The Fall - Sherlock Fanfic 2

Prologue

I looked at the picture of me and Izzy, from when we were seven years old, our hair still naturally coloured.

We were in a water park, wearing little pink matching swimming costumes. We were hugging in front of a jet of water that flew in a curved arch, framing the two girls with their arms around each other. The photo had been put into a pink farm with the single word Sisters in gold glitter at the top of it.

We were so clearly not twins.

Her eyes were slightly lighter than mine, her face smaller, her hair thinner and lighter than mine. Her arms and legs were slightly smaller and straighter, along with the rest of her petite body, and her cheeks were slightly more hollow. Even her skin was a slightly darker colour than mine, which was pale white.

I know, twins aren't always identical. But there is usually some resemblance. She didn't look moderately like the man who she had thought was her father, or myself. Yet we looked slightly similar, and, as people expected us to, they saw past the differences between the way we both looked.

She was my sister. That much was true - but in the way that Helena, or Natasha, or Alice (I thought) were my sisters.

Yet, there was something more.

You couldn't just forget the 13 years that we had grown up with each other. 13 years of being sisters.

I sighed, smiling at the picture, forcing myself not to cry. I wouldn't cry, not today. I wouldn't make it any harder.

I started crying.

My arms suddenly went and acted of their own accord, placing the precious photo on top of the pile of clothes in the box, cushioning it between pairs of jeans and leggings to make sure it wouldn't get cracked on the journey, before placing the lid on top of the cardboard box marked Clothes.

I couldn't believe I was leaving.