"Are you serious?" Candice asked again, still eyeing Red's visiting card.
"Yup, that guy just handed me his card out of nowhere. Now, I can at least get his writer friend to shoot an episode with us." Silver walked back and forth, biting her nails in nervousness.
Tracy wanted the details of the remaining two artists with the signed agreement in two days. Silver reached home late at night. She thought calling Red Clifton late at night would be too awkward. She wanted the morning to arrive quickly so that she could talk to him and meet his friend.
"Red Clifton, now that's a nice name, don't you think, Silver?" Candice scrolled through her Facebook page. "What does he look like? I bet he is gorgeous."
"Just because his name his Red that doesn't makes him gorgeous."
"Then how does he look?"
Silver stared her feet. "I didn't know. I didn't get a good look at his face. I was too busy trying to talk to that old man."
Candice read the name once again and began typing it on her laptop. She clicked, hoping to get a hint about who Red Clifton really was. "Hey, have a look at it, Silver." she called.
Silver stopped and went rushing towards Candice. Leaning forward, she adjust her eyes to the increased brightness of the screen. "Found something? I hope he is not some kind of criminal or something."
"You are in luck because he isn't. His full name is Red T Clifton. I wonder what T stands for. He must be something nice."
"Moving forward now, please."
Candice scrolled down and opened a link. It was a website by the name of Red Clifton. The website was filled with his interviews, videos, quotes. There was five videos with the title 'Book reading sessions.' Other videos titled 'Book Signing' and 'Tips' were also there.
"Oh my God! How can you forget to tell me that he is a published author, too?" Candice asked, opening one of the videos.
"He didn't tell me. I thought he was just an agent. He doesn't looks like a writer, you know. He is- is ordinary."
"Yeah, sure. You will call him ordinary, but he isn't," Candice smiled on watching the pictures of him. "And, he is gorgeous. He is like 6 feet tall, and those little brown eyes."
Silver was busy in reading articles on the website. Something didn't feel right. She wondered why the guy didn't tell her the truth. He mentioned his writer friend but why didn't he mention about him being a writer. If she knew that earlier, she would have been relieved sooner. She had to get two people on the show and now she had them.
"Hey, do you see that? He has dimples, too. Can you please take me with you the next time you meet him?" Candice crossed her fingers.
"It's late. You should sleep now. You have to submit that report online, remember?"
Candice's face turned sad as she remembered about her work commitment. "Yeah, I have to get up at 7 in the morning. I'll sleep now." she got up, pulling the chair back with her. "What about you?"
"I have some work to do."
"Okay, good night. Happy stalking." Candice smiled.
"I'm not gonna stalk him."
"Yeah, sure."
Silver waited for her to go up to her room. After hearing Candice closing the door of her bedroom, she began checking the website carefully. Red Clifton was an author of the popular two part book series, The Sun. She remembered Dave mentioning the name of the book a few times. Dave recommended her the book, he even landed the first part to her, but she never got the time to actually read it.
She Googled the name of the book, reading the synopsis and review of the books. The sales figures indicated that the books were a big hit. It was story about a guy and his journey to self- discovery.
"Everything seems great. What is he hiding?" she thought.
Silver opened her purse to take out her phone. She wanted to leave a message to Dave about her meeting with Red. She checked the time, it was 1.15 AM. She knew Dave must still be awake, watching the marathon of some stupid show. She put her hand inside the purse, her phone was hiding behind a neon folder. She moved her fingers, she caught the phone and pulled it out. She heard something dropping on the floor. It was the small turtle she took from Jordy. She picked it up and examined it. She opened the head of the turtle. It was a pendrive.
"Oh, Jordy. Where did you steal it from?"
Silver opened the drive on Candice's laptop. She opened the folder. She was surprised to see a 200 page long manuscript inside the folder. She opened it and began reading it. The title of the book 'The Horrific Life.' Just below it was the name of the writer, T. Clifton was written.
Silver was left speechless.
"It belong to Red."
She stared reading the first chapter. It was 3.15 and she was only on the sixth chapter. Silver couldn't keep her eyes open anymore. Her eye lids felt heavy, she decided to take a nap on the table. She put her head down and closed her eyes.
"Wake up, Silver. It's me." a friendly voice came, calling her.
"You shouldn't sleep like this. You are going to hurt your back. Wake up, Silver."
Silver could hear a sound, but she wasn't sure whether the voice belonged to an actual person or she was just dreaming. She felt an enormous amount of pain in both her neck and back when she turned to her left.
"I told you, Silver. Wake up now, sleepy head." She heard the voice again.
She slowly opened her eyes, dark swirl patterns moving in front of her eyes. "Who is it?"
"Silver, don't you remember me? I'm here now. Wake me. I'm here to see you."
Silver woke up, she jumped from the chair. She scanned the living room. She could see no one.
"Silver, I'm here." The voice came from the direction of the windows.
She went near the windows. A popping sound came from the with as the rain hit the glass. She opened the windows to smell the air. Water sprinkling on her face, she took a deep breath, inhaling the fresh and cool air.
Extending her arm to let the water droplets feel on her palm, she closed her eyes.
"Silver!"
The voice came again and she felt somebody touching her palm. She backed away from the window. "Who is it?"
She walked backwards, controlling her uneven breath. She walked back, bumping into the couch and table. "Who is it?" She said, meekly.
The sound of thunder came from outside, filling terror in her heart.
"Silver, I'm here. Why are you scared? Don't you remember me?" the voice said.
The voice was crisp and clear, like it was following her. She try concentrating on the voice.
"Who are you? Where are you?"
She was ready to pay more attention to the voice. She tucked her hair behind her ear and leaned in the direction where the voice last came from.
"You don't recognise my voice? I'm sad, Silver."
The name 'Aaron' left her mouth on hearing the voice.
"Aaron? Is that you? Are you here? How did you get inside? Is this some kind of joke, Candice? Stop it, I'm scared, okay? Just stop it." she kept walking backwards, slowly reaching towards the staircase.
"It's not a joke," She felt the cold and wet lips on her left ear. "I'm here, Silver. I'm here to get you."
Silver woke up on the chair in a jolt. It pained her to move her body. She looked around, it was morning. She checked the time in her phone, it was 8. She ran towards the windows. Everything was warm and dry.
"It's so warm now." she said.
"It's always warm this time of the day, Silver." Candice stood at the top of the stairs in her blue bathrobe. "I hate the weather."
"The temperature was low because it rained last night." Silver said.
Candice yawned. "What? No, it was so goddamn humid. I was up until 4."
"But it did. I saw it myself. I went to the windows and-and."
"Why did you went near the windows?"
"Because I-I heard..." She paused.
"Heard what?"
Silver stared at the windows. "Nothing."
A/N: A voice of her long lost love. What does it means?