Fantasia

LXII

The flight from Singapore to Sydney with a layover in Melborne was an early one, which meant Eddy had to be at the airport at an ungodly hour. It was self-evident, that he got rang out of his dream by the alarm before he and Brett so much as came close to play the violin together, let alone compose anything.

"Fuck...", Eddy mumbled, turned around to silence his God damn phone. He gave himself a minute, managed to swing his legs over the side of his bed before he fell asleep again and forced himself to get ready for his flight to Down Under. Maybe he'd be able to doze off during the flight. Would he visit Brett in his dreams then? Or did that only work during the night? Either way, Eddy was a hundred percent positive that passing out while being on eye level with the clouds or above was inevitable. His eyelids felt heavy when he brushed his teeth, combed his hair, got dressed and finished packing his suitcase. Then, he took a deep breath while he scanned his apartment, checking for any open windows that needed closing or power strips he could turn off (yes, he was that kind of money saving person, courtesy of his Asian mother's upbringing).
It carried a sense of finality, this moment, in which Eddy switched off the lights and closed his apartment door, which was silly, since he was going to be back in two weeks time. Still... Eddy couldn't shake the feeling that this short trip to his home country was a defining one.

Eddy's Grab had no morning traffic to deal with, for most of the commuters were still fast asleep right this hour. He got to the airport early, checked in without any issues besides his drowsiness seemingly slowing down every one of his movements. Security was weird for Eddy this time, because carrying a violin while travelling was definitely not something he was used to anymore. He had to place it on the band for baggage screening and for whatever reason, they turned the violin case upside down before it went into the X-ray thing, almost giving Eddy a heart attack. If anything would happen to his instrument, there was just no way he'd have time to visit a luthier in Sydney. Or rather, he didn't want to waste time on any activity that wasn't near Brett's hospital bed, besides him seeing his mum, of course. 
Eddy planned on giving his mother a heads up when he'd be in Sydney and had found Brett, so she wouldn't insist on him coming home right away. He wasn't sure yet, if he was going to tell her about him first looking for Brett before he wanted to go home and thus probably facing her very likely wrath. Well, this was future Eddy's problem to deal with. Present Eddy had just gone through security, his violin luckily unharmed and now, all he wanted was to find the right gate and crash on one of those uncomfortable chairs, which were mandantory furnishing for every airport. Singapore airport was one of the world's top, Eddy was well aware. However, it didn't change the fact that he hated travelling.

The plane wasn't fully booked, much to Eddy's relief. He sat by the window and since the seat next to him was empty, the prospects of actually getting some peaceful sleep in were promising. It didn't even take the plane to ascend to its correct flight altitude for Eddy to doze off into a dreamless slumber.

The captain's voice announcing their nearing descent was what woke up the tired man. Eddy rubbed his eyes, yawned and looked out the window to see the dry lands of Australia quickly coming closer, streets, houses and trees becoming bigger and bigger with every minute passing. His heart beat quickened, chasing the remaining drowsiness out of Eddy's system.
He was really here. Back home in Australia.

The pilot managed a smooth landing and after a short layover at Melbourne Airport, Eddy found himself in yet another plane, heading to Sydney this time.

Brett, he thought to himself, hoping these words were reaching Brett somehow.
I'll see you very soon, don't worry.

"Taxi!"
"Hello, Sir. Where to?"
"Hi. Can you take me to the St. George Hospital please?"
"Of course."

Eddy had quickly googled a list of hospitals in Sydney using the airport wifi since he'd had no time before, considering him having booked his flight yesterday. Turned out Sydney had a lot more clinics than Eddy had anticipated and visiting all of them could take him days. Precious time he did not have. On a whim, he decided to start with one of the bigger ones, close to the airport. Coma patients were a more serious case, so he didn't think smaller hospitals would treat Brett. Eddy would just go to all the major hospitals first and he really hoped Brett was in one of them. Maybe they could even look it up for Eddy, if he asked nicely? Did hospitals share their patient's information? Was there some kind of joint database or something? Man, that'd really take a lot of work off his sore shoulders.

"Good day, how can I help you?"
The lady at the front desk of the hospital reception had minutely raised an eyebrow when she'd spotted the suitcase Eddy was dragging behind him and the violin case he carried on his back. However, her greeting was as flawless as the answering machine's Eddy'd heard countless times these past few days. He had a bad feeling about this.
"Hello, I'm looking for a patient. Brett Yang is his name."
"Brett Yang", she mumbled, typing the name into the computer in front of her. "It seems we don't have a patient here with this name. Are you sure he's staying here?"
"Actually, no. I'm not sure where he is. Can you help me find out if he's in another hospital?"
"Unfortunately not."
Edd cursed inwardly as she continued, "We don't have access to databases outside our facility. A person either has to be a patient in this hospital or treated by doctors who work here or being admitted to the hospital soon, that we'd have data about someone."
"I see..." So there really only was one way: Go to each hospital and ask if Brett was staying there. "Thank you for your help", he said, his gaze scanning the big hall to see if there was a clock somewhere.

In the end, Eddy managed to talk to three other receptionists in three different hospitals after that, two of them already past the visiting hours. He figured if he'd be able to at least make out in which hospital Brett was laying, he could come over the next day and finally see him face to face. He had no such luck though and when he stepped through the big, glassy front door of the hotel he was going to stay in, Eddy was exhausted and frustrated, his luggage behind him keep hitting furniture in its way emphasizing his miserable state.

What if Brett wasn't in a coma anymore, he thought to himself, staring at the frown on his face in the elevator mirror. How was he supposed to find out? Would a hospital tell him if Brett had been released already? But if he really wasn't, why was the house of Brett's parents back in Brisbane currently empty? Should Eddy go down to the Sydney Opera House and talk to SSO's musicians there instead of going on yet another futile hospital trip? His head was reeling when the beep indicating the door to his hotelroom being unlocked by the keycard in Eddy's hand reached his ears. Suitcase dumped in one corner and the case of his violin put down on the kingsize bed in the middle of the small hotel room, Eddy unceremoniously threw himself next to it and pressed the palms of his hands on his burning eyes. Stars exploded behind his eyelids and before he was even able to consider things like eating dinner, showering or playing the violin, he passed out, fully clothed.