the silence

thirty-six.

hearing his boyfriend's voice for the first time since he got there immediately brought tears to brett's eyes. he cleared his sore throat and ran his hands down his face, leaning against the wall and picking at the paint, which looked as if many patients had stood and done the same.

"hey," he sniffled, closing his eyes.

"how are you feeling? are you okay?" eddy's voice was lined with concern and brett shook his head, tears rolling down his pale cheeks.

"no," he replied, thinking about mae. eddy needed to know about her presence in the hospital, but brett didn't want him to.

    "i'm sorry, baby. what's been happening? are you getting enough sleep?"

    "please stop with the questions, eddy. i can't handle it. i want to hear about your day," brett sighed, digging his nail into the drywall.

    "bretty, i need to know—"

    "how was rehearsal?" he interrupted. talking about his time in the hospital wasn't in his interest. he wanted to pretend that it wasn't happening and like everything was normal in order to hold on to at least a small percentage of his remaining sanity. eddy sighed deeply before replying.

    "it was boring. we spent an hour trying to get the trumpets to play the correct dynamics and one of the violists' pegs kept slipping. it sounded awful. the clarinets kept playing for three bars after the conductor stopped and he'd been in a pissy mood the entire day, so we got a lecture."

    brett laughed at the misfortune of his colleagues and wiped his tears, sniffling quietly as he continued to scratch at the wall. the sound of eddy's voice was making him feel better, but he knew that it was only temporary and that they'd have to hang up soon.

    "eddy?" he asked.

"what, baby?"

"i'm sorry," brett mumbled. eddy shook his head.

    "why? you didn't do anything wrong."

    "i landed myself in here and now we're both suffering from it," he sighed. he needed to tell him.

    "you'll be out before you know it, baby. are you eating okay?"

    "y-yeah," brett stammered, thinking about the cafeteria. his heart was pounding and he could still feel mae's skinny fingers around his neck.

    "bretty, what's wrong?"

    "she's here, eddy," he blurted. "mae is here. she attacked me in the cafeteria."

    the last thing brett had expected from the other line was silence, but eddy was too angry to utter a word. his blood felt like fire in his veins and his chest heaved, a red tint spreading across his entire body.

    "what?" he asked, voice terrifyingly quiet. brett inhaled slowly before replying.

    "mae is here in another unit and she put her hands on me in the cafeteria."

    "i'm coming to get you."

    brett frowned, shaking his head. just because mae was there didn't mean they could let him out early. they'd made it very clear he was going to be there for at least three days, but it was likely he'd be there twice that. and eddy wasn't even related to him; there was no way they'd just let him out.

    "no, you're not. you're going to stay home," brett sniffled, talking quietly into the old phone.

    "i can't leave you in there with her, bretty. i can't leave you in there anyways. i can't—"