Lexi Morstan

Hi there. I'm Lexi, the youngest of the Morstan sisters. I work at the British Museum as a curator and I try to travel to see other works of art that people only dream of seeing. My next destination is Japan. Sherlock RPG Blog

[leximorstan-blog]

A Hit and Run Pt. Two

[sergeantdonovan-blog]

Upon returning, Sally placed the cup in front of Lexi, and the papers she’d collected from the printer in front of herself. Sorting through them, she started handing some to Lexi -pausing to make her own notations every now and then- explaining as she went. “For the meantime, we’re submitting this as the usual incident report. I’ll take you down to Traffic where a nice, female Constable will take you through the process - it shouldn’t take too long. From there, I’ll contact you when I’ve reached our victim and determined whether or not he wants to pursue this matter to court. I’m going to push for some form of settlement agreement -that is, you pay him compensation for the accident- and hopefully he’ll be content to let it drop.”

Having sorted the papers, Sally let out the long sigh of relief that comes with reaching the end of a task and straightened up. “You may have to make a statement again, but I’m sure you can do it. You’ve nothing to fear.” She turned and smiled at Lexi, “so… how does that sound to you?”

[leximorstan-blog]

Lexi looked over each form as Sally handed them to her while listening. Everything looked pretty basic and to the point, but she could tell it would be a little time consuming. "If it's going to be done right, it will take time." She thought stacking the papers in a single pile. 

"Everything sounds great. Well, not great.... but, you probably know what I mean." Now the nervous laughter could start thought it was only a slight chuckle. Whenever Lexi got into trouble of any kind, the nervous laughter would not come until after she knew or was at least clear about what could happen.

She took the stack of papers and held them in her lap so she wouldn't get up and leave them. "Which way is Traffic?" Before a moment coudl pass she added an after thought. "I'm guessing I'll know whether or not my licence will be suspended when you find out about the settlement or charges?"

[leximorstan-blog]

A Hit and Run Pt. Two

[sergeantdonovan-blog]

As soon as Sally realised Lexi was going to make her statement then and there, she grabbed her pen and started writing. She was glad for her habit of always having a notepad with her, and for her shorthand skills, because it didn’t seem like she would be able to get the story out of Lexi just as easily later. Listening intently and nodding to prompt her on, Sally wrote down the entire account until Lexi had finished, looking notably calmer than when she’d started, despite her concerned questions. Satisfied, Sally lay down her pad and pen and smiled reassuringly.

“I’m so glad you told me all that, thank you. You don’t have to worry about the victim, he’s not injured terribly.” And he’s certainly not a gentleman, she added mentally. “Nothing a couple of band-aids won’t fix.”

Turning to her computer, Sally continued. “I’m sure you feel a lot better finally getting that all off your chest, but I’m afraid the ordeal isn’t over quite yet. Don’t worry, it’s mostly just paperwork and procedures at this point. Nothing too taxing. I’m printing off some forms now and I’ll get you a cup of water before we get into all this.” Pressing the print button with finality, Sally faced Lexi once more.

“Miss Morstan,” she started, then as an afterthought, “Lexi. I do need to inform you that although you’ve made your position phenomenally better by coming down and owning up to the incident, the fact is that you did flee the scene of the crime instead of staying as you were legally bound to do. The consequences for hit and run are generally quite serious, and in these situations it’s up to the victim on whether he wants to press charges or not. Luckily, our victim was not grievously injured -I can personally testify to that- so if he does, the worst you might get is a possible suspension of your licence, but there’s no way to tell.”

Standing up, Sally placed a hand on Lexi’s shoulder and smiled apologetically. “I don’t mean to cause you worry, but it was best for you to know. I’ll get you that water and let you think things over for a bit.”

[leximorstan-blog]

"I expected as much." Lexi murmured referring to the licence suspension. There wasn't a way for someone to commit a crime or break a rule without being punished. She was relieved that the man she hit was alright and not seriously hurt. If he had been then she may have insisted that she pay for everything and throw herself in a cell for good measure.

She smiled up at Sally appreciatively. "Thank you for telling me. I would have thought the worst."

Allowing herself to slouch in her chair, she chewed on the inside of her cheek while waiting for Sally to return. Running a finger across her bottom lip a few times and then over her forehead, she sighed heavily starting to feel the relief of telling someone of authority. Telling Victor helped with simply getting it out to someone familiar and to bring them closer in a weird, but normal way, however, telling someone that enforced the law she broke brought her some closure and she wouldn't pretend that she wasn't thankful that it was Sally who had found her. She could start to move on from the accident and bare whatever punishment was given to her.

[leximorstan-blog]

A Hit and Run Pt. Two

[sergeantdonovan-blog]

Sally stopped to look at Miss Morstan, contemplating. Then she answered, “we’ll get to that in a moment,” with a vague smile.

Leading her to her desk she seated the woman (on a chair borrowed from another officer’s desk) and then sat down herself. Pulling out her notebook and the relevant files, Sally began, subtly shifting into professional mode.

“Now as I stated earlier, I was on my way to your home to investigate a specific incident, but,” and here Sally paused, “I’m assuming your presence here at the Metropolitan Police Headquarters may have something to do with this. So, before I start questioning you in the context of a suspect, I’d like to ask if there is any information you would like to volunteer first.”

[leximorstan-blog]

Lexi ran her fingers through her hair, racking it backwards while looking down at her lap. It was no time to be crippling ashamed, so she raised her head to look at Sally and took a deep breath. "You assumed right. The accident was entirely my fault and I am willing to do or pay anything to make it right."

Her mouth was starting to go dry, but she ignored it and continued. "I was driving home. I was stopped at a light and when the light changed I looked away from the road to change the radio station. It was the wrong thing to do, but I can't take it back now. The next thing I knew something hit my car and I put on the brakes. Of course, something didn't hit my car, I hit them." She stopped for a moment starting to feel a little shaky. 

Calming herself again, she finished her side of what happened explaining that she drove away because she had become afraid of what had happened and because of the man she had hit coming toward her door. "It was irresponsible and I know I do not need to apologize to you, but I'm sorry that this has been the outcome. And I do hope the gentleman is alright. Have you spoken to him? Is he alright?" 

[leximorstan-blog]

A Hit and Run Pt. Two

[sergeantdonovan-blog]

“Ah, of course,” Sally smiled, turning to the lifts once again. For a moment she considered the stairs just to avoid the crowd, but the doors opened at exactly the right moment and were emptied of enough people for her to comfortably dispel the idea. “Oh no, not at all,” she answered, leading the way. “I was just about to find you at your home, actually. It was very convenient of you to turn up here instead.”

By unspoken agreement, conversation was suspended on the lift, so Sally made use of the brief time it travelled upwards to text the unfortunate young Constable she’d sent to retrieve the car that his driving services were no longer needed. When the lift announced their arrival on her level, Sally motioned for Miss Morstan to follow her and resumed her briefing as she walked.

“Actually, I don’t generally work with traffic cases. I’m a Detective Sergeant, you see.” The ‘technically’ she left implied. “I work in the Criminal Investigation Unit, which is why we’re not heading to Traffic, but I have a certain investment in this case and I thought that with cooperation from all involved participants, it could be dealt with quickly and with minimal fuss.”

Sally didn’t usually explain things so casually to potential suspects, but she wanted to put the poor woman at ease. Perhaps she’d become too used to the hardened criminals she usually had to intimidate into submission, but something about Miss Morstan’s innocent and agreeable demeanour made Sally want to spare her any harm or distress. She now found that she could empathise with Greg’s protective manner over the woman he’d called a friend (of sorts).

[leximorstan-blog]

Lexi followed her listening carefully. She started to worry when Criminal Investigation Unit was mentioned, but carefully let it go when it was mentioned that Sally said "I have a certain investment..." instead of "we". If she didn't have to spend her time here locked in a room with two or more people questioning her, then she would consider this visit a smooth and fair one. A thought occurred to her that Sally might now Greg, but she decided now was not the best time to ask. 

However, the fact that she did say "I" instead of "we" made her curious. "What do you mean when you say that you have an investment? I didn't think that officers or detectives would pick certain cases. I thought they were just handed to them with no option of rejecting them."  

[leximorstan-blog]

A Hit and Run Pt. Two

[sergeantdonovan-blog]

The blonde turned around, and inside Sally’s head a voice cried triumphantly, “Yes! That’s her!” Arranging her face into something more professional, Sally walked back and gently tugged at the woman’s arm to pull her away from the open doors of the lift.

“Miss Morstan, my name is Sergeant Donovan. You won’t be familiar with me, but I have been investigating a specific traffic incident that I believe you to be involved in.” Sally pulled out the files she’d had tucked under her arm and retrieved her copy of Lexi Morstan’s registration details, lest she refuse to be taken in without any evidence. “If you’d accompany me up to the CID Unit, I’d like to ask you a few questions.” Seeing that Miss Morstan was already at the police station, Sally had a feeling she wouldn’t cause a problem, but you could never be sure. Even with the innocent looking ones.

[leximorstan-blog]

"Well, that was easier than I expected." Lexi thought as she blinked at Sergeant Donovan. It was in the realm of possibility that she could have been sent all over the building before being sent to the person she needed to talk to. She was glad that this was the person who found her. There was fear that she would be interrogated by a man. She wasn't afraid of men or intimidated by them, but when it comes to law or rules being broken, she always something change in them. Everything seemed to be automatic as if they were robots. Women could be the same way, but in general they weren't.

"Of course. Yes." She started looked around as if she knew where they were going, but stopped. "I guess you should lead the way." After a deep breath she remembered to be courteous. "I hope I'm not keeping you from something."

[leximorstan-blog]

A Hit and Run Pt. Two

[sergeantdonovan-blog]

After sending Constable Webber to collect the car, Sally decided to brave the 9 o’clock rush at the lift to get to the lobby. In hindsight, the stairs would likely have been a better alternative, for the moment the doors opened a large number of officers swarmed in, giving her little chance to get out herself. With polite apologies and “excuse me’s”, Sally weaved her way through the crowd, perfunctorily smiling and nodding at the Detective Sergeant with the crooked nose whose name she couldn’t remember, the large stack of papers she was relatively certain was being carried by a woman, the oddly familiar looking blonde and several others before moving on purposefully.

And then she stopped in her tracks.

Turning around with a look of utter incredulity on her face, Sally called, “Miss Morstan?”

[leximorstan-blog]

The wave of people that surged forward wasn't as bad as she expected, but it didn't keep her from being knocked into a few times. She let the people that seemed to be in the biggest hurry get a head of her as the ones leaving the lift tried to zigzag their way through without getting pushed over.

Lexi had made it to the door and was about to slide into a spot that was open against one of the walls when she heard someone call her name from behind her. She didn't know anyone here except for Greg Lestrade and it certainly did not sound like his voice.

As ready as she was to get this visit over with, she stepped away from the lift and turned to face whoever called her. There was a woman with head full of curly brown hair with an expression that mimicked disbelief. "Yes, I um..." She searched her memory for any familiarity she might have with the woman, but nothing was coming to her. "I'm sorry. Do I know you?"

[leximorstan-blog]

A Hit and Run Pt. Two

[sergeantdonovan-blog]

Having reached the office unusually early, Sally was in the unfamiliar position of being the first one in. She went through the routine of opening blinds and waiting for the old office lights to flicker to life before walking over to her pigeon hole, the contents of which she emptied into her arms and took to her desk. There, she read over reports and perused files, watching as people slowly arrived and took to their own desks, sometimes with a cursory greeting in her direction.

By the time it was 8:30, there was a decent amount of officers milling around, at which point she put her papers aside and stood. Collecting her jacket from the rack, Sally called for one of the younger constables to join her as she made her way to the lobby. It was time to make a house call.

[leximorstan-blog]

Lexi had been directed to an area referred to as Traffic by the woman behind the desk. Remembering the group of people that had been anxiously waiting for an elevator, she made her way over to where they had been. There were two elevators next to each other and both, according to the lights above, were on upper floors. "So much for getting there quickly." She thought as she pushed the button with the directional arrow pointing down.

More people started to crowd around her with waxed cardboard cups of delicious smelling coffee. It made her regret not stopping for some on her way here. A woman with a briefcase with overflowing papers took a step forward toward one of the lifts and nearly bounced on her feet as it descended the last two floors. Lexi readied herself to not be run over by hurried employees of Scotland Yard as the doors opened.

[leximorstan-blog]

A Hit and Run Pt. Two

Lexi stared at the doors of Scotland Yard from across the street. Any other time that she had passed this building it never seemed intimidating  but today it looked like it might swallow her up sending her into a dark, lonely hole that she would not escape. The anxiety was trying to overcome her, but she kept reminding herself that this was the right thing to do and that it would take the guilty weight off of her shoulders. It also gave her comfort that Victor would be meeting her afterword. Seeing a friendly face after this would be a massive comfort.

Another fleet of cars rolled past her before she forced herself to make her way along the crosswalk. She came face to face with the doors before she knew it. One more deep breath and she pushed through the doors meeting the opposite of what she feared. There were bright florescent lights just like any office building with people walking across the floor with their own reasons for being here.

She lingered a little too long at the door. As she was taking in her surroundings, a man had come in behind her and bumped into her right side. An apology started to leave her lips, but the man's scowl silenced her. He mixed into a crowd waiting on the elevator and she made her way to the reception desk where a pleasent looking woman sat. "Excuse me. I need to talk to someone about a car accident yesterday."

[leximorstan-blog]

A Hit and Run

[leximorstan-blog]

Lexi opened the fridge as Victor poured her the tea. She rummaged in one of the drawers until she found a lemon that was already sliced. Picking up her mug, she dropped the lemon wedge into the tea as she made her way to the kitchen table. Her hands wrapped around the mug after she sat down. It might have been a tad too hot, but the warmth was helping. 

“I should sell my car.” She thought out loud, looking down into the warm drink. “Or hide it. That’s what people do, isn’t it?” While blowing on her tea to cool it off another thought occurred to her. “I have to tell Mary. She’ll have my head. Or faint. Or both!” One hand rubbed her forehead while the other stayed closed around the mug. “What should I do first? Hide my car or let my sister kill me?” She joked before taking a sip. Normalcy was starting to come back to her.

Her fingers raked through her hair before she looked up at Victor. “But what should I do? Find the guy? Call the police? I’ve never had to deal with this before.”

[victorakafriendofsherlockholmes]

Victor added a splash of milk to his own tea, sipping it carefully. “Well, to be perfectly honest, I’ve never been in this situation before.” He considered. “I wouldn’t suggest hiding your car or trying to cover it up. Knowing you, it’d eat you up.”

Setting his mug down, he leaned against folded hands. “Maybe call the police and report the incident yourself? Explain what happened and that you bolted, but are willing to pay the fine or find the fellow. I can’t foresee anything too dire. After all, you said he was fine.”

[leximorstan-blog]

"Right, police." Lexi nodded before taking another sip of her tea. She felt her heart speed up when she thought about picking up the phone. "Just thinking about talking to them makes me nervous." Her head bowed to rest against the table. "Tomorrow. Tomorrow I will have my mind back and I won't be such a mess."

[leximorstan-blog]

A Hit and Run

[victorakafriendofsherlockholmes]

Victor pulled her close, running his fingers through the golden strands of her hair. He certainly hoped she understood that she was virtually incapable of making him hate her. She was a wonderful woman, and he’d never encountered anything in her that had made him stop.

Pressing a kiss to the top of her head, he lead her to the kitchen. Selecting a mug, he poured her a cup. “Drink up, love.”

[di--lestrade-blog]

Greg cleared his throat. “Right. Of course,” and headed over to his desk, collecting a few pages to hand over to Sally. “She’s a sweet girl, her boyfriend wants to marry her- he just loves her so much,” he tried to explain, still looking obviously relieved. “I wouldn’t want anything to happen to her.” 

[sergeantdonovan-blog]

“I understand,” Sally nodded agreeably.

She reached out for the papers, the movement simultaneously freeing her watch from her sleeve and revealing just how late it had become. With a sigh, Sally turned to leave. “I was planning on going over tomorrow morning, anyway. There’s no rush, really. I’m sure this will all be settled quickly and with minimal fuss.”

She stopped at the door and turned to face Greg. “Good night, Detective Inspector.” Sally smiled softly as she surveyed his tired and entirely too familiar expression. “Try not to work too hard,” She added, before closing the door and finally heading home.

[leximorstan-blog]

Lexi opened the fridge as Victor poured her the tea. She rummaged in one of the drawers until she found a lemon that was already sliced. Picking up her mug, she dropped the lemon wedge into the tea as she made her way to the kitchen table. Her hands wrapped around the mug after she sat down. It might have been a tad too hot, but the warmth was helping. 

"I should sell my car." She thought out loud, looking down into the warm drink. "Or hide it. That's what people do, isn't it?" While blowing on her tea to cool it off another thought occurred to her. "I have to tell Mary. She'll have my head. Or faint. Or both!" One hand rubbed her forehead while the other stayed closed around the mug. "What should I do first? Hide my car or let my sister kill me?" She joked before taking a sip. Normalcy was starting to come back to her.

Her fingers raked through her hair before she looked up at Victor. "But what should I do? Find the guy? Call the police? I've never had to deal with this before."

[leximorstan-blog]

A Hit and Run

[victorakafriendofsherlockholmes]

Victor shook his head, crossing the room. Taking her hands, he tried to catch her eye. “I don’t think you’re awful. I’m fairly certain I’m incapable of it.” He smiled softly. “It’ll be okay.”

His mind strayed to the tea he had made. Drinking it may calm her nerves. “I made tea,” he said lamely, nodding towards the kitchen. “We can figure things out over a cuppa, hm?”

[di--lestrade-blog]

Greg let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding and nodded. “Right. Right. I know Morstan..a friend of a friend, I suppose,” he said, waving his hand to dismiss that. “I apologise, it’s just that-” Greg stopped himself, not bothering to go into details she didn’t need to know. “ I’m glad she’s not hurt.” Completely distracted as to why Sally was here in the first place, he gently shook his head, standing and composing himself. “Now what did you want to see me for?” 

[sergeantdonovan-blog]

Sally raised her eyebrows at Greg’s admission, but said nothing. It wasn’t her place to speculate over who and what Lestrade worried over. Stepping back so that they were at a respectable distance from each other, she allowed her mind to turn to professional matters once more.

“Right, well, I’m going to need Miss Morstan’s details. Specifically, her address.” There was an awkward pause before Sally continued in a slightly apologetic tone, “I don’t really have a choice but to bring her in. After all, she is now guilty of a traffic infraction.”

[leximorstan-blog]

Lexi smiled softly through her sadness and decided that it would be safe to look at him. She searched his face, but could find no trace of anything negative toward her. He meant it and he wasn't just saying it to comfort her now then runaway later.

With that knowledge, she wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head against his chest. Her eyes closed as she felt herself physically relax and her mind start to slow down a little. She sniffed once before speaking. "Tea sounds like a good idea. What problems cannot be solved by tea?" 

[leximorstan-blog]

A Hit and Run

[victorakafriendofsherlockholmes]

Victor cupped her cheek gently, wiping away tears. He waited patiently as she formed the words. When she finally did, he blinked, trying to process what she had told him. He knew that he had to remain calm, or risk upsetting her further. “You hit someone? Did you give them your insurance numbers and that?” She was upset, shaken most likely. The question he asked was a lame one, but he had to ask.

His eyes searched her up and down, searching for something else that could be wrong. He couldn’t come up with anything. But Lexi was very delicate. It was evident from man of her reactions that hitting someone would potentially traumatise her, accident or no.

[di--lestrade-blog]

“Berling and Morstan, both clear driving records, no warrants, no nothing. Just an honest accident,” Lestrade said quickly, making his way from his desk to Donovan looking far more frazzled than he should. It wasn’t his first traffic collision, but it might as well had been by how worried he looked. “You were there, weren’t you? At the collision. What happened exactly? Any serious injuries?” Lestrade didn’t even dare asking if there were fatalities. And he knew it was unprofessional to become emotionally involved with work and he had it to an art, to be able to stand over a dead body and not panic, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t calm himself over this. Though he did regret his wish to have more interesting things come up. This was certainly not what he had wanted. 

[sergeantdonovan-blog]

“Okay, thank you. I just need…” Sally trailed off, belatedly registering Greg’s signs of anxiety. Immediately, she was concerned. “Sorry, is this a bad time?”

She took a step back, intending to leave and give Greg some space, but he got up and walked directly to her. Sally braced herself, expecting to hear whatever terrible news it was that the DI had received since they last spoke just under an hour ago, and was surprised when instead he continued to ask her about the traffic incident. Startled into response by his frantic questioning, she answered, “Yes, I was there. It was just a minor collision between a vehicle and a person. Nothing serious, no major injuries. The only issue is that the driver -Morstan, did you say?- did not stop to identify themselves afterwards. But Greg, this can wait. Are you okay? Did something happen…?”

Sally had automatically placed a reassuring hand on Greg’s arm and was slowly directing him back towards his chair. She was distantly aware that she was switching into her placating mode -the manner she generally adopted when handling distressed relatives and hysterical lovers- but it took her a moment to consciously recognise the nature of his questions and behaviour.

“Oh! Greg, did you know one of them?”

[leximorstan-blog]

Lexi pressed her lips together and looked down at the floor. Another threat of panic started to rise in her, but she held it together the best she could. She couldn't look at him this time. No one would react positively to this story and she didn't want to see the negativity of his reaction.

Her head shook slowly as she spoke. "No, I ran away." She could feel the shock that wanted to settle over her. The unusual calmness people experienced when something traumatic happened, but she didn't want to be calm. Feeling calm wasn't right. She needed to feel something even if it was constant adrenaline in order to stay sane for the time being.

"I drove off. I didn't know what else to do." Lexi stood up and started walking around the room. "I should have stopped or turned around or not hit a person with that bloody car, but that man." The tears started again at the memory of the man's furious face. "He was so angry. He started walking towards me. I thought... I don't know what I thought. I just wanted to get away. Get home. Get out of the car." She stopped walking, leaned against the wall near the door, and looked at her hands has she started to pick at her nails. "You must think I'm awful." 

[leximorstan-blog]

A Hit and Run

[victorakafriendofsherlockholmes]

Victor stared at her, reaching over to wipe tears from her face. He was really worried now. “Lex, talk to me. What’s going on?” Gathering her against his chest, he carefully helped her to stand. Supporting her weight, he led her inside.

He didn’t like this. Not at all. From the way she was crying, Victor’s mind was rapidly coming up with horrible possibilities. Someone had died. She’d been hurt. Something had happened with the law. The last was probably the most ridiculous, as Lexi was seemingly incapable of doing something that would harm or otherwise wrong another person. It would have to be an accident or some sort of misunderstanding. If it was one of the earlier options… Victor wasn’t a hundred percent sure he was socially equipped to help, but he would try.

“Let’s just sit down, hm?” he said he as they settled on the couch. Keeping her close, he cooed to her. “Shh. Tell me what’s wrong. Lex, I can’t help unless you tell me.”

[di--lestrade-blog]

Greg was sure Sally had finished her shift, but ran the licence. It was odd, he found, the driver seemed to have a perfect record. Normally there were driving suspensions on those who fled the scene. But the rest of it was fairly routine, until he noticed the name: Ms Morstan, Lexi. The name was all too familiar and he felt his heart sink, remembering what Victor had told him about her. Was she hurt? Did Victor know? 

Greg was about to return Sally’s call when he heard a knock on his office door. It seemed Sally had arrived back at the Yard just in time..as usual. 

[sergeantdonovan-blog]

With the exception of a certain Detective Inspector’s office, the lights were mostly off on Sally’s floor. She shook her head in sympathy as she headed for the filing cabinets at the back. Greg worked far too hard, in her opinion. Most of her colleagues were out the door the minute the clock struck five, and although Sally genuinely loved her job, she wasn’t too keen on overtime either. She sometimes wondered if Greg’s apparent commitment to work had anything to do with having nothing to go home to. If so, Sally could relate.

Having found the Motor Collision Incident Report forms, she made her way to Lestrade’s office, pulling out her notepad as she did. Sally knocked once on the door to announce her arrival before entering. “Sir, did you run the plates?” she asked, lingering in the doorway.

[leximorstan-blog]

Lexi let herself be led into the house. If it wasn't for Victor she would have sat on the doorstep for the rest of the night in a subtle state of panic. She took hold of his hand with both of hers feeling it might help her regain some of her composure. It didn't help at first. Tears kept rolling down her cheeks, but sobs didn't threaten to escape from her throat. 

She started to calm down after another moment. The tears slowed, the shaking stopped, and she felt more in control of herself. Her nerves had calmed enough for her to take a few deep breathes. Thinking about telling Victor almost caused her to recede back into a form of hysteria, but she forced herself not to. She would have to tell him and it was better to tell him now instead of when the police started knocking down the door.

"Okay... Okay." Her hand let go of his to wipe away the tear streaks as best she could. Another deep breath and she looked at him. "On the way home I um..." She squeezed his hand slightly hoping he wouldn't leave her after this. "I hit someone." Her words started to feel thick in her mouth, but she spoke hurriedly wanting to get it out. "Someone that wasn't in a car. They're alright... I  think. He was standing and walking when I drove off."

[leximorstan-blog]

A Hit and Run

[victorakafriendofsherlockholmes]

Victor waited for several long moments for Lexi to come through the door. When she didn’t, he raised a brow. Moving to the window, he peered out to double check himself. There was her car, sitting in the drive. Squinting, he made out that there was no one inside. Odd.

Moving to the door, he pulled it open, intent on locating his girlfriend. Needless to say, he was rather surprised when she sat at the base of the door. Surprise evolved into concern when he took in her shaking and the stricken expression on her face. “Lex?” he asked, dropping to his knees in front of her. “What’s going on? Are you all right?”

[sergeantdonovan-blog]

Mr Berling was the sort of man that made Sally appreciate no longer being a police constable stuck on traffic duty; pompous, arrogant and rude. After establishing that he wasn’t injured badly (just a bruised knee, scraped palms and wounded dignity), Sally had attempted to compile an incident report on her notepad, which was already bothersome enough without any of the proper forms on hand without Mr Berlings utter refusal to cooperate.

For Sally’s simple question of, “are you okay?” he snapped back, “does it look like I’m okay?”. As for her cautious enquiry on whether he recognised the model of the car, Mr Berling indignantly yelled, “I’m sorry I was too busy being run over to notice what model the car was!” Sally hadn’t had to put up with this level of blatant disrespect in years, but it had been a long day and she was too tired to do anything but ignore it.

The only useful information she got out of the middle aged man was that the driver was an “idiot blonde”, and presumably female, from his furious mutterings of “women shouldn’t be allowed behind the wheel”.

Eventually Sally managed to pull together enough for a rudimentary witness statement, and after noting down his contact details, she sent Mr Berling on his way, assuring him she’d get back to him the minute “that dangerous menace” was caught.

Pulling out her phone, Sally hailed a cab and directed it to New Scotland Yard before starting to dial. There was only one person she imagined would still be at work at this time, and after three rings the phone was picked up.

“Detective Inspector, hello. Would you be able to run a number plate for me?”

[leximorstan-blog]

Lexi hardly heard the door open behind her. The same image of the man landing on the ground and him walking towards her door kept replaying in her head. When someone appeared in her line of site she jumped and tried to move away. In the next moment her mind finally registered that the person was someone she trusted. She started picking at a loose thread on the end of her sleeve subconsciously as she studied his face waiting for the rest of her mind to catch up.

Taking a deep, but shaky breath, the rest of the person became clear to her. Part of her felt silly about not remembering. Victor was meeting her here. She felt relieved and the shaking started to subside. However, that only let the tears come through. Enough of the panic had subsided and was now letting through the other emotions: anger, sadness, disappointment, more guilt.

By the expression on his face, he was waiting on her to say something. Her mouth opened once, but closed again. She swallowed hard and tried again. "Vic... I, uh..." Her voice stuck again. The thread pulled loose from her sleeve from her fiddling with it. Her hands smoothed over her face before she tried talking again. "I... I did... I hit..." It was no use. She couldn't get the words out and she was becoming frustrated with herself.

Lexi knew what she had done, but trying to tell someone what she did seemed to make it more of a reality to her. She didn't want to see his reaction to what she had done. The tears started to run down her cheeks and a sob nearly escaped from her, but she closed her hand over her mouth to stop it.

[leximorstan-blog]

A Hit and Run

[sergeantdonovan-blog]

After a tedious day at work, Sally was really looking forward to getting home. Any other day she would already be there, showered and relaxed and tucking into yesterdays leftovers or a microwaveable something or other, but today she had had a small errand to run, which was why she found herself on the outskirts of Central London rather than in her small-but-cosy apartment, where she’d much rather be.

Having finished with her chore (the personal delivery of a parcel on the behalf of a colleague on holiday), Sally was just walking back towards the busier main road to hail a cab when she saw the light for the pedestrian crossing ahead shine green. She made an abortive effort to run towards it, but was a moment too late to make it across. Annoyed, she controlled the impulse to impatiently jab at the button repeatedly like a child and huffed as she waited for the signal.

The second the green light lit up again, Sally crossed, walking determinedly. Behind her, she heard the heavy footfalls of a man running as she had to make the lights. She turned just in time to see him reach the crossing with a second to spare, slow down with relief… and then get hit by a car.

Sally froze, all wistful thoughts of food and home disappearing as she saw him go down. The car braked instantly, and she watched as he slowly sat up on the road, blinking and looking around disorientedly. Sally snapped into action and started walking over the moment his gaze fixed on the car, and his expression changed into something less confused, and more furious.

What she didn’t expect was that the moment the man had stood up and made his way to the side of the car, the driver accelerated and the vehicle raced down the road. “Hey!” she heard the man yell, fists in the air. She too raised her voice in protest, starting to run after it, but it made a swift turn and disappeared from view. Taking a mental note of the number plate and make of the car, she turned back towards the red faced man, sputtering indignantly and looking none the worse for having just been hit by a car.

Pulling out her police badge and notepad, Sally made her way to him with a carefully concerned expression on her face, grudgingly accepting that it would be a long time before she got home tonight.

[leximorstan-blog]

The rest of the drive home was filled with paranoia. Lexi knew she should have given the man her information and called the police, but her fight or flight reflexes took over. Every other pedestrian she saw seemed to have an accusing look on their face. It felt like everyone knew what she did and was now condemning her for it. The closer she got to home, the safer she felt. Even though the feeling of safety was buried under guilt.

Lexi felt stifled in the car. As soon as she was in her driveway and car safely in park, she scrambled out of it forgetting her keys in the ignition. Her hands were shaking along with the rest of her from the amount of activity that had nerves were still undergoing. She wanted to get away from her car as quickly as possible. Her legs were a little unsteady, but she slowly made her way to the front door of her building. She was thankful that she lived on the ground floor leaving her free from the worry of climbing stairs. She hugged her waist trying to calm herself, but only manage to make herself feel trapped.

Being farther from the car eased her nerves a little, but her hands still shook as she searched for her keys. Without bothering to search around herself and not daring to go back to the car, she turned her back to the door, slouched against it with a hard thud, and slid to floor. She tried to curl into a ball, but it made her feel trapped again, so she opted for crossing her ankles and holding her hands in her lap while fighting with them to try and stop the shaking.

[leximorstan-blog]

A Hit and Run

Lexi had reached the end of her day at the museum. The drive back home was hectic until she was out of the inner most part of the city. There were days she could tolerate the obnoxious drivers she had to share the road with and there were days when she felt like plowing through everyone.

Today was the former. She was in no real hurry to get home. Victor was probably just leaving his job to meet her there. It still made her anxious to think of seeing him, but it was a good anxious. One that stirred the butterflies.

There was a stop light that was always difficult to get past. It seemed to only let two cars go before it changed again, but the light couldn't change her mood. Her radio was on and there was an up beat song that had her kind of dancing in her seat while she waited patiently for her turn. She had received odd looks from other drivers around her, but she didn't really care. It made her happy and the traffic bearable.

Given enough time, she reached the front of the line and was only a few streets away from reaching a far less congested area of the city. The light changed and she eased her car along turning onto the next street.

The radio station she had been listening to had started to run commercials which never failed to kill part of her good mood. She reached over and switched the radio station to find more commercials. Her eyes rolled as she switched it one more time to find a dismal song. Briefly, she looked down at her radio as she flipped through the stations, but she took her eyes off the road just in time.

A sudden jolt from the front of her car brought her attention back to the road and she slammed on her brakes. Lexi saw a man stumbling in front of her car and could a hear a long strand of obscenities starting to flow from his mouth. At first she couldn't make heads or tails of what was going on, but when the man looked at her and started toward her side of the car with an enraged expression, everything clicked into place at the same time. She had hit him.

Things seemed to slow down and speed up at the same time as her mind tried to process what she had just done. Everything around her slowed and everything inside her quickened. She couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that she had just hit someone with her car. There wasn't even a speeding ticket in her driving record and now she had hit someone.

The man had nearly reached her window and she came back to reality a little too quickly. He looked like he was ready to shatter her window and it scared her more. She did the only thing she could think of. Her foot left the brake pedal and struck the gas pedal with more force intended. The car jerked forward, down the rest of the street, and her tires squealed as she rounded another corner.

Home was the only thing she could think of to keep her from trembling and crying while she was still at the wheel. She couldn't bring herself to pull over, calm down, then return to the man, apologize, and give her information to him so the bills would be mailed to her. All she could do was drive and try to get home as quickly as possible. The place she knew she was safe at. 

[leximorstan-blog]

Sleep Remedy

Every now and then, possibly more frequent for some others, people experience the inability to sleep. There could be several causes as to why; sickness, children, work, stress on the body in general. Some resort to a medicated sleep. Others prefer chamomile. Most, in Lexi's opinion, just need to clear their heads or burn off any residual energy left from the day.

Lexi experiences wakeful nights like every other person who isn't under the age of ten. She had tried most of everything. Medication made her too groggy in the morning, chamomile only seemed to calm her body, but not her mind. Someone once suggested reading before bed, but that only caused her to stay up later telling herself "One more chapter" throughout the book. She had even opted for buying a new mattress thinking that maybe it was the culprit for darkening the circles under her eyes.

One day, she heard someone talking about the 'inner child' that every adult has. They said that adults stop enjoying themselves and therefore deprive the inner child. Grown people get into the pattern of waking up, going to work, returning home, and then trying to go to sleep. The repetitive songs that come up out of the blue, strange images, and wandering thoughts, those were all products of the inner child trying to play. They thought that if adults were a bit more carefree and took time out of their day to indulge in playful activities then people could get to sleep easier.

She gave this persons theory a thought for several days and decided it was worth a shot. What harm could it do in trying? The real task was finding something to entertain her inner child. She looked back in her childhood trying to recall things she did besides read for fun. There was always playing in the snow, but she could not count on winter to appear when she required it. Coloring or drawing was tried, but it didn't help. She couldn't call one of her sisters in the middle of the night and ask if they wanted to play hide and go seek. With the list being limited she nearly gave up, but one last idea came to her while she was cleaning her kitchen.

Singing and dancing. Lexi always kind of wiggled about when she cleaned which came from her childhood. Anytime she had to clean her room or help clean something, she would find some music to dance and sing to while she completed the chore. It was ideal being the last idea and she tried it the next time a wakeful night threatened her.

The night came, as expected, after a day she spent locked in her office trying to get all of her paper work straight. She had just finished her internship and now the real weight of the job had settled on her. There was a stereo that was often used, but never for this purpose. Finding the right kind of music took a moment. She flipped through several CDs when she came across an older album that people would describe as 'funky'. As soon as the music started to play she found herself smiling and starting to dance.

This kind of dance was not the kind you do in public. It wasn't classy, graceful, or even pretty. It was the kind you do when you're alone or with a really good friend that looks just as silly as you do. The singing was definitely something the public wouldn't want to hear because it may make their ears bleed.

No matter how bad or silly it all was, the inner child always seemed satisfied. Not only was the inner child happy, it gave Lexi a lot of exercise which she had always promised herself to get more of.

Wakeful nights have been scarce since her discovery.