When she woke up there were 17 voicemails from a stranger. Rubbing her eyes again to make sure she had not read the messages wrong  she clearly saw that there were 17 voicemails all left on her phone whilst she had been asleep She wondered who on earth would leave her 17 messages not just text messages these were voice messages ,she was lucky if she had 17 voicemails a month let alone in a few hours.


She pressed the play button to begin to listen and a wave of surprising disappointment swept over her when she heard the first word  which was Alice .Her name wasn’t Alice it was Claire so she knew in that moment the message weren’t for her. She thought for a second or two should she just delete them all as  Alice whoever she was is the person who should be receiving these not her. She laughed to herself as she knew she  was never going to delete them as the nosey curiosity she had been born with as her father had often told her , was stopping her from doing this. 


That wasn’t the only reason she continued to listen as the man’s voice caught her attention. He spoke with such a deep calm voice that held the slight sound of an Irish accent.She had an image in her head of what she hoped he looked like which was such a clique of tall dark and very very handsome.If he looked as good as he sounded then Alice was a lucky girl she thought to herself. He ended the first message with “Please call me back when you can I need to hear your voice ,I love you Alice .” 


As the  messages continued  to play straight after each other Claire found herself listening to each word he spoke .He seemed worried about Alice and the concern he expressed in his voice at his worry over her only made Claire long for a man to feel such emotion over her something which she was quiet sure she hadn’t felt from anyone before.


Each message continued as the previous had ended with the voice of this handsome ,well in her head he was anyway, caring and what every woman could only ever dream of strong protective  and most of all absolutely devoted to this girl ,telling her things that she was sure she only ever heard of in movies as she had certainly never had all these feelings and such from anyone in her entire 22 years of living.


She found herself imagining that she was Alice she was the one these messages were for,it didn’t matter anyway because whoever was leaving these would never know anyway so she could fantasise whatever she wanted to.


Each message was showing how much this man loved and cared for Alice his concern at her not replying to him could be heard  in his voice.Claire wished she could be Alice and all of these wonderful things being said  were for her.She would never not answer this man like Alice she would be the perfect girl for this perfect man.


In the 11th message he spoke about how he would be honoured when they maybe got married in the future if she would take his name” Mrs Niall McGloughlan”, or Mrs Alice McGloughlan”.Finally Claire knew his name ,Niall what a beautiful name a name that matched how he looked in her mind. Mrs Claire McGloughlan she thought to herself it has a much better sound to it  than Mrs Alice McGlough.She repeated it in her head over and over Mrs Claire McGloughlan ,yes it suited her so much better she thought .


Niall as she now knew him as spoke with so much love and his voice was so enchanting she thought ,that she felt there had to be a long line of women who wanted to be with him.He was everything any girl could ever want and more.

As the messages continued to play she felt that Niall was so upset and expressed such a longing to hear Alice’s voice that she wanted to shout to him to tell him that he didn’t need Alice she was here he could love her and she would never not answer his calls she would be just as devoted to him as he was her.Alice clearly doesn’t deserve this wonderful man but she did she thought.


How can someone fall in love with someone just by only hearing their voice ? How can she fall in love this way she had after all only heard him never seen him ? It wasn’t just his voice she thought it was everything she had heard him say the words he had used the emotion he expressed ,it was the whole 17 messages .Claire wanted him she wanted to love him and for him to love her not Alice just her.Anyway Alice obviously didn’t care enough to let him know where she was where he could actually get a hold of to speak to surely she, would of made sure to be in contact with him at all times.That’s if she loved him of course which she obviously didn’t love him enough like she would Claire thought to herself.  

The final message ended with Niall showing a tiny bit of frustration in his voice.He sounded so discouraged by not speaking to Alice and such disappointment at not hearing Alice say the loving words back to him as he had said  to her


Claire thought to herself that Niall deserved to know that someone had heard what he had said and someone had appreciated the words he had spoke The love she felt from Nialls voice needed be given back to him from a girl who was worthy of him who was worthy of becoming Mrs Niall McGloughlin and that she thought was her.’


An idea came into Claire head ,what if she text the number that Niall had used to call her from and leave him a message but not a voicemail as he would know it’s not Alice just a written text message that he could take comfort from that he had been heard.The beautiful loving protective words that he had spoken were heard by someone who wanted to be able to say back to tell him it would be ok it would all be ok because she was willing to love him like he loved her or rather Alice as he thought he was saying all these wonderful things to.He would love Claire not Alice if he knew how much his words had been listened to and absorbed by Claire.


She text a message back to Niall and said she had listened to his 17 voicemails and had fallen in love even deeper with him now.She didn’t say she wasn’t Alice and she didn’t say she was Claire either so she wasn’t telling him any lies she was speaking her truth she loved him. 


She gave him her address in the text message and asked him if he could come to her as soon as possible as she would be waiting for him there.


The feeling and anticipation Claire felt could  only be described and compared to a child waiting for Christmas morning to see if Santa had been.She excitedly got ready and showered after picking out her clothes to wear for  when they first meet as she needed to completely knock him off his feet if she had any chance of realising her fantasy of being with him.She showered and made sure she looked good in her choice of outfit did her hair and makeup to perfection even if she thought so herself she looked so hot so cute so beautiful Niall would never be able to resit her.Alice who is Alice she thought when Niall sees me he’ll be thinking the exact same thing.


Waiting for Niall to arrive she poured herself a glass of red wine it was the only way she’d have the courage to execute her plan to perfection like she had hoped she could.What if he was mad at her for pretending to be Alice?That didn’t matter she excused her actions to herself after all she had never said she was Alice not even once she hadn’t. 


The doorbell rang and her heart was pounding so hard on her chest she thought it would break through her skin.She looked at the doorbell camera and it wasn’t Niall Niall she thought it was someone selling something to raise funds for the old age home down the street.Bless him he’s too old to be out at this n time knocking doors she thought he was at least 80 if not more the poor man she thought.Sge took a 20 from her purse to give to the little old man and also Niall would be here soon so best get rid of him quickly as she knew how old people loved to talk and chatter. She opened the door and handed him the money but he looked quite bemused  , I’m sorry he said I don’t want to sell you anything …she felt a familiarity with this man for some reason,He hesitates and then said “I’m Niall.”