Page 17 of Shrouded in the Dark
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. You can set my stuff on the island. I’ll probably take a bath and hit the hay early.”
“Honestly, I’m probably going to crash when we get home. I love Cody, but damn. He’s a handful when trapped in small spaces with him for over an hour. Make sure to lock up and turn on your security after we leave.”
I chuckled as I walked him to the front door. “I get it.” I held the door open as I watched him step out and head to the SUV that was parked in front of the house.
It was a black Escalade. Fancy. One of the back windows looked like it was cracked. The other guys were inside with Seth sitting in the driver’s seat. I waved as Jasper got into the front passenger seat and as they drove away.
It wasn’t until I closed the door, set the system, and went to the restroom to wash my hands that I noticed when I looked in the mirror, I was still smiling. I had fun today. I’d not over thought much, and I think I’d made the first steps to making new friends. Felicity was going to go nuts when she heard.
Speaking of Felicity, I pulled my phone out and sent her a text.
Can we video chat tonight? I have service up here! Plus, you know, Wi-Fi.
I knew she wouldn’t respond right away, she’d said that night was going to be the only time that she’d be able to talk. The clock on my phone showed that it was just after six in the evening. I wasn’t hungry, the barbeque was filling enough that I wouldn’t be hungry for the rest of the night. I walked back into the living room and looked at my art supplies on the island in the kitchen, thinking about what I wanted to do.
The fox’s eyes were still in my head. I decided on what to work on as I left the living room to my bedroom. The box I labeled as ‘canvas’ was on the bottom of the stack. It took a few minutes but I got it moved to the living room in front of the windows. Canvases on their own usually aren’t heavy, as long as you aren’t talking about the really large ones, but when you have twenty or more together, it gets heavy.
I picked out one of the larger canvases I’d brought with me and started to set up my space. I always brought an old, thick sheet where I went to paint so that I could spread it out to prevent any paint mishaps from causing damage on the floors. I pushed out the large ottoman in the room to the corner and spread the sheet on the floor and draped on the couch where I was planning to sit as I painted. The easel was just a quick snap to set up, just muscle memory at this point. I set out acrylics I’d decided to use. I decided to leave my oil paints at home since those took longer to dry and I didn’t want to have to worry about the bigger mess they could sometimes make.
With the supplies ready, I sat on the edge of the couch's seat, flipped open the drawing I’d worked on outside and started to work on the canvas. I didn’t think about this one either. I let my mind empty as my brushes and, sometimes, my fingers took over with the colors of the paint. I didn’t notice when the automatic lights flicked on an hour later. I’d just started on the shape of the fox when my phone started to go off. My hands were covered in red paint so I very carefully answered the phone on speaker.
“Hello?” I went back to mixing the red with a little of the yellow to lighten it just a bit to a more orange red.
“Hey, sweetie.” Mom’s voice echoed through the room. “Did you hang out with those guys?” I heard the twins in the background arguing over a video game and I grinned.
“Yeah, actually. It was fun. They’re all pretty chill. I didn’t have any kind of attack.” Even I could hear how proud I was in my tone.
“Really? That’s great, hon!” There was a crash in the background and Mom pulled her phone away. “Dang it. Steve! It’s Milly’s turn!” Mom huffed before coming back to the phone. “What are you doing now?”
“I’m painting.” I put the brush down and dipped my finger a bit in the paint and brushed it as I worked on the tail. “It’s a fox. Not sure why, but it’s cute. I didn’t think I’d get to painting so quickly.”
“That sounds like you’re starting off on a great note, sweetie. I just wanted to check on you and make sure everything was ok for your first day. Everything fine with the house?”
That question reminded me about the trash in the garage.
“Yeah, the house is great. I got my bedroom all aired out earlier. But, Mom, I wanted to let you know whoever did the latest maintenance on the truck left a bunch of trash in the garage and rotten food. It was really gross.”
“Huh.” Mom paused. “That’s weird. Sheldon usually doesn’t do things like that. Maybe he sent one of his employees, but I’ll talk to him about it for next time. You got the battery hooked up?”
“Yup. It runs perfectly.” I grabbed my black paint and decided to use my smallest brush to start with the outside of the fox’s eyes. “I’m just going to work on this painting and go to bed in a little bit.”
“Ok, hon. Love you. Everyone says hi.”
“Love you, too. I’ll call you later.”
I made sure the call ended before turning back to the canvas. Just as I started back up, the shutters started to lower slowly automatically. I turned to look out the windows. It was dark out besides the lights that lit up the deck. I wondered what kind of inspiration I could get if I worked in the night air but shrugged. No sense crying over spilt milk as grandma used to say. I was just about to start back painting when there was a flash of color on the deck.
I put my brush down on the easel as I narrowed my eyes. There was nothing out there now.
There was suddenly a flash of gray over the deck. My heart rate sped up and I stumbled over the old sheet and moved to the security panel near the front door. I pressed the button to make the shutters in the house lower quicker and lock down the house. My chest felt like it was constricting as I fought to keep my breath even to stop the anxiety attack I felt rising up.
What the hell was that? Maybe a bobcat? It had been pretty big for a bobcat. Mountain lions weren’t grey. But, then again, my friggin’ eye sight when it’s dark is shit. Even with the lights outside, whatever it was may not have been grey.
I told myself that I was okay, regardless. Whatever it was might have just been chasing bugs that might have been attracted by the lights outside.
I rubbed my face with my hands, trying to focus instead of the freaking out that was happening. That’s when I remembered my hands were covered in semi wet paint. I groaned as I pulled back to see that the paint had smeared all over my hands. That means it was all over my face now, too. I groaned, it was time for a shower and bed.
Since I was the only one here, I left the sheet and easel where it was. Packing up my paints took a few minutes and I cleaned my brushes at the sink. Not for the first time, I thanked Gary silently for the touch faucets so I didn’t get the sink covered in paints as well. My phone case had a splotch of orange-red paint where I’d answered the phone but that was easy enough to clean off with the corner of the sheet.
