A Message In Las
Chapter 12
2015
Tussim Im Cimeterium
John ended the call with the ambulance coordinator, sliding the phone onto the bedside table. He refocussed his attention on Sherlock, who was leaning against the headboard and blinking into the gloom.
"Sherlock?" John said softly, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder. The heat of his fever radiated through Sherlock's damp t-shirt.
Sherlock turned his head towards the sound, his glassy, semi-awake eyes sliding to John, who smiled weakly at him. "Hmm?" He mumbled.
"Just me," John said, tapping the glass of water Sherlock was holding loosely in his lap. "Drink some more." He watched as Sherlock slowly contemplated the glass for a moment, before lifting it to his lips. John nodded. "Alright Sherlock. I'm going to wake Mrs Hudson up. I'll be back in a moment; don't fall asleep again if you can. Stay awake for me."
Sherlock nodded absently, and John rose from his seat, descending the stairs down to 221A. He was painfully aware how early it was as he rapped his knuckles on her front door. As expected, the expression he was awarded with when she opened was not one of joy. "John, what's going on?" She whispered harshly to him. "It's nearly 1 in the morning!"
"Sorry Mrs Hudson, but I need your help. Sherlock's temperature is dangerously high and I've called an ambulance." To John's great relief, the landlady needed no more provocation. She nodded.
"Alright dear. Give me a minute to get dressed and I'll be ready to open the door."
"Thank you," he said breathlessly. "I've got to go back to Sherlock. I'll be down in a few."
When John arrived back into Sherlock's room, he was disheartened but unsurprised to find him asleep again. He sat on the edge of the bed, pulling the glass of water from his slack hand, and patted Sherlock's cheek. "Sherlock, come on."
Sherlock shifted, a little grunt of confusion emanating from him as his head lolled towards the light. John smirked as the sleuth opened his eyes and a flash of his classic disdain showed through the fevered confusion. "What?" He mumbled. "Whaddyawant?"
"Wake up."
"No."
"Yes. You need to wake up - and stay awake this time."
"That's not… not logical. Idiots, John."
"Who's an idiot?"
There was a pause as Sherlock's eyebrows knitted together. "…Anderson?"
John couldn't help but chuckle. "Yeah, you think he's an idiot."
Sherlock nodded floppily, his expression a mix of determined and bewildered. "Yes."
"Though, he didn't give up when you vanished."
"Vanished?"
"Well, died."
The look of innocent, feverish shock on Sherlock's face at that moment made John want to both cry with worry and laugh at the whole absurd situation. 'I… I'm dead?" Sherlock asked weakly.
Placing a hand on his ailing friend's knee, John smiled. "Not yet mate."
The sound of the doorbell rang through the flat, and John went to switch on the main light as he heard Mrs Hudson opening the door. "Sherlock, we're going to take you to hospital. You're not well."
The lack of protest at this declaration only served to deepen John's worry, and he turned back just in time to see Sherlock's head droop forward as he once again lost the battle to stay awake. John dashed back to his friend, placing one hand behind the base of his skull and one on his forehead to guide Sherlock back to the headboard. "Okay…" John mumbled to himself as he patted the sleuth's cheek.
The sound of footsteps rumbled up the stairs, and John greeted the paramedics as they entered, swiftly followed by Mrs Hudson. "Dr John Watson," he said, still attempting to rouse Sherlock as he spoke to them. "This is Sherlock Holmes - he's receiving treatment for Open Pulmonary Tuberculosis. I recorded a temperature orally of 40.2 Celsius at midnight. He was difficult to rouse and has not been able to stay conscious. I've woken him once since, not including now. He's confused and lethargic."
The paramedics nodded before closing in on the semi-conscious man on the bed. John watched as one wrapped a blood pressure cuff around Sherlock's clammy arm and the other took his temperature. Mrs Hudson hovered nearby, wringing her hands before John sent her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry. He's getting the help he needs, and we aren't going to let him out of our sight. OK?"
"Alright," she said softly.
The paramedic leaned over Sherlock's still unresponsive form, one eye on the blood pressure cuff. "Sherlock, can you hear me?" She called, and was rewarded with a long, wheezy sigh and a grunt.
John smiled and briefly squeezed the back of Sherlock's neck. "That's it, come on," he coaxed as Sherlock shifted, his eyes fluttering open.
"Hello, Mr Holmes. I'm Gillian, and this is Rory," the paramedic said, gesturing to her colleague. "Can you tell me how you're feeling right now?"
There was a pause as everyone watched Sherlock look to the woman smiling at him, a blank expression on his face. "I feel…" His voice faltered. "I…"
The paramedic smiled. "It's alright, don't worry."
John sighed, patting Sherlock's shoulder as he watched the other paramedic take Sherlock's temperature. "He was more lucid the last time I woke him, though he didn't make much sense. I don't have the equipment I need to bring down a temperature this high."
The paramedic nodded. "Ok, we'll take him to UCH."
John nodded his assent. "I'll follow you in my car."
While the paramedics bustled around and prepared to move Sherlock, John sat by his bed. "Sherlock?"
Sherlock turned his head listlessly, his eyes unfocussed. "Mm?"
"Are you ready to go?"
"I'm cold, John."
"I know, and I'm sorry, but I can't give you a blanket. Do you know what's happening?"
"I'm being taken to hospital."
"Good. We're coming with you."
John slung his medical backpack into the boot and shut the lid, walking around to the driver's seat. He smiled at Mrs Hudson as he strapped himself in. "Good?"
"Just about…" She replied weakly. "Oh, Sherlock, how do you get yourself into these messes?"
John chuckled. "He's Sherlock Holmes. Mess is his default setting."
The journey to the hospital was quick and quiet. For once, the early morning had rendered the streets and roads of Central London almost empty, and it was a simple case of following the ambulance the short distance from their flat to hospital. After emptying their pockets into the carpark ticket machine, they were quickly directed to Sherlock's isolation room by the nurse at the front desk. Sherlock was alone in his room by the time they made it to his bedside, but John was relieved to find a drip had already been inserted into his arm. He'd been changed out of his damp pyjamas and into a green hospital gown, and seemed more alert. He smiled weakly at them when they entered.
"Hello."
"Hello dear," Mrs Hudson said, sitting down in the chair next to his bed. "How are you feeling?"
"Cold. And… slow."
She quirked a smile and patted his pale hand. "I'm sure you'll perk up soon… won't he John?"
John nodded. "I'm sure. I'm going to speak to Mycroft and Mary; won't be a moment."
Stepping out of the room, John wandered the small ward until he found a vacant waiting room. He sat on one of the foam chairs and scrolled through his contacts until he found the number of Mycroft Holmes. He tapped the call button, bringing the phone up to his ear and listening for the dial tone. The phone only had the chance to ring twice before it was answered.
"John. Is everything alright?"
Mycroft's voice was clear and strong - 'Must have still been awake' thought John.
"Well," he said, his own voice notably less powerful, "not really. Sherlock's been admitted. We're at UCH."
There was a pause, and John could easily visualise Mycroft's expression as he swallowed a sudden pang of worry for his brother. "What happened?"
"His temperature spiked above 40. He's delirious and confused and couldn't stay awake, so I called an ambulance. He's on a drip in the isolation ward while we wait for his temperature to go back down to a safer level."
"How long do you surmise he will be admitted?"
"Well, if his temperature drops, probably until the morning. If something else comes up, then… longer."
There was another pause as Mycroft took in the news and decided a plan. "I'll be there within the hour."
Before John could reply, Mycroft had hung up. John blinked mutely at his phone for a moment, before shrugging. 'Well, the more the merrier I suppose.'
He was about to press the call button for Mary when a flash of blue whisked past the doorway to the waiting room. Poking his head out into the hallway, he caught the back of a nurse hurriedly pushing the door open to Sherlock's room. The call forgotten, John rushed back to Sherlock, pushing the door open to his room with a knot in his stomach.
The sight that met him was one that he would never forget. Sherlock's face was deathly pale, his eyes reddened, his expression pained as he stared, eyes locked, towards the ceiling. His body was convulsing violently, limbs clenching and unclenching, jaw locked as the nurse rolled him gently over into the recovery position and placed a strong hand on his shoulder. John dashed over, adding his hands to Sherlock's legs, the muscles below his fingers tightening as hard as iron each time Sherlock convulsed. "Sherlock!" John called, watching helplessly as his best friend's body rocked uncontrollably in the throes of seizure. John could feel the heat radiating off of Sherlock's skin. It felt inhumanly hot.
Mrs Hudson was holding Sherlock's hands, her pace marred with panic. "What's wrong with him?!" She cried, looking to John and the nurse.
"His body got too hot couldn't control his temperature any more, so he's having a seizure."
"Will it hurt him?" She said, watching as Sherlock's hand clenched and unclenched around hers.
"Not if it stops in the next 3 minutes." John replied calmly, one eye on the clock on the wall, one eye on the shuddering man below him.
Time seemed to stretch to immeasurable lengths as the three waited for Sherlock's seizure to abate, but, sure enough, it did. When Sherlock's muscles finally relaxed below John's hands, he let out a deep sigh of relief, looking at the nurse, who nodded and rolled Sherlock back to his previous position. Sherlock's breath was even, if shallow, his eyes closed, his face relaxed.
"He's fallen asleep," the nurse said. "We'll let him sleep, I think." She too his temperature and picked up Sherlock's chart as John pressed a finger to his jugular. She listed the readings, wrote a quick note, and then left them to it. "I'll be at the desk if you need help," she said as she pulled the door shut again.
Mrs Hudson sank back down into the chair by Sherlock's bed, her eyes never leaving the sleeping sleuth. "Sherlock Holmes," she said quietly, her voice sharp but shaking. "You scared the life out of me. Don't ever do that again." John's hand found her shoulder, squeezing it comfortably as she wiped a tear away from her eye. "Oh, I'm sorry John. I'm just being silly."
"No you're not. That scared me too." John pulled up another chair and sat down next to the long suffering landlady. He sighed again, allowing himself a moment to relax and let his exhaustion show through. A comforting hand patted his knee, and he grasped it in his own. "What are we going to do with him, eh?"
Mrs Hudson chuckled. "Who knows."
The translation for this chapter is The Graveyard Cough, which is a rather poetic name for TB used in an advert selling a cough tincture in the Cambridge Chronicle, 1888:
"A Graveyard Cough.
The short, dry, harking cough, which announces the approach of consumption, has been aptly termed a graveyard cough. The peril is great, and near at hand, but it can be surely averted with Dr. Pierces Golden Medical Discovery, a botanic remedy, without a peer for pulmonary, throat and liver affections, and for all ailments which, like consumption, have a scrotulous origin, and also for eruptions and sores, Indicating impurity of the blood. Druggists all sell it."
I'm sure it did a world of good.
Thank you for reading this chapter, and I do apologise for the delay!
Has everyone been enjoying the hot weather? It's nice out of the city, but the London smog makes it very fuggy, and the lack of air conditioning on the tube means temperatures climb upwards of 40C. Not fun, dry… or sweet smelling.
I will update soon hopefully!
Please leave a review :)