The Darkness Inside

Four

The moon was exceptionally bright and Bryn found herself wide awake at three in the morning. She tried hard to force herself to fall back to sleep, but her brain wasn't having it. Carefully, she turned to face Tom who was in a rather deep sleep. His chest rose and fell rhythmically and Bryn gently placed a palm over his heart, feeling the steady beat.

Work was tedious. She was growing bored already and summer school had only begun. It would be more fun if the students actually wanted to be there. She knew of only one or two who enjoyed her classes and put in actual effort into their projects. Bryn wondered if it was because of her. Maybe her sudden lack of passion was showing.

Bryn had been stuck in a rut for several weeks, months even. After her fingers had healed, for the most part, she tried to dive back into sculpting. That proved to be too ambitious for the artist, so after being scolded by her physical therapist, she took it slow, starting back up with painting instead. While sculpting was her absolute favorite thing in the world, painting was, thankfully, a close second.

She needed that sense of control back in her life. To be able to create something from her mind and breathe life into it with her talent was when she felt most alive. Without that sense of control, nothing else seemed to matter; she had no purpose. Everything seemed to finally be falling back into place. She had married Tom, who she loved more than she ever thought possible, they moved out into the country which had always been a dream of hers, and she was back to working at the school. Normality had finally shifted in her favor.

And then Lilly had died. All the should-haves and could-haves weighed heavily on Bryn. It wasn't Lilly that she missed, but the idea of her. Her big sister. She wasn't much of one, but she did love her. Maybe now she was being given somewhat of a second chance, with Izzy.

Yes, Izzy wasn't related by blood. And yes, her sister had only known Izzy for a few years, but considering she was the daughter of the man she married, she must have loved her too, as her own. Bryn made up her mind. Maybe she wasn't her aunt by definition, but she'd be there for Izzy. She'd be someone she could rely on.

Bryn slowly sat up in bed and slipped out of the sheets. The ceiling fan hummed above them and Tom snorted in his sleep, smacked his lips, turning in bed. Bryn stifled a chuckle and crept silently out of the bedroom, tip toeing down the hall to her little studio. There was no point in lying in bed wide awake. Instead, she'd try doing something to make her sleepy. She'd sort through her paints and try to organize them.

She flipped the light switch on and the bulbs on the ceiling teased her, threatening to burn out. They flickered, only momentarily, then filled the room with their glow. Bryn crossed the room to her boxes of paints. Everything had been tossed in, in a hurry when she had packed. She quickly cleared the drafting table against the window and carefully dumped the contents out.

Bryn took a seat on her stool and rolled her head around, stretching her neck. She turned on her favorite Spotify playlist with her tablet and kept the volume down. Mumford and Sons crooned and Bryn felt much more relaxed.

After nearly an hour of sorting through hundreds of tubes, and all of her brushes, Bryn was pleased to be feeling sleepy again. The lights flickered again and she groaned. She'd have to talk to Tom about them in the morning.

Sia was softly playing and then suddenly Cheap Thrills was stuck on the same line. "Hit the dance floor" played over and over. Bryn picked up the tablet and hit the pause button which did nothing. The line kept repeating. She locked the tablet but nothing changed. Finally, Bryn held down the lock and home button, shutting the tablet down completely and the music died.

Ready to return to bed, she stood and gasped when the door to the room slammed shut. The lights flickered again and she rushed to open the door, the knob not turning, as if someone were holding the door shut on the other side.