It was 8 pm, right after dinner...

LVII

The sun was almost kissing the horizon with the backdrop of a sappy, pink and orange sky when Brett first woke up in the hospital, alone and still feeling like a crumbled vegetable someone forgot in the fridge and was going to throw away soon. He felt the needle of the IV stinging his hand and turned his body a bit to adjust it. There was corny Christmas music playing quietly in the background, probably coming from the hallway and reminding Brett that December was already a few days old.

This was going to be a wonderful Christmas time for him and all his loved ones...

He sighed quietly, not wanting to wake up the snoring guy next to him and glanced at his phone. 6.48 p.m., a few texts, no calls. Brett picked it up, unlocked the screen and scrolled through the messages. Some were from his family members, who were asking about his well-being. One or two from close friends, but none from the one he was actually expecting, and wishing, a bunch of pixels in form of words from.

Brett frowned. It wasn't unlike Eddy to not call or text and he had just left him a few hours ago, but still... After what he'd done, Brett had thought he were to see a sign of life from him in any form by now, be it a visit or a more remote signal. Yet, the visiting hours were almost over and Brett also couldn't make out any trace that Eddy had been here while he'd slept, like the charger he'd promised to bring or something...

Well, nothing he could do about it. Brett shrugged to himself and tried to shrug off little pang of disappointment in the process. He put his device down and made a trip to the bathroom, which turned out to be a challenging task with his wobbly legs as a handicap and the IV-drip on rolls he had to take along. He made it work without having to press the red button for assistance though and quickly laid back down when he got back, already out of breath only from the few meters he just had to walk.

"Hey", the other patient greeted with a yawn.
Brett glanced at him. "Hey. Sorry. Did I wake you up?"
"It's fine. Don't worry. My name is Josh, Josh Lee", the middle aged man introduced himself and gave a quick wave.
"Brett Yang."
"Yeah, I know."
"You do?", Brett furrowed his brows.
"Youtube, Twoset Violin, right?"
That's right. They got recognized quite often in Singapore. Brett just hadn't anticipated it would happen in a hospital next to his bed with him wearing that nasty hospital gown.
"Yeah. You know us?"
"My daughter likes your videos. She plays the piano", Josh smiled. It was a kind smile.
"I see", Brett said, "So, why are you here?"
"Killed a man, maybe two. I don't remember."

Silence. "What?", Brett breathed. And Josh laughed. "Sorry! It just sounded like a scene from some prison movie or something. Couldn't resist."
"Oh...", Brett chuckled, still a bit confused, but all in all relieved his roomie was a funny guy with a similar sense of humor to his own, and not a serial killer.
"I had a little car accident and some minor internal injuries. Nothing too serious, thank the Lord in heaven, but I had an operation and well, now I'm here for recovery."
"Wow, uhm, it does sound quite serious", Brett commented while pulling his blanket up to his chin.
"It's not. And you, if I may ask? Don't worry, I'm not gonna leak anything. My daughter would kill me", Josh winked.
Brett found, that he could trust a guy with the little information he got about himself and which they were to disclose to the world in a few days anyway through Eddy's Youtube announcement. "Don't really know actually. Something stomach related or so... Have been feeling very weak recently and now they're pumping me up with some IV-stuff."
"I see. Well, I hope and pray for you, that you'll recover soon."
"Thanks", Brett said, genuinely grateful for someone including him in his prayers.

"And that young man early this afternoon, was that Eddy? The other Twoset guy?", Josh asked and took a sip of water.
"Yeah, that was him", Brett confirmed but had to fight the nasty feeling of dismay from before again. What was he? A desperate teenager waiting for his crushes message? Pathetic!
"You guys are close, right? I mean, outside of your business."
"I guess we are." Those little sucker punches didn't help with forgetting, how left alone Brett felt, which was ridiculous! Eddy hadn't promised any visits or texts or calls, so Brett was just being childish to a degree that he was annoying himself.
"It must be a privilege to live a shared dream with such a good friend."
"I guess it is..."

A good friend, who didn't show any sign from himself for the rest of the day.
If Brett had been a tad anxious in the evening, it was nothing compared to when the sun was long gone, the stars were twinkling and the clock was nearing midnight. No "Good night" or "How have you been?" or any sort of support had reached him and Brett was starting to really question his own sanity at this point. So he mumbled a quiet "Fuck it" under his breath, took his phone and typed a quick "Hope you had a good day PRACTICING", before he turned it off and decided to continue his regenerating sleep.

The next morning, when Brett got woken up at 6.30 a.m. by a nurse checking his vitals and talking non-stop about how wonderful this day was and her dog she had to leave at home when she had gone to work, he felt a tiny bit better despite the headache he was sporting. He checked his phone on reflex after she'd left, the silence of his best friend almost forgotten, but the fact of it instantly flooding his mind as soon as he realized that there were no new notifications, which he normally appreciated, but caused a deep frown on his forehead today.

What the hell? After what had happened yesterday (especially after the most un-bro goodbye in the history of best friends Eddy had given him), Eddy ghosting him wasn't something Brett had expected at all. Did something happen to him? Brett hesitated, but quickly pushed away all fear of acting too clingy and tapped on Eddy's contact.

It rang. Once, twice, three, four and five times, before Brett's call got redirected to the default voice mail.
Brett looked at his phone, opened the chat with Eddy and checked the last message he'd sent the night before. It was unread.

He scratched the back of his head and frowned.

Weird.

Eddy and his phone were practically glued together, like with many (young) people nowadays. So it was more than irregular, that Eddy hadn't read his text yet. Was it simply too early? But that guy almost never went to bed before midnight and the last thing he did before he fell asleep was, of course, checking his phone. So Brett was pretty sure Eddy would have seen his message last night at least.

Unless, Eddy was ignoring him, enjoying his new found freedom without having to look after his sick friend...

Brett shook his head vigourously. This Eddy in his anxious thought was so out of character Brett was pretty sure, it was just his stupid, longing heart playing evil pranks on him. Then again, Eddy not texting or calling was very unlike him too...

Maybe he lost his phone somewhere and was now looking for it everywhere.

Maybe he went out, had a drink, met a girl...

Brett's headache intensified and he scrunched his eyes shut. He tried to convince himself, that everything was fine, but his vivid imagination kept on being a bitch.

Around 9 a.m., some doctor came along with his two assistants and told Brett something about his blood values having improved, but not quite to the level they'd like, so he'd have to stay another night. Brett was not really listening.

And when someone brought a tray of bland hospital food around noon, all Brett wanted to do was to throw that whole damned thing against the wall, like that would magically make Brett's phone vibrate and show Eddy's text.

"Hey Emma!"
"Hey Brett, what's up?"
Emma was one of the designers of their apparell team and Brett had never called her except for business matters. But well, he had probably never been so desperate in his life before either.
"Have you seen Eddy around?" Brett tried to keep his tone neutral, so it wouldn't show the panic he felt rising in him.
"Hmm... Not for some time. I think we had a group call like a week ago?"
"But you haven't heard from him today?"
"No, is everything alright?"
"Just haven't seen him around. That's all. Don't bother, I guess he's somewhere."
"Aren't you guys together at home?", she asked, worry seeping through her tone.
"He probably is, but I'm not. It's alright", he tried to tell her and himself, "Sorry to bother you."
"No worries. I have uni today, so I'm sorry if I can't help out."
"You don't have to, but thanks! Bye!"

They hung up and Brett tried to reach Eddy for the fifth time today. Way to be pathetic, but he couldn't bring himself to care anymore. The lethargy he'd felt the past days was sort of replaced by a nervous panic rising with every hour that went by.