HUM by Dan Hawley (book club reads .TXT) 📗

followed the trail along the lake’s bank, past the lady and her dog. The lady waved and the couple waved back. The yellow dog poked its head up for a moment to observe the new visitors, decided they were boring, and continued on its scent-finding journey.

Samantha and Jason stopped and turned towards the body of water. Jason removed the straps of his pack and took in the inspiring view. He set the bag down in the short grass and plunked himself down beside it on an old hemlock log, its trunk worn smooth by the rear ends of a thousand travelers. Sam pulled off her pack and sat down beside him.

A few feet ahead of them, the ground fell off into the shallow, sky-blue lake.

“I guess that’s why they call it Reflection Lake,” Samantha said.

The lake’s quiet surface acted as the perfect mirror for the monstrous peak of Mount Rainier, which resided just beyond the evergreen forest on the opposite side. A perfect doppelganger.

“A fitting name for sure. Not very inventive, though.”

Jason smiled at Samantha, hoping that things were ok again. She smiled back. She usually smiled easily, and even though Jason didn’t feel like the smile was fake, it certainly was a little forced.

“My brother would have liked it here,” Sam said.

“Toby?”

“No, my other brother.”

The sarcasm was thick as she rolled her eyes.

“I just meant,” Jason began, “he wasn’t really the outdoors type. That’s all.”

Jason slowly traced lines into the dirt with his shoes. “Just because he didn’t want to join you and your hick buddies to go kill defenseless animals doesn’t mean he didn’t like the outdoors,” Samantha said.

Toby was a touchy subject, so Jason kept quiet and continued to trace his lines.

“I just miss him, that’s all.”

Samantha inhaled a deep breath and enjoyed the sun on her skin. A smile spread across her face as she remembered her brother.

“He was a good guy,” Jason said. “It’s a shame.”

He took in a breath and stood up.

“Shall we explore some trails?”

Jason turned to Sam, extended his hand, and bowed slightly in the knightliest way he knew how. She took his hand and used his weight to pull herself up from her wooden seat. The sudden strain almost set him off balance, but he quickly recovered.

“Let’s do it.”

They slipped their packs onto their backs and headed out into the wilderness.

Branches broke the sunlight into a thousand pieces as it fell to the forest floor. Shadows danced on the gravel path as Jason and Samantha navigated along the well-manicured trail. Pine needles quietly rustled as the cool breeze gently caressed them with endless ebbs and flows.

Small streams fed from waterfalls created by spring thaw gurgled and splashed in the distance. Jason listened as the forest’s smooth ambiance was constantly interrupted by a soft tweet from a bird or sporadic chatter from a cautious squirrel.

The forest teemed with life—a stark contrast to the city’s concrete, metal, and plastic. And not a moment’s peace from the noise. The traffic, the gadgets, the…hum. And even with all those people there…they didn’t seem alive.

Jason wasn’t thinking of the thousands in Seattle who had died in the past two months from the coronavirus. He was thinking about all the people who seemed dead on the inside. You know, the ones with the blank look in their eyes and muted energy. Those people who are just killing time, going through the motions until death claimed their bodies to join their minds.

Jason shivered.

“He was a good guy,” Samantha said.

Jason figured her thoughts were still dwelling on her brother; deep in thought, she hadn’t said a word since they left the lake twenty minutes prior. Jason learned a while ago that it was best to let her have that time and wait for her to talk when she was ready.

“But so unhappy,” she continued. “So fundamentally unhappy. On the outside, it looked like he had everything: a family who loved him, a decent job, a cute boyfriend. He had food and shelter and love! He basically had everything! Sad, selfish bastard.” Samantha spoke in heated tones, but she didn’t cry. She had no more tears left for him. Samantha wasn’t even angry at Toby anymore. She just felt empty about it, like a question that would never be answered, a space too large to fill. Sam would never know why her brother took his own life; she could only speculate. “Maybe he never really got over being bullied. You know, about being gay,” Jason said.

He knew to pick his words carefully. Even though he would never want to hurt Samantha’s feelings intentionally, sometimes, he just did.

If he worded a thought in a certain way or said something dumb without thinking it through first, he would pay for it. He just wanted to help; to be there for her. After Toby hung himself, Jason quickly realized that it was usually best to say very little about it.

“Maybe,” Samantha said.

She had thought about all the whys a thousand times.

“But we were always supportive, our family. We suspected it anyway, years before he came out. When he did come out to us, we kind of just shrugged and said ok. The people who mattered loved him. Accepted him.”

Samantha and Jason’s pace through the woods slowed as they talked.

“Those fuckers at school, though,” Jason said. “Just wouldn’t let it be.”

Samantha sighed and stopped. She allowed her bag to drop from her shoulder, knelt, and opened the zipper. She pulled out a sweaty water bottle and took a long drink, then handed it to Jason with a quiet little burp.

“Excuse me,” she said. “It had been years since all that stuff in high school. Toby seemed over it. In a good place. Who knows though, I guess.”

Jason handed the bottle back to Sam. She capped it, threw it back in her bag, and zipped it back up.

Suddenly, a quick, loud shriek broke the stillness. The couple looked around for the source.

“What the hell was…”

Then another slightly longer scream pierced the woods.

“This way!” Jason leaped