“How long has it been again? Weeks? Months?” Lyam often asked himself during his conversations with Red, not remembering when they first started talking. The detective would think of the good times he would have with the therapist, finding it sweet to hear her voice at the end of the day. He would talk about not only his job, but also his day, the traffic, the weird people he encountered, his lunch and how much of a disappointment it was.

As the conversations went on, he would sometimes stop himself, realizing that he had been rambling on for hours on end, never running out of topics to speak of. “Hey, um… Sorry, Red.” He would begin to apologize to the therapist on the other side of the phone. “I know all this talk about work and crime ain’t your thing, and I’ve been going on and on for quite a while now. I haven’t even asked about your thoughts on any of it.” 

“What makes you think I don’t like these topics? I find your work quite fascinating, to be honest.” Red replied, leaving Lyam surprised by the response. So much so, the bird mildly dropped his mandible.

“I mean, I just assume that-” The heron shook his head as he tried to push the words in his mind off of the tip of his bill. “Well, most of the time, girls don’t really like listening to this type of conversation, you know? It’s usually me and the boys, but…” He was reminded of Wilson, who was one of the most reliable co-workers on the police force, someone that was willing to help him out on almost anything, and call him out when he took things too far. He was a good friend, that storm petrel. “Police work is not something you can just freely talk about, you know?” He eventually finished his sentence after a few seconds of silence. 

“I understand… Well, don’t worry, all of this is safe with me.” She explained, making him feel confident in his decision to talk to her more openly. She had proven time and time again that no secrets get out.

“A-anyways, speak up if I bore you too much, you hear? Don’t be shy to let me know if you’ve got better things to do.” Lyam said, trying his best to be chivalrous about it. The doctor did a lot to help him with his cases as well as his emotions for quite some time. 

There were times the heron wished he could repay her somehow for all the help, but it was difficult to do something for someone that was only known over the phone. Gift-giving wasn’t an option, even if he had an idea of what hens like for presents; he didn’t want to ask where Red lived and invade her privacy. He feared that if he did, she would cease to speak with him again and he would revert back to his old miserable and lonely self again. 

“Of course I will, what you tell me is anything but a bore.” The therapist said, her tone suggested that there was happiness in her words.

Lyam unconsciously nodded at her reply. “Hey, Red, you still have time to hear me talk about a specific case? I kind of want to think out loud right now, it helps me organize my thoughts." 

“Take all the time you need, I am here to listen.” Red replied, her voice was warm as always, which always made the heron happy. 

Lyam let the thoughts flow, with his mouth trying to keep up with his mind. While the chatting went on, he was able to do some much needed organization in the office space. Around his desk, cardboard boxes still littered the floor. Some laid half-empty with bits of the contents organized in drawers, or hung up on the board, depending on their importance. He did his best to tidy up the room as the conversation went on. The heron had been putting it on the backburner since he had moved into the rented space. After weeks of this office being open, he finally decided to decorate the place.

“Ahhh, I need to get some cabinets. These files can’t be sitting on the floor all day long!” The heron groaned, realizing that he had to put the boxes back down after just picking them up to look for a place to put them. He temporarily stacked it up on his table, wanting to get the floor cleared, swept and mopped first. 

The detective then grabbed the broom and started to push debris on the ground into piles. “This is easy, Pasha makes it sound like a chore!” He said as more piles started to form, and it was only moments later did he start to complain. “All of this just to keep the floor clean!” The bird swiftly pulled out a bucket and mop, wetting the surface, and became delighted in seeing it shine. 

While the floor dried, Lyam rushed out to get some furniture. There wasn’t much he could spend, so he had to take his pick in the second-hand stores. He couldn’t even afford to have them delivered, so he dragged the waist high metal cabinet and the two single seater sofa chairs back to the building, up the stairs and into the office. “I’m not done here.” He wheezed and huffed, almost out of breath. “Red, you still there?” He quickly picked up the phone to call out to the psychologist, still panting his lungs out. 

“Y-Yes I am, Lyam. Whatever you are moving sounds awfully heavy.” the doctor replied, sounding worried about the bird’s condition. 

“I think this would be a good place, right? Wait, no no. A bit to the left.” The detective kept asking the doctor, though she couldn’t give her own opinion on the matter. The phone was set down on the table as he moved around the office, away from the heron’s ear. The bird spent hours shifting boxes and furniture, all while he rambled loudly towards the receiver about a recently acquired case and the ridiculousness of it. 

Once satisfied with how the seating area looked, Lyam snuggled up onto one of the sofas and let out a big satisfying sigh. He looked round the office, happy with how he decorated it. Some people might disagree with his layout, but he was still proud of himself, since he was the one that put all this together on his own. 

The office wasn’t big. An eleven by eleven foot space. The door opens up, and immediately, you see the whole room. The file cabinet, the desk and seat where all the work is done are grouped in the back of the room, with the window behind it, shining the afternoon sunlight directly onto the desk. It was placed that way, because Lyam wanted a way to quickly glance out to the night view of the city whenever he needed a quick break. On the desk was a simple lamp, and a projector that was facing the white empty wall located to the right of the entrance. And in front of the desk, were the two sofa seats that he purchased. For him and the client, whenever he needs to sit them down and go over the facts. There was a coffee table that was supposed to go between the sofas, something he plans to get the next time his bank account allows it. 

 After propping up the projector to shine the light on the clean wall, he plopped down one of the seats. “Alrighty-tidy, so!” He sounded comfortable, sunken into the soft sofa chair. He then grabbed the phone and placed it near his ear. “Let’s get back to work.” He huffed, and turned his head to the window. The sun was visibly setting, the day was coming to an end. And yet, due to his workaholic nature, he found himself unable to stop working, unable to feel deserving of a break. Not when there are still people out there hurting others. Not when the Royal Owls are going unpunished. 

Grabbing the case file folders, he began to mumble a bit while flipping through them. “Ms. Bathory’s; her dishware are going missing, piece by piece, and she suspects the neighborhood kids. Mr. Sarkroot’s tea set is incomplete and suspects a thief amongst the staff,” Lyam started to get his mind back to work, listing out the cases that still needed to be solved. “and Ms. Sealring is missing one of her…” Gowns. He didn’t say it out loud, but it did lead him to think about feminine figures. 

Red was still in the call, making her presence known with a few comments here and there while Lyam spoke of the methods he’d use to crack the cases. While speaking, he couldn’t help to imagine Red as a cute little sparrow, like Maggie Berrybush, sitting on the other side of the sofa. 

“Say, I don’t mean to be rude, Red…” the detective then spoke up, shifting a bit awkwardly in his seat, thinking of ways to politely ask this rather personal question. “But-...W-What do you look like?”  

“W-Well… I have black hair and pink eyes. Oh! I wear glasses, though I actually don’t need them.” The therapist described.

Lyam stretched out his neck and tilted his head. “Hair? What kind of a bird-” He asked, utterly confused by what he was hearing.“And… P-pink eyes? Glasses, but you don’t need them? Why disguise yourself as a handicap?” 

“Oh no, I just like the look of them. I just…hmm.” Red paused for a moment, seemingly pondering something. “Maybe this can help…” When she said that, what looked to be an inkblot appeared where the projector was displaying. The wall was casting a liquidy shadow that was growing and forming shape as it spread. As time went on, the blot slowly transformed into a more solid figure. The silhouette was small with an oddly shaped bust, and a body shape that did not resemble any bird.

At first, Lyam only caught the shadow forming in the corner of his eye and thought it was a client walking in. But when he saw that was happening to the projector light, he was alarmed. “Woah woah woah!” He jumped from his chair, climbed up the front rest and took cover behind the sofa, getting his own shadow away out of the light. A million questions and theories came and went in his mind as he felt his whole body tense up. His feathers were standing on its ends. His neck was tugged as low as it could from the fear he was feeling. “Hold on! Stop what you’re doing!” He threatened, pointing at the shadow on the wall. Lyam instinctively raised his head, angling the tip of his beak towards the ceiling while flinching his arms out. In doing so the heron lost his balance on the chair, tumbling backwards. “What are you trying to do?!” Lyam squawked, poking his head out from behind the chair. 

For all he knew, this could be a demon, a devil, a curse, a ghost, an evil spirit of some kind from an unknown foreign land. He had never seen Red before, and she always seemed to appear on his phone line without the need to dial any number. The detective’s mind was racing. He tried hard to think back about the first time he had heard the doctor's voice, but it was rather blurry. All he could remember was that it was late at night after a drink. 

“S-Sorry, I know I should have warned you. This is a little trick that I learned from a friend.” The silhouette  rested her head on her hand. “For now, this is the only influence I have here in this world.”

“Influence…?” Lyam peeked out a bit more from behind the sofa. “So… You’re a ghost? Like the ones in Poultrgeist? And you’ve been…” He then looked at the red phone in his hand. “Haunting my….” He didn’t finish his sentence. Despite Red revealing herself to be something other-worldly, she was still a lady, and he didn’t want to be rude to her. 

“I’m not haunting you… One can say that I am not from this place, but I want to help you nonetheless.” Red said with caution, doing her best to explain. “Though I may be far away, this is the best I can do, given the circumstances.”

Lyam slowly came out from behind his chair, doubting if this is all Red could, for lack of a better word, materialize… A voice and a shadow. He stared at the silhouette on the wall as it moved, and pondered it in millions of ways. Most of them were questions and doubts, concerns and curiosity. Red is correct on the ‘helping’ bit, and she never did anything to harm or sabotage him or his cases. 

“So…. where do you go when I fall asleep?” The detective looked around his office as a question came clearer into his mind. “Do you … watch me sleep?” He had an uncomfortable expression, dipping his beak down and curling his neck in, just thinking about it. 

“N-No, of course not. Once we are done, I return and go on with my day, but when you need me, I answer the call.” Red responded, feeling uncomfortable at the thought of it.

Lyam slowly crawled back into his seat, taking in what the doctor just said. Though he was trying to fight his instincts of being spooked by loosening his neck and patting down the puffed feathers in the presence of a ghost, he still looked at the shadow projected on the wall, nonetheless. It was only chivalrous for him to look at her while having this conversation. Sinking into his seat, he attempted a closer look at Red’s form and found himself utterly confused at what he was looking at.