“Red, my little sweetums, my cherry pie!” Lyam exclaimed as he bursted into his office after a morning’s work. Very swiftly, he picked up the phone and put it to his ear. “Are you there?” He asked, excited as ever after a week of nothing but progress. 

“Always.” Red replied right away, a little taken aback by the urgency and excitement coming from the heron. “What can I do for you?” The voice said delightfully.

“Stay on the line, I’m going to make some coffee!” The detective lifted up the entire phone and walked across the office, pulling the cable as he did. 

“Coffee?” The therapist repeated to confirm what she heard. She knew it was a normal drink to have in the morning, but she’s never heard Lyam mention it before. Then again, the only drink the heron has spoken of so far was alcohol. To see the avian preferring something different to drink was a nice change of pace. 

“Even better! Espresso!” Lyam happily declared while he tucked the phone in between the curves of his neck, freeing one hand for him to prepare his beverage.

It took less than five minutes for the detective to start feeling the effects of the espresso, and even less time for the heron to be filled to the brim with thoughts and ideas, and he rambled about everything on his mind. 

 “So then I says to them, I says ‘Martin, you better not fuck up my car!” The man yelled as he stood on the seat of the sofa chair, neck extended high, beak wide open, and waving his fist. “But he did it anyway, that fucking bum! He couldn’t afford to wreck my car, but here we are. It’s been months, and he still owes me a brand new car. Hey-”

He then jumps down from his seat and grabs the other sofa, dragging it in front of the projector’s light, revealing a shadow of the therapist. “You want to hear about the time I wrecked my own car?” He chattered his beak excitingly, eyes dazzling in parallel to his morning mood. 

“W-Wrecked your car?” Red said with hands up to her mouth and concern in her voice, “Is it supposed to be a funny story?”

The heron had let out a heartfelt laugh as he responded, his words being jumbled in the mix. “Of course! I wouldn’t want to tell you some boring tale. You see, what had happened was- “ Red leaned forward on the front rest and laid her head on it, listening closely as the story unfolded, and the two would laugh at the conclusion. Her questions only added to the length of the tale as it all became more elaborate.

One story followed another; coffee was brewed, pot after pot. Once the bird ran out of stories to tell, he realized that the morning hours were long gone and the sky was set ablaze with the coming of dusk. He forced himself to stop rambling about silly incidents, because he wanted to speak about his cases, the more serious ones. “I’ve made progress.” He said, the tone in Lyam’s voice grew lower just as the sun dipped towards the horizon. 

“That case. The Royal Owls one. I got more people mentioning that name, ‘Sive Thornia’.” Lyam explained, excited to share this news; he sounded like a predator, ready to pounce on the prey as soon as it let its guard down. “Sooner or later, I will get some evidence to lock him up for good! I got him by his tail feathers this time! Mark my words!” He enthusiastically exclaimed, with his fist shaking in the air. With a grunted sigh, he released the tension keeping his talons balled up.  “Just a bit more, then it is over.”

He looked over the rest of the cases he had. Though they were small, they were still important. “In fact, I have been on the roll this whole week! I solved several cases, and now I have several more who are looking to hire me! Some of the witnesses even said I was delightful to talk to! Me! Ha, who would have thought that would ever happen! Me, delightful?”

“You seem to be liking this change in pace, it is nice to hear that people are becoming more friendly towards you with these cases.” Red stated with delight in her tone, “If you keep this up, I am sure things will be settled in no time.”

“Yeah, yeah!” Lyam chuckled, happy about his recent improvement when it came to interacting with others, but his uplifting tone shifted into a more reserved one as another mystery came into his thoughts. “Say, uh… by the way…” Lyam pulled on the edge of his collar and cleared his throat. Clearly he was feeling awkward about what he planned to bring up. “I want to ask more about your um…. You know...” 

The detective had been wanting to find a good opportunity to bring this topic up since Red revealed her silhouette on the wall, but he never found the ‘right time’ to do so. Now that he seized his chance, he just straight up asked: “You’re a ghost, right? So like… H-How did you… Die?” It was a sensitive question, and the heron didn’t want to push too far. “Feel free to just… Not answer if you don’t want to.” 

The concept of Red being this ghost that roams around the world, searching for people to help make his mind turn. He wondered if he would end up the same when his time comes, or will he end up in some heavenly place, as the religions say. He was curious, but he was also scared. Scared of death, the afterlife, of the uncertainty of it all. 

There was a pause from both of them as they were submerged in the silence. The longer it went on, the more Lyam felt like he should apologize. When he was about to speak up, Red began to talk: “In a way, you can see me as such… But, I am not here to haunt you.” She clarified again, “I am here to help you, and I hope I am doing a good job.” An embarrassed laugh can be heard from the phone before a small sigh was let out. “You have told me your story, would you like to hear mine?”

“Well, of course!” Lyam said right away, but then curled up as he got bashful. “I- um… I see you as a friend and…” His eyes shifted to the side, trying to avoid looking at the shadow filled sofa seat that Red occupied. “I know that’s unprofessional, you being a doctor and all. What I meant to say is that I trust you enough and I love y- I would like to get to know you. Your story. I-If you want.” Lyam pressed the side of his beak to his left shoulder, as his tail began to sway with fever. Feeling light as the words came out, yet heavy in his heart at what he said. It was a relief for him to speak his true thoughts, but he was soon saddened as he realized his mistake. Being a married bird and imagining Red as this small sparrow, didn’t help this growing pressure.

Lyam grasped at the notion in his mind, trying to make sense of how he developed feelings for the therapist. He loved Pasha, no question about it. And he knows that she loved him back. But perhaps his wife never showed the kind of support for him when he needed to rant. Perhaps he was tired of feeling stupid in front of her, being interrupted mid-rant, and told to blindly believe her words. Meanwhile, Red does the exact opposite. She gave him time to think, to breath, to speak, and then self-correct. So far, it seemed that the latter has a more positive result than anything; because he felt seen, he felt like he mattered. 

“I-I umm...” Red did her best to dance around what Lyam accidentally said, “When I got my doctorate, I went into clinical psychology as soon as possible. Though my patients didn’t always take my advice due to my age, I still tried to help nonetheless. Those who did take it, often came back regularly.” The woman started to explain, and her voice started to shift to a more sadder tone as her head started to droop, gazing towards the ground. 

“One day I had a patient come in distressed. After a good talk and some advice, they went home happy… I then learned she committed suicide a week later.” A heavy weight was felt through the line as she said the last sentence. “My work took a toll as I started to see myself unfit to be a therapist, and so did my clients at the time. After many sleepless days, I had an unfortunate accident, leading to…” Red didn’t finish her sentence. There was no need, the empty words were enough for Lyam to understand the final outcome. Though it didn’t stop him from trying to find a way to comfort her.

Before Lyam could get a consoling word in, the therapist’s voice perked back up, “But-” Confused yet intrigued by her change of tone, the heron slowly began outstretching his neck. “I was then taken to some place where I got to prove myself. I’ve met some amazing friends, and now I get to help people again.” Her voice started to resonate with glee. “This is the part of the job that I love.”

As Lyam listened to the woman speak, he became silent and reserved; uncomfortable, even. “Hey, uh… Red.” He called out to her. “Listen… You’re a nice gal, and I’m sure your ghost friends are great… But… I don’t want any of them to come visit me. One ghost is enough. Alrighty?”

“Of course,” Red said with a chuckle, “I promise none of my friends will come and visit.”

“Thank you.” The heron stretched a bit and got up from his chair, only to crash down on the bare nest in the corner of the room behind his desk. “Hey, Red…” He called out to the therapist once more, but left the phone at his seat. “Stupid idea here, but… Stay with me till I fall asleep?” 

In the moment, he didn’t want to think about how childish and dependent he sounded, and just wanted to feel safe enough to feel happy and satisfied with his day. He even left the projector on, and the last thing that he saw was Red’s shadow on the wall before he slipped into slumber.