Lillies of Ink

Chapter 1: The First Letter

Meredith Maniwood was sitting alone in her old apartment when the letter slid under the door onto the tile floor. Meredith slothfully got up from her soft red chair and sauntered towards white door. The cat beat her to the note. The Maine Coon cat rushed to the door, eager for something to do. When it saw the letter, it began sniffing at it. It pawed it a couple times before staring at it, waiting for it to do something back. Meredith smiled and gave a quick chuckle before scooping the cat with her left arm and taking the blood red envelope in the other hand.
Her name was written in beautiful calligraphy with golden ink. It was too elegant to be hand written, but it was too extravagant for any computer to construct. She turned the envelope over and found it sealed with a black ribbon. Meredith looked at it with a questionable stare. Who would go through all of the trouble to make such a stunning letter to her? She couldn’t even begin to think of who it would be. She didn’t have any friends to speak of. She sighed, flustered and sat back down on her chair. She released her cat and let it jump up onto the arm of the large velvet chair.
Meredith slowly pulled the ribbon out of the slots. She carefully removed the contents of the envelope and opened the card. To her greatest surprise, the card began speaking to her. She remembered that these card makers she had met in London made special computer chips that allowed someone to record anything they wanted. It reminded her of the singing holiday cards she used to get from her ex-husband, Colin, while they were still married. The voice speaking to her was one she had never heard before. It was a man with a smooth voice that seemed to calm her with every word. She could faintly make out an almost hypnotic musical tone in the background. It was clear that he was playing a lullaby when he recorded this.
“Hello, Meredith,” the voice said. “You don’t know me yet, but soon you will. I have seen you at work and I was wondering if you were going to the employee retreat up at Bluebirds Peak. I guess I am inviting you on a date with me. What do you think? Put your response in a bottle and fill it with rocks so it will sink to the bottom of Plankton Harbor. Thank you for listening.”
Suddenly the music hit its ending chord and the chip shut off. Meredith was staring at the chip in awe, not knowing what to say. She wasn’t sure that she knew this man, but she though it was safe to assume that whoever it was, worked with her. How did she not recognize the voice? She trudged through memories of work but she couldn’t place it. She could find any trace of whoever this person was.
Reluctantly, she tossed the card into the trash bin. She would go to work tomorrow and listen for the voice of the faceless man.