Fantasia

XLII

"Hi, my name's Eddy Chen. I'm looking for information concerning a former student of the Queensland Conservatorium. His name is Brett Yang. You don't happen to know anything about him?"
"I'm sorry, Mr. Chen, but how are you related to Mr. Yang?"
"He was a very good friend of mine during highschool and before..."
"I'm very sorry, but we are not allowed to give any information to non-relatives of our students. Even with family members there are rules..."
"Please! I just want to know where he went to work or what he did after university."
"There is nothing I can do for you, Mr. Chen. I hope you understand."

Of course Eddy understood. He got that the lady on the phone was doing her job perfectly fine, actually. Unlike him, who was making this call during his very busy working hours just because he couldn't wait a second longer for their reply to his mail. However, there was still an urge inside him to kick her friendly ass into space.

Well, onto another try then. He dialed a new number and impatiently waited for the beeps to be replaced by someone answering the phone while throwing a quick glance back if anyone was watching him.

"Administration of the Australian Youth Orchestra, hello?"
"Hi, my name is Eddy Chen. I'm looking for information about Brett Yang. He was a former member of the AYO."
"Ohhh, I remember Brett", the oddly familiar and upbeat voice of an around sixty year old woman declared. Eddy sat up. Was she the same lady from back when they were there, sitting at her desk twice a week to do all the admin stuff concerning the Australian Youth Orchestra while being dressed like a very wooly parrot?
"Yes! Brett!", Eddy doubled down, "And me? Eddy Chen, do you still know, who I am? Mrs. ..."
"Wilson. Mrs. Wilson."
"Of course, Mrs. Wilson!" It WAS the lady from back then. Maybe Eddy had more luck with extracting any sort of knowledge tied to a certain someone from her?
"Hi, Mrs. Wilson. How are you doing?", Eddy put up his most charming tone.
"I think I do remember you. Eddy Chen you say? Shy, leeky boy, playing the violin? And Brett, short and talkative?"
Leeky, how flattering.
"Yes."
"Ahh, yes. You were inseperable. You insisted on always sharing a room whenever the AYO went on tour, even though Brett was a year older", Mrs. Wilson laughed.
"Uhm, we did?" They had always shared a room, but Eddy couldn't recall actively fighting or even asking for it.
"Yes!", she exclaimed loudly, "Brett always came to me before every tour and told me to put you two together. He even wanted me to make sure you'd share bunks if there were other people in your room. But that was definitely something I couldn't ensure."
Eddy had a hard time controlling himself so he wouldn't grin stupidly. Brett had done that? Really?
"Yeah, we were best friends back then", Eddy sighed instead, a bit more dramatic than he normally would.
"Oh, I was so sure you'd stick together forever! You were just cut from the same cloth."
"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I lost track of him", Eddy stated with a sad voice.
"Oh noo! How did that happen?", she asked incredulously, like Eddy'd just told her his cat had decided to fly to the moon and never come back.
"Well, life, I guess. It just happened."
"Oh what a pity!", Mrs. Wilson lamented. Eddy could picture her half throwing her head back while saying that.
"That's why I'm calling, actually. You don't happen to know where Brett is or what he's doing for a living?"
"Oh, dear. We don't keep records of our alumnis, I'm afraid."
Eddy tried not to feel too disappointed about something he'd already anticipated. "Oh..."
"And even if we would, I'm not sure if I'm allowed to give you this kind of information", Mrs. Wilson meant, sounding apologetic.
Probably not, Eddy thought to himself, but instead said, "You know nothing about Brett then?"
"Well, I do know his parents still live in Brisbane. I'm not sure about the neighbourhood, but I've seen them around one time, getting groceries."
"Oh, how nice!", Eddy exclaimed, trying not to sound too fake. He was aware of that fact already, but it hadn't helped till now.
"And I also know Brett went to the conservatorium. What a talented young boy he was. You both were!", Mrs. Wilson complimented.
"Well, thank you. Yes, Brett did well in music uni. We still spent a lot of time together during his first year."
"I see", Mrs. Wilson said, "Well, you know more than I do. I'm sorry I can't help you, dear."
"That's fine, Mrs. Wilson. If you find out anything about Brett that you can tell me, would you be so kind to contact me? You can just call this number, I'd really appreciate it."
"Of course, dear", she promised, despite her technically not being allowed to do what Eddy had just asked for, "I do hope you'll find him soon. You guys shouldn't be seperate!"
They weren't anymore. At least not in Eddy's dreams. Eddy smiled, as he bid his goodbyes and hung up.

"Dude, who the hell are you talking to?", Theo asked with a curious frown, glancing over to Eddy's screen, fishing for information, "It certainly doesn't sound like it's one of our clients, is it?"
"Nah, it's not", Eddy simply stated and pensively brushed through his hair, thinking about his next step.
"Okay...", his co-worker shrugged and turned to continue typing a report in lightning speed, "as long as you don't get caught..."

That was the least of Eddy's worries. After his talk with Brett and the hug he'd forced on Brett (which Brett had returned almost immediately after a short, surprised stunned second though, so Eddy didn't really feel bad about the possibility of having overstepped eventual boundaries), he was pretty sure he wouldn't care too much if he'd got fired today. It would suck, sure. Eddy was on a high after his last visit in Brett's world, but he still liked to play safe and end things on his own terms if possible. On the other hand, if he would get kicked out of the company, it'd just force him to really think about his future and what he wanted.

Maybe that was just what Eddy needed to finally change something about his depressing everyday life. Because if there was one thing that he'd realized after everything Brett had laid out for him, was that Eddy wasn't happy. Hadn't been for a long time. Maybe from the start.
And he could have put one and one together way earlier. The fatique, lack of motivation, the dread, the impression of his daily life being monotonous and most of all, the yearning he felt for something... something "more", as Brett would phrase it, all these signs had been around for a long, dreadful while. But denial can be powerful. A powerful way to mute and stop everything that would threaten to put a break in the rat race of chasing after an in the end meaningless position or even more insignificant money.

Yeah. There would be worse things in the world than getting fired right now.