Drumming
Koschie sat on his bed in a fetal position. His cheeks were wet with tears, his knees pulled up to his chest. He clenched his head with both hands.
They hurt. They hurt so much. He didnt understand, ever since he looked into the untempered schism the sound of four fast drum beats screamed at him in his head, the call to war.
He continued to sob, the drums so loud he couldn't hear himself think. No matter how much he tried, he couldn't block them out. His head felt like it was going to explode.
One two three four. Taptaptaptap. He drumed the beat on his knee.
They never stopped. He started rocking himself back and forth. Please! Just stop! Please! He pleaded with them inside his head. STOP! JUST STOP!
They continued to beat even louder.
It had been hours now. Hours since he was brought to the untempered schism and stared into time. He saw time, it was the most amazing thrilling thing he had ever seen. But then, the drums came. And then he was screaming. His mind was burning and his thoughts were drowned out by four impossibly loud drumbeats.
He didn't understand. He thought they would go away but they never did. Not for one moment. They didn't fade. They didn't even break their rhythm.
Koschei put his head between his knees and covered his head with his arms. Rocking back and forth. He kept going over what happened in his head over and over.
After the drums came and his mind was burning, he was screaming. He just fell to his knees, unable to look away from time, and he screamed.
The elders had brought him back to his room, having to drag him as he screamed and sobbed. They hadn't known what he heard, what was screaming at him inside his mind. They just thought this was his own personal reaction, or that maybe he had gone mad. Maybe he had.
But they must be able to hear it. It can't be just him. They're so loud how could they not hear the constant drumming?
Koschei let out a long, frustrated, terrified, and helpless scream.
He thought he heard the door open but it was mostly drowned out by the drumming. Still rocking himself he looked up to see his roommate and best friend, Theta, looking worried.
"Koschei? Are you okay?" Theta asked, slowly walking toward his friend who was still sobbing and rocking himself.
"Theta," Koschei started, his voice choking on his sobs, "The drums. They hurt! Please, tell me you can hear them.."
Theta sat next to him and put his arm around his sobbing friend. "Koschei, what drums? I don't understand.."
"How can't you hear them? They're so loud! I can't think! They won't stop, Theta! Why can't you hear them?" Koschei put his head back between his knees. Theta could hear his choked sobs. He hugged him tighter.
"Please, Kos, just tell me what happened." Theta begged. He hated seeing him like this, Koschei always tried to hide it when he was sad and Theta had never seen him this way. But he didn't know how to help his friend, he wasn't making sense.
"When I looked into the untempered schism, thats when it started." Koschei started drumming a beat of four, over and over on his knee as he talked. "My mind was burning, and I was screaming. And the drums! They won't stop! In my head! I can hear them. Why can't you, Theta. You must be able to hear them." He whispered the last sentence.
"I don't know Kos. But we'll find out." Koschei hugged Theta back. Hoping that he was right and the drums would stop. Please, just let him be right. He thought.