Fantasia

X

"... Uhm, hi?"

There was a surprised, somehow familiar, warm voice greeting him while Eddy was lying on the ground, half unconscious, his ears ringing like some broken alarm was placed right next to his hurting head.

Odd. Why would anyone here talk to him? Fair enough, it was his dream after all... Or maybe he wasn't dreaming anymore? Everything felt so real he simply had to have bailed dreamland, right? Did his sister decide to come check on him after all, had flown in from London without telling him and was standing next to his bed?
Although, that would still be impossible. His sister didn't have a key to his apartment. And most importantly, his sister didn't sound like a man. Normally.

So, who was this? And what the fuck was happening?

Eddy groaned and tried to prop himself up while he slowly opened his eyes. At first, there was not much to see. It was so dark he doubted the functionality of his vision. But then, his eyes slowly adapted to his surroundings.

There was the red light coming from somewhere further away. There was some kind of handrail made out of a stone like material on both sides of the narrow construction he was lying on. And then, there were a pair of legs standing next to him.

Wait... Had Eddy really made it this time? Had he finally entered the mirror for real?

Eddy slowly raised his head and glanced up to the figure, his eyes and brain trying to process as much information as possible with the little light that was available.
He'd been right. It wasn't someone tall and Eddy immediately recognized him as the same person he'd seen inside the mirror.

He was wearing black trousers, tucked in some kind of dark red, expensive looking boots. His shirt was probably in a similar price range, all fancily patterned and loosely fitting the man's upper body. Eddy's gaze wandered up and when he was finally able to discern the features above him, he froze.

Eddy knew that face. He knew the bespetacled young man, looking at him with his big, dark eyes, in one of which a small, dark and very unique speck floated next to his iris. He knew that slender neck, the white, perfect skin in comparison to his own, marked by years of fighting with acne. He knew the not broad per se, but yet strong shoulders he used to slap in best best bro manner, used to prop his hand on when he got lazy and tired, for example when they took one of their long walks, and used to squeeze gently from time to time, be it for comfort, encouragement or simply to show him and Eddy himself, that they had each other. He knew those graceful fingers, holding an object which Eddy was now finally able to identify.

A violin, of course.

Eddy opened his mouth like a half dead fish, but no sound came out.

"Uhm...", the other made, "who are you?"

Still too shocked to do more than trying to voice that one name his mouth hadn't formed in a long time, but his mind had been thinking of on a fairly regular basis, Eddy finally managed,

"Brett?"

It sounded strangled, had barely been audible Eddy was sure, but still. Brett's eyes widened in surprise upon hearing his own name.
"Wha... You know me?"
If it would have been possible to widen his eyes even more, Eddy would have.

So, he really was who Eddy thought he was.
But based on the first very little words Eddy had heard, the other individual didn't know, or remember, who Eddy was, obviously. And if Eddy would have been in the real world and not in his dream, confused, freaked out and so utterly shocked, he maybe would have gone with acting as if he wouldn't know Brett at all, go with the flow to avoid any sort of awkwardness. It wasn't like Eddy didn't feel weird around people anyways.

But then again, this was Brett. The guy he'd once known better than himself. And now, there was simply no brain capacity left for any sort of facade whatsoever.

"Brett, it's me!", Eddy tried again, weakly.
"Uhm... do we know each other?"
"Eddy! Eddy Chen! Math tutoring and youth orchestra, remember?" It had been years, admittedly, since they'd seen each other, but Eddy hadn't changed that much.
"I have no idea what you're talking about, man!"
On a whim, Eddy got up, stepped forward until he was just centimeters away from the other and grabbed Brett's arm.
"Hey!", Brett exclaimed and yanked his bow arm away.

Brett was here! Like really! Eddy could feel him, his warmth, the soft fabric of the other's shirt, the slight pain when Brett had pulled his arm away from Eddy's grip.

"... Sorry", Eddy stuttered when he finally realized that his actions might have been a bit too straight forward for a first time face to face meeting.
"Excuse me, but... who are you again?", Brett asked with a frown.
"Eddy Chen. And you know me! We've been through stuff", Eddy answered with only parts of his vocal chords working properly again.

Brett scratched his head.
"I'm sorry, but I really don't know who you are... doesn't say much though. I don't even know what I'm doing here..."

Eddy stopped in his tracks.
"Yeah... what are you doing here?", Eddy asked bluntly.
"As I said, I don't know." Brett scratched his head again and furrowed his brows. "What are YOU doing here?"
Eddy shrugged. "This is my dream", he said matter-of-factly.
Brett's mouth went agape and Eddy suddenly had to hold back a chuckle upon seeing his once best friend's face contorted like this. "YOUR dream?"
"Yes. I mean, look at this place, the red light and everything. How can this be real?"
"I kinda thought it was my dream, or some kind of unconscious shit I drifted into", Brett remarked.
Interesting. So Brett also knew that all this wasn't happening in the actual reality. At least they got this part in common. Still, the longer their conversation went the less sense everything seemed to make.
"Why would it be your dream?", Eddy frowned.
"Because this place, it has all the stuff I know."
"So, you know this place but you don't know what you're doing here?"
"I mean... yeah, if you put it that way."
"But I know you, and you don't know me."
"You just burst in here without any explanation! How am I supposed to know who you are?"
"We basically grew up together! Since we were like thirteen, fourteen!", Eddy tried to start a clarification, his voice turning more irritated by the minute.

This was so frustrating! Eddy had wanted answers and all he'd gotten after stepping through the mirror was the manifestation of an old friend in their shared vision or whatever, who apparently had forgotten all about him. He felt a nasty little sting in his belly region. Eddy would have expected Brett to be angry or disappointed after everything that had happened, but not that he wouldn't even know anymore who Eddy was.
After all the years they had shared. Time Eddy would always treasure.
But maybe, that was just what Eddy deserved...

Brett shook his head. "Alright! First things first. Are you the person I saw through that mirror there?"