An Alaskan Midnight

Chapter 6

The blizzard escalated quickly. Before Eddy knew it, the wind blew in hard gusts, making him fall over.

"Quick," Brett yelled, running. "We need to put the sled away and get the dogs and us inside!"
"But... don't the dogs have a shelter?!"
"With how bad this snow is, the shelter could collapse, and we can't afford for the dogs to get hurt!" Brett explained.

Rapidly they unharnessed the dogs, heaving the sled into the shed. Pushing against the howling wind, Brett pulled open the door to let them in. The dogs charged in ahead of them, trembling from the cold. Then Eddy realized, he and Brett were trembling from the cold too.

Eddy collapsed on the couch, not even taking off his coat and muddy boots beforehand. Brett did the same, despite being a generally organized and clean person.

"Well, at least we have food. And the heat is working," Brett smiled.

Eddy nodded. "Yeah."

"But be careful, don't crank up the heat! With how cold it is, we don't want the system to get overworked and short circuit! We can't afford to get any more firewood with how cold it is, unless we want to die out there."

Eddy nodded, staring off into space. Then he remembered -- with all the craziness of the past several days, he had not practiced once.

"I need to practice!" he yelped, jumping up. Since he was young, violin had always been his passion, and he didn't want to lose the skill he had acquired.

Brett nodded. "It's been a while... I probably should too." Taking his violin case, which was near the heater in the kitchen, he went upstairs. "You can practice down here."

Eddy took his own violin case, rosining his bow and setting the violin on his shoulder. He began with some Mozart, then a few of his favorite pieces by Tchaikovsky. 

Suddenly, the most beautiful music he ever heard resounded through the room, coming from upstairs. It wasn't classical, nor was it anything he had ever heard before. It sung of trials, the wilderness and difficulties of years past. It spoke of desolation, of loneliness and tragedy.

Spellbound, Eddy silently crept upstairs. He peaked through the door, completely absorbed.

Brett had heard the creaking of the floor. He snapped around. "What do you want?" he asked.

"Sorry, it's just, I" Eddy stammered. "Your playing, it's so... what piece is that?"
"I made it up," Brett responded proudly. Then he sighed.

"I can... leave you alone now, sorry," Eddy murmured.

"No, it's fine. It's not you, it's just..." he shook his head. "Whatever. The past is the past." Then he shot a glance towards a pile of papers on the desk, flushing red. He looked at Eddy nervously, clearly hoping he didn't notice them.

"Well," Eddy stuttered, not knowing how to respond or comfort him. "I should probably, uh... continue to practice." 
With that he left the room. Little did he know that he also left a crying, lonely, broken-hearted man.