Collection TSV - One Shots

Prompt 5 - Silence

5 Silence

It was a calm evening they spent together. They were enjoying their meal in the kitchen and Eddy stayed back to clean the dishes. Everything was calm and serene around them.

It was now three years after they were out of the public eye and tried to slip back into the anonymity they definitely preferred. It was not easy and they had to move to Europe to do that; far, far away from their home country. They now lived in Spain, having purchased a nice little cottage close to the beach. Their neighbor was over 2km away so they definitely had their peace. Sometimes it got lonely but it was better than the bustling noise of the city they were used to.

Thankfully the internet was good out here otherwise they would have cried in agony and boredom. Eddy found a new obsession: painting. Their house was littered with canvases, half-finished projects and more often than not, Eddy's face and clothes were speckled with paint. His hands lost their original color quite some time ago. After they stored away their public lives, they also stored the thing away, they were famous for: Their Violins.

Even Brett didn't touch upon those; he rather focused on relearning the piano. After some struggles with wrongly tuned pianos, they spent a tiny fortune on a grand piano, a Steinways & Son's, which was standing in their gigantic living room. He practiced hours on that, only to be interrupted by food or when his back really hurt.

They both were mostly lost in time, waking up when they wanted or stayed up until they were sleepy. It was a very relaxed life they now lived compared to the stress and sometimes agony of their former life.

Eddy cleaned and dried the cook utensils and tableware since Brett cooked. It was a silent agreement; one cooked, the other cleaned. A delivery-guy came with fresh produce and meats that lasted them for the whole week. They didn't need to leave their sanctuary for that. It was quite heavenly for them.

Eddy wandered through the house, wanting to sit by his friend and listen to his playing but sadly, Brett wasn't at the piano right now. Maybe he could bug him to play for him?

He got out on the patio, towards the beach, and there he found his friend. Brett stared at the waves, humming La Mer under his breath. His thin hands tapped the fingering of the violin part on the back of the book which lay on his lap. It was warm but his friend still had a blanket over his lap and Eddy swore he sat on one of their pillows.

He flopped down, right behind his friend, hugging him closer and laying his head on the boney shoulder, "I love you, Brett."

A chuckle passed the chapped lips, "I love you too, Eddy."

"Did you take your medicine? I mean, for the pain?"

Brett nodded, "I'm fine. Nothing hurts as of now. But we have to talk about..." But Eddy cut his friend off, "I know. But not now. It's so nice here."

That forced a sigh out of the smaller one, "We cannot not talk about it, Eddy. I am dy..." This time, Eddy hastily placed a hand over his friend's lips, silencing him.

"Not now, please Brett. Not now," his voice trembled and he hid his face in the shoulder he occupied. Brett nodded. It was no use to try to talk to Eddy when he was like that. He would not force this conversation on his friend but he knew they had to talk at some point about that. His medication needed to be upped again and he knew he ran slowly out of time.

Instead of continuing this cursed conversation, he simply watched the sun as it slowly sank.

"The sunset is beautiful, don't you think?" Brett whispered, feeling very well the wetness on his shoulder. Eddy cried again. The hands were now around his stomach and he felt more the nod than heard the softly spoken "Yes."

Silence fell between them again while Brett watched the sunset while Eddy cried on his shoulder. The sky was painted a beautiful red, pink and purple and Brett sighed. He was like the sun, slowly dying but he would not rise again. Everyday could be his last one.

His lungs were filled with full flowers now and it was only a matter of time when he would suffocate. While Eddy loved Brett, he didn't love him that way. And that was the end of Brett.

Instead, they spend the last years, months or days together. Just like Brett wanted it.

And one day, only Eddy would wake up.

Then he would realize that his love was not strong enough to cure his best friend. That his love was simply not enough. And then, only then, he would feel a dam break inside him. He would cry, shout and scream until he would fall on the floor, exhausted.

Weeks later Eddy would start coughing up tiny petals. And he would know he was doomed. Because the one he loved, loved to the point of wanting to be with him or dying, was dead. There would be no cure for him; it would be the end of them both. But now they didn't know that.

They only sat on the patio, watching the sunset together, mourning a future they didn't have together. They couldn't have together.

It was the end of an era, a friendship and two lives.

Only when Eddy would look deep inside him, really search his soul, breaking the wall he hid his true feelings behind, only then they both could be saved. They still had time, not much, but at least a bit. That was the only hope they both had.

Words: 972