The Drum Beat

The drum beat


Existence for me began with a drum beat, a steady pounding consuming the world around me. From its tremulous vibration evolved the skin of an embryonic walled city, its pulse settling over the void of my mind. Great houses rose from the foundation of that beat, erupting through the skin to root along the crisscrossing pathways that stretched out for miles. Intricately designed, each house hosted a vast universe where for a while, I was content.

My peace shattered at the first shudder of the drum. Beating out of time, it thrummed wildly as I was torn from the city to suck in my first breath, crying out as an elemental wind gusted down the pathways, saturating the city with the smell of life and the sound of scream. Conscious of its emptiness and no longer content, the city reached out small chubby fingers to satisfy its gnawing cravings. The great houses hungered with a voracious appetite, devouring every moment, and nailing the accumulating imprints to the walls.

My favourite pathway has a name, one I will not share with you. Every touch of love lights up this place with a golden autumnal haze. Along this pathway is my house of dreams, carefully painted with long strokes of indigo blue. Windows shimmer with a diamond glint, reflecting the long green sunshine filled lawn. Skipper, my crazy mongrel mutt, bunny hops through carpets of yellow daisies, and I follow because it makes me smile.


Every door in this house is thrown wide open and held within each room is something precious - the warm perfumed smell of my mother as she hugs me close. Beef roasting in the oven for Sunday dinner, the exquisite taste of champagne bubbles exploding on my tongue and my first symphony of sorrowful songs. I can revisit my daughter's first smile or feel her little fist wrap around my finger as her city begins to expand.

In this house there is a room I visit often just to feel the touch of his cheek resting against mine as he holds me close. Wrapped around the music we dance and if I listen closely, I can still hear the sound of a solo violin echoing the words he whispers into my ear.

From my house of dreams I first felt the city shudder. A dark mist rolled over the walls, laying siege to all that is familiar. Many of the great houses have locked their doors and I am left outside peering through dark windows, an unwelcome visitor searching for the light.

There is a house I stumbled upon once. Glass litters the ground where the windows and doors have been broken in. Standing in the garden is a twisted tree secreting death from the bark. Thick putrid globules that sink into the greedy roots, gnarled and bunched below. Black crumpled leaves hang from its dead branches, swaying in a breathless wind. Dark and hungry, the roots drill deep into the city spreading its poison.

The doctors focused their attention on that dark house. They've even given it a name - Dementia. Strangers attempted to destroy the house, tearing at the bricks until there was nothing left. They poisoned the garden and ripped out the tree but the roots keep spreading. Everything is changing and I am so afraid but a familiar face reassures me, as he rests his cheek against mine whispering not to be afraid but I know what is coming for me. So I nod with a simple smile, a child's smile.

The mist is thick and cloying, smothering the great houses until the light fades. I stumble over roots trying to find the way out - or is it in? I squeeze my eyes shut overwhelmed by fragmented images rushing at me. Sometimes I scream but there is no one to comfort me - no sound travels beyond the walls. Unfamiliar pathways surround me, brimming with faceless shadows, nameless things, and a snarling rabid dog crosses my path with the broken bodies of yellow daisies dangling from its mouth.

The city is in ruins and I run in ever decreasing circles pushing away the touch of a stranger's cheek against mine, fleeing a desperate hand reaching for me. Abandoned in a city overrun with poisonous roots, derelict houses and crisscrossed with empty dark pathways all I can hear is a drum, slowly beating out of time as the light flickers for the last time. With every gasping breath the drum beats slower.

I am all alone and frightened and soon all that will remain is the sound of a silent city...