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- THEREFORE I AM - Act one, chapter three: What hides in the dark.
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The moment Arryn steps foot into her bedroom, she's reaching into her bag for her walkman. The headphone wire tangles between her fingers in her haste, wrapping around the skin tightly but Arryn overlooks the collision momentarily.
She slides Robin's tape into the machine and once it shuts with a satisfying click, Arryn flicks her hand, detangling herself and slides the headphones on. The music begins, thundering to life with a thrilling tempo and a delicate voice.
The remainder of her evening is spent in a similar fashion. Arryn does as she promises, and listens to the entirety of the album, and finds herself more immersed as the tracks fade from one to another. Her bed, her room, becomes a stadium and the thrill of the music hardly ceases until the crushing moment it all shutters to a stop and the tape winds itself to completion.
Arryn, somewhat dazed, sits up quickly. She reaches for her walkman, blindingly fumbling against the fabric of her sheets for the device. Her hands close around the shape and she brings it to her chest. Arryn falls into her old habits immediately and winds through the tape until she can find the song she quickly decides is her favourite. She settles back into her pillows, eyes closed, her finger poised over the rewind button.
Arryn listens to it until she's able to recite the tempo and lyrics from memory. It isn't until the tenth replay, does she decide then to turn the device off and spend whatever remains of the night sleeping.
Arryn abandons her walkman on her bedside table, allowing it to rest atop the book she swore she'd read but has never touched. The floorboards creak just beyond the sanctuary of her bedroom door while the things that roam in the dark lurk in the shadows of her home. She buries her head beneath her covers, hoping to find relief in her dreams.
HoweverArrynfinds herself unable to sleep. Her body is still alive with anxiety (mostly from the car journey home and the knowledge she has another shift in a days time,) as well as a swell of other complicated feelings she's struggling to begin to pick apart.
Despite her (somewhat embarrassing fear of the dark) Arryn finds herself sat up right, staring blankly at her ceiling, counting sheep in hopes her brain can ease itself into unconsciousness. It only proves fruitless.
Sleep continues to allude her even as the first rays of the early morning light fall into her room. Arryn bites out a frustrated groan, exhausted and overwhelmed. She throws her legs over the side of her bed, and glares out the window. She curses the sun, the passage of time and most of all her own restlessness.
