I woke up because I felt John’s hand moving in mine, tearing me from whatever sleep I was having. It had been the best night of my life; I got a full eight hours or so. I opened my eyes with a sigh, and saw two hazel ones staring right back. John didn’t look scared, but very, very confused.
“What happened?” he mumbled, still sleepy, obviously.
“You had a nightmare.” I said simply, yawning. He pulled his hand away from mine, and I found that my fingers were very tight from being curled up all night. I flexed them the best I could, but it didn’t help much. The room was still dark thanks to the thick curtains, they managed to block out all the light and the window blocked out the sound. We might as well be in the middle of nowhere.
“How’d you know I was having a nightmare?” he asked. To my surprise, he didn’t seem mad, as I thought he would be.
“I was returning the laptop. Heard you tossing around in here, so I went to check on you. Then you told me people were coming after you, and to not leave you, and stuck your hand out. I decided that you wanted security, so I just held your hand and you fell right back to a peaceful sleep.” I said, recalling the events as best as I could.
“Did you have a nightmare too?” he asked.
“For once, no.” I said, it was a sad thing to be thrilled about, but I felt refreshed for once, a full night sleep was as rare as a diamond to me, although I bet I could buy a diamond if I really wanted one.
“Thanks, I guess.” John muttered. I closed my eyes again, not wanting to get up. Somehow I fell back asleep, and when I woke back up it was nine o’clock. Training for John was at ten, and the fear of getting yelled at once again by Mrs. Hudson was enough to scare me straight.
“John, get up!” I hissed, bolting out of the chair and shaking his shoulders.
“What, what?!” he exclaimed.  
“We need to get out there, training starts in an hour!” I exclaimed. John groaned, covering his face with his pillow.
“Come on John, you don’t want Mrs. Hudson to get mad.” I pointed out. That seemed to be enough to convince him, and he rolled out of the bed, falling onto his feet and stretching.
“They’re probably waiting for us, oh god.” I groaned, blinking away the sleep and opening the door. We walked out the door, John yawning and I was still trying to crack my fingers back to normal. As I predicted, they were at the table, but they weren’t waiting. Even Molly was eating already, as if they had simply forgotten about us. When they heard us coming they all stopped eating to look, even Irene, with a weird sort of smile on her face.
“Good morning.” John groaned.
“Sherlock, please tie your robe.” Mrs. Hudson insisted as I was about to sit down. I realized with fear that it was untied, and my chest was completely exposed. Mortified, I tied it tight and sat in one of the chairs next to John. No one spoke, but I could almost hear them thinking. I was too tired to care, taking a whole pancake this time and buttering it. This was the biggest breakfast I’ve had in over a year. John simply ate eggs and toast, both of us seemingly half asleep.
“Nice night?” Irene asked with a laugh. Molly glowed red and looked down at her plate. I just yawned and John nodded. I didn’t see what the big problem was; the only thing on my mind was sleep. It was ironic; I finally get a good night sleep and now I couldn’t seem to get enough. No one talked for the rest of the meal, and Irene kept giggling throughout the whole thing, but I didn’t even care at the moment. When breakfast was over I grabbed a handful of bacon and went back to my room, taking a quick shower that certainly woke me up plenty. I got dressed and used the mega-dryer to dry my hair, coming out feeling much more awake than I was this morning. The metal charm was cool against my chest, but it felt good to know it was there. Mrs. Hudson and Molly were talking about something in a hushed whisper, but when they noticed I was there they immediately stopped talking, as if keeping something from me. I guessed it was only mentor stuff, as our map was.
“I returned the laptop, I don’t know if you found it.” I pointed out to Molly, taking an armchair and putting my fingertips under my chin.
“Yes, I got it.” she nodded. They glanced at each other, both looking nervous, and I was wondering, yet again, what I did wrong this time.
“Um, Sherlock, while you’re here, we think there’s something we should talk to you about.” Mrs. Hudson decided.
“If it’s about that stupid coffee thing, then I’m sorry, I messed up, just let it go okay?” I groaned.
“Sherlock, we’re not telling you what to do and what not to do, I think it’s great for you to finally find someone, but, we think it’s maybe not in everyone’s best interests.” Mrs. Hudson decided. I just raised an eyebrow, not liking where this was going, but quite confused.
“What’s not in everyone’s best interest?” I asked with boredom. I always regret sitting out here, where they can start rubbish conversations.
“Your relationship with John.” Mrs. Hudson said, as if it pained her to say it. I felt my eyes widen and immediately my face went completely red.
“I’m not in a relationship with John!” I defended. Suddenly their nervous concern turned into confusion, just like mine. “It’s about last night isn’t it? How could I be so stupid, I mean I understand all of your obliviousness, but no, absolutely not. I was taking your laptop back, and I heard John having a nightmare, so I stayed with him. I know how it feels like to have nightmares, and I guess I knew he needed someone there.” I said simply. The relief on Molly’s face was almost insulting, but Mrs. Hudson looked extremely awkward.
“Well then, we had it completely messed up then, my apologies Sherlock.” She decided.
“Yes, you did.” I agreed with a sarcastic smile. With that, I decided it was probably best to leave this little situation, and went back to my room. That was why Irene was laughing so hard during breakfast, because they all thought… Oh god I hope John doesn’t find out about this. I sat on the bed, locking the door and staring at the wall of tributes. I sighed, completely embarrassed now, how could they even think I’d ever even think about that? It was one thing to be friends with my tribute, but that was just unthinkable. If he was another mentor then maybe, just maybe I’d be a tad bit interested, but dating was the last concern of mine. I just needed to get him out of this whole thing in one piece, that was the only job I was given, and so far I thought I was doing an okay job. John and Irene were taken to the tribute center by Mrs. Hudson, and we had the day to ourselves. I spent this time in the office john had told me about, looking up the richest sponsors I could find. Apparently I wasn’t the only mentor who was unaware of this handy little place, because in the three and a half hours I was in there no one bothered me. I managed to print out a whole bunch of pictures, scribbling down their names and where they were most likely to be. Most of them preferred, from their last couple of tributes, the Careers, someone they had total faith in to get their money, but a couple of them obviously liked the underdog. In my games I didn’t have sponsors, but I guess in the end I didn’t need them. I suffered, I was extremely dehydrated, starving, and had severe burns all down my leg, but somehow I managed to outthink and outlive the other tributes. I sighed, cutting the faces out and going back to my room, locking the door behind me. On the other wall I took down a fancy decoration of metal swirls and lines and stuff, taping up my sponsors in a line. Most of them invested thousands into the tributes, which was absolutely pathetic, they could be funding against this death game, building revolutions to one day overthrow, and instead they just encouraged it. I had no idea how to convince these people to sponsor him, sure, he had a chance to get through, he was strong and something of a brain in his head, but I’d need a lot more than that. I guess I’ll find out after evaluations and training to see just how good he was. I spent the remainder of the day cooped in my bedroom, reading, sketching, and just sitting there staring at the tribute wall, the mentor wall, or just the ceiling. I was actually an okay artist, but usually I had nothing to draw. Today I drew John, getting crowned victor, which the same determined look on his face as I had with that crown on his head. I sighed, looking at the drawing and hoping beyond hope that he might make it through this. When they finally came back I practically dragged John into my room before he forgot everything, making him write down as much stuff as he could under all of the faces. We needed the chair to reach the people up top, but eventually we were already a couple of sticky notes deep in information.
“Fantastic job John, good memory too.” I said happily, reading off the Three girl Ruby Mendel. According to John, she was good at the nature things, like berries, fires, and rope traps, but wasn’t very good at swords and didn’t take many weapons courses. Now this is only the first day out of three, after that is evaluations and then interviews. And after that, they go in.
“Now, we have one particularly ugly troll to evaluate too.” I said, pointing under the cartoon at the sticky note that read John Watson. John just frowned at me.
“There had to be a better picture.” He hissed.
“First one that came up.” I shrugged. He just hit me lightly on the arm and sighed, thinking about the day.
“I went to the fire starting thing, which I found I was okay at, I was pretty good with the swords, although a little bit clumsy. The bow and arrow is pathetic, and I took a class on edible roots and how to find water.” He recalled. As he wrote all of this down I put it on a sticky note, pressing it to the wall under his name.
“Looks like a map. Any allies yet?” I asked.
“Both one and twos, the boy from three, and the girl from five all seem to have made a little pack.” He said, holding up a red colored string. “This one will be the careers string.” He decided, tossing me the roll. I nodded, having him hold the end while I webbed out everyone he had mentioned.
“They might pick up one or two, but they would’ve picked the best they found.” I decided, matching the faces up.
“That makes me feel better then.” John muttered.
“Oh stop being such a baby, they never pick Twelves, it just doesn’t happen. And when you run them through with a sword, I’ll be laughing.” I assured, chucking the roll of string as hard as I could. It bounced off of his head harmlessly, but that seemed to bring his mood down more.
“And who are these people?” he asked, turning to the sponsor wall.
“No one you need to worry about. They’re the top sponsors from past years, hopefully I can do some business with them.” I said with a confident smile.
“I’d imagine you’re very persuasive.” John guessed. “I mean, all of those people skills.”
“Oh stop, all of those people skills are what your life depends on.” I pointed out.
“And how do I know you’re not going to be sitting in here crying all day and night?” he asked.
“I’d be out there trying to help you, not mourning you when you’re not dead.”
“And what if I die in the blood bath.” He asked. All humor disappeared from the air and I just looked at him, feeling my eyes get heavy with the very thought.
“No, you can’t think like that.” I muttered, turning away from him to look back at the wall. John didn’t say anything after that, seeing he’s struck a nerve.
“I suppose I should tell you something though.” I decided, turning back towards him.
“What?” John asked, obviously worried.
“Mrs. Hudson and Molly talked to me today.”
“And…” John asked.
“They were under the impression we were in a relationship.” I said quickly, getting the words out before I could stop myself. Instead of freaking out, like I thought he would, John just laughed.
“Well they need glasses then.” He decided. I decided not to point out that Mrs. Hudson wears contacts.
“The bad news is, that Irene doesn’t know the truth, and I’m willing to bet that she’ll be all giggles when we’re together.”
“That’s her fault. Everyone else knows the truth, why should we care?” he asked. I cracked a nervous smile; he was taking this way better than I had.
“We’ve only got a couple of days together, so I really don’t care what any of them think.” He shrugged.
“Well I’ve got a lifetime, so try not to embarrass me too much.” I pointed out. He went back to looking at the wall.
“You don’t think I should ally with Irene do you?” he asked.
“No way. First time you aren’t of use she’ll strike you down. All she wants is fame, and unless you want to use her method of winning I suggest you stay away.” I suggested. He shuddered at the very thought.
“Ya, maybe not. I don’t think I want to hear her talk all day either. She’ll give us away because her nail chipped.” John laughed.
“So will you. I’ll have to make a sponsor send you a manicure set.”
“Oh you should not be talking! What type of man owns three hair brushes?” he pointed out.
“One that cares about his hair.” I hissed.
“I bet Irene only has two!” he insisted.
“Ya, two for every strand.” I defended. John could help but laugh at that, his fake argument breaking immediately.
“Can’t argue with that.” he laughed.
“Dinner’s ready!” Mrs. Hudson called through the flat. Those are two words that can magnetically pull everyone here to the table, or substitute breakfast or lunch. I sat next to John, as usual, and Irene giggled more. I just sighed, glancing at John, who didn’t look too happy either. Mrs. Hudson said the prayer and then we were able to get whatever food we wanted, I actually ate some turkey with gravy, and John filled his plate with pasta.
“It’s awfully lonely around here without you two.” Molly said as a conversation starter.
“Well I assure you, I’d rather be here.” John insisted.
“Is it at least helpful?” Mrs. Hudson asked.
“Oh ya, at least I’ll have some survival skills.” He shrugged. I nodded my approval, before the training I was more hopeless than everyone there, but it had taught me many helpful things that I ended up using. I knew all of the careers went straight for the weapons and stuff, so it’s always good to learn to survive before you learn to kill.
“Sherlock, what did you chose when you were there?” Mrs. Hudson asked.
“I believe that is between me and Mr. Watson.” I said, glancing at Irene.
“Fair enough.” She muttered, giving up on the topic.
“Find out who the careers are though.” Irene said. I looked up in surprise; those were the first sort of positive things I’ve heard her say in the entire time I’ve known her.
“Well those are usually default.” Molly shrugged.
“I want to join them.” Irene decided. Molly’s eyes widened, that has never been done before, with any Twelve tribute.
“Well, I certainly can’t tell you not to, but it will be difficult.” Molly decided.
“I think I can do it, it really shouldn’t be all that hard.” She shrugged. I had to admit her confidence was above the skies, which was a good and bad thing at the same time.
“Well the careers go after the others, but when it comes time to choose a winner your allies will turn against you.” Mrs. Hudson pointed out.
“Not if I turn on them first.” Irene planned. John kept his mouth shut; he knew that in this plan, he wasn’t expected to be alive. I didn’t want to speak up, Molly was her mentor, and I shouldn’t be interfering with this grand plan of hers. I greatly advise against Careers, let them forget you even existed and kill themselves off; it would be a lot simpler. I just sighed, looking down at my plate but not hungry anymore. I had killed the last career, the one in my dreams, the one I stab in the skull, that had been him. I didn’t like to think about, I didn’t want to; it only brought bad thoughts and memories. I always did my best to lock them down, but they’re always patient, they’ll wait for a gap in the door and haunt me. The dinner was switched out with desert, but I didn’t eat any. At the first possible moment I could, I excused myself and went to my room, closing and locking the door. I had no plans to open it, not even for John. I was fighting back the thoughts, the door was barely holding now, the hinges struggling. I searched desperately for the shoes, somewhere, somewhere. I threw the office supplies into the wall in desperation, falling off the bed and diving underneath into the dark unknown. It was there, I found it. I squeezed back into the light before the first memory burst out. The fire, burning down the trees, the birds, the grass around my feet. I plunged the needle into my arm as the fire was racing up my leg, and it stopped. The memory stopped, my fears stopped, all was well. I sighed in relief as a nice veil of peacefulness settled over me; the thought went back in the door, which was resealing itself, all fine and dandy. I leaned against the bed, burying my face into the mattress with a soft sigh. It was alright now.