‘Sometimes, Eleanor, she doesn’t,’ he said, sweating.
Eleanor looked at Vincent but this time, shesawhim too.She noticed the warmth in his eyes and her heart softened.
‘But,’ she said, ‘I am glad you’ll find each other again this side of life.I’m… I’m glad she’ll finally get what she wanted.’Eleanor shrugged.
‘So am I.’
At her words a gust of wind whipped up the snow on the floor.The snow spiraled into a small hurricane, then unravelled and straightened into a thin line.It swirled its way to the far side of the room where a black hole had appeared.Vincent thought maybe his brain was playing tricks on him but he was certain he could hear the steady rhythm of trains barrelling past on their tracks.
‘I think that’s your cue,’ Eleanor said without looking at the tunnel.She knew it wasn’t for her.‘She’s probably waiting.’
‘She won’t be for much longer,’ Vincent said as the snow twisted around his legs, rope-like, and started to pull him towards the black hole.Just as he found the courage to move forward, Eleanor snatched his hand.
‘Tell her… I’m sorry, will you?’
Vincent wondered if she really meant it but when he looked down at her in her armchair, he noticed to his surprise her eyes had turned blue and he nodded.Then he let the snow carry him into the tunnel and he was encompassed by darkness again.
4
Evie’s Song
Reaching solid ground Vincent started walking and continued for what seemed like miles.He could feel the floor under his boots turn from carpet to hard, tiled floor.A light up ahead started to materialise and the snow became more frantic the closer he got.It was only when he was close enough to make out the platform signs of a familiar train station in the distance that the snow stopped abruptly in the air, frozen in place.Vincent waved his hand against it like he was opening a curtain and the snow that touched his palm fell away.The snow had been its own entity, keeping him company on the long walk and now it was inanimate, he felt a sense of loneliness in the last few minutes it took to reach the train station.
Vincent found himself in front of the old busking spot he’d occupied for many years.It was the place he’d earned his rent money (barely), the place he’d done his thinking and most importantly, the place he had first mether.Vincent could remember exactly how Evie had looked when he’d opened his eyes and seen her standing in front of him for the first time.Her face was so round and all her features were so big, just as she’d drawn them in the picture she’d left in his case the day before.He thought she’d been exaggerating and was, perhaps, being funny but really, she’d been quite accurate.But it wasn’t really the way she looked that had got his attention.It was hertwinkle.Although he thought Evie was pretty, had she not had that spark, he wouldn’t have been half as interested.It was the life in her eyes when she talked about things she loved and the slight twitch of her lips when she knew she shouldn’t be smiling.Evie Snow looked like she was laughing even when she wasn’t and when he woke up to her still-dreaming face, he had said it was like waking up with sunshine.It was that very twinkle that Vincent fell in love with because he’d never seen anyone wear it as well as she did.
Vincent’s black violin was in its case in his usual spot.Gently, he crouched, lifted it onto his lap and flipped the latches.Holding his violin again was something he was sure he wouldn’t be able to do now that he was dead.A tear ran down his cheek as he pressed his chin into the rest and the bow gently touched the strings.As he played the first long note, an icy air brushed across his closed eyelids.He stopped playing, opened his eyes and noticed there was fresh snow settling by his feet.He played one staccato note, this time watching as the snow jumped at the sound.He played a few more stabs and the snowflakes danced.Vincent laughed and played another long note.The snow lifted into the air but this time Vincent kept playing.Each beautiful, heartfelt note had the snowflakes twirling and dancing, and carefully they came together to form a river of snow once more.
Vincent watched in awe as he played, though faltered in panic as the snow found its way under his feet and began to lift him.He tried to move out of its way but it was far stronger than he was expecting and he was no match for it.The snow wrapped around his legs and when he was three inches, four inches, five inches off the ground, he stopped resisting.Vincent closed his eyes, gave in to the snow, and simply played.Slowly, he was carried through the station.The more love he put into the melodies, the faster he floated.
Vincent was playing a beautiful tune he’d written a long time ago, for Evie.A waltz he’d never had the chance to play for her or dance with her to.The song stirred and excited the snow and it carried him up the steps of the station and out into the world, past houses and bridges and the place they shared their first kiss.Vincent’s bow glided across the strings and he let himself laugh as he felt himself getting lighter and lighter.The snowflakes were taking every ounce of his weight; he felt like he was flying.He spun through the icy air and wherever he placed his feet, the snow found him and never let him fall.More and more snow fell and joined in his dance until he was in the centre of a blizzard and had he opened his eyes, he wouldn’t have been able to see his own violin.
Vincent was playing the last few bars of his song.He opened his eyes momentarily and through his eyelashes he saw the balcony of Evie’s flat at the end of the lane.His song had been carrying him right to her and now that she was within reach, he squeezed his eyes shut tightly and played harder than ever before.Although his fingers were numb and his skin was red raw, he had to see her, if only for a moment.He felt himself spiral up and up, seven stories high, the snow guiding his feet up invisible steps.As Vincent ran his bow over the strings for the last time, the snow calmed, lowered him gently downwards and on the final note, his feet touched the stone paving of the balcony floor.He opened his eyes and looked over the railings to see every inch of the street below covered in a crisp, freshly fallen, white blanket.Everything appeared to be frozen, blissfully still.
Evie’s flat had never officially been his home.He’d only ever stayed over for days at a time and their story hadn’t even lasted a year, but it was the place he had always felt he belonged the most.Wherever Evie was felt like home to him.Vincent felt a chill in his bones, partly from the wintery scene below him, but mostly because this was the last place he’d seen Evie.It was on this very spot on the balcony where she had told him it had to end.He could hear her voice in his head like it was yesterday.
‘Eddie snuck out in the early hours of the morning the other night and he came here.We talked and he admitted to me…well, he told me was gay.I’ve sort of known for years but it was the first time he actually said the words to me.He wants to tell Mother and Father the truth, but when he does…’Eviepaused, ‘Mother will throw him out.He’ll be alone, so I need to take care of him.’
‘Right.’Vincent had said.
‘If we run away, if I’m not there to help him, he’ll carry on pretending he’s something he’s not because he’ll have nowhere else to go.He can’t live like that.If I stay, I’ll have to marry Jim…but that means I could look after Eddie.I could give him a place to stay and the life he deserves, and Mother would never have to know.’
Vincent had listened in silence and wondered when something so simple had turned into something so impossible.He’d cursed the universe for years for dealing him a hand in which the only woman he’d ever wanted to give his heart to had found herself in a situation where choosing Vincent was a risk she couldn’t take.In almost every way they had been a perfect match and yet they’d missed out on their happy ending.Vincent wondered how many people got the chance he was being given now, the chance to be with the one that got away.How many couples miss their chance in life but find themselves together in a world beyond the living?Vincent silently wished them all happy final adventures together, wherever they were.
Vincent turned to the balcony doors and went to twist the handle but it stuck in his hand.He rattled it but it wouldn’t budge.
‘What more do I have to prove?’He sighed, leaning his head against the glass pane.‘I’ve fought for you, Evie.I’ve pushed against hurricanes.I’ve controlled my temper and used words instead of fists.I’ve stood up to your terrifyingly unstable mother and I’ve played until my fingers were numb.’He caught himself before a sob could escape.‘What more can I do for you, Evie?Tell me and I’ll do it.’
‘It’s not always about you, you whiny git!’a voice from below yelled, cracking the stillness of the snow.Vincent knew that voice but it sounded much younger than he’d ever heard it before.He turned to the railings and leant over to see a teenage boy with ruffled blond hair, gangly limbs and drumsticks hanging out of his back pocket.
‘Sonny?’Vincent’s breath caught in his throat.Sonny Shine had drunk himself into an early grave around the age of fifty-four and although Vincent had warned him a thousand times and his death hadn’t come as much of a surprise, Vincent’s heart had still broken when he heard of Sonny’s passing.He was the only real friend he’d ever had, the kind of friend you love like a brother, even though they irritate you all the time.
‘It’s Edgar, actually.’Young Sonny smiled sheepishly.
‘Edgar?You always hated that name.You said you’d kill me if I ever told anyone that time I saw it on your driving licence.Remember?When they confiscated it because you hadn’t paid your many,manyparking fines?’Vincent shook his head, remembering the various scrapes Sonny had got them both into.
‘Yeah, I know, but I’m fourteen here.Before Sonny Shine even existed.Before things got… y’know… shit.’
‘Hey.You’re fourteen.You can’t say shit – I mean, stuff like that.’Vincent laughed at the strangeness of seeing someone he knew so well so young and innocent.Sonny hadn’t been innocent in any way; Edgar seemed to be.
