First fill for HetaChallenge's Table Challenge (only 19 more to do)
Title: A mere second
Author: traumschwinge
Claim: Austria
Character(s): Austria, Prussia/Hungary
Table/Prompt: Time/1. Second
Word Count: 681
Rating: K
Summary: Austria sees something he'd rather not seen and freaks out over it.
A mere second, not much more than the glimpse of an eye. How could such a short amount of time change the whole world.
He ran, ran as fast as he could, trying to get rid of the memory of what he just had seen. It had taken him only a second to see and realize what he was seeing. The next second he started running. He did not know where, he couldn’t listen to the voices shouting behind, he didn’t want to stop before he’d found himself a hiding place.
Deep down, he knew that he needed to calm down. His behaviour wasn’t appropriate. It wasn’t like this had been impossible, it was only natural. He’d always assumed. He’d never dared to think about it. He had never hoped this would happen, to tell the truth.
He headed to the music room - his sanctuary. Close to the door, he slowed down, rearranged his messy hair and clothes. By the second he reached for the door handle, he felt composed enough to face every teacher who might be in there. They all knew him and often allowed him to play on the piano during the breaks. Thank goodness there were no lessons now.
And thank goodness, no one was inside. The room was so familiar to him, almost as familiar as his own room at home. It even felt like it. When he was playing, he often forgot that this was a public place, getting all engulfed the flow of music. Just what he needed.
All his memory of this room aside from music seemed so far away, like a different life or maybe the life of an stranger. Here, they’d met for the first time. It felt like they had know each other for a lifetime, all three of them.
A second had been all it took to take a lifetime away.
He sat down on the stool in front of the grand piano. His finger hovered above the keys, unsure which one to press first. His mind was blank. He could not even remember one single piece of music. He didn’t feel like he was able to flow on a melody right now.
Instead, he doubled over, his hands clawing into his thighs only an inch away from his face. Tears painted dark spots on his dress pants. No sound escaped him but he wished to cry out as loud as possible, to cry all his pain out and away so it would be gone for good. He couldn’t though.
At least, the tears didn’t last long. When he was finally sure they’d stopped, he pulled himself up to sit straight again, swabbing his now red eyes with one of his ever-so clean handkerchiefs. He felt better now. Now, he felt composed again. But he wasn’t looking like it anymore.
Again, he placed his fingers on the keys. Now, there was a melody in his mind. Softly, slowly, he pressed down the first key. Others followed. The melody started to flow though the room, second after second, whitewashing his mind of everything. By the end of the piece, he felt relaxed again. Ready to face reality for the time until he was able to leave this place.
The second after he had ended the piece of music he had been played, the door opened. The two of them strolled in, smiling. Telling him that they had searched for him and then decided to listen to him play before entering. But why had it sounded so sad?
In an instant, they could tell by seeing his red-rimmed eyes. Forgetting about everything else, they came storming towards him, asking him what was wrong.
Feeling tears welling up in his eyes again, he was glad to have her strong and his pale arms around him. Making him feel like they still were friends, like he was still part of their lives despite them being together.
“Thanks”, he whispered.
Well, one second could turn you’re world upside-down. But then again, it doesn’t take more than a second to make it all right again.