Fantasia

XXXVIII

"Mother, can you please do this for me?"
"Ayahh, Eddy. I tried to help you aready. It will be weird if I just show up out of the blue at their treshold. I haven't spoken to these people in years."
Eddy was desperate. He hated that it was Sunday and that he couldn't call any schools or resident's offices or whatever place one would look for a missing person. He felt so very useless and was so desperate that he decided to call his mum. Again. Two days in a row, which almost never happened.
"Why do you care for this Brett Yang anyways? You stopped being friends with him a long time ago."
"Just... I really wanna know how he's doing. Please?"
It was quiet on the other end, before Eddy's mother let out a big sigh.
"Alright, alright!"
Eddy did a silent victory dance, shooting a fist up in the air.
"I go by. If I won't manage today, I'll go next week. Okay?"
"Perfect mum! Thank you soo so much! This is perfect!"
"I don't know if they'll be home."
"I know. Just go there and see, okay?"
"Okay, okay!" Another deep sigh. "You are a funny boy, Eddy. Instead looking for a nice girl to be together, you look for some old childhood friend."
"We weren't exactly children anymore back then", Eddy remarked.
"Still very young! Like sixteen, seventeen? Very young."
"And we were best friends! So I really need your help to know if he's doing alright."
"I'm sure he's fine", his mum reassured, probably with a wave of her hand, "why are you suddenly so worried about him?"
"I don't know", Eddy said, quietly and honestly, "I just feel like it's... important. Big and important."
"Hmmm...", she made, pensively drawn out and continued after a longer pause, "Okay Eddy. I'll see what I can do. I go by today and if they're not around, I try again next week. Maybe some of their neighbors might know something. I will ask."

Eddy froze, his eyes wide and the phone in his hand shaking minutely. What? Was he experiencing a stroke? Or his mother maybe?
"Wha... Wow, mum... uhm, really?"
"Yes." A determined and encouraging yes. What the hell was going on? Her doing what Eddy had asked for was already something, but her going beyond that was simply so out of this world, so out of character Eddy was almost sure a distant aunt had taken over the call without him noticing.
That's why stuttering like an idiot was all he managed momentarily. "Wow... uh... thanks mum. Really."
It felt like she wanted to add something, but instead settled with, "I'll call you if I know more, okay? You go and make good use of your free day."
"Alright, mum. Thanks so much! Hear you soon then?"
"Yes. Bye, Eddy."

Wow. Maybe taking his sister's advice and call her more often wasn't such a terrible idea after all.

When Eddy drifted off into his dream after a day filled with a long call with Belle, another chat with his mother, who'd reported that the Yangs were indeed still living in the same house, but that no one had been around, and most of all, lots and lots of violin playing, the first thing his eyes caught was Brett's smile in front of him, lit by a yellowish light, indicating they were still in the same corridor where Eddy had told Brett everything, where he'd broken down after doing so, where he'd been forgiven and taken into a pair of wonderful, warm and strong arms.
Brett's smile widened.
"Hey!", his warm tenor rang throughout the hallway.
"Hey!" Eddy sat up. "Still here?"
It was a bit awkward, to be honest, to be back and look Brett in the eye, now, that everything was out in the open and after his super real, but nonetheless super embarassing breakdown. That's why he found himself fidgeting with his own fingers and avert his gaze.
"Yeah, where should I go you reckon?"
"Dunno... what happened? Did I just disappear again?"
Brett's smile got a bit sad, when he answered, "Yeah, one second you were sobbing into my shirt and next thing I know I'm holding air."
Eddy flinched a bit. "Sorry", he mumbled, "for disappearing and for... the other thing..."
"Hey." Brett closed the little bit of distance there had been between them and put his hand on Eddy's shoulder. What a lovely, lovely gesture, Eddy thought, and he felt himself relax almost instantly and finally met Brett's friendly eyes.
"It's okay, remember? No need to say sorry for anything, alright?"
A small pause, a deep breath. "Am I really forgiven, Brett?", Eddy dared to, had to ask. Maybe Brett had been manipulated by Eddy's tears the last time and all he'd said had just been to get the bawling mess to stop?
But there was no doubt in Brett's gaze when he stated, "You are! I mean... I know it may sound lame or cheap if I say this with me not remembering anything from my life. But I mean, I'm still Brett, right? Even if I don't really know what's going on with me in the 'real' world, I can still decide I wanna forgive you. So it still counts! At least in my books."
Brett's answer was exactly the kind of thing Eddy would have expected from the Brett he used to know. He chuckled.
"What?", Brett asked.
"I'm just so, so glad I told you and you didn't banish me from your world."
The other laughed loudly. "Banish you? You're like the most interesting thing happening around here. I'd be an idiot to not let you hang out with me!"
"But for real", Eddy in turn put his hand on Brett's shoulder, "thank you."
Brett's features softened. "No worries. For real!"

"What did you do after I vanished?"
"I noticed the music had stopped." Brett pointed at the direction of where they'd come from in Eddy's previous dream, where the duo had been playing.
"Oh, yeah. It's quiet again!", Eddy remarked, surprised that he hadn't caught that particular detail sooner.
"So I went back to look for them, see if I could talk to them now. But they're gone."
Eddy frowned. "Really?"
"Yes. Weird right?"
"Odd", the taller agreed, "I played a lot too, today. Why haven't they resurfaced?"
Brett raised an eyebrow. "You did?"
"Yeah! Practiced like crazy! I don't want to miss out on coming back here. Also, it's fun, playing the violin."
"I see... then my theory of your playing having some influence makes no sense. Maybe it's random?"
"Maybe... what did you do after you checked if they were still there or not?"
"I came back here. And played the violin", Brett said and raised his instrument.
"Hmm..." Eddy went to the end of the hallway, where another staircase led upwards, his steps booming through the corridor. He turned around. "You know where this is going?"

Brett came over, his steps elegant and graceful, and simply said, "I can show you."