z

Young Writers Society


E - Everyone

The Red-Headed League

by JuliasSneezer


John Watson turned over in his bed, and wrapped his duvet tighter around himself. He had spent last night huddled in a greenhouse to solve a mind-boggling murder, accompanied by his best friend, Sherlock Holmes. Sitting there for hours in the cold, leaning against old boxes, it was no surprise that John was nursing a sore back and a tired body. However, he was ripped out of his sleep by the sound of murmured voices downstairs.

John reluctantly opened his eyes, and lifted his head slightly off his pillow, straining to hear what was being said through his door. He could recognize the baritone voice of Sherlock, but there was another voice squeaking downstairs that he couldn’t place. John sat up in his bed, wincing slightly as a short spike of pain jolted up his spine. He stood and stretched, not bothering to slide his feet into his hardly worn carpet slippers.

He took a second to finger-comb his hair and opened the door to his bedroom. The wooden floor felt cold against his bare feet as he padded down the stairs, and lumbered tiredly through the hallways of his flat to the living room. He stopped short when he saw Sherlock, perched in his usual chair by the fireplace, facing a red-faced gentleman, with even redder hair.

“Erm…. Sorry,” John apologized, noticing the lack of a tea tray on the table beside his armchair. “Do you want me to put the kettle on?” He asked awkwardly.

Sherlock turned around to face him. On his face was an expression of mingled annoyance and interest. “Ah! John. I wondered when you would wake up.” Sherlock turned his curled head back to the strange gentleman, unsteepling his fingers from beneath his chin. “I’m sure you’ve heard of John Watson, Mr. Wilson?”

The man- Mr. Wilson, gave a jerk of his head in acknowledgement to John, his bagged eyes flicking between him and Sherlock questioningly.

Sherlock once again steepled his fingers underneath his chin, as he usually did when listening to a particularly interesting case.

It was this action that led John to sit down in his familiar armchair, tying the sash of his dressing gown around his waist. He gave another short wince as he sat down. He caught Sherlock’s eye, and shot him a significant glance

Sherlock rolled his eyes. “You’ll remember that I said the other day that life can provide much more adventure than the thoughts of the human mind.” He said in reference to last night’s case.

John nodded, frowning, wondering what in the world this had to do with the current client. “Yes,”

“And you disagreed with me.” Sherlock continued.

“Still do.”

“Yes. But you will undoubtedly come to the correct conclusion when I pile fact upon fact, and situation upon situation on you, until your weak reasoning cracks under the stress.”

John refrained from rolling his eyes on the jab.


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32 Reviews


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Mon May 01, 2017 5:10 pm
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SnowGhost says...



Awesome job(especially for a 1year old)
I think after this story you should continue rewriting
some of Sherlock's other cases. (The red headed league not being my favourite)






Really? Hmm... maybe I will. What's your favorite, then?



SnowGhost says...


I can't say I have a favourite but The Adventure of the Speckled Band was kinda cool and is the most popular (I think)



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Mon May 01, 2017 2:21 pm
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BluesClues wrote a review...



Hi there!

So first I wanted to say (since this is a fanfiction) that I thought you did a good job keeping in character for both men. This in particular seemed like a Sherlock sort of thing to say, especially if he's feeling particularly ornery.

But you will undoubtedly come to the correct conclusion when I pile fact upon fact, and situation upon situation on you, until your weak reasoning cracks under the stress.


The only thing is, I don't quite understand this.

You’ll remember that I said the other day that life can provide much more adventure than the thoughts of the human mind.


I mean, yes, Sherlock needs cases or he gets bored and turns to drugs. But he relies on cases to give him a chance to use his human (or, like, superhuman) thought processes. And John is kind of more a man of action, so it seems odd that he would disagree with this statement, even if Sherlock said it.

Anyway, I hope you post more! This was shorter than I was expecting. I've read the original story of the Red-Headed League, so I'm hoping I can remember enough of it to see what kinds of changes you make to modernize it like on the show.






Thank you for the review! I was reading straight from the story as I wrote this, and in the story it said that Watson had disagreed. I agree when you say that the modern, BBC's 'Sherlock' John would agree with Sherlock, but I also wanted this to be like a little nod to Conan Doyle.



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Mon May 01, 2017 2:16 pm
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PrincessInk wrote a review...



Hello Julias, a Knight is keeping After Watch duty.

I haven't read the real "The Red-Headed League" and because this story is short, my review will be probably be short as well.

Even though the dialogue was rather formal, I felt it matched the setting well. Despite its shortness, I see that the characters are distinguished from each other, and I like that! But I was rather disappointed that Mr. Wilson was rather like a prop. He just appeared one time in the middle and then disappeared at the end. I would have loved it if he appeared in the conversation between Sherlock and John.

I liked Sherlock's last words, though. It sounded a bit cocky and condescending (I suppose Sherlock's success as a detective must have gone to his head ;)). I was a little disappointed that there wasn't a mystery after all and perhaps the title could have been changed slightly? The ending line was nice punch, though. It's like John is now fully awake and thinking, Come on.

I think that's all I've got to say. Feel free to use my suggestions or not, and message me if you want to discuss!

This review courtesy of
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Thanks, PrincessInk! I agree that it seemed like Mr. Wilson was just a prop, but this was because I had written the whole story, and this was a small section. For a 'short story', the Red-Headed League was rather long, and so I felt that if I had posted the whole thing at once, it would be just a bit too daunting for potential reviewers.




Education is education. We should learn everything and then choose which path to follow. Education is neither Eastern or Western; it is human.
— Malala