He'd never really understood Virgil's reliance on music before. Sure he liked it, much as the next person, but now he got it.
That need to drown out the rest of the world in the beat of something fast and loud.
To shake loose every thought with a bass you could feel.
And now he mourned anew for his brother's confinement to a silent world.
Virgil had gotten Kayo to bring along his phone and pair of headphones. He'd picked out some music and told Scott to listen. What it was, he had no idea—he didn't ask. He'd simply enjoyed the noise, listening with new appreciation. This was how they'd spent the next hour or something, Scott listening to his brother's favourites. In some ways, he thought maybe he was listening for him, the closest Virgil could get now.
Would it be too much to ask to borrow it? To drown out that silence the gnawed at him through the night?
'Keep it,' Virgil said as the nurse arrived to collect him. 'Get some sleep, Scott.'
He reached out, resting his hand on his brother's leg for a moment.
He was forgetting.
He was forgetting what he looked like, what he looked like.
'Scott?'
'Yeah, I'll be back tomorrow.'
'Sure.' There was a forced smile to those words.