The hour passes. One minute after another the hour passes. There is no way to stop time and think about what you need to do next. You only have time to regret what you haven't done. And regret falls so heavy in a tragic event. For not listening another hour before. Or not preventing what was going to happen an hour later.
Humans can live to 100 and for such a long lifetime one hour rarely makes a difference. One day is made up of a whole 24 of them. 24 hours that each have their own meaning even if you think the day was uneventful you are wrong. An hour is sometimes the most eventful thing. This hour in particular was the hour John realized he only had till the end of it to stop his friend from dying, something that can happen in one second. One second your alive and the next you're not. I could go on about seconds and how even more you can cram into those but there is a story to tell and you have a life full of hours, minutes and seconds ahead of you that you would rather not have wasted.
The hour Sherlock spent dying was the longest hour Sherlock had ever lived. He could almost hear the long drawn out tick…tick…ticking of the clock hands of Big Ben and he could feel the life he had clung on to for 35 years drain from him. It was not a pleasant feeling to have the life drained out of you. He was rather attached to it. It had happened quickly. A knife concealed, had penetrated his lung and he was sure it had scratched his heart because it was beating slower than it normally did. John hadn't even seen it happen, Lestrade had his back turned. Neither had heard Sherlock gasp, because they had been more occupied with the other more obviously armed criminal. These two criminals were nicknamed the Kraken brothers. Named so because of their long dangling limbs they had inherited from their father. One brother was an expert on fishing drugs thrown off boats before docking and one was an expert and making sure nobody ever found out about those drugs so they got to their buyers swiftly. Sherlock, John and Lestrade had been following them for a week and 3 days. The Kraken brothers left many dead bodies in their wake. Fishermen, coast guards and bystanders who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The deaths were gruesome; Sherlock had taken the case straight away. It didn't take long for him to solve it but it was proving difficult to find evidence, once the three had found the storage of drugs it became a matter of saving themselves rather than solving the case. The Kraken bothers were fast and they were doing a good job of distracting the three with a large machine gun. Making it no sweat for the smaller less gangly brother to slip a knife into each of their backs. The smaller brother found it easy to slip the knife into the taller man's back. He was now gasping for the attention of his companion, who was next on the smaller brothers list. Two more thrusts of the knife into two more backs and they could go back to fishing for drugs and being paid ridiculous amounts of money for it. Sherlock could see the smaller brother lung for John, but the smaller brother had very clearly underestimated John's skills. John dodged him easily. The machine gun stopped firing. The tinkling of the last bullets echoed through the large warehouse. John ears were ringing, he bought his pistol up and from behind the wall shot three bullets that landed themselves in the larger armed brothers chest Lestrade crawled out from under his cover and that was when he realized Sherlock was down.
This whole affair happened very quickly it took 10 Minutes for Sherlock and John to break in and find the drugs. The brothers were working at moving them. They were taken rather by surprise. Sherlock motioned John through. And John motioned Lestrade through. Lestrade had immediately made his way to the drugs, snapping pictures, taking samples. 9 shots rang through the building, loud and demanding attention. John raised his gun and the bullets were followed by a cascade of bullets. Sherlock and John threw themselves behind a wall. It took 8 seconds for the smaller brother to make his way through the bullets safely and locate the two men who had rudely interrupted them. He started with the taller one shouting commands to the shorter sandy haired man. No one heard him drop over the noise of the bullets. But when he jumped at the shorted one he shook him off easily. The smaller brother rolled into the oncoming bullets and 7 bullets hit him one by one. The two brothers were finished, their days of fishing for drugs over on account they were both dead.
John took 6 seconds to discover Sherlock was hurt. In these 6 seconds it took John to register how serious condition his friend was in, Lestrade had already called an ambulance and the police had already broken down both doors. Much more efficiently than Sherlock and John had done it.
"Jesus Sherlock" John gasped. Sherlock gasped nothing. Lestrade was shaking his head, Cradling it in his hands, throwing his hands in the air pacing back and forth.
"John what do we do?" he asked. That was when John wished time would freeze and the seconds would stop ticking by. 5 days ago John wanted them to go faster, he wanted this case done. He wanted work to go faster. He wished the hours would speed by. Sirens screamed through the city. 4 police cars 3 ambulances.
"John" Sherlock breathed. A small trail of blood ran from his mouth.
"They're here Sherlock, they are going to do everything they can, stay with me okay, you have to stay with me" John begged. John was panicking, he could feel the blood and see where the knife had gone in one way and out through the other. It was bad, he had seen this wound before. It was a brutal wound, the kind that took away their victims breath so they couldn't shout for help.
"I can't breathe" Sherlock coughed
"I know Sherlock, I know but you have to try" 2 paramedics knelt down. One at Sherlock's head one at his feet. The woman's face changed colour from a bright red to grey when shes aw Sherlock. The paramedic at Sherlock's head laid a hand on his chest and put her ear close to Sherlock's mouth listening for his breathing. John counted the seconds.
10 minutes to break in
9 bullets fired in warning
8 seconds to kill Sherlock
7 bullets through the smaller brother's chest
6 seconds for John to realize
5 days of wanting time to speed up
4 police cars
3 ambulances
2 paramedics
"One more breath Sherlock" John begged.