High fit

Brightness controls whether a person defaults to seeing the hopeful or dark side of a situation. Nathan Weiser had his brightness turned nearly all the way down — years of worst-case outcomes had trained his mind to expect the worst every time. He sat on that beach already convinced the news would be bad, already running through what he would do after. When Lucy called with a heartbeat, his brightness spiked involuntarily — he screamed at the horizon, cried, and felt a wave of gratitude he hadn't been able to access in years.