HUM by Dan Hawley (chromebook ebook reader TXT) 📕

it was likely a miscarriage but could have also been a period. The only way to know for sure was to order blood tests and an ultrasound. He would have the results sent to Dr. Greene’s office, where Samantha had been before, and they would contact her with the news. The doctor said the nurse would be in shortly to give them the requisition forms, wished them well, and then exited though the curtain.

Samantha and Jason looked at each other silently. Neither of them could think of anything to say. Both knew nothing needed to be said.

Jason stood up and went to Samantha. He kissed her forehead and brushed her dark hair soothingly as they waited. A nurse soon pulled back the curtain. Samantha sat up and spun her legs so they fell over the side of the bed.

The nurse handed some forms to Samantha, said a curt “take care,” and left, leaving the curtain wide open in an invitation for the couple to leave. Jason and Samantha looked at each other again; the shared sadness weighing heavily in their eyes.

Jason moved to stand in-between Samantha’s legs and hugged her hard and close. She allowed a few tears to escape her damp eyes as they embraced. Then, once she felt like she could go on, they let go and left the hospital.

* * *

Back home in the early afternoon, Samantha and Jason could finally sit down and try to relax. Jason’s work had allowed him to take the day off without too much explanation, and the bloodwork and ultrasound were completed quickly at a clinic only a block away from the hospital. Now it was just time to wait. Wait and try to relax.

Samantha changed out of her street clothes into grey track pants and a long-sleeved shirt. Jason sat down on the couch, grabbed the tv remote, and put his crossed legs up on the coffee table all in one slick, fluid motion.

Samantha appeared from the bedroom. She sat down beside Jason and kissed him on the cheek. She lay down with her head on a pillow and her feet up on Jason’s lap. He watched her relax into the couch, her breath slowing and becoming more even. Her body twitched slightly, and soon after that, she was out: successfully escaping this hard reality into a peaceful slumber. With a gentle squeeze of her calf, Jason looked away and turned on the television.

CHAPTER 24

Just as Samantha and Jason were getting home from the hospital, Jerry was starting his Monday shift across the city. Mondays were for reviewing recordings for Dr. Luu, and although the shift change messed with Jerry’s sleep schedule, he knew he had to put in the hours.

Jerry also knew Amanda would be there, which didn’t hurt. He looked over at her, taking in her curves; the roundness of her bottom against the chair.

How many times had he asked her out? Jerry thought. Three? Or four?

He got shot down every time. Not in a mean way. Amanda was too nice to be a bitch, making it that much harder not to want her.

Sexy and smart. What a combo! But so far, no luck. Maybe fifth time’s a charm?

She looked up from her desk as if feeling Jerry’s eyes fixed on her. He looked away quickly as she turned.

“Good weekend?” Amanda asked sweetly.

“Mmhmm, yeah,” Jerry replied, trying to look busy with some papers.

“Overnight on Saturday was pretty uneventful. Slept most of the night, to be honest.”

He looked over at Amanda, his eyes squinted from a hidden, toothy smile. On his mask another smile was printed on the fabric, like that of a clown. Bright red lips sneered wickedly, framing cartoonishly large and perfectly white square teeth.

It was hideous.

It was Jerry’s Monday mask.

He could wear it because there were no patients to see that day, only Amanda. And sometimes Dr. Luu. “Dr. Luu is going to catch you sleeping one of these days, you know. Then what?”

“Then I won’t be able to spend my Mondays with you,” Jerry replied.

His words were thick with fake affection, the kind that is made to sound like a joke, but underneath it lay the truth.

“Exactly,” she said smoothly, turning back to her work, “Then I’ll have to put up with some other weirdo in a hideous mask.”

They giggled lightly, but the comment stung Jerry slightly—he thought his mask was funny.

Jerry cleared his throat and tried to focus on the paperwork in front of him.

Amanda didn’t realize that Jerry had failed to mention what he did on Sunday, or perhaps she didn’t care. Jerry was grateful, but if she did push the subject, he would simply say “not much,” skirting the topic.

On Sunday, after he kicked everyone out of the clinic and finished his reports, Jerry had jumped in his beat-up chevy and drove home. On the radio, Jerry had listened to the voice talk about a hearing coming up for that guy who stabbed the shit out of his wife up the mountains not too long ago.

Jerry thought the guy must have hated his wife an awful lot to take her all the way up Mount Rainier and kill her like that.

Probably wasn’t giving up the cooze anymore, Jerry had thought and clicked off the radio.

He kept his little apartment clean—as clean as one could make an old, rundown space. The building was likely eighty years old, and time had taken some things that could not be reclaimed with all the Javex in the world.

Jerry had gone inside, now feeling the familiar tired tingles behind his eyelids, asking him for sleep. He pulled his backpack off, then his jacket. He kicked off his boots and walked across the tiny kitchen toward his bed. His bachelor pad was truly a bachelor pad—with only two rooms—the bathroom and the everything-else room.

He pulled off his scrubs and sat on his bed wearing only his tighty-whities. He reached over the side, grabbed his laptop, and leaned back into the pillows. He pulled up