Fantasia

VIII

"Mr. Chen, hello. I'm calling to inform you about your blood test result. Do you have a minute?", a young sounding female voice rang through Eddy's phone.
"Sure!", Eddy said, quickly typed in the last numbers and locked his screen, "Go on."
"First of all, the results of your blood test don't show any irregularities. You don't seem to have developed any allergies and the number of your white blood cells are on a normal level. Your blood values are more or less fine, although we do recommend you take some supplementary vitamines and iron for the next three months. Just a bit, for replenishment."
In other words, they hadn't found anything.
"That's it?", Eddy sighed, despite having expected a similar outcome from the lab test. That's exactly why he hadn't gone to the doctor earlier.
"Yes, that's it. You can come in to get the vitamines and iron pills anytime."

Eddy would have asked if the doctor had any other suggestion to what might be causing his nausea, would have insisted on some medication against the vomitting. But since he had been spared from it the last two nights, he just let it go. He was almost a hundred percent positive by now that it was caused by his dream and nothing else. The results just confirmed his hunch.

And he guessed a doctor wasn't of much help when it came to figuring out what laid behind his mysterious nightly visions.

"I see", he said eventually, "thank you. I'll come by some time then."
"Wonderful. If there is anything else we can do, please do not hesitate to contact us."
Eddy doubted the necessity for this, but said his thanks anyway and hung up.

"And?", Theo asked while looking at his screen in his cubical.
"Hey! Private matter here", Eddy remarked half jokingly.
"Couldn't help but overhear. I'm just looking out for you."
"It's nothing."
"So you're okay?"
"It seems so."
"Okay... good."
Eddy unlocked his screen and continued his dull tasks.

The sky was pitch black yet again, when Eddy left the office as one of the last people in the whole glass building and breathed in the outside air to clear his head.
So, it was nothing physiological then, Eddy pondered as he made his way to the bus stop. Nothing physiological meant, the doc had been on to something with his suggestion for Eddy to get psychological help.
But since Eddy had no spare time for that, he just had to figure it out by himself. And weren't there some changes happening already? Not vomitting after waking up being the most promissing one. The appearance of the violin playing, the shape in the mirror! And last night, when he was able to actually touch the glass? Eddy felt like he was on to something, taking the smallest steps towards a discovery, a revelation...
He tightened his grip around the handle of his briefcase. Whatever it was, he had a strong inkling he had to get to the bottom of this.

On his ride home Eddy racked the analytical part of his brain in order to form some kind of plan or think of a next step that could lead him further. He decided to follow Belle's advice for now, so when he got home, he picked up the brown leather case from the corner and placed it on his coffee table first thing, any work related tasks he'd brought home long forgotten.

Gently, like he was afraid he'd break something, Eddy laid a hand on the case, similar like the day before. He opened it slowly and didn't even notice the deep breath he took when he saw his instrument.

His fingers were actually shaking when he took out the violin. Eddy plucked the strings carefully, G, D, A, E. They were out of tune, of course, but not having played for ages apparently hadn't made him lose his perfect pitch, an ability he'd liked to boast about whenever he'd had the chance to. He listened closely and turned the pegs until he was satisfied. A glance at his clock told him that it was, yet again, just a bit too late to actually play, but surely a tune played in a soft pianissimo would be okay? He loosened the straps holding one of his two bows and took it out before he put his violin down in order to tighten the bow hair.

Just like yesterday, it was amazing, how everything was done on autopilot, like Eddy'd just finished his last practice session the day before and not like ten years ago, when he'd started university. Only the slight tremble of his hands, the unsure fingers touching his instrument and attaching the shoulder rest were a giveaway for his long, long hiatus.

Putting the violin on his shoulder on the other hand did feel a bit more foreign. There was a sting in his belly region as his chin touched the wood, setting off a storm of old memories in his brain, accelerating his heartbeat.
Wonderful memories, but painful ones too.

Eddy scrunched his eyes shut to surpress the sudden tears welling up. What the fuck? Why was he so overcome with emotions he hadn't experienced in forever? He took a couple of deep breaths, got up and repositioned his violin. His fingers grabbed the bow and placed it on the G string, producing the first notes of the Prokofiev violin concerto number two. The one Eddy had once won the state prize of the National Youth Concerto Competition with and still knew by heart.

Unforturnately for him, he hadn't won the finals back then.

But all of this didn't matter now, as the notes floated through Eddy's living room, reaching his ears, his heart. He just let his fingers work, let them tap more or less the right place on the fingerboard and wiggle to produce vibratos throughout the longer notes. It was by no means perfect. There were too many notes out of tune and his vibrato was as uneven as a bumpy road of some unfinished highway. His former violin teacher would have probably had his head if he'd listen to Eddy's playing tonight, and yet, Eddy found himself mesmerized by the way his once beloved instrument resonated under his fingers.

He knew, he remembered, why he had loved playing the violin.

A/N: Hi guys 😊! I wrote a short one-shot about the Mendelssohn 4 Mil, prompt suggested by a dear reader😉. You'll find it by clicking the link I put in the comments or in my profile. Have fun and to everyone watching the live stream, lots of fun watching the epic instrument battle!!!
Love, author-san