Fantasia

XXXIX

Once again, they walked next to each other through the empty, curvy staircase, climbing floor after floor, all looking more or less the same: white marbel grounds and walls with smooth, tall collumns. What changed was the colour of the light on each floor. Coming from an unknown source Eddy couldn't detect, those lights went from yellow to orange to submarine to blue and so on, giving every floor a different vibe despite the identical architecture.

"How high does that go?", Eddy asked slightly out of breath when they reached the end of what must have been the tenth staircase.
Brett shrugged. "Dunno."
"What? You haven't checked this part out yet?"
"I did. But I've never reached the end."
Eddy froze. Brett turned around.
"Huh?", was all the taller managed.
Brett just shrugged again, like he'd simply commented on the weather and not laid out an incredulous, almost scary detail.
"I don't know. I walked and walked and walked, and since I don't get tired, I just kept walking. But it's all the same and it seems to have no end. So I gave up at some point."
"And you're telling me now? How many stairs were you going to make me climb?", Eddy exclaimed, half annoyed and half wanting to laugh at the situation. What the hell was Brett thinking?
Brett grinned. "Too old for some physical activity or what?"
Eddy should have known better. Brett didn't seem to have abandoned his prankster identity even in this dream-like state.
"Don't worry. I wanted to show you all the different colours and hear your opinion about why this building appears to be fucking infinitely high. So it's not just me messing with you. Also-"
He passed by Eddy and took the first few steps downward again. Eddy followed him, hesitantly and with furrowed brows. When they reached the end of the staircase, Eddy's eyes widened in surprise.
"Wha...?"
"Cool, huh?"

Eddy wasn't sure if he'd label what he was experiencing as "cool", but it was for sure, very, very odd.

They'd reached the floor with the yellow light again. The very one Eddy had led Brett to the night before.

"What the actual fuck?"
"At least we don't have to climb down all the stairs again."
"But... how..."
"Dunno", Brett shrugged for what felt like the hundredth time, "It's one of the mysteries of this place, I guess."
"Jesus..."
"Yeah..."

"By the way...", Eddy said after a short, stunned silence.
"Hmm?", Brett glanced at him.
"I tried to look for you again."
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah. Begged my mum to go to your old address. She really went there." Eddy scratched the back of his head, still a bit in disbelieve.
"You sound surprised."
Count on Brett to catch Eddy's inflection. Eddy nodded.
"Matter of fact, I was. She normally never does something for me like this. Especially something she deems 'useless'. That's why I never thought she would actuall go there. Anyway..." Eddy went over to a collumn and leaned his back against it, his gaze resting on Brett.
"Your folks still live there."
Brett's eyes widened. "Really? And..."
"There was no one at home, unfortunately."
"Oh", Brett made, visibly disappointed.
"But she's going there again until she finds them. She even said she's going to ask some neighbours."
"How nice of her." Brett's violin lightly bumped against Brett's bow he was holding in the same hand, producing a hollow sound.
"I also called one of our old friends, Gabriel", Eddy said, observing Brett closely if he'd show any sign of recognition. There was none. It might have been childish, but Eddy was pretty sure he would have been bumped out if Brett would have remembered his former class mate, but not Eddy.
"Gabriel? Who's that?"
"An old highschool friend of yours. He used to play the cello and still remembers you. And me too. Was quite fun talking to him, but since he moved away before starting uni, he just knows as much about you as I do. He promised to call if he gets new information about you."
"Wow... sounds like quite a hastle for just finding me...", Brett said almost sheepishly.
"Hey!", Eddy called, cutting Brett off, "You're worth every effort, alright? Besides, this is nothing. Technically, I could fly down to look for you myself and now I'm just doing internet searches and phone calls."
"God, please don't!", Brett cringed visibly, "That would go too far, wouldn't it? You can't leave work and just go on a..." Brett froze. Eddy frowned. "What?"
"...Wait, where do you live again?"
Eddy's mouth fell open. "I haven't told you?"
"... I don't think so."
He thought back. They had talked about music, about what Eddy remembered of Brett and even about what had happened between them. But he couldn't recall ever having told Brett what he himself was doing for a living.
Brett shook his head wildly. "Dude, I'm so sorry I've never asked!"
"What? No! I'm sorry I forgot to tell you."
"I don't know... There was so much stuff going on whenever you were here. Or rather, we were always talking about other things..."
"I'm living in Singapore, currently."
Brett blinked. "Wow, far away from home, huh?"
"I moved there because of work."
"And what do you do?"
Eddy's smile was sad, almost tortured, when he replied, "I tried to get into med school. After everything that happened with my mum. But I wasn't good enough, couldn't pass the entrance exam. So I went for finance instead and that's basically what I'm doing."
Brett flinched visibly. "Damn. Punching in numbers the whole day would kill me... or I'd get killed by my boss for making mistakes all the time."
"That'd actually be a realistic scenario."
Brett stuck his tongue out upon receiving Eddy's snarky comment. Eddy chuckled.
"Yeah, well... could be worse."

"Could it though?", Brett hesitantly meant after a short while of him fidgeting with the frog of his bow.
Eddy glanced at him, the collumn behind his back suddenly freezing cold.
"Huh?", he pressed out, the lump in his throat seemingly enlarging with every second passing by.
"You're doing this day in, day out and it doesn't really sound like you're super passionate about it. Could it really be worse than that?"
"It's not a bad job", Eddy hissed.
"Bro, I'm sure it's not. I have no idea about this field, but I guess it makes good money?"
"Very good money." Yeah, that was one of the positive aspects of Eddy doing what he did. He for sure didn't have to worry about his future, even with the generous amount he was sending home for his mum every month.

"But don't you want... I don't know... more?"