Rehearsal

Part I

The rehearsal began quite normal. Brett and Eddy sitting next to each other and listening to the conductor talking about a change of tempo between two bars.

"Are we in the correct number of bars? I have no idea what he is talking about." whispered Eddy to Brett. "We are", answered Brett without even looking into the sheets. "But the conductor isn't." Eddy tried to restrain his laughter.

The conductor now ruffling through his sheets of music, obviously confused. His head becoming more and more red. "Ju...Just a minute" he stuttered, realizing his mistake.

Eddy grinned "it's red-head-day again." "Yeah, always the same with him.", answered Brett not as amused as his friend. He was here to work not for dealing with an unprofessional conductor.

"What's up with you?" asked Eddy. He gave Brett a dig with his bow. "You're in a bad mood?" Brett rolled his eyes and shook his head. He didn't want to tell Eddy about the breakup with his girlfriend. Normally the two violinists shared everything, but not this time. Eddy would ask questions and Brett was just not ready to talk about it. He was not ready to talk about the reason they broke up. Or to be more specific: that his affection towards Eddy was the reason of their break up.

Today was just another day that Brett admired Eddy's eyes while he spoke, look up to his passion while playing the violin and melting to the sound of his voice. It was frustrating. He wanted to tell Eddy these things so badly but just couldn't speak these thoughts out loud.

His attention was caught by a movement on his right side in the back of the small hall.

A group of men entered. All dressed in black and carrying bags over their shoulders. One of them was limping and had to be supported by one of the others.

The conductor still with his fingers between several sheets of paper was unaware of their entrance. "Ah. I got it now!" He smiled. "Finally. Okay, where was -?"

Brett interrupted him. "Sir, I think we have company" and pointed towards the end of the hall.

"Shut up!" one of the visitors screamed, coming quickly closer. Everybody frowned. The barrel of a gun pointing towards the orchestra.

Brett instantly moved a little towards Eddy and grabbed him at his sleeve. Eddy holding his breath and scared for his life and the life of his best friend. Whispers, deep breaths and moving chairs among the musicians. The conductor turned around and froze in his movement as he saw the gun. Than the man screamed again: "I said: QUIET!" and the hall went silent. "Nobody moves!" he continued "or speaks!" It seems as if even the time stood still. He looked around. "That was not the plan!" he said quietly and more to himself than to anybody else. He then focused on Eddy and pointed the gun at him. "You!" Eddy's eyes widely open, his skin pale and unable to breath or move. Brett grabbed his friend even tighter. "Go around and collect everybody's phones! Nobody has to know that we are here."

Then he turned to his wounded companion who laid at the floor and tried to stanch a bleeding at his leg. "This is all your fault!" – "So what do we do now?" the wounded replied angrily. "I don't know yet". He looked back at the orchestra and at Eddy, who still hasn't moved. He began screaming again: "What did I tell you?" He came a little bit closer and Eddy sank even more down his chair, his heart pounding out of his chest. "Get up and collect their phones!"

Brett has never been so scared and he couldn't imagine how Eddy felt in this moment. He gathered all of the courage he ever had and whispered "I... I do it" With every muscle shaking Brett tried to stand up. Eddy's hand holding him back. Their eyes met for a second. Desperate and in disbelieve they shared a moment of intimacy. One "GO!" interrupted the silent conversation between them.

After a small period of time Brett stood in front of the man holding more than a dozen mobile phones in his arms. He felt sick and close to passing out. The man told Brett to lay the phones onto a table next by. The violinist stumbled in just the wrong moment so that all of the phones and himself fall to the ground.

The man turned towards him. "Get up!" Brett stayed in shock. His heart racing. The man came close. That was it. Brett closed his eyes. This was the end. "I said get up!" The man kicked the poor little guy into his stomach. Brett lost his breath for a moment. Curling into a ball. Tears escaping his eyes. "Do I have to repeat myself every single time?" Brett shook his head. His eyes met Eddy's. Eddy had stand up from his chair. Ready to help his friend but was hold back by a gun pointing at him. "Get up or something bad happens" threatened the man. Shaking and like in slow motion Brett got onto his feet and began to pick up the phones to lay them onto the table.