The Sociopath Society

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

I think it’s alive... maybe

“I’ve worked out the second message,” Sherlock spoke the instance he heard the door creaking open. After all it could only be John, his breathing punctuated by light panting from his run after Sherlock. Sherlock liked that. How John chased him. He just wanted to- no! Concentrate, concentrate. The case was more important. A road of discovery towards becoming a consulting detective. Fun. Exercising his brain.

But kissing John was fun... NO! Sherlock quickly banished these thoughts to a small room in his mind, locking the door. They were of no use at the moment.

“How?” John had moved to stand beside Sherlock, staring at the piece of paper intently.

“Simple, using the positions of the letters from the previous message within words to find the new message,” Sherlock tried to explain but gave up at John’s confused expression. “The Final Problem Alive. That’s the second message. The first was a threat. The second a clue. Planted for someone like me. It was all planned out, including the four thieveries this year.” Two boys, Sebastian and Tom, had recently lost items.

“The Final Problem Alive.” Sherlock began muttering to himself over and over again, pacing the room while frantically tugging his curls. The final problem. That could be anything, anything! What type of problem? A maths one? Science? No, Sherlock didn’t think so. Alive... something alive. The final problem is behind alive? No, what kind of clue would that be?

“Alive?” John seemed to be thinking on it also, sitting down on his bed. “Biology, maybe? Medicine? That’s to do with life...” Sherlock’s head snapped up, a grin flashing across his face.

“That’s it! Obvious, obvious! Biology... I know where the stolen items are!” Sherlock walked purposefully towards the door, ignoring John’s protests that it was after eleven. So what? John didn’t have to come. He would, though. It was so obvious, the clue! Alive. The room where biology kept their various animals. That was the final problem. Finding the items themselves.

It took Sherlock no time to sneak away from corridor 221, John following him, and go down into the Biology department. Locating the room was a doddle. Sherlock flicked the lights on and closed the door behind them.

“Right, we’re looking for any items on the list.” Sherlock surveyed the room with a frown, hands on his hips. Thus the searching proceeded.

It did not take long for John to find what Sherlock needed. Sherlock hopped over to where John had called from. A food cupboard seemingly. Ah, there they were. On the same shelf as the crickets. Sherlock carefully picked up the items, checking them over. They were the right items but...

“There’s only ten! Why are there only ten?! There should be twenty!” Sherlock nearly threw the items at the ground in frustration. “This isn’t right!” And the teenager really disliked it when he got something wrong. Miscalculated. There was still something more to this and he didn’t like it. And no one would listen to him, realise there was something more. This was just like Carl Powers... wait, hold that thought. Sherlock frowned and put it somewhere safe. To be looked at later.

“Don’t worry, Sherlock. We found the items. Let’s go return them.” John carefully took what Sherlock was holding, probably worried about what he would do with them, and headed for the door. Sherlock sighed. Even John believed that that was the end of it. Sherlock turned to give the shelves one more glance over. Something caught his eye. A note.

                “Well done, Sherlock. But can you solve the case?

                                                                -JM”