Hearts chapter 5

Hearts: chapter five
the darkness within

Ivan had begun to lose his mind.
this was evident; as plain as the nose on his rounded, boyish face. The night Tino had questioned him had set him on edge. People had noticed the absences of the Baltics at the meetings. The knowledge that he might very well be caught yet had been eating away at him steadily since then.
So mad was he, that if he strained to listen, he could swear that he still heard the dull thudding of their wretched hearts.
The tall Russian hadn't left his home in days; not even to get the mail. his hair was dirty and unkempt; as he sat on his bed, his eyes seemed to skitter along the dusty portraits and paintings in his bedroom, resting in the nooks and crannies of the walls. he had been careless. He would be found out.
This, above all else, is perhaps what had driven the poor man to his current state.
His mind was like a slowly descending curtain; all good feelings and thoughts seemed blotted out by dark, inky blackness.
During his days prior; he had often wondered what it felt like to be really and truly mad. Now, he realized, he knew the feeling all too well....
the walls around him seemed to drip red blood; until he rubbed his eyes, finding the walls as clean as ever.
sighing shakily, he settled back down onto his bed. He was now a raving madman; it was as though some cruel hand had twisted his thoughts into a steel bear trap composed of guilt and fear.
He could hear the clock ticking on the wall; a sound that disturbed him for some reason. and still, in the back of his mind; there was the dull, steady thumping; the sound of three stone cold hearts.