HUM by Dan Hawley (chromebook ebook reader TXT) 📕

noodles to prevent them from sticking while Jason thought about his discovery on the twentieth floor.

“Thank you. Smells good,” he said, opting not to fill her in.

* * *

“It will be the first night I’ll spend alone since we got here.”

Samantha stuck her stainless-steel fork through the soft penne. She moved the noodles around in the creamy sauce and brought the fork up and into her mouth.

“You gonna be ok here all by yourself?”

“I suppose,” she said after she finished chewing.

“At least you’ll get the whole bed to yourself.” Samantha nodded.

“Sure. Big ol’ empty bed to match the big ol’ empty apartment.”

“It’s not that big,” Jason said.

“Actually, it’s fucking tiny.” They laughed together.

“But still,” Sam continued, “It’s lonely here. I don’t know anyone; this pandemic has stopped me from meeting anyone or finding a job or doing anything really. I just sit around, mostly bored, not knowing how you are from moment to moment.”

Jason frowned.

“I know, babe.” Jason put his fork down. “I’m sorry things have been so crazy. But I have a really good feeling about this doctor. I think he’s gonna get to the bottom of this thing so I can get better.”

Jason’s face looked hopeful and flushed as he spoke, staring into Sam’s dark eyes.

“I will get better, Sam. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Jason leaned in to kiss her and their mouths parted. Samantha reached out her hands for Jason’s face. She pulled his lips tighter against hers by the scruff of his beard, and she let out a little moan. Heat rushed to Jason’s groin at the sound of her pleasure. He ran his left hand through her shiny, obsidian hair and grabbed tight, pulling just enough for her to feel it. Her eyes rolled back into her head, and their tongues danced wildly in each other’s mouths. Jason’s free hand reached up and out and found Samantha’s firm, full breast. Her flesh gave way to his passionate squeeze; her nipple hardened and poked at his palm. His thumb and forefinger collapsed around the eager hardness, and he pinched just enough for a little pain. Samantha squealed. Jason stood up off of his stool and pulled her off hers. Still kissing, she grabbed him close, pressing his throbbing manhood against her stomach. She jumped up and clasped her legs around his waist, wordlessly begging Jason to take her to the bedroom. He eagerly obliged, carrying his lover across the apartment floor and onto the bed.

* * *

From the bathroom came the steady hiss of the shower mixed with music from Samantha’s Bluetooth speaker. Jason lay in bed, glistening with sweat, catching his breath, listening.

Sam started to sing along to a song. She had a beautiful voice. One that wasn’t forced or fake. Just a wholesome, clear voice. She loved music. She had been in a choir back home (would this ever feel like home?) and even took piano lessons before leaving Pennsylvania. She had had every intention to join a new choir out here and to begin lessons again.

COVID had other plans, Jason thought, staring up at the ceiling. Samantha loved that speaker. She loved that speaker because it allowed her to take her music anywhere. Sam would sleep with it if she could. Samantha used to, before Jason, but Jason can’t fall asleep when music was playing. Too distracting, he had said. He would sing along in his head or out loud for hours until exhaustion finally took him. Sam had suggested he try again to block out the hum of their new apartment. He tried it, of course. Anything to drown out the hum.

It had been no good, though. He had ended up just singing along.

Jason had tried everything; the Bluetooth speaker playing music, and headphones playing soft nature sounds that promised sleep would be achieved in only minutes. Some other offerings used hypnosis to lull you to sleep. Jason didn’t like the idea of being programmed, so he had vetoed that idea. He had also tried earplugs, but he couldn’t get comfortable with them in. They blocked the air in and put pressure on his eardrums, making his head feel full and heavy.

The only thing that worked, a little, was running a fan. The fan created a white noise that hid the hum just enough that Jason wouldn’t focus on it so much. The hum hadn’t gone away, though; it was ever-present. Constant and relentless, like a freight train. The fan would sometimes distract him long enough to fall asleep, but mostly he would lie there, feeling the hum through the fan’s white noise. The vibration would tickle at his insides at first, then grow louder as it moved into his ears. Louder and louder, up, into his mind, into a great crescendo!

Then he would wake up somewhere and not know how he got there, or discover he had moved things, or his body would ache as if he had been lifting weights or jogging in his sleep.

The gentle sound of the shower mixed with some slow jam playing on the speaker continued. Samantha was humming along; what a pleasant sound. Not like the other one, no, this hum was nice and soft and warm.

Jason rolled his head over and looked at the nightstand. Below his lamp lay all the things that liked to move around at night, gathered around the lamp like they were relaxing under a tree on a warm, summer day. Fuck it, he thought. Move around if you want; I don’t care anymore. His heavy eyelids blinked lazily and finally closed, Samantha’s sweet hum in his mind.

* * *

Jason blinked again. The room was bright. He squinted against the light and rolled over. Samantha was lying beside him. As his eyes rested upon her face, she opened her eyes, shards of obsidian staring back at him.

“Good morning,” she said as she cozied into her pillow. Jason stared a moment.

“Hey there.”

Jason yawned and stretched, kicking the comforter off his right