The Darkness Within Read Free

there wringing my hands together behind my back. David looked like he didn’t know what to say either as his eyes flitted back and forth between Mom and me. When his gaze lingered on me, I shifted uncomfortably. Beneath his trim eyebrows were two of the darkest eyes I’d ever seen. They were so black that I could hardly detect a pupil. Not only were his eyes black, but he also had a heavy stare to match. When he finally looked away from me, I felt relieved, like a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders.
    I knitted my hands together and focused my eyes on David. “What made you buy this house?” I asked in an attempt to end the awkward silence. My gaze flickered toward the overgrown lawn, and then at the rusty, rickety looking chain-link fence that blocked off his backyard and separated his yard from ours. When it returned to David, he was staring at me with a raised eyebrow.
    My mom on the other hand frowned and gave me a shocked look. She couldn’t believe I’d just asked that. “Claire,” she said in a warning tone, giving me a pointed look.
    “What?” I questioned, widening my eyes. “I was just asking.”
    David broke the tension with a chuckle. “It’s fine. I just thought it was a,” he grappled for a word to describe the house.
    “Fixer-upper?” I offered, inputting my mom’s words from the morning.
    David laughed again and nodded. “Exactly.”
    I raised an eyebrow at my mom, who rolled her eyes back.
    “Sometimes, the idea of fixing something and making it your own can be intriguing,” Mom said, her gaze roaming over the house.
    “Just like a woman, intrigued by the idea of fixing things,” David joked, laughing lightly.
    I furrowed my eyebrows, not seeing the humor in his words. My mom narrowed her eyes for a second and then let out an awkward sounding, forced laugh. I don’t think David noticed, but I picked up on it. Her real laugh was light and airy, whereas this one was heavy and loud.
    “Does that make you a woman then?” I asked, giving David a mock innocent look.
    He shrugged, and smirked. “It’s no secret that I have a feminine side.”
    “Your wife must appreciate that,” my mom said, her gaze going to David’s ring finger, which had a gold wedding band on it.
    At the mention of the ring, David looked down at his hand and began to twist his ring around his finger repeatedly. It was a little oversized and the ring seemed outdated. David seemed to grow more reserved as he stared down at it. “I’m not married. Not anymore at least.”
    “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” Mom replied. She lowered her eyes slightly, most likely feeling bad for asking.”
    I shifted my weight again. “So, it’s just you here?”
    David shook his head no. “No, my daughter is here too. Against her will or so she keeps telling me.”
    “She didn’t want to move?” Mom asked.
    Shocker, I thought, my gaze automatically shifting back to the house.
    David scoffed. “That’s an understatement. You know how teenagers are. Moving away was the end of her life.”
    Mom placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed it gently as she said, “Oh, I know all too well about how dramatic teenagers can be. I was one at one point.”
    “Couldn’t have been that long ago either with how young you look,” David commented, winking flirtatiously.
    I almost gagged.
    Mom giggled. She tilted her head down, covering her mouth with her hand to hide the blush that tinted her cheeks red. “Thank you.”
    David smiled, then leaned into his house and produced a cookie. He held it up and said, “No, thank you. For the cookies and the warm welcome.”
    Mom smiled. “Well, we’ll let you get back to unpacking and moving in.”
    David nodded and waved. He stepped inside of his house and watched as we turned to head back to our house. As we walked down the sidewalk to the street, I felt the heavy weight of a stare. Looking over my shoulder, I met David’s gaze and a shiver went down my spine. His eyes were hard and