It was the best of times, it was the worst of times;
it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness;
it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity;
it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness;
it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.
― Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
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It all goes back to March the 22nd. On that day, the daily new cases in Australia increased by 537. Unprecedented. Point of inflexion.
In the next ten days, the total number of cases increased by more than three thousand. Even in Queensland, the cases increased to 781. According to the exponential nature of a pandemic, the number in Queensland will surpass a thousand in no time. The spiking numbers put everyone's life in a shadow, including our most beloved comic violin duo, Brett and Eddy.
Truth to be told, Brett and Eddy haven't been seeing each other for five days in a roll now. They have decided to take a break since they'd already filmed a bunch of videos that would last at least a week. Ever since the outbreak, Eddy and Brett are stocking videos every time they see each other, just like how people are hoarding toilet paper and instant noodles as if they're out of their minds.
The last time they filmed, five days ago, was one of those insanely intense sessions that almost gave them flashbacks of their early days, busking 24/7 on the street for their first live concert. They've fulfilled a checklist of 10 video ideas in the span of 7 hours, with barely any breaks in between. Youtube, TikTok and Instagram photos were all taken care of.
At the end of the day, the two drained, used-to-play-professionally-but-now-making-videos violinists decided to never do this again. Holding takeaway bubble tea in their weakened hands, they allowed themselves to sink as deep as they could into the couch, paralysed.
"Dude," at least an hour later of paralysis, Brett broke the silence first, "at this rate, our exhaustion is going to take us long before coronavirus."
"Ah...yeah," Eddy stretched his arms, yawning "it's no longer classical music and chill."
"How did it come to this?" Brett asked nonchalantly, with his body still curled on the couch.
"I don't know. Are we just panic filming instead of panic buying?"
"Oh, dude. At least our paranoia is keeping the channel afloat, not creating a price raise on toilet rolls." Brett laughed dryly, still not recovered from the tiredness.
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Flash forward to now, 5 days later after that devilish filming session. Eddy Chen, now idly sitting on the couch with his hand on the forehead, is scrolling on Instagram nonchalantly. It is 3 pm in the afternoon, and he's waiting for the final version of today's video from Editor-san. After the editing process, Eddy would review it together with Brett over the phone, and then upload it to their social media platform.
It is already half-way into autumn in Brisbane. The sun beaming through the windowpane, casting warmth on the carpet in front of him. If Eddy lifts his head up, he'd see the garden bathed in golden sunlight. Autumn in Australia has always been quite beautiful, especially on a sunny day. Shades of emerald, maroon and saffron emanating from interlacing layers of leaves; colours glistening and mingling together like an Impressionist painting (or like a visualisation of non-functional harmonies that blurs the lines of tonality, as Eddy would describe it). In a place like Brisbane where the trees are ever so luxuriant, people would normally go out for a picnic with their family on the lawn. That patch of lawn in front of Eddy's window would have filled with joy and laughter, hustling and bustling in any previous autumns. Only that no one ever goes out to picnic anymore in 2020; even when they'd have to walk across the lawn, they'd wear a mask and dash past very quickly.
Of course, the scenery is still beautiful, but it is too quiet to bring solace to the people that can only get second-hand sunshine sitting behind a transparent window - meaning the entire population is more or less damned.
The email notification coming from his laptop interrupts Eddy's tangled train of thoughts. It's the Editor-san sending them the google drive link for the new video.
In other words, it's time to call Brett.
YOU ARE READING
Uncertain Times
FanfictionIn order to keep their channel afloat, Brett and Eddy decide to share an apartment during the coronavirus outbreak.
