94 Rhys
94
Rhys
I moved heaven and earth to get that number. I dialed it and walked back and forth in the living room of my home in Ibiza, staring at the sea. The morning sun glowed through the windows and reflected off the water of the pool in the garden. The place was idyllic, perfect, but never in my life had I felt so alone, even surrounded by all those people: new friends who idolized me, girls I didn’t even have to try with, hangers-on who didn’t know me…
I turned back around when I heard someone pick up.
“Yeah?” a hoarse voice said.
“Axel Nguyen?” I asked.
“Yeah. Who am I speaking with?”
“Rhys Baker. I don’t know if you remember me. I was living in Byron Bay a few years ago, and you did the illustration for a single that…”
“I know who you are. Long time, no hear.”
“I need to talk to you about a couple of things.”
“It’s a good time. Shoot.”
“The first thing’s a proposal; the second’s a favor.” I bit my thumb, uncertain, knowing what I had in mind was crazy.
He giggled. “A proposal sounds better than a favor. Let’s start with that.”
“I’ve got another album coming out soon. I don’t know if you know, but things have gone well for me since my single came out. Very well, in fact. I’ve been talking with the producer, and we want you to do the cover. I have something pretty clear in mind. I can pay. Just name your price if you’re up for it.”
“Sounds promising. What’s the favor?”
I ran my hand through my hair and took a breath. “Remember where I used to live? On the same road as you, which leads out of town. House number fourteen. I was renting there. Well, I left something. I mean, after I left, a package arrived, and I never got it.”
“You’re kidding, right? You want me to go look for it?”
“I’d like you to go to that house, ring the doorbell, and if anyone’s living there, ask them about it, in case whoever came after me got it…”
Silence. A pause. He was thinking, I supposed. “What’s in the package?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean, you don’t know?”
“It was a birthday present.”
“Why’s it so important after all these years?”
“Axel, shit…” I was losing my patience. “It was a birthday gift, okay? From a girl. Someone special. When I met you to talk about the cover, you told me something. You said…we all have an anchor, maybe a person, maybe a place, maybe something else. Well, she’s my anchor.”
Axel sighed and dug his finger into the wound. “You can’t ask the girl who gave it to you?”
“I didn’t understand until it was too late.”
“I’ll go look for it. I’ll give you a call in a couple of days.”
He hung up. I stood there a few seconds longer clutching the phone to my ear, the sun soaking that empty living room, and I felt paralyzed when I saw my mom had called while I was talking, and I wasn’t sure I could call back. I took a deep breath. Tried to calm down. I really did.
I turned on the stereo and heard “Without You.” I lay on the wooden floor, feeling my chest rising and falling with every breath. After that came “Levels,” and then “Something Like This.” Every song took me away from the noise, from myself.