Chapter Six

Sunny agrees to bring Remy back to her house where she leaves him to nap while she goes to work.

When I look back on the days that I spent with Sunny Skye, I find that some details are blurry. After all that’s happened, I can assume that there are good reasons for it, but I’ve always thought of my memory as one of the most important things I could possibly possess, and so it pains me to think that there are some things that I don’t remember well.

I can no longer recall how our breakfast tasted, or even how my portrait of Sunny looked. I don’t remember much of what we talked about as we ate, or even if we finished all of our breakfast.

But one thing I do remember above all was how she smelled. Sunny’s scent was strong, but not overpowering�"a warm, exotic herbal fragrance that calmed me to the core, no matter what the situation.

“It’s organic Shea butter,” she told me, rubbing a thick white cream onto her hands. “It does great things for my skin. Doesn’t it smell lovely?

I nodded, my eyelids drooping, a dumb, happy smile on my face.

Replacing the small bottle in her bag, Sunny leaned over the steering wheel of her car and looked at me.

“Are you ready?” she asked.

“Ready for what?”

“Are you ready to visit my house now? The second date has come to a close, and as promised, you’re now welcome to visit my humble abode. Would you like to accept?”

I laughed lightly, but even that seemed to take more energy than I had.

“I would love to come to your house,” I told her. “But do you have enough time?”

Sunny, for some odd reason, looked down into the front of her dress where I knew that silky black bra was hiding.

“It’s only half past seven,” she told me. “We’ve got two hours before I have to leave for work. If you like, you can nap at my place while I’m gone. Then we will be together as soon as I come home.”

“That sounds like a wonderful thing to wake up to,” I told her. “But are you sure you’re okay with having a strange guy sleeping around your house while you’re gone?”

She smiled, turning the engine.

“You’re not a strange guy,” she said. “I know every inch of you.”

My face reddened again, leading me to wonder when that would finally stop happening.

“Yeah, I know… But you’ve only known me�"“

“About a day,” said Sunny, backing out of her parking spot. “I know that. But it doesn’t matter. I like you a lot, you like me a lot, and I feel like I’ve known you for years already. Does it not feel the same to you? Do you think of me as a stranger?”

“Of course not,” I said, Sunny’s words resounding through my head, making more sense than anything I could have thought up on my own. “I know exactly what you mean, and I do feel the same… I just really want to make sure that you’re okay with everything, you know? I… I care about you.”

“I care for you, too, Remy. And don’t worry. If I have any problems with anything, you’ll be the first to know. I promise.”

I wanted to open my mouth. I wanted to say something. My brain turned over several times, stopping just short of coherent thought, and finally, I just gave up, letting my mouth fall shut, unable to match Sunny’s words in any way.

As we drove, I found it was difficult to keep my eyes open. I tried focusing on cars, hoping that counting all cars of a certain color would somehow keep me awake.

But my stubborn eyes fluttered shut for what seemed like only a moment, and then Sunny was calling my name again.

“Poor sleepy thing,” she said as I opened my eyes to see her peering at me through dim light.

“Where are we?” I asked, sitting up straight and digging the crust out of my eyes.

“We’re inside of my garage,” she said with a smile. “I guess you missed the drive over, huh? If you’re that tired, I can just take you home, and we can do this some other time.”

“No, no,” I said. “I’m fine, really. I’m totally awake now. I just needed a little nap.”

I smiled at her, trying to look convincing. It must have worked, because she just tapped me on the nose and got out of the car. Stifling a yawn, I followed suit and joined Sunny on the other side of the overly-large garage where a single door was set in the middle of the wall.

“Are you ready?” she asked breathlessly, as though she were about to unveil something strange and mysterious.

“Of course,” I smiled. “I’ve been ready all along.”

Sunny bowed her head and turned away. A moment later, a crack of white light appeared around the edges of the door as she pushed it open, slightly.

“Come,” she said, stepping inside and holding the door for me.

I slipped in after her, the smell of many different herbs and oils rushing up to greet my nose as I did. All at once, I felt relaxed and at peace. Not tired, as before, but simply serene.

We were in a small, white room with only a decorative table against a wall, and a mirror. A spiraling staircase stood in for one of the walls, and Sunny sat down on it, taking off her shoes.

“Should I take mine off, too?” I asked.

“Only if you want to,” she said. “I’m not a neat freak or anything. I just like to keep my shoes near the garage door so I don’t forget them on my way out.”

“Makes sense,” I said, kicking my own shoes off and arranging them neatly next to the door. Sunny stood and offered me her hand.

“Let’s go,” she said softly as she laced her warm fingers through mine.

Slowly, she began her ascent, seeming almost to glide in all her elegance. Around and around we went, up and up, until I could see a slightly messy yet wide room coming into view. Sunny, however, bypassed the room and continued up the stairs.

“What was that?” I asked, trying my best not to sound out of breath.

“Storage and art,” she said. “My main floor is further up.”

I let my jaw do its thing since Sunny had her back turned anyway.

“What on Earth do you do for a living?” I asked.

“I told you, I’m a secretary.”

“Whose?” I laughed. “The President’s?”

“Someone important.” Sunny shot me a sly grin over her shoulder as the staircase finally ended and we arrived in an enormous room with shiny, wooden floors.

“Feel free to look around,” she said. “I’m going to go change into my work clothes now.”

Releasing her hand, I watched as she disappeared down a perfect hallway and into a room that I couldn’t see.

I let out a huge breath and took a few steps into what I guessed was her living room. She had a cute little set of wicker furniture- a loveseat, a glass-top table, and one of those huge chairs shaped like a bowl. The walls, for the most part, seemed to be made out of several floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out over a busy city.

My stomach gave an uncomfortable jolt. How must my messy, one-bedroom apartment have looked to someone like Sunny, with her huge and beautiful house? I suddenly felt very small and pathetic. Shaking my head, I continued to explore the room.

In the middle of the floor was a shaggy brown and green rug with patterns of leaves on it, matching the cushions of the wicker furniture set, and along the few bits of wall that weren’t windows, were a series of tall, glass shelves covered in various things.

I tiptoed over to the shelves, the mixture of the height and my lack of sleep causing me to fear that I would somehow fall over and break everything.

Holding onto the wall, I inspected the contents of the nearest shelf.

Such a strange variety of things there were. On the highest shelf, I noticed a family of small, ornate dolls… figurines, I suppose one would call them. Each figure was in its own peculiar position, and painted in bright, vivid colors.

One doll, somewhere off to the left caught my attention more that the rest, and being as careful as possible, I picked it up for a closer examination.

The figurine was of a girl with long, silver hair, reaching down to touch her toes, her long, elegant legs stretched out at an angle. Her head was lifted only enough to reveal her narrow, inquisitive eyes, which seemed almost life like, and she was dressed from head to toe in a skin-tight metallic-red body suit.

“Ah,” came Sunny’s voice. I jumped, nearly dropping the delicate doll. “I see you’ve found Ateria, the temptress.”

“How do you get around without making so much as a sound!?” I demanded, my heart pounding.

Rather than answer, Sunny just smiled, collecting the doll from my sweaty hands.

“Do you like her?” she asked. “I made her myself, along with all the others up there. Somehow, though, Ateria is my favourite. I probably put the most effort into her.”

“You… made her?”

I took another look at the doll in Sunny’s small hands, searching for any imperfections. She was so realistic. Even the folds in her clothing looked completely perfect.

“I sculpted her out of clay,” Sunny said. “And then painted her by hand. What do you think?”

“I… Well, I’m impressed to say the least! This is amazing, Sunny! You actually made this? I am astounded.”

Sunny beamed from ear to ear.

“Thanks!” she said. “I don’t get too many compliments on my work, so it’s really nice to hear that someone likes them so much.”

“How could you not get compliments? The amount of detail you were able to pour into these figurines is just… Stunning! Remarkable!”

Sunny giggled, handing the doll back to me.

“If you like her that much, she’s yours.”

My smile melted away, replaced by shock.

“Oh, no,” I said. “Seriously, you put a lot of effort into this… I could never accept such an invaluable gift. Besides, you said yourself that this one’s your favourite.”

“Well, what am I going to do with them?” Sunny asked, patting me on the shoulder. “All they do is sit around my house collecting dust. There’s really no good use for them here. No one ever comes over to see them, or anything.”

“Yeah, but Sun�"“

“No buts. She’s my gift to you! Please accept her with my affections.”

“Well thank you,” I said softly. “This is the nicest gift I’ve ever received. I will take good care of her.”

Sunny hugged my back.

“I know you will,” she said. “That’s why I’m giving her to you.”

Clutching the tiny doll to my chest, I continued looking through the random objects on Sunny’s shelves.

“What is all this stuff?” I asked, inspecting a coarse, grey rock with a hole through the center.

“Oh, just stuff I pick up here and there,” she said, hugging me from behind. “A lot of them I went looking for specifically… Others I just stumbled upon.”

“That’s cool. Any reason you keep them on display like this?”

Sunny shrugged.

“Better than having them stuffed in a box somewhere. I like to look at them.”

“Hey!” I said, bending down to pick up a small, velvet drawstring bag from a lower shelf. “Is this what I think it is?”

“Depends,” said Sunny, squeezing me around the middle. “What do you think it is?”

Carefully, I tugged at the drawstrings, revealing a stash of beautiful polished stones.

“I used to have some of these!” I cried, tipping the pretty treasures into my hand. “My parents went on vacation once when I was about twelve or so… Some kind of second honeymoon thing, I guess, so I had to stay at my grandma’s house while they were gone. But when they came back, they brought me a little satchel of pretty stones just like this! Man… I really miss them. These ones look a lot like those.”

“You miss them?” Sunny asked. “What ever happened to them?”

Frowning, I thought back to the day I’d lost them.

“Um… I gave them to some kid,” I told her. “I was at the park by myself… It was a cold and cloudy day, so no one else was there. That was my favourite time to go.”

“If you were there alone, then how did you end up giving your rocks away?”

Sunny kissed my shoulder.

I thought back to that day, forcing myself to recall as many details as possible.

“It’s actually weird,” I said. “It was getting dark. I was just… sitting on a swing, not even swinging. And the next thing I knew, some weird girl was sitting down on the swing next to mine, just smiling. She didn’t even say anything, she just sat there for a bit… And then after awhile, she stood up and handed me this weird ring.”

“A ring?”

“Yeah… Actually…”

I lifted my right hand to reveal the ring that I’d never stopped wearing since the day it was given to me. Sunny’s eyes moved across the thick silver band, widening slightly as they rested on the round, red gem in the center.

“That’s interesting,” she said. “Really interesting… So what happened to your rocks, then?”

“Well…” I closed my eyes, hoping to rid myself of physical distractions. “She handed me the ring and then just turned and started walking away… But I felt like I should give her something in return, so I caught up to her and let her have my bag of stones.”

Sunny nodded as though my strange story made perfect sense to her.

“Did you find out what the ring was for?”

I shook my head.

“No… I never did. And I never saw her again, either… Hell, I didn’t even get her name. She never said a single word to me… I wonder if she was a mute…”

I tumbled the rocks around in my hand for a moment, realizing for the first time how stupid it probably was to have given away something my parents brought me as a gift.

“So why did you keep the ring?” Sunny asked. “I mean, like… why do you wear it around?”

I shrugged, blushing slightly.

“I, um…”

Sunny giggled at me, squeezing my waist again.

“You fell in love with her at first sight, didn’t you?”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” I retorted. “But the whole experience was very mysterious, and kind of left me in shock. I can’t say that I loved her per se, but she did sort of become my personal obsession. I just… I always hoped that someday I’d find her again and have the chance to ask her what it was all about. I just wore the ring so that if we ever crossed paths again, she’d know it was me.”

“Well it’s been, what? Like, twelve years now? Do you think that she’d still remember?”

I sighed, tipping the stones back into their bag and replacing them on the shelf.

“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “But I don’t care so much anymore. The ring has just become something I always wear. I mean, if I saw her again, I’d ask her about it of course, but the thing is, I don’t even remember what she looks like anymore, so she’d have to find me, and I don’t think that’s gonna happen.”

Sunny nodded slowly, looking at the clock.

“Well, it would be cool if you ran into her sometime,” she said. “Anyway, I have to leave in awhile, so I’d like to show you around the house and get you familiarized with it. You’re still cool with staying here, aren’t you?”

“Sure,” I said. “As long as you’re cool with having me here.”

“I wouldn’t have brought you over if I wasn’t.”

Sunny took my hand and led me around the room.

“This is the living room, obviously. Not too exciting, huh?” She tugged me out to a slightly smaller room with more tall windows. In the middle of the room was a medium-sized table that seemed to be built into the floor. A stained glass lamp hung from the ceiling directly over it, shining on what I assumed was a hand made bowl filled with fresh fruit.

“So I guess you don’t get to rearrange in here, huh?”

Sunny looked confused for a moment. Then she laughed.

“I don’t generally do much of that,” she told me. “I like things to stay the same, at least where my furniture is concerned. Anyway, this is my dining room, obviously. And the kitchen is right through here.”

She led me through a sort of archway, decorated with flowery vines and into a vast, beautiful kitchen.

“Wow,” I said, gaping out at the shiny, marble counter tops. “I know a couple of people who would totally kill for a kitchen like this. It’s so big!”

“The counter space is the best part,” said Sunny, pulling open her fridge and extracting something in a can. “Do you want anything to drink?”

I shook my head as my eyes darted around, admiring how neat and organized everything seemed to be.

“No? Okay, then. But if you get hungry, you can help yourself to anything you find. The fridge is here, of course. Pantry’s over here.” She indicated a tall set of double doors set into the wall across from the refrigerator. “Don’t hesitate. What’s mine is yours. Now follow me.”

She left the kitchen through another archway which ended up back at the stairs between the living room and the hallway that Sunny had disappeared down previously. Smiling at me over her shoulder, she started in that direction, letting go of my hand to open the canned drink she was holding.

“Here is the bathroom,” she said, pushing open a door on her left. “There’s also one in my bedroom which is right in here.”

I followed her through the door at the end of the hallway and into a large, dark room with an impressive bed.

“If you don’t like it this dark,” she said, “you can just pull these curtains aside.” With one hand, she demonstrated, revealing another set of enormous windows. The curtains fell shut again as she retracted her hand, resting it on my shoulder.

“The TV is also in here,” she said, steering me toward the wall facing the bed. “Just slide these shutters open, and voila! The remote’s on my bedside table.”

Puzzled, I tried the shutters, only to find a large, flat screen TV set into the wall.

“Your house is just too cool,” I said wearily. “Mine must have seemed like such a cesspool to you.”

Sunny shoved me rather violently, pushing me down onto her abnormally comfortable bed.

“Home is where the heart is,” she said, plopping down next to me. “As long as it’s comfortable and filled with love, even a cardboard box can be homey.”

“You’re just saying that to make me feel better.”

“Am not!” Sunny laughed, poking me in the ribs. “I like your home. I liked being in it with you, and I can’t wait to go back and do it again! Now give me some sugar, because I’m about to leave.”

Craning my neck, I reached in and kissed Sunny’s lips.

“Do you have to go?” I asked, the ghost of disappointment lingering in my voice.

“Yes, sadly, I do. But if you just tuck yourself in all nice and cozy here, you’ll fall asleep in no time. And once you’re asleep, time will pass by without you. I’ll be right here next to you again in no time at all.”

Softly, she kissed my forehead, before getting to her feet and gliding over to the door.

“Take good care of yourself, Remy Clover. I’ll see you tonight.”

Sunny blew me a kiss, and then she was gone.

She was gone, and I was suddenly completely alone in a huge and unfamiliar house with no idea where I was and with no way of leaving.

If I hadn’t been so tired, things might not have seemed so terrifying. My mind wandered, expecting me to believe that this was all a trap and that in mere moments, the house would explode, killing me.

However, I was completely aware of how tired I was, and as such, I was able to differentiate between genuine fear and irrational fear brought on by a tired mind.

Pulling the TV shutters open, I dropped my pants and crawled under Sunny’s sinfully soft blankets to channel surf myself to sleep.