In the very beginning...

SELENE ORLANDO.

~Riñg

The steady ringing of a cell phone woke a beautiful young lady from her morning sleep.

She looked at the clock hung on the wall at the end of her small worn-out room and discovered that it was not yet three o'clock, with a loud groan, she reached over to the bedside table to pick up her small cell phone.

"Hello, Selene here. Who am I speaking to?"

Who in God's name would phone by this time of the night, she wondered.

"Miss Orlando, it's Mr. John Dallas from the U.S. speaking and we have news" the man on the other side drawled with his heavy Texan accent.

Selene sat up straight in her bed, her heart leaping to her throat at what the news could be. She fervently hoped they were good news.

Disappointing news would cause the sleep guardians to disappear.

'Please be good news, please be good news, she chanted in her head.

"Are you still there Miss Orlando?" Mr. Dallas always sounded annoyed or irritated, maybe his job just didn't pay him well. He sounded like a man in his late thirties creeping into the I'm getting old circle. He didn't enjoy his job, Selene could tell because he couldn't hold a conversation for long without clicking his tongue in annoyance or sighing or tapping his pen against whatever he was tapping it against.

"Yes, I'm all ears. Go on"

"We have just traced your last blood kin, although he is your half-brother"

Half? Selene could swear they could pass off as twins from the pictures she had seen. Mr. Dallas had gone quiet, slowly slipping into grumble mode.

"And?"

Selene didn't have the time tonight to baby his complaints, she had problems of her own.

"We have his number, he lives in the U.S., but personal information is withheld for privacy. I'll send you his picture"

"Can I have his number too?"

For someone who was trying to stay neutral and avoid sounding too eager, Selene wasn't exactly doing a very good job.

"Could you wait a second" Mr. Dallas retained his polite voice but Selene wasn't fooled, it would only take a second for him to slip into his complaint mode.

Some shuffling sounds were made from the other side, Selene silently prayed that Mr. Dallas hadn't misplaced whatever he was looking for under the extremely voluminous sheets of paperwork that littered his desk.

She had sent her condolences the first day he had cried about the amount of work he had to do to survive but his complaints continued every other time she had called to follow up on her search, soon she found it a norm to tune out him out and focus on her matters.

After a short while, Mr. Dallas cleared his throat.

"Do you have a pen and paper?" he asked with the same drawl.

"Yes‚ please do continue" he called the number which Selene quickly jotted down, thanked him, and then hung up.

"Well that went well, could have been worse but it wasn't, I could have spent hours listening to him rambling about being buried alive in his office under a large volume of paper. Now, what to do with the number?"

Selene debated whether or not to call Kelvin, as the man had said his name was. What if he had a family that didn't need extra baggage? or a family that didn't need strangers acting the part of a loving and caring stepsister and step-aunt and step-sister-in-law, people thought stepmoms and stepsisters were a horrific duo all thanks to a certain romantic movie.

Selene paused with her finger hovering just an inch above the dial, questions bombarding her mind; would he accept her as his half-sister? Just by the thoughts, her palms became sweaty, and she rubbed it on the old nightgown she usually wore to sleep every night.

After struggling with her confidence for over thirty minutes, she decided to dial the number. It rang thrice before a male voice filtered through the speaker.

"Hello, who is this?" A voice reached her ears, it was deep and rich. Selene swallowed unsure of what to say.

"Hello? If this is a prank I just wanted to tell you I'm in no mood this night. Stop playing with me and go straight to the point, what do you want?" Kelvin sounded annoyed.

"Hello," Selene had to swallow her anxiety before slowly meowing out.

The receiver on the other side hesitated before he spoke again, this time without any trace of annoyance.

"And you are?"

"I'm Selene" There was no backing down now, only two outcomes awaited.

"OK?" He sounded hesitant. "I don't know anyone by that name but since you're not calling my work line, you must be after me privately. So what can I do for you?"

"I'm sorry if I startled you, I'm just calling to see if you are okay" Why did I just say that? Selene wondered.

She prayed he would not notice that statement but he did because he paused for a long time before he spoke.

"Is this the witness from the Robert Sandro's case? I thought your attorney said you didn't want to talk" he sounded a little bit interested now, "Have they been stopping you from talking? Do you know something?"

Witness? Case? Attorney?

"I think you have me mistaken with somebody else, I don't know any Robert Sandro"

"Is that so..." the excitement was gone in a flash. "Have we met before? Did I perchance give you my number, promise to call, and forget?" his tone had gone flat.

"No, it's nothing like that. We haven't even met, I mean, we are far from each other by long distances...what I'm saying is that we have always been far from each other–" Selene rambled on and on until Kelvin cut her off.

"Who are you and what exactly do you want?" a tiny hint of irritation slipped into his voice but it was audible to Selene.

She took in a deep breath to steady herself before pouring out the words in one sentence.

"I'm your half-sister, and I've been searching for you" She paused and waited for the man on the other end to access the information.

"I'm sorry, you are my what?"

"Your half-sister. Isn't your hometown Menorca, Spain?"

Kelvin blew out a long sigh.

"Did Richard put you up to this? It's not funny, Amelia"

"I'm not Amelia, I'm Selene"

Something about Selene's voice was so convincing that Kelvin had to pause for a long while.

"Are you being serious? This better not be a prank"

"I'm serious"

"Tell me your full name"

"Selene Rodrigo Fernandez Orlando. First daughter, and only child of Rodrigo Fernandez Orlando and Martha Fernandez Orlando"

Silence filled the other end of the phone and nobody spoke for minutes, Selene fiddled her fingers as the time dragged on.

"For the last time Amelia–" Kelvin's voice was tight and hoarse.

"How else am I to convince you that I'm not Amelia?"

"If you stop this joke now, I'll take you on that date you've been nagging me about"

"What?"

"You know what I'm talking about Amelia" Kelvin clicked his tongue angrily.

"For God's sake, I'm not Amelia and I have no idea about this so-called date"

"What's my middle name?"

"I don't know"

"Favorite food?"

"Don't know either"

"My job?"

"Well you mentioned something about a case, and a witness, so I'm guessing a lawyer"

"You aren't Amelia"

How odd, Selene thought, the question she answered was the question that confirmed that she wasn't Amelia.

A noise like leather against fabric was heard followed by the sound of a fridge being opened and then the sound of a glass bottle.

"How old?" he asked after gulping down something and clearing his throat.

"20. I just turned 20"

"You just turned... Your guardian?"

"I live alone"

"You live... Do you have a boyfriend?"

The question threw Selene off guard.

"What?"

"A boyfriend?"

"No"

"How do you feed?"

"I work"

"Where?"

"Different jobs"

There was another long draught of silence.

"Are you done schooling?"

"Yes, why?"

"I'll send you a visa and a passport so you can come stay here with me"

"Why?"

"Isn't that why you were looking for me?"

"No"

"No?"

"I wanted answers. My early childhood memories are in fragments, sometimes I feel like I should remember something but no matter how hard I try, I just can't, other times pictures of places that I'm sure I haven't been to pop up in my head. Back in middle school, I was able to identify a one-cent coin and I haven't even seen the coin before. Some things don't make sense and it's all too confusing. I was kinda hoping we grew up together and then maybe you'll recognize me or something and maybe I'll get some answers"

"I... I don't remember growing up with a sister, I'm the only child, and my mother isn't named Martha"

"Ohh. Well I did say we were step-siblings, I just thought perchance our father had introduced us when we were younger" Selene blew out a frustrated sigh, "I'm sorry for disturbing you, you seem like a busy person"

"It's fine"

"Then I'll let you be"

"No, no, don't hang up yet. Let's keep talking"

"About what? You already said you don't know anything*

"I know, but I'm curious, what exactly do you remember?"

"Cobbler Cuffs, a fount–"

"What?"

"A place called Cobbler Cuffs"

"Surely you don't mean Cobbls and Cuffs, right?"

"Do they make leather shoes?"

"They do"

"They have a fountain at the front"

"Yes, do you remember their logo?"

"Some brown skin stretched out with a shoe imprint on it. The funny thing is, I don't even know where the place is"

"It's here in America"

"America? But I've never been..."

Have I? Selene pondered the question, which gave her a severe headache.

"I guess you'll still need that passport and visa after all. If you want answers, you'll need to search them out"

Selene could only sigh.

"I'm guessing the answers will come in time, no?"

"Eventually, all will smoothen out on its own"

"I don't want to be a burden, I just want answers"

"You aren't going to be, we're related after all"

"And how does your girlfriend see it? She might think I'm overstepping or something"

"Girlfriend?" Kelvin let out a throaty laugh, "Is this about Amelia? She's not my girlfriend. I'm a single man"

There was enough pride in his words to tell me a few things.

"Is that so?"

"Yes... So when would you be ready to come down to the U.S.?"

"I guess processing a visa usually takes about a week or two, so–"

"If you want it tomorrow, you can have it tomorrow. I have connections"

"But the money..."

"You don't need to worry about that, do you now? Just tell me when you want it?"

Should it be this easy, Selene wondered. Going to the U.S. might reveal some answers, but it was in a new environment and Selene did not adapt easily.

"I'm not so sure about traveling"

"Why not? Don't you want answers, I also need answers too. Like how do I have a sister that I don't know about, why didn't anybody tell me? We'll need to solve this together"

"Yes, that's quite true. I guess I don't have much choice"

"You don't like to travel?"

"Not really, I just find it hard to adjust to new surroundings"

"Introvert much?"

"Very introverted"

"But you do come out from time to time, right? Maybe to a party or club"

"No"

"Eat out?"

"Once in a while"

"Social occasions?"

"Never in my life"

"Hanging out with friends? Surely you should have friends"

"I do have friends and we do hang out from time to time"

Selene struggled to remain breezy but Kelvin could detect hints of uneasiness.

"I guess I could go with that. Now back to the topic at hand, I think you should leave next week. It would give you time to prepare yourself both mentally and physically"

"Next two weeks?"

"Selene..."

"Fine.... But do I need to?"

"If you're asking me to do it for you, it would take forever, I'm a busy man you know. I work every day, sometimes I travel out, wherever my job leads me is where I go"

"That's fine. Next week is fine"

"Alright, I'll get you the documents before the weekend"

"Thanks"

"Goodnight"

"Night"

The line beeped as the call disconnected.

Selene fell back on the bed with a sigh, a part of her elastic about a change of surroundings and the other terrified of the change.

"I'm going to change, no more living in the shadows. I'm going to put myself out there and try to be free"

Selene nodded to her affirmations before puffing her pillows and going back to sleep.

She must have thought that when she get to America things would move smoothly, she'd find clues about her childhood, live life a little and all, but Fate has a way of playing games and what it had in stock for her was bad, sexily dangerous, and wickedly handsome.

A week later Selene stared at her now empty house where she had lived for most of her life after leaving her aunt's house, she sighed and rubbed the worn-out walls then closed the door gave the keys to the caretaker, and headed for the airport.

After all the necessary documentation she sat on her designated chair in the airplane, anticipation eating her guts and soon her heavy eyes closed shut.