The Autobiography of Mycroft Holmes

Chapter 1: The Voice Unheard

So, you wanted to know what it is like to live with Sherlock Holmes? That's got to be the reason you're reading this. Or did you want to know what I'm like? I'm flattered.

You will find out both in due time. Watson must have chronicled some of it by now, I'd be surprised if you haven't read it in one of his stories. But if you want to know the uncut, unedited, uncensored honest truth, you must ask me, not him.

Oh, he would not ever tell you the truth. Dr. Watson is much too amicable a person for that. But in reality, it's not that he wouldn't. He couldn't.

He doesn't actually know about everything.

Watson is easier to read than a book, and very typical. Also, he hasn't lived with Sherlock for nearly enough time to be permitted to give a useful account of the history of Sherlock Holmes. No, I feel that I only could be charged to complete the task of describing, accurately, life with Sherlock Holmes.

I am Mycroft Holmes, and this is my story. You do not even have to like me at the end. Likely, you will not like me at all by the end. All you must do is understand.

I worked and lived with my sister Sherlock at 221B Baker Street for three of the best and worst years that I have ever been forced to live through.

But first, before I tell you of Sherlock, I must tell you of your narrator.

As I said, I am Mycroft Holmes, older sister of consulting detective Sherlock Holmes. I am an average businesswoman employed by the British Government in a nonspecific position, and I am not all that important to anyone. I am a member of the society called the Diogenes Club, which is located in a little area called Pall Mall in London.

I am originally from America, from New York City, and I do not speak British English because I haven't exactly had the time to learn how to. I went to a nonspecific college in England to match my equally nonspecific job, and graduated with a few degrees that could help me just scrape by with the rest of my life.

You need not be a master of deduction as Sherlock and I are to know that most of the information I just presented to you pertaining to myself is false.

Surely you know who Sherlock Holmes is. She is a famous detective now. She has exceeded everything I have taught her over the years when we worked together, and has done things I could have never fathomed that she would do.

This disbelief can extend to both the good and the bad.

I know I am anything but nonspecific. Just by being the sister of Sherlock Holmes, I am remarkable if I may say so myself. I am not being narcissistic; I am stating the truth. Even those that do not like me in the least bit cannot deny for a second that I hold an indispensable position in the British Government.

As such, I also hold a certain place in people's memories. Not all these are necessarily pleasant memories of me, but I cannot say I regret any of it.

I am from America, that much is true. But, I picked up British English rather quickly; in less than three days of living in London I could speak it nearly fluently if charged with the task. I just don't use it because others know I'm American and it would seem odd of me to act in a manner that would suggest I'm attempting to be British.

I did not attend a nonspecific university. I attended Oxford University, and graduated in three years with bachelor's degrees in Philosophy, Literature, and International Accounting-slash-Finances. After that, I proceeded to attend law school.

So, if you would like, you may call me Dr. Mycroft Holmes, Esquire and CA.

Lastly, I do not occupy a small position in the British government at all. I am what many would call a human computer. I remember information that is not trusted by the government to be put into computers that may be easily hacked. I also assist in making governmental policy decisions based on this information. I am a sort of gatekeeper for this information.

But no one knows that I am affiliated with any of these things at this moment. Thus, this memoir will be published upon my death. I can't have people knowing all this beforehand.

I am a member of the Diogenes Club, but I am also one of its honorary charter members. I am one of only two current Senior members of the Club, and I may end up being one of the last ever to hold that title if I end up having any say in that situation. No one will ever surpass my position. At least, not while I'm alive.

And lastly, Pall Mall is far, far from an anonymous street somewhere in London. It was where I had tried, for nearly a decade, to be accepted and successful in my political positions. I have accomplished this, and I am proud of it, but it has cost me more than I could have imagined when I first conceived the plan.

As a result of becoming a member of the Silent Society, as we call it, I have become a mostly solitary person. Weeks have gone by when I have not heard my voice, and even sometimes, months go by where I have not said more than "yes" and "no." It is worse now than it was before I worked with Sherlock.

I must break my own voluntary silence for just the time being. I must use the voice that I have so deeply neglected, but must now harness to tell my story.