Young Sherlock | School of Deduction (Book One)

Chapter One

Sherlock Holmes disliked rain. It wasn't because he worried about getting drenched on his way home. It was because the rain thundering down on the roof of the bus stop he was residing under reminded him of all the mindless people he had the misfortune to encounter every day. Just like they did, the rain wittered away constantly, showing no sign of stopping. But unlike people, the rain wouldn't cease if he asked, or rather demanded, them to do so. Because of this, he had resolved to sit under a bus stop and wait for the bus with his fingers wedged securely in his ears - but even that didn't seem to be doing the trick.

His brother Mycroft sat at the other end of the bus stop, his fingers a blur as he texted his many acquaintances. Mycroft had always had good connections, and he had an inexhaustible supply now that they had moved from their quiet seaside cottage in Swanage to a grand Victorian-style home in London. Of course, it wasn't really Victorian - for a start, it didn't have a chimney so he didn't know how his parents had been persuaded it was authentic. He definitely didn't inherit his brilliant mind from them. He wondered what it would like to be 'stupid' and 'normal'. You'd wouldn't be thinking about rain or the fact that the man across the street is cheating on his wife - you'd only be thinking about whether you'd be home in time to get the washing in.

"Something wrong, little brother?" Mycroft enquired, glancing up momentarily from his phone.

Sherlock could only just hear the muffled voice due to having his fingers in his ears. Sighing, he removed them and turned to face his brother, who had gone back to his phone.

"There is quite clearly something wrong, Mycroft," Sherlock muttered. "The rain. It's annoying, repetitious and it's ruining my day, just like London and the people in it."

"Sherlock, you live in the UK. You are going to encounter rain once in a while," Mycroft responded dryly.

They resumed silence. Mycroft never did engage in conversations longer than 13 seconds, at least, not with him.

"I hate London," Sherlock continued bitterly. "Nothing interesting ever happens and nothing ever will. At least in Swanage a few interesting people turned up once in a while."

Swanage was a seaside village and a large tourist attraction and therefore, Sherlock had had plenty of practice observing people and their mysterious ways. He had learnt so many things about their habits and their manner that he could describe their personality, hobbies, occupation etcetera after just a single glance. Unfortunately, not many people seemed to appreciate this skill, especially when he was helping his dad out at weekends in the small shop they had owned (which had sold every kind of seaside toy known to man) and he would show off his talents to customers. Some ignored him with a shake of their heads and the odd laugh here and there, but most hastily exited the shop without purchasing anything. Sherlock had therefore been demoted to label and pricing duty in the back room, where he sat out of the way sticking "Reduced" stickers on plastic blue buckets with yellow-bearded pirates or crocodile floats or whatever other merchandise his dad needed to shift.

However, there was somewhere his parents couldn't keep him out of the way of other human beings - school. He had observed everything he could from his first day of infant school to his last day of secondary. But when it came to college, his parents decided that the local college was not good enough for himself and Mycroft, and chose to take the chance they had always dreamed of and move to a city. So, he started half a year late at a college in London. Mycroft began his studies at University College London, whilst offering his services as a private tutor to the students at Sherlock's college.

There were several people for him to observe at his new college and in London, but none of them interested him. Everything was just so boring.

But there was one thing even Sherlock Holmes could never have observed - something was interesting was about to happen, and it would change his life forever. And the person who would bring that change about was sitting on the bus that was coming round the corner.