full power over her body and covered her face. “My brother...loved me. I did not really ever love him. I knew nothing at all. Not even the joy of being loved.”
She turned to Sherlock: “Please. Kill it.”
The sword roared with delight and sprung from its sheath.
There was no way to describe properly what John saw for the second time of his life, a Sword of Exorcism released. There was no blade. It changed Sherlock himself, his black locks turning white, his pale skin darkening, his eyes glowing with golden fire. He stood there bigger, stronger, and as he grabbed the sheath, a glittering flame came out of it, consuming everything in its path. They were one, the Sword and the Exorcist, and John understood that Sherlock might have been on the side of humans but nobody could for one second think that he was one of them. The demons feared Sherlock so much because he was one of them.
When all was over, John crawled close to check on her unconscious body: “She’ll be fine. She’s breathing.”
“She looks so young...” Dr. Anderson observed.
“It looks like she’s... smiling? I never saw her smiling before,” Andy said.
Sherlock picked the mechanic lock of the door. It opened with a loud creak.
“All the time - you could have done that any time!” John didn’t know if he had any more energy for a proper angry fit. “There was no need for us to go through this!”
“And let you miss the adventure?” Sherlock smirked.
John folded his arms. “Still a bit not good, Sherlock.”
Later that night, John found himself falling into step with a tall, dark figure of Sherlock Holmes at his side.
“So...” Sherlock smiled widely, showing just a hint of his canine teeth. “Aren’t you, by any chance, looking for a flat share?”
THE END