Broken String

LXXVII

The building looks just as dirty, just as yellow. It's stares at him from its place in the street, the windows becoming leering eyes, the revolving doors a hellish mouth about to swallow him up. Eddy swallows and looks down quickly. 
"You ready for this?" Brett asks gently.
"Yep. Let's go get some answers."
It seems to take only two seconds before the chair is in front of the open car door. Eddy braces himself and gets in. 
The sun is bright on his hair and his black shirt. It feels wrong, somehow, for it to be bright, for the trees around him to look cheerful.
How many sick people have those trees seen come and go? Do they care? 
Eddy drags his gaze away from the insentient shapes and looks down.
"It'll be fine, Eddy." Brett says quietly. 
Eddy nods. All of his words are gone, leaving nothing but an arid desert in his mouth. 
Has he ever been this nervous? Maybe for the competition that gave him the Sibelius?
He knows the answer already.  

It's the same nurse, behind the desk, but this time she beckons him and Brett pushes him towards her.
"Mr. Chen?"
"Eddy. Yes."
"I have a form here for you to look through. Now, what's going to happen is you'll be in a tube with headphones on. It's loud, but that's completely normal and nothing to worry about. You'll be asked to hold your breath for a few seconds at a time and then breathe normally again. You've said you're not claustrophobic?"
What's he going to say? Actually I'm not so sure about a narrow tube? It has to happen anyway, right? It's not like he has any other options. 
"No."
"Okay. You'll be picked up in a minute." 
She hands him the form, which he scans quickly as Brett pushes him into the waiting area. It basically says what she just said. God, he wishes he had something to drink, because his tongue feels like it's made of sandpaper and there just doesn't seem to be any air in here. 
"Mr. Chen?"
Eddy's heart jumps as Brett gets up and pushes him towards the voice. Another nurse, this one in her fifties with her grey hair in a short bob.
"Can I go in with him?" Brett asks in his neutral, pleasant tone. The one he reserves for people he doesn't know. But the nurse shakes her head.
"I'm sorry, no. You can help get him installed if that's necessary, but you'll have to wait outside after that."
"I'll help get Eddy installed." Brett says in the same tone, maybe slightly sharper. And Eddy knows why he's using his name. He's a person, not a thing. Not a child, or a pet. God, he hates when people talk over him. He could kiss him for saying it like that, for coming in, for not surrendering him to some nurse who doesn't know how he gets in and out of the chair. 
"I can keep my clothes on, right?" Eddy asks. 
"Yes. As long as there's no metal in them."
Eddy nods. He knew that. That's why the sweats he's in. Brett pushes him into the room and Eddy takes  a deep breath. 

It's cold, green and sterile. The machine may have a small tube but the thing itself is massive, extraterrestrial almost in appearance, glossy yellow and with a sort of tongue sticking out. He guesses that's where he'll be. Brett parks the chair and holds out his hand so he can lie down on the tongue, then he smiles tightly.
"I'll see you in just a second."
He pulls the chair out of the room and closes the door behind him.
Eddy isn't alone, the nurse is here, but the room seems to grow until infinity with Brett gone. 
"He's nice, your partner." the nurse says. Eddy simply nods.
What point is there in correcting her? 
"Here are your headphones. Don't worry about it being loud, that's normal. I will ask you to hold your breath and then breathe normally again. I'll be able to see you at all times, if there is a problem just hold up your right hand. Ready?"
Eddy nods again. His words are out in the desert beyond the infinite room.
She nods too, and leaves. Before he knows it the tongue under him starts whirring softly and he's transported head first into the tube.