Little Drummer Boy

Chapter Six: A Gentle Beat

A/N: Yes it’s been a while, but I’m going to try to get back to updating this one every other week again. I still don’t completely know where this story is going, but I have a direction for it. Plus, now the title makes sense to me!

Chapter Six: A Gentle Beat

I went to bed that night with a smile on my face.

I didn’t know then how rare that would become.

But back then, it seemed like things would all work out between us. We were becoming family, those who loved each other, and accepted each other, even when we didn’t know everything about each other, or really, even know each other for more than a week.

I woke up during the middle of the night, around 3 AM. (aka my preferred bed time. PS: if you’re on the school board and you read this, please push back our start time. Thanks!) Anyway, I got up to go to the bathroom, regretting drinking all that water just before bed. As I was on the way back, I noticed a strange, but soft beat in the air. It seemed like there was music playing somewhere not too far away. If it wasn’t so late, I might thing the neighbor had music too loud, but I didn’t think they were normally awake at this time of night. I also noticed Jace’s bedroom door was open.

Peeking into his room, I noticed he wasn’t in his bed. “Jace?” I called softly. I walked close to his bed, making sure I didn’t just miss him before I started worrying. After making sure he wasn’t there, I turned the lights on and looked around the room, thinking that would have to get his attention if he was in here. “Jace, where’d you go?” I asked again, this time louder, not wanting to wake my parents but wanting to find out where he was.

I told myself to be calm, that he was probably just downstairs somewhere, he couldn’t sleep or something. It wasn’t like I hadn’t done the same thing when I had trouble sleeping, and with all the stress he has to be under, it would make sense that his sleep schedule would be messed up. So, without panicking, I walked downstairs, though I might have been going just a tad faster than normal. I glanced into the living room, saw the TV and lights were off. The same for the dining room and kitchen. I pressed my ear against my parent’s bedroom, thinking that he might be in there for some reason, but I didn’t hear anything but Dad’s snoring. I slowly opened the door, to confirm that there wasn’t anyone else in there.

By this point, I was a bit nervous. But still, I closed the door, and swallowed, telling myself that everything was fine. I then noticed the sound from before, a bit louder now. I decided to follow it, thinking it was annoying, though I think part of the reason I chased after it was that I wanted to forgot being worried about Jace. As I got closer to the garage, I noticed it getting louder.

Upon opening the door, I saw that both of my questions were answered. Back behind our family van, Jace sat at my old drum set, gently tapping the drums to a beat to a song I didn’t know.

“Oh, hi Caleb,” he said.

“What are you doing out here this late?” I asked, more than a little confused by his actions. I don’t think I would call myself angry at that, but I couldn’t say I was happy with him then.

“I saw these earlier, and I wanted to try them out. You’re not mad at me, are you?” He seemed to try to look past me as he asked that last sentence.

“Nah, why would I be mad at you?” I did definitely think it was weird he’d decide 3 AM was a good time for music, but I’ve certainly come across stranger. It made me think of one time when I was spending the night at a friend’s house when he ended up sleep walking, going outside, and attempted to sumo wrestle an owl.

“It’s been a long time since anyone has played these though. I can’t believe they still work,” I said.

“Do you know how to play them?” he asked as I got closer.

“The basics of it. I’m a bit out of practice, but I can show you a little bit.” Because as we all know, 3 AM is the best time to music lessons. Even so, I took a seat beside him, grabbed the one drum stick, and showed him how the different notes worked. Even though it had been a few years since I tried playing them, I tried to remember small parts of songs to show him.

I noticed that while he might not have understood the notes or how they went together, he seemed to easily understand the beat to the song.

“What made you want to come out here so much anyway?” I asked, after about half an hour of soft drum music.

“I remembered something.”

“What was it?”

“My dad. He used to play music on a drum, and I was with him too.”

“That was your dad before you came here?”

He shook his head. “No, this one was my real dad. I don’t remember anything about him, except sitting on his lap while he practiced. He loved music. Even let me help him play even though I’d just make lots of noise.” Jace smiled a bit as he sad that last part. “But I don’t remember anything else about him. And that scares me.”

“How long ago was that?”

“I don’t know. But I had to have been real little.” He yawned as he stared into the distance, as if he was trying to think.

It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Jace, but I knew there were half-truths he’d tell us, things that he didn’t want us to know in order to protect his secrets. This time though, I felt like this wasn’t a calculated answer he thought would be the best for everyone, but one from his heart. 

“Getting tired?” I asked, noticing his yawn, to which he nodded. “Let’s head back to bed then. I can teach you more about the drums when I’m not so sleepy.”

“Okay,” he said as the two of us made our way back inside. “Thank you. That was fun.”