Ch 6
Even though they had arrived early, the open field was jam-packed with people of all ages. They all wore sunglasses and large hats that either clashed or perfectly suited their summer outfits.
Matthew and Alfred, who were both dressed in white t-shirts, shorts, and sandals, slowly made their way through the sea of strangers hoping to find an open area to set up their beach fold-out chairs.
It was a beautiful summer day in Quebec, Canada, with lots of sun and a gentle breeze. The current temperture was 74 degrees Fahrenheit.
After much wandering, the two brother eventually managed to find a small, but unoccupied area among the chaos around them. They set down their two chairs and took a minute to set up a very large, red umbrella for them to camp under, away from the sun's powerful rays.
Then they each took a beverage from their cooler before finally easing into their chairs.
"We made it," Alfred chuckled with his sunglasses on, glancing over at Matt.
Matthew smiled with his glasses on as well. He nodded back.
They both raised their drinks, clinking them together before taking a long sip.
Several yards in front of them, past a hundred people laying on towels, food venders handing out food, and several large, metal gates, lay a huge, black stage with several large box speakers and two giant screens held up by metal chains.
Alfred checked his watch. They still had nearly a full hour before anyone was scheduled to play. Perhaps they could just sit and take in the fresh air.
He glanced at the people to his right.
A middle-aged man wearing shorts and sandals, struggled to open his large umbrella as two young boys talked over each other trying to give instructions to the man. Alfred was almost temped to help, but after a few more seconds the umbrella burst open and the man laughed as a middle-aged woman walked over to him and handed him a drink. The man, woman, and two boys all began talking at once before settling down into their chairs with their beverages.
A nice, happy family.
Alfred turned back towards the large stage then fiddled through his pocket for his phone.
He tried to pull up facebook but instead the screen read 'no internet connection'. He checked his bars for service and found there were none. He sighed as he put his phone away. He needed a break from technology anyway.
Alfred turned and noticed his curly-haired brother staring at a young couple who were both in their early 20's, skinny, and wearing close-to-nothing. They lay on a large blanket, taking turns applying sunscreen.
"So...," Alfred said to Matthew, "Have you had your eye on anyone lately?"
Matthew came out of his trance.
"What?" He chucked. "No, I don't think so."
"Oh c'mon," said Alfred playfully while holding his drink in his hand. "There has to be someone!"
Matthew shrugged his shoulders, smiling lightly. "I've been busy. I'm content with my work and I haven't had time for stuff like that." He turned his head away from Alfred.
Alfred raised his eyebrows, refusing to believe it. "Okay..." he said in a high tone. He left it alone.
"What about you? You fancy someone?" asked Matthew, turning his head to Alfred.
A group of young adults passed by. One of them wearing a Union Jack shirt.
"Well," Alfred stretched his arms in his chair, "there's this girl I see once in awhile. I've never talked to her, but she seems fun."
Matthew cocked his head. "What does she look like?"
"She has brown hair... she likes to wear it in these big pigtails..." He drew with his hands in the air, demonstrating the length of hair.
"Hmph. Reminds me of Seychelles," said Matthew plainly.
"Say-who?"
"You know... " he turned his head to Alfred again sounding surprised, "she has really long brown hair? Really cute?"
Alfred took a sip from his drink. "Where is she from?"
Matthew did a double take. "Where. Do. You. Think?" he said seriously.
Alfred paused, aware he was making a mistake but was unable to figure out what it was. "I... don't know?"
Matthew rolled his eyes and raised his sunglasses so Alfred could see. "Africa?"
"Ooohh, she's from Africa...," said Alfred quietly through his teeth, raising his eyebrows. His sunglasses hiding his eyes.
Matthew rested back in his chair and brought his glasses back down. "You still don't know where in Africa, do you?"
"Oh look! Corn dogs!" Alfred shot up from his seat and ran through the crowd.
"Yup... he doesn't know," said Matthew to himself, bringing his sunglasses back down to cover his eyes.
Boom!
Thousands of people were lit up every few seconds as fireworks exploded above their heads. Hundreds of "oos" and "ahhs" echoed along with each explosion before quickly dispersing as black power fell in the night air.
After nearly seven hours of music, the first day of the music fest had come to an end.
Standing elbow-to-elbow with others around them, Matthew and Alfred stared up at the sky.
The music was gone, but chatter had replaced it. Thousands of people chatted with each other at once, making it difficult to hear someone even though they were right next to you.
As others raised their phones to capture the fireworks on camera, Alfred decided to join as well.
Pulling up Instagram, he quickly gave the picture a caption and pressed the post button.
He waited. No connection.
"Hey Matty!" Alfred yelled, leaning over to his brother who was watching the sky with his hand sun his pockets. Matthew turned to face him. "Does your cell work all the way out here?!"
"Yeah!" Matthew yelled back.
"What the heck.."
Alfred fiddled with his phone but then eventually gave up and decided he could always post the photos when they got back.
"Do you want to get going?!" Matthew yelled into Alfred's ear.
Alfred nodded and they quickly began tearing down their small camp and made their way to the parking lot.
The hotel doors opened and in walked the brothers with their flip flops loudly slapping against the tile floor. A hotel receptionist faintly smiled in their direction as they made their way to the elevator and arrived at their floor.
A click was heard, then the turning of the door knob as the two entered their room, switching on the light.
A mirror in the hallway reflected their light tan from standing out in the sun for most of the day.
"I'm going to take a shower," said Matthew.
Alfred nodded.
Matthew quickly collected some of his things and closed the bathroom door.
Alfred wandered over to one of the large beds and flopped on top of it. He pulled out his phone and tried to post the photo again.
Again, no connection.
He swore he was connected to the hotels WiFi, so why wasn't it working?
He brought his phone very close to his face. His face hardened as he concentrated.
After nearly three minutes, he realized the issue. He had accidentally tabbed 'airplane mode'.
He went back to Instagram and quickly posted several photos of fireworks and pictures of the concert. He traveled to his messenger app, expecting a reply from Francis.
Nothing.
That was strange. Francis usually got back to him within a day.
Perhaps he was angry with him. After all, he was the one who made him go visit Arthur.
Alfred sighed. He didn't like being ignored, but he didn't want to sound too concerned. In fact, he had no reason to be. Arthur never reached out to him anymore. It could be because of a few things. One being, he was swapped with work. Two...
Alfred recalled the night of the argument. It had happened such a long time ago, but the words were still fresh in his head.
"Why should I consider you family?"
Out of all the things that were said that night, that was the one he couldn't quite shake off. There were a lot of things that happened that day, and Alfred had tried his best to fix everything, but Arthur seemed different after that. Like, he wasn't all there.
That's when the cracks started to form, months went by without hearing from him, and soon... years.
Alfred lay there on the cool bedding and listened to the background noise of water shooting out of the shower head.
He changed into his night attire (shorts and a red t-shirt) and wandered back to the bed and got under the covers.
As he lay with his head on the soft, firm pillow, he fought off old memories.
He slowly closed his eyes, knowing he would forget as soon as sleep consumed him...
Several minutes later, Matthew stepped out from the bathroom. He wore red shorts and a long-sleeved red shirt with a white maple leaf on it. His glasses were gone from his face and his hair was curly and wet.
Immediately he spotted Alfred who lay very still on the bed. A sign he was-in fact-asleep.
Matthew quietly placed his clothes in a bag and then turned off the light in the hallway.
He crawled into his bed and lay there for a moment, still thinking about the great music they had listened to that day. He smiled as he remembered the speakers filling up the entire area with harmonic Melodie's, such as when The Eagles would harmonize so well together, it was almost unbelievable.
A couple minutes later, Matthews phone vibrated on the table between their beds.
He reached over and grabbed it.
It was from his boss.
'Have you heard from Francis Bonnevoy?'
Matthew checked the time. It was very unusual to be hearing from his boss at such a late hour.
He quickly responded.
'No. Why?'
He waited.
His phone quickly buzzed again.
'His boss hasn't been able to contact him all day. He was wondering if you had heard from him. Have you?'
Matthew sat with his thoughts. Francis was a social butterfly, so it did worry him a little to hear he wasn't answering any calls.
He began typing.
'I will try calling him now.'
He sent it and waited.
A second later-a thumbs up emoji.
Matthew closed the door behind him and stepped into the hallway.
He wandered out to a window that overlooked the parking lot as he listened to Francis' phone ring.
He waited.
"Hello~! You have reached Francis Bonnevoy! I am either with a client or away from my office, so please leave a short message with your question and a way to contact you! Au revoir~!"
Beep.
"Hi Francis. My boss says your boss has been trying to reach you all day so I wanted to call to check up on you and hopefully get ahold of you." Matthew lightly chuckled. "Well, I hope he can get a hold of you and I hope everything is going well. Au revoir.."
Matthew taped the end call button and wandered back to the hotel room. He didn't always know what to say to the country if he was being completely honest.
Closing the door behind him he made his way back to bed and lay there with his thoughts.
Slowly his eyes closed and he fell into a dream...
...
Matthew woke up in a field. He was small, wearing a white dress. With his curly locks blowing in the summer breeze, he looked up while clutching his bear close to his chest.
A tall figure stood before him. He appeared blurry and colorless.
Matthew stared up at the person, frightened, but tried not to show it.
With bits of tears in his eyes he continued to stare at the figure.
After a moment, the figure slowly got down on one knee. As soon as his knee graced the ground, the field transformed into thousands of flowers. From the bottom up, the figure became more detailed, colored and refined.
Suddenly, a young beautiful man with long, blonde hair dressed in a sky-blue coat, tall, black boots, and a large cap with flowers in it had appeared where the blurry figure had been moments ago.
The man offered his hand to the young Matthew.
Matthew stretched out his little hand and placed it in the mans.
"It's nice to meet you ... Matthew," he said with a smile.