HUM by Dan Hawley (chromebook ebook reader TXT) 📕

murdered. What was supposed to be a break from their waking nightmare had ended up adding to the horror.

Samantha continued to the bathroom and dropped off her things. She set the makeup in the drawer and the shampoo in the shower, then turned around.

“Oh!” she gasped. “Jesus, you scared me!”

Standing in the doorway was Jason, a blank, tired look on his face.

“Jason?” she asked and reached out to touch his arm. The pressure of her hand on his arm snapped him out of it. His eyes cleared, and confusion furrowed his brow.

“What… what the hell?” he said. “Fucks going on?”

“I don’t know!? I just got back from the store and was putting stuff away, and then all of a sudden, here you are! Were you sleepwalking!?”

Samantha sat down on the toilet, her hands trembling slightly.

“Shit. I dunno,” Jason said meekly.

He looked at the floor, at his hands, then at Sam.

“I guess I fell asleep at my desk? And fucking sleepwalked in the middle of the day? Who does that!? Jesus!”

Jason stormed off into the office and slammed the door behind him. Samantha sat staring at the wall, disbelieving what had just happened. She sat until her hands steadied and she was confident that she could walk without fainting.

Samantha headed to the kitchen, noting the steady click, click, click of the keyboard from behind the office door as she passed. It was almost lunchtime, and although she wasn’t all that hungry, the only thing Samantha could think of to do was cook some food.

Chicken and peppers sizzled and popped in the hot skillet. The smells awakened Sam’s appetite as she stood watch over the stove. She hoped the scent would rouse Jason too and coax him from that room. Even if it did, though, it was unlikely that she’d be able to talk to him. Lately, when he did come out for lunch, it was always brief. He would silently grab something and recoil back to his lair like some strange, recluse animal, closing the door behind him. Even at the end of the workday, he would exit the office looking like death warmed over. It would take some time and a few tries to extract a lucid conversation from Jason.

As if on cue, the office door opened, and Jason emerged.

“Sorry I scared you before,” he said sheepishly as he stopped and leaned on the kitchen island. “I just spent the last hour researching sleep clinics. Most are closed due to the pandemic, but I found one; Dr. Luu. I made an appointment, but it’s not until Friday afternoon.”

Jason sat down, planted his elbows, and rested his heavy head in his hands.

“Oh, alright, good. I was going to suggest seeing someone, but…” Sam trailed off.

“But what?”

“Well, you’ve been super moody and stressed, and even before last weekend, it was hard to talk to you. I didn’t want to upset you. Especially now, after what happened at Rainier.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry, babe,” Jason said.

“It’s ok,” Sam said as she walked around the island to hug him.

“I just want you to feel better.”

Samantha cupped Jason’s beard in her hand and bent down to kiss him. She looked into his eyes. “Love you.”

“Ditto,” he said with a smile. “Smells good. Fajitas?”

Samantha grabbed her tongs and filled four flatbreads with the steaming chicken and sweet pepper mix from the hot pans. She finished each one with shredded cheese, a spoonful of sour cream, and a squeeze of lime. She set the plates down at their places on the island, turned around, and opened the fridge to find the orange juice.

“Thanks,” Sam heard as she reached for the carton. She turned around to see Jason already headed back to the office. He disappeared inside and closed the door.

He had still talked more than most lunches, she thought.

Samantha sat down in a disappointed heap and began to eat.

* * *

Samantha hadn’t had any luck finding work, and the pandemic only made it more difficult. With not much else to do during the lockdown, she had become somewhat of a Sudoku wizard. She could spend hours on the couch pouring over the black and white grids, analyzing the lines, determining which numbers went where. She usually worked on the puzzles on the couch, from where she could hear whatever sounds were coming from the office. It’s not like she was eavesdropping; she had nowhere else to go, and the apartment was small.

She was working through a challenging puzzle when her phone vibrated. Someone was calling—unknown caller. She pressed the talk button. “Hello?” she said into the speaker.

“Hello, Samantha?”

“Yes.”

“It’s Detective Topp from the Seattle PD. Do you have a moment to speak?”

“Yes. I do.”

“Well, ma’am, sorry to bother you, I tried Jason’s phone but no response. Anyway, we picked up our man trying to cross the border in Idaho, so you can relax now.”

Relax, Sam thought. What’s that?

“Oh, that’s wonderful news, Detective. So glad to hear it. It’s been a very stressful experience, to say the least. Any idea why? Why he did it?”

“Well, I can’t really comment on an ongoing investigation, but I can say that in the last two months since lockdown began, we’ve seen a sharp increase in domestic violence calls. Some of those calls have ended in a similar way to that hiker up there, if you catch what I’m sayin’.”

“That’s terrible.”

“Anyways,” Detective Topp continued, “we may need you two for the trial when it gets underway; might have to testify or whatnot. We’ll let you know.”

“Whatever we can do to help,” Sam said.

“Ok then, you all have a good rest of your day now.” The call ended, and Sam’s phone switched from the call screen back to her wallpaper. It was a picture of her and Jason just before they left from Pennsylvania. They both looked so excited and happy. Ready to take on the world. How things change, she thought.

She rose from the couch, went to the office door, and listened. It was quiet inside. She knocked gently. No answer. She