did the world stop spinnin'?

cheater

The night before Frida was able to go home and it became a ritual. She had to explain to Benny the need she had to rest, and he had to get used to the idea that they were no longer young and he had to let her go, so he was calmer; but she had the commitment to return early the next day and so she did.

The clinic room remained in absolute silence, while they were there, only the hum of the machines that monitored Benny's condition could be heard. He was sitting on the bed, with his back resting on the pillows. Frida was sitting next to him, the afternoon was gray and rainy, he had asked her to hold his hand and so she did.

Benny looked at Frida with a mixture of anxiety and curiosity in his eyes. He had been awake for a while and his mind was plotting many things, there were many questions in his head and he wanted them to start being answered. "Love, I need you to tell me what happened. Everything I've missed. I feel like I'm stuck in a nightmare, one I can't wake up from. As if the world has stopped spinning..."

Frida felt a pang of pain in her chest at his tone. She didn't know where to start or how much she should tell him right now. The words she had to tell him were heavy, laden with a history he'd forgotten. Still, she knew Benny needed answers.

"Benny... a lot has happened since... since what you remember. It's not easy to talk about everything at once," she said.

Benny gently squeezed her hand, seeking comfort in the contact. "ABBA? Are we still together? Is the band still together?" He asked with a mix of longing and fear.

"ABBA is no longer together, we split in December 1982," she replied.

Benny blinked, as if trying to process what he had just heard. Reality was slowly sinking in, fading the hope he had been holding in his heart. "Why? What happened?" He asked almost in a whisper.

Frida felt a lump in her throat as she looked into Benny's eyes, those eyes that had once shared so much laughter, so many songs, and were now filled with confusion. "Over time, we all went our separate ways. We had to, Benny. We all needed something more, something ABBA could no longer give us. It was hard, but it was the best thing for each of us, so when it wasn't fun anymore we decided to take a break, you have worked on musicals with Björn and I have worked on solo albums, as well as Agnetha," she said sadly.

Benny nodded slowly, his eyes looking into the distance, as if trying to remember something that was out of reach. "I never thought the day would come when we would part ways. I always thought that... that we would still be together, making music, like always."

Frida squeezed his hand, trying to offer him some comfort. "We did amazing things together, Benny. We grew, we changed... But the music we created will always be there, for us and for the world. And even though ABBA is no longer together, that doesn't change what we accomplished," she added.

Benny let out a long, deep sigh, taking in the truth. He knew that time had moved on without him, that the world had changed while he remained trapped in the past. But, at that moment, sadness was mixed with a strange peace. He knew that he was not alone, that Frida was there with him, sharing that pain. "Thank you for telling me, Frida. It's hard... but I needed to know."

Frida nodded, feeling the tension in the air soften a little. "But it's not all sadness. Five years ago we started working together again on a new album, after forty years... ABBA Voyage, and with that came the digital version of us. Now we are playing in London with our ABBA Voyage show, presented with our avatars. It's incredible," as she said this her eyes lit up.

"How?" Benny frowned slightly in confusion. "Digital version of us?"

"Technology has advanced a lot since 1979, incredibly there have been replicas very similar to us digitally and well... it is a complicated experience to explain, when you recover I think it will be important for you to go see it. You have been very involved in the process," she added. "Maybe Ludvig wants to tell you more about it," she smiled, squeezing his hand and trying to make Benny understand that Ludvig was part of his life. "He has been an important key in the production and in making everything turn out exactly as we ABBA want it to," she finally said.