100 Years

Chapter 4 - August 1906

(This chapter is dedicated to queen_sixhei for her valuable opinion on my short story. Good luck on your writing :D)

A/N: Again, I apologise if I had wrongly portrayed the fear of noises :/ . I have realised that I am unable to write and expand on such issues well enough, and therefore I will avoid writing about such issues after this chapter.

Year 1906, August.

The air was tense. I felt the foreboding doom the moment I woke up.

Standing at the stairway overlooking the living room, my parents sat next to each other. They were not speaking, yet they maintained eye contact. It was through the hardened, fearful gaze that communicated so much of their worry.

Something was wrong.

There was a shout in the distance, followed by a chant from some crowd in the distance. The noises I feared so much were back. It came back.

I could not hide from them forever.

My mother noticed my presence, and somewhere in the blurry haze engulfing my senses, she told me to go back to my room and lock the windows. Before I lost it, I ran fast, away from the noise into the safety of my room.

Locking the windows like what my mother had instructed me to do, I slammed the door shut and locked the door as well. I could only ask myself why the noises were able to work their way into me and break me in the worst place possible. No one else had that problem, except me. 

My mother had said that things in the mind work very strangely, and differently for every individual. She said that it could have been the product of the way I shied away from the crowds as a young child before stepping out to converse with Ana. It was true in a way, but I held a partial doubt on myself. Was it because I was too weak?

I was never brave. I was a useless coward.

Another thought surfaced in my mind, and I let it sink in. And I could never do anything about them. The full impact of the thought hit me hard internally, leaving my chest tight and I could not breathe. Like being run over by a bull.

It was only then when I allowed myself to lose my nerves.

--

I was not sure how long had I locked myself in the room. I did not remember when did I go to sleep on my bed. Everything was a blur in my memory.

I sat up on my bed. A dull ache set on my head, forcing me back down on a lying position. Why did I have to be so weak?

There was a soft knock on the door, then the door opened, revealing my mother at the doorway. She pushed the door open slowly, her movements gentle and comforting to watch. In her hand was a cup of tea with little mint leaves floating on the surface. My favourite drink. Mint is cooling and soothes my tense nerves.

As she approached, I motioned myself to get off the bed, trying my best to ignore the dizzy spell from the lack of blood circulation in my body. I had been lying down for too long, I needed to at least stretch my limbs.

"Be careful there, Klov." My mother's gentle voice was like a malady that instantly cleared my head. She guided me back onto the large bed and laid my tea on the bedside table. She does not speak, only because incessant chattering would add on to my headache, however she maintains a gentle smile while gazing at me in her soft hazel brown eyes. "Do you want to rest for a longer time?" she asked. I could notice a hint of worry in her voice. I did not like that, the idea of being the cause to her worry.

"Yes, thank you." I replied. I sounded oddly stiff in my reply, and checked myself. "Sorry, matushka."

"It's all right, Klov. I'll leave you to rest." My mother stood up and headed for the doorway, and popped her head in before she left. "Don't tell your father, but I added a little more mint leaves in there than usual." My mother's face lit up in mischief.