Eddie Flood wakes up after a sol­id nine hours of sleep, prepar­ing him­self for the day ahead. He rec­og­nizes the impor­tance of good rest as he gears up for a sig­nif­i­cant event. Today he feels res­olute; despite the odds being stacked against him, he’s famil­iar with nav­i­gat­ing chal­leng­ing sit­u­a­tions. Ner­vous­ness is present, but his readi­ness over­shad­ows it.

He method­i­cal­ly packs his bag, fin­ish­ing with a reas­sur­ing pat for encour­age­ment. His plan is to fol­low Rosie through­out the day, wait­ing for the right moment to make his move—specifically when she is alone in her room, which will sig­nal his cue to act.

As Eddie looks out the win­dow, he takes in the view of alu­minum air-con­di­tion­ing ducts, which twist up against a dete­ri­o­rat­ing stone wall. This scene serves as a stark reminder of the fleet­ing nature of Rob Ken­na’s gen­er­ous fif­teen thou­sand dol­lars. The real­iza­tion strikes him hard and rein­forces his deter­mi­na­tion: today must be the day he takes action.

Eddie’s thoughts reflect a mix of excite­ment and ten­sion, embody­ing the com­plex­i­ty of prepar­ing for a piv­otal moment in his life. With each pass­ing moment, he solid­i­fies his resolve, ready to con­front what­ev­er chal­lenges lay ahead while main­tain­ing focus on Rosie and his upcom­ing deci­sion. Today isn’t just anoth­er day; it’s a day that could change every­thing.

In this chap­ter of “All the Col­ors of the Dark,” the pro­tag­o­nist engages with Misty in the tran­quil set­ting of a basil­i­ca in Huntersville. As they share inti­mate moments, Misty’s strug­gle with prayer emerges; she feels bur­dened by the bless­ings she has already received. Their bond deep­ens as she grips his hand tight­ly, sig­ni­fy­ing her emo­tion­al invest­ment in their rela­tion­ship.

The pro­tag­o­nist spends con­sid­er­able time in the pub­lic library, grap­pling with both painful and reward­ing mem­o­ries of the past decade. He reflects on sig­nif­i­cant events he had unwit­ting­ly over­looked, such as a bliz­zard, the assas­si­na­tion of polit­i­cal fig­ures, and cul­tur­al moments that shaped soci­ety. His efforts to gath­er names and faces extend beyond his imme­di­ate cir­cle, show­cas­ing a desire to remem­ber those affect­ed by tragedy. How­ev­er, his con­tri­bu­tions to Nix, the chief, are met with indif­fer­ence as Nix files the infor­ma­tion with­out acknowl­edg­ment.

In a shift to domes­tic life, the nar­ra­tive fol­lows the pro­tag­o­nist’s inter­ac­tions with Sam­my dur­ing week­end bar­be­cues on their bal­cony. Their friend­ship is laced with humor, although there are indi­ca­tions of ten­sion, par­tic­u­lar­ly with Sammy’s ref­er­ence to a vis­it from a woman named Nina, sig­ni­fy­ing com­pli­ca­tions in their per­son­al lives. Mean­while, the pro­tag­o­nist nav­i­gates the del­i­cate dynam­ics of car­ing for his moth­er, ensur­ing her needs are met while also pro­tect­ing Misty from his trou­bled home life.

The chap­ter also hints at Misty’s yearn­ing for more inti­mate con­nec­tions, par­tic­u­lar­ly regard­ing the prom. The pro­tag­o­nist, although hes­i­tant, even­tu­al­ly takes her to a dance, result­ing in a heart­felt embrace, under­scor­ing the mix of joy and respon­si­bil­i­ty he feels toward her.

As the pro­tag­o­nist pur­sues his paint­ing, he finds solace in cre­at­ing por­traits of girls from the com­mu­ni­ty, chan­nel­ing his grief and artis­tic tal­ent into mean­ing­ful works. The reac­tions to his art elic­it strong emo­tion­al respons­es, par­tic­u­lar­ly from the moth­ers of the girls he paints. How­ev­er, the encounter with Richie Mon­trose, who returns the paint­ing of his daugh­ter, Cal­lie, reflects the pro­found pain of loss that res­onates through­out the chap­ter. Chief Nix’s obser­va­tion about the nature of grief high­lights the emo­tion­al weight car­ried by those con­nect­ed to the vic­tims, under­scor­ing the over­ar­ch­ing theme of mem­o­ry and mourn­ing in this poignant nar­ra­tive.