Fantasia

LXXV

"Wait, how did you change continents in between two phone calls, little brother?"
His sister's surprised voice accompanied him on his way to the hotel as he wandered down the streets of Sydney, taking his time.
"It's not that difficult if there are days seperating those calls, you know."
"You're back in Australia", she huffed, probably letting herself fall down on a chair or another furniture.
"Yeah."
"And where exactly? In Brisbane at mum's?"
The way she was asking indicated, that she probably already guessed that this wasn't a simple home visit.
"Nah. Sydney. Went to see Brett, finally. I found him. He's at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and he's really in a coma. Took some time for me to actually enter his room, long story. But I met his parents and brother again. Also, I think we found out how we can get Brett out of there."
"Oh, wow... and... I mean, how is he? How is his family. And how are YOU, Eddy?"
Eddy kicked a pebble away. "Brett? As well as someone in a coma can be, I guess. They don't know the cause, and he was basically in the same state for the past half a year. Two weeks ago however, he started to say my name and guess what? I played a bit of violin next to him and he smiled! For the first time since he's fallen into a coma."
"Saying your name, smiling... Eddy! That's huge, isn't it?"
"Yeah. His family thinks so too. That's why they're pretty happy I'm here now."
"And what about you?"

Yeah, what about him, he pondered as he crossed a rather busy street.
"I'm not sure. It's been a lot."
"I can imagine."
"But I'm convinced it was the right move to come here. Maybe the best decision ever in my entire life, I reckon. If there is anything I can help for Brett to recover, I'll do it. Even if I have to stay here for the next year or so."
And as Eddy stated this, he instantly knew that that was exactly what he was going to do. If helping his best friend meant for him to lose his job and live of his savings, even disappoint his mum, so be it!
It was silent for a short while on the other end.
"You'd really do that. Leave your job behind." It wasn't a question.
Eddy stilled and leaned against one of the dozens of trees along the sidewalk.
"I would", he confirmed, maybe even saying it more to himself than to Belle.
"Why not quit right away then?"
Her words sunk in like a couple of heavy stones nearing the bottom of an ocean. Yeah, why not?
"I talked with Brett about this actually. I need to have a stable income in order to help him and not worry about my own shit."
"Sure, I get that. But if he wakes up, what will you do then? What about your near or far future? What do you WANT, Eddy?"
Eddy swallowed hard, because that was it, wasn't it? If he'd say it outloud now, this was as deciding as it was gonna get.

Did he really have the guts to follow his heart outside the relative safety of his dreams? Didn't he need to do that in order for Brett to wake up anyway? But if he was being honest, he hadn't taken any significant measures to change the trajectory of his future. It had all been hypothetically till now.

Suddenly, Eddy knew he had to do this. He had to take a leap of faith and decide on a first step. Even if that first step only meant saying outloud what he really wanted.

"I wanna play the violin", so he declared then, solemnly, as his heart started to sing.
He could hear his sister's smile through the phone line when she commented with a simple, "There you go, baby brother."

When Eddy got back to his hotel room, his exhaustion was so prominent that a quick shower and the automatic teeth brushing was all he managed before he crashed on the bed. Meeting Brett's family, spending a poor night in a hospital chair and playing violin in front of people all day took its toll and he guessed he still had to recover from his travel. The advantage was, that sleep overcame him in no time, taking him along to meet Brett...

"Eddy!", Eddy heard his most favourite voice exclaim and he let his eyes flutter open. Brett was right in front of him, surrounded by red light, smile radiant, holding violin and bow in his right hand.
"Dude, I heard you! I heard you play!"
"What?", Eddy's voice creaked while he rubbed his eyes and sat up.
"You played our piece, right? I heard that! It was so clear this time. I even played first to your second. It was a bit weird, because your melody was coming from everywhere, but it worked nonetheless."
The glee in Brett's features drew a chuckle out of Eddy, which kind of undermined how astonished he was. What? Brett had heard him play? What did that mean?
"I told your parents, Brett", he blurted out, causing Brett's glee to be replaced by pure surprise.
"You told them? About this?", he asked, arms opened wide.
Eddy nodded. "Yes. Maybe that's why you heard me. I told them everything and I honestly thought they would banish me. But they believed me! I told them you're missing them and they were very happy to hear that, I think. Very moved..."
His throat got thick as soon as the image of them holding each other shortly before he'd left them be appeared in Eddy's mind.
"They believe you?", Brett reassured with shiny eyes.
"Yes, they do. They called your brother too and he came to the hospital. They recapped everything I told them and he didn't doubt any of it for a second."
"Woah...", Brett made, sitting back while blankly staring at the messy books on the floor.
"Your family's amazing, man! Really! I loved to be around them and I'm not a big people person, so that really says something."
The slight flutter of eyelashes showed Eddy how much effort it cost Brett to hold back his tears. He did manage somehow and just bobbed his head once, straightening his shoulders.
"I gotta get out of here, fast!"
Eddy nodded. "Yeah!"
"Let's play our piece then! The Adagio?"
"'Course!"

It only took seconds for Eddy to lose himself in their playing. He closed his eyes, listened intently to what Brett was doing musically while his fingers were warming up, trying to adjust the intonation on the violin here, which felt slightly different than the one he had in the "real world". The run through was over before he knew it and Brett beaming at him afterwards was all he needed to see, really.
"That was amazing!" Brett stated.
"Yeah", Eddy said happily, lowering his violin, "And now? What do we do now? You said we needed to perform the piece, but in order to do that, don't we need a stage and an audience and stuff?"
"True, true...", Brett mumbled, a deep frown appearing on his forehead, "I've never seen a stage or anything, but I mean, that hall where we met that goddess or whatever also appeared out of nowhere."
"Should we go look around then?", Eddy proposed. Brett picked up the score containing the notation of their piece and smiled. "Lead the way."