Fantasia

LXVI

If there was one truth, one constant in this world, it was the fact that hospitals were built to make the people inside wait an insane amount of time. A little part of Eddy regretted that he had had to come here early. The minutes crawled away ever so slowly, all the gossip magazines every health institution seemed to provide for the waitpeople glaring at him from the little table few meters away, ridiculing him for his naivety. Minutes soon turned into endless hours and Eddy had settled with the simple pastime of watching the light from the windows move across the tiled floor.
Couldn't the nurse just call the Yangs up? Or had she and they'd already told her he couldn't see Brett? If yes, why wouldn't she just tell him? Yeah, that made no sense. Where the Yangs not early risers? Or was the front desk lady waiting for them to show up in person?
Dozens of those and similar questions whirled around Eddy's tired brain, causing him to blankly stare at the tip of his shoes and thus not noticing the nurse from the front desk finally approaching him until she stood right in front of him.

"Mr. Chen?"
Eddy jumped to his feet in one quick motion, causing the lady to jump on her end.
"Oh, gosh, I'm so sorry", he muttered.
"It's fine", she said, a bit out of breath, "Mrs. Yang just came in and I was able to talk to her. She wishes to see you before you can enter Mr. Brett Yang's room."
"Oh, wow", Eddy made, eyes wide open in surprise. She wanted to see him? Well, figures. Maybe she didn't even remember an Eddy Chen being a friend of her son. "Of course! That'd be great! When..."
"You can come with me now."
Eddy froze. "Wha... now?"
"Yes, if that's alright for you?"
"O... of course!"
That's what he'd wanted, right? All this waiting finally led somewhere! Then why did Eddy suddenly feel so anxious he was close to crapping his pants?

They walked through the entrance hall, passed some kind of corridor, which turned out to connect the older building to the more modern main building of the hospital. There, they reached a number elevators, some big enough to transport entire hospital beds. The nurse pressed a button as different, but no less worrying thoughts rushed through Eddy's mind. What would she say? What should HE say? Should he tell the truth why he was here? But they'd probably label him as insane if he would. Part of the truth then? He cursed himself for not preparing himself for all possible conversations he might have during his endless waiting hours before. But then again, he hadn't really thought of meeting Brett's parents that much. Him walzing into a hospital and stepping to Brett's bedside was all that he'd imagined himself doing when in Sydney.
The ding of the lift arriving saved Eddy from a further spiral. They stepped in and the lady hit the button for the eighth floor. Eight was good right? Eight was a lucky number where he came from. So, everything should turn out fine, right? The ding resounded way too quickly for Eddy's taste and he caught himself taking in a deep, shaky breath before he was able to step out of the elevator. She led him down yet another long hallway with lots of doors left and right. Images from years ago, when his dad had had to stay at the hospital flew by his inner eye and he gulped. No need to add to the slight panic rising, no sire! Just take deep breaths and you'll be fine. It's not like Brett's parents were going to eat him alive, were they?
He sure hoped so, because when they turned around another corner, Eddy saw her.

She was sitting on one of the plastic hospital chairs next to a closed door, hands neatly folded over her small leather clutch, back straight, the still mostly black hair formed to a bun and held together by a shiny hairpin at her neck. Mrs. Yang. She hadn't changed that much since Eddy'd last met her more than ten years ago. A bit older, sure. She'd appear strong, unfazed by her surrounding, if there weren't those sad and very, very tired looking eyes.

"Mrs. Yang?", the nurse greeted carefully. Brett's mum's gaze shot up at them, at Eddy, and locked with his instantly.
"I've brought Mr. Chen. Just as you requested. I leave you two for a moment, alright?"
"Yes", Mrs. Yang said, her voice thin and again, tired, "thank you."
The nurse bid her goodbyes to Eddy and went her way, which passed Eddy's attention completely. He only looked at the small Asian lady, who slowly stood up and came closer. He held his breath subconsciously, his mouth dried out, a desert. Useless.

"Eddy Chen", Brett's mum said.
Yes, he tried to say. Instead, a dry cough was all he produced.
"You're here", she smiled and suddenly, there was something in her eyes he hadn't noticed before. It urged him to clear his throat and wet his lips.
"Yes, Mrs. Yang. I'm here."
"We haven't seen you for a long, long time."
So she did remember him. Brett had said his family didn't know why they hadn't been friends anymore. She shouldn't know what had happened back then, right? He was safe, right?
"Yes. Way too long."
"And now, you want to visit Brett."
"Yes." That's all he wanted right now. And if she was the last test he had to pass, he'd better bring his A-game!
"How did you know he's here?", she asked, not sounding pissed or anything, but determined.
Eddy cleared his throat again. There was no lying to this woman, he knew. He'd lose if he'd ever dare. She had a similar vibe he felt from his mum and there was certainly no room for bullshitting with her.
"I've been looking for him recently. However, I couldn't find any information whatsoever. I then tried to contact mutual friends Brett and I had back in our teenage years and one of them knew where he was, so I flew to Sydney from Singapore, where I currently live, just to see him." It was as close to the truth as Eddy could get. It had to be enough. The information about him flying back to Australia just for Brett was added so it'd hopefully put him in a good, trustworthy light.
Mrs. Yang's eyes examined his for a long time. Was she looking for any signs of deception? Then, she threw a gaze at what was behind Eddy's back.
"You brought your violin?"
Eddy nodded. "Yes."
"You still play?"
"I just started recently again. For myself and only a few minutes here and there."
"I see... do you know what happened to Brett, Eddy?"
"I... I know he fell into a coma after he collapsed during a concert."
Mrs. Yang nodded. "Yes. He was playing the violin his whole life and then, just like that, he collapsed. Do you know what could have caused this?"
Eddy hesitated. Where was this conversation leading to? Technically, he hadn't even seen Brett "in real life" yet. How was he supposed to know the cause for Brett's state?
"Do you know?", he brought up his courage to ask back.
The small woman sighed heavily, her shoulders slumped down and she seemed to shrink a few centimeters.
"No, we don't."
There was more she could have added to that matter, Eddy could hear it in her inflection, but he got it. She needed to gain more trust first before she could disclose things that they'd kept hidden so well from the world.
"I only heard", Eddy started, "that he was really, really hard working."
"He really was...", she said quietly, eyes still casted down. But then, she lifted her gaze and that "something" was clearly visible again. A kind of shine. Eddy furrowed his brows in confusion.

Was it, hope?

"Why now? You said, you were looking for him?"
"Recently, yes. Like the last two weeks or something."
The glow in her eyes got brighter.
"And you just thought of him or..."
What was it that she wanted to hear?
"Because I didn't think you would, to be honest", she added, "it has been years since you two were friends, am I right?"
"Yes", Eddy answered falteringly, "I was wondering how he was doing after all this time, so I thought I'd contact him. I didn't have his phone number though and there was no information about him on the internet, so I asked around and finally, someone told me what happened."
"I see... we took all information down, you know."
Eddy bopped his head. "I figured."
"There were many people looking for our poor boy after what happened. Many journalists, even musicians and so on. We had to protect him. We even had to place a security guard on the floor where he was staying in the beginning because insensitive folks wanted to storm into his room and take pictures."
Eddy gulped as images of crazy people stormed the hospital and demanded to see Brett.
"We threatened to sue anyone who'd publish any news. We asked the SSO and any website with recent information to take down everything they had about Brett. We also set his social media on private, which took forever, because we didn't have his password, obviously."
"Makes sense", Eddy commented while wiping his clammy hands on his pants.
"And despite all of those obstacles, you've found him", she stated, her tone almost solemnly.
"I was lucky, I guess."

Brett's mum lowered her head, her brows creased, seeminlgy deliberating over something. Then, she took a deep breath.
"Eddy Chen, we were just about to start looking for you."
Now, this was the last thing Eddy had expected. His eyes widened in surprise as he digested the last spoken sentence. What? They had been looking for him? An old friend he had been almost convinced they'd forgotten. Why?
"Wh- why?", he stuttered, mirroring his thoughts.
She shakily took another deep breath.

"Because Brett said your name."