The alarm hadn't gone off yet when Mia knocked on her bedroom door.
"Aurora, it's seven thirty."
A muffled groan came from under the covers.
"Five more minutes."
"You said the same thing yesterday."
Aurora pulled herself up with effort, her hair a mess, her eyes still half-closed.
In the kitchen, Mia was already pouring coffee into two cups.
"It's your turn to do the shopping today," she said, handing her one.
"I know, I know."
They had breakfast standing up, in a rush, like every morning — toast, the news playing quietly in the background, their bags already waiting by the door.
"Ready?" Mia asked, grabbing the keys.
Aurora swallowed the last sip of coffee.
"Ready."
The morning passed in small things.
Aurora answered a string of emails, went over the estimates for the next location scout, and spent half an hour on the phone with a supplier who kept pushing back the equipment delivery.
Mia poked her head in a couple of times, just for a quick exchange — a joke about the coffee, an update on the editing of another project.
The rest of the morning went by like that, between minor tasks and the usual routine she knew by heart by now.
In the early afternoon, she went back to the folder.
There were only a few pages left. She read them more slowly than the others, almost reluctantly — as if she didn't want to reach the end.
The last scene closed on a hallway, a guy walking away without looking back, a door closing.
Aurora remained still for a moment, her eyes fixed on the last page.
She closed the folder.
She sat there for a few more seconds, then got up and grabbed her bag.
"I'm going to get a coffee," she said, stopping by Marcus's office.
"Wait." He looked up from the monitor. "So? What do you think?"
Aurora leaned against the doorframe.
"It's deserved," she said. "All the buzz."
"And the name? Leaving Void?"
"It suits him," she answered, almost automatically. "For the kind of story he's written. A lot of silence. You can feel the tension in every page. It's well structured."
Marcus nodded, satisfied.
Aurora remained quiet for a moment, her gaze drifting toward some vague point in the room.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Yeah," she said, shaking her head slightly. "Just tired."
Marcus didn't push it.
"Good, because we have a meeting tomorrow," he said. "The author, his manager, and Richard."
Aurora raised her eyebrows.
"Richard's coming in person?"
"The author specifically asked for it," Marcus said. "He wants to speak to him directly, not through an intermediary."
Aurora nodded slowly.
"Okay," she said. "Tomorrow, then."
**Author's Note**
If you'd like, leave a comment: I'd genuinely love to know what you thought of the chapter, what it made you feel, or which scene stayed with you the most. Even a short comment means a lot to me, as it helps me understand how the story is coming across.
**Enjoy the read!**