Summer to Winter

Chapter Five

He followed her past a row of sculptures, past what looked like a school cafeteria and was almost stopped by a mass of fans at what he could only guess was a museum or souvenir shoppe. He was saved by the fact that the mystery woman was walking so quickly, and he was almost jogging to try to keep up. He couldn't help but wonder how someone a foot shorter than he could beat his long strides in speed. It was at that exact moment that he heard her chuckle and wondered if she knew he was following her and laughing at his plight to keep up. He kept following her through what looked like he stepped into a lush bamboo jungle which then magically opened to a white picket fence neighborhood. Brian had told him that the office was in the back part of the lot in a building that looked like an average white house, but that it was the only one with a red door. To his amazement, she bee-lined to the exact place he needed to be. There was no way that he would've made it through the whole lot to find that red door without help and this mystery in red walked right in like his own personal lot gps.

Henry walked in and gave a slight wave to a grumpy kid at the front door who didn't seem to care who was coming or going. He figured there had to be signs on the doors, so he just kept walking around the corner to see the woman knock on Brian's door and step in. He heard Brian loudly say, "Your girl is here! We should've bet to see how early she was..." Henry's heart sank. Of course, a beautiful woman like that was already taken... He went back to the front desk to ask the grumpy kid where the accounting office was and was met with a finger pointing up. He laughed, "I guess that means the second floor?" He would come back to talk to Brian after his meeting with the lady in red, he didn't want to intrude.

After he finished with the second floor, Henry came back downstairs to find Brian's office empty. The door was open, so he figured that Brian would be back soon and sat on the couch to wait it out. He sat with his thoughts for a few minutes, got bored and pulled out his phone to check his emails. Nothing exciting, just the normal business emails and scripts to read from his agent. A new email notification popped up from an address he didn't recognize. He almost didn't open it, but the subject said "Milo&OtiS2 // Cast Assistant" so curiosity got the better of him. It was sweet and to the point. Brian had told him that production was going to get the main four cast an on-set assistant to help facilitate any needs when their personal assistants were busy with other tasks. He knew that Laurence, Amy and he would be easy on the person, but that Sarah would be the tough one. During their screen test, she was his least favorite actress to act with. He had to trust that the director and producers knew what they were doing when casting her, but still couldn't help but wonder why.

The email ended with "Gratefully yours, Syden."

Syden... what kind of a name is that? Still bored and curious, Henry started digging through google and the unique name produced only one social media account. Down the wormhole of account stalking he went. Nothing too dramatic or self-indulgent to be seen. Seemed like a normal Facebook account, set on semi-private and really only sharing photos of a really cute ginger dog with a wide smile and beautiful landscapes. Instagram was public and shared a little more about his new set assistant, but still not much more than furry friends and landscapes. No selfies or other photos that would indicate gender (not that it mattered) but the landscapes were a good example of where they had been in the last five years. A lot of beaches and the New York City skyline were the most recent posts. He looked at closer at the most recent post that was added that very day. It stuck out as it was a plain looking photo of what looked like a bronze wall, a contrast to the vivid color of the sunsets or clouds or ginger dog that took up the rest of the feed. He clicked on the photo to enlarge it... it was a plaque... did it say, "Stage 17?"