Hearts (prelude/Chapter 1)

John looked up from his notebook and looked across the playground. A small, somber boy, probably around the age of six, was looking steadily back at him. John eyed him curiously from the other side of the playground, across the sea of children yelling and playing. The other boy seemed to be trying to read his mind from across the playground. John shook his head slightly, trying to shake off the younger boy's gaze. He turned back to his notebook, and realized that he had been sketching without noticing. Blushing slightly, he realized his hand had drawn a truly excellent sketch of the younger boy across the playground. He glanced up at the other boy who was smirking as if he knew exactly what John had been doing. John's eyes flickered down to his notebook and then back up, but when his glance returned to the opposite side of the playground, the boy was gone. John had no idea who he was or why he had been watching John. He shook his head once again and returned to his notebook.

It was the last week of school, and John was sitting on the same bench on the playground with his notebook on his lap on a break between tests. He glanced up and, to his surprise, he saw the boy sitting across the playground from him. As he continued looking at him, the other boy held up a piece of paper with the words "I'm Sherlock" scrawled across it in large black marker. John ripped some paper out of his notebook and wrote "I'm John" in as large letters as he could manage. He held it up for the other boy – Sherlock – to see. Sherlock scrawled something quickly and when he held up the paper, it read "I know." John stared at him for a moment, unsure of what to think or do next. He looked down at his notebook to try to think of something to say, but when he looked up again Sherlock was gone. He had no idea what to make of this boy who said strange things and disappeared without a trace. John shook his head slowly and wondered, possibly even hoped, that he would see this strange boy again.