Work Text
“Honey, come here!”
Hannah Lukowitz was summoned into the living room by her husband. She entered the dingy living room, greeted by the bright flashing light of the television and the powerful volume of the speakers. Her husband was sitting on a recliner chair surrounded by dozens of empty crushed beer cans lying on the floor. Hannah walked in and started picking up a
few cans of beer, while her husband sat in the recliner watching some violent movie about guns and war again. She looked up at him and felt a wave of deep distain in who she was face to face with. She did not feel this way a few years prior. Hannah remembers a time when her husband was kind, caring, and loving to her before he became a loathsome, disrespectful wife beater.
The two lovers met in high school and had been dating since the first week of freshman year. They fell in love so swiftly that they barely knew anything about each other when they first started dating. Back then, Hannah was treated like a princess by her husband at the time her boyfriend gave her flowers, wrote her poems and showed her all the affection
one woman could ever need. Her love life was perfect then. It began going downhill when, after graduation the husband decided he wanted a baby with Hannah. He told her that it had been his dream since childhood.
Hannah was hesitant initially because she wanted to attend college and become a teacher before becoming a mother. Her husband proposed that he go to school and become a plumber while she could stay home and raise their kids. Unfortunately, she loved her boyfriend more than her dream to become a teacher and went with his wishes. When Hannah
had become pregnant, her husband proposed to her and they eloped the next day. A few months into the pregnancy, Hannah had a miscarriage that had caused her to spiral into a depression. They were both devastated by this news and tried again, but all attempts turned out to be all in vain. All the miscarriages took a toll on Hannah's body, to the point where they gave up on trying.
Her husband was disappointed in her and blamed her for the miscarriage which had only made it worse for her. He tried to be supportive of Hannah but was too selfish to continue pretending. He would often complain that she was always sad and about how the babies 'she' murdered would have fixed her.
Her husband now is very different from the boy she met a few years ago, the boy she fell for. And he broke the girl who had dreams of becoming something for herself. Hannah was tired of the life she had now and wanted a permanent way to escape. She had tried other ways to leave this marriage, but every time she even suggested it, her husband would shut it down right away. Saying things like
"And do what? You don't have a job, and no one will hire you anyways with how stupid you are. The only thing you'd be good for is making babies, something you aren't able to do. It'd be better if you stay here to serve and care for me, I'll provide for you because I am a generous man, ". Hannah had heard it hundreds of times.
“ Hey, what are you doing?! I need more beer, make it snappy,” The man demanded.
“Yes honey,” Hannah choked out, trying her best to sound as though she wasn't about to burst into tears. She retreated into the kitchen, took a few beers from a cooler and brought them back to her husband.
“ Here. I'm going to bed now, sweet dreams,” Hannah lied, before heading to bed. As she walked away, she could hear her husband call out to her
“And don't forget to make my lunch for tomorrow, I had to go out today,”
Hannah walked to the bedroom slowly and changed into her pajamas, leaving her clothes from today folded on a dresser. She opened their shared drawer and pulled out a neatly folded note and a pistol, concealed between folded clothes. Hannah sighed as she looked at the gun, and was ready to go. She placed the note in between her breasts because she knew that was the first place her husband would look at her. Hannah walked into the bathroom and stepped into the tub, gun in her right hand. She looked up into the mirror at herself for the last time as she raised the gun to her head, cocked it and smiled with tears dripping down her face.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Amber!” James shouts from a table outside a cafe.
His long arm waves to greet Amber, who is a few minutes late to their agreed meeting time. James is tall. The kind of tall where your knees hit underneath the table when his feet are flush to the ground. He’s somewhat of a lanky guy. The body of one whose only exercise is running from class to class. His hair is considered long by most. In reality, it's only three inches down from his earlobe. It cascades in a way that looks effortlessly fashionable, surprisingly. He often styles it in a man-bun, like today. His stubble had shown through, even though he shaves constantly because having a beard freaks him out. James has the fashion sense of a middle-aged father, but he seems to pull it off just fine, or as he calls it comfy chic.“Sorry, I was late. I honestly thought I was early this time, like an hour! The professor went on a tangent and wouldn't stop until someone reminded him of the time.” Amber explains and takes a seat across from James. He slides over a coffee to Amber, three sugars and one cream, the way she likes it.“Aw, for me? You didn't have to, but I won't say no. I’ll pay you back with coffee next time,” Amber offers.“No, not at all it was my pleasure,” James smiles warmly at Amber. Amber settled into her seat and took a sip of her coffee then placed it on the table while she reached into her bag. She pulls out a pen and a notebook labeled volunteer opportunities, slamming it down on the metal table making a loud metal racket sound. On the table scratching against the floor, everyone turned to look. Amber didn't care and started jotting down bullet points along the margins.“So, shall we get started?” Amber suggested.“Oh, that's right. Yes, absolutely,” James replied.“So I was talking with some teachers and I found out that we can volunteer at the hockey games. We would get free food and drinks, we would hand out the food and drinks. After we complete a
shift we are welcome to stay for the rest of the game and as I said seconds ago, get free food and drinks. Pretty good gig huh?” Amber boasted, crossing her arms.“That’s perfect! And of course, we’ll volunteer at the hospital as usual in addition to food banks and libraries,”“Of course we will!”“I’m so glad I have you to volunteer with. I must be the luckiest guy in the world.” James confesses.“Aw James, you oughta save that talk for your girlfriend,”“I don’t even have a girlfriend, Amber, you know that,”“Sorry, yes, but y'know what I mean kind of a cheesy rom-com line,”“Uh oh, yeah sorry ha. I just meant it's nice to have a friend to go with to all these events,”“Oh well, in that case, I must be the luckiest girl in the world,”Amber puts away the notebook in her bag and takes a sip of her coffee.“So, how are your classes so far?” Amber inquired.“Not too bad so far. Well, we have most classes together so you would know how it is,”“But I want to know how *you* feel about them,”“Pretty good so far. It is the first week, but I have two tests next week. Wanna Study this weekend?” James proposed the idea.“Library?” Amber responded.“Yes, I’ll book a room for?”“1-6?”“Sounds good, We'll get dinner after too!”“So much fun! You’re a genius James,” Amber teased, playfully poking James’ arm.“Great, it's a date! Shall we head to our next class now?” Amber suggests as she rises from her seat. She grabs her coffee and tucks her chair in.“Yes, we shall,” James replies as he follows suit.Amber and James walk out of the cafe and towards the science building. As they approach the building, they notice the lack of students coming in. It was confusing to them, as there were five
minutes to class and the building was dead silent. They walk in anyway and peek into their classroom to find it locked when attempting to jiggle the doorknob.“Why isn't anyone here?” James questions, glancing down at his watch. His eyebrows raise at least an inch.“We're early,” He sighs.“What do you mean early,” Amber says, pointing at her watch and holding it up for him to see. She stops when she realizes what the old watch displays and compares it to James’ watch.“I’ve been running early for 1 hour this whole week. And I thought everyone else was running late. That sucks, at least we have some free time now. Hey, while we wait for class to start, why don't
we go check out the sports building to see the hockey volunteer signup times?” Amber suggests as she looks around and spots the building in question.“Sounds good I’ll follow your lead,” James nods in agreement.
Amber starts towards the sports building, James walking alongside her.
When they enter the building, they are presented with a few tables for each sports team that played at the school. Soccer, basketball and volleyball are stationed on the right. Hockey, Lacrosse, and swimming are stationed along the left wall of the first corridor. The pair darted for the hockey table, bypassing the rest not glancing at them. The guy manning the table was Callum Wilson, the captain of the hockey team. Amber had heard rumors of him, that he was the best player on the team as well as the biggest man-whore the school had ever seen. That second rumor was up for debate, although she knows a few girls he’s had his way with. Callum was praised for this, of course, being a man. He was sitting on a foldable plastic chair behind the table, two clipboards laid out before him. Slumping into his dark blue hoodie, both arms crossed. You could tell that he was muscular from the way the hoodie hugged his arms and chest. His deep brown hair peeked out from the green toque he was sporting. His blue eyes glared at the pair that was approaching him with haste.“ Hey there Callum, how's business?” Amber greets him with a smile.“Who are you, and how do you know my name?” Callum responds by adjusting himself up straighter in his chair.“That’s no way to greet a lady, is it?” James retorts, taking a step closer to the table, attempting to tower over him.“Whatever. Do you wanna try out for the team Gumby? I Don’t think it's a great idea buddy. Guys like you uhm, don’t do too well on the ice. Hey, I have an idea the basketball team is looking for a new towel guy” Callum countered holding back a giggle.
James' eyes narrow slightly clenching his fists.“Hey guys, calm down. We just want to see the volunteer sheets. No need to be hostile, Callum,” Amber interrupts their tension.“Oh for sure, here’s the sheet and a pen,” Callum hands the clipboard to Amber with a pen.
Amber studies the sheet closely, and so does James.“Oh shoot Amber, I can't make any of the dates. It would interfere with my job,” James expresses his disappointment.“Oh, well isn’t that unfortunate, next time,” Callum teases sarcastically.
James eyed Callum. Expertly held his tongue before he was about to say something, luckily Amber interrupted that train of thought.“Oh dang, that sucks but at least we’ll have hospital time together, right?. I’ll save you some snacks,” Amber cheers up James. She uses the pen to fill in spots on the sheet.“Hey Callum, I’ll take Tuesdays and Thursdays,”“Okay, you just have to fill it out, don't have to tell me,” Callum says in a half yawn.
She handed back the clipboard and left it on the table.“Sure thing, see you then!” Amber says, leaving with James to go to class.“See you then Amber,” Callum says.
James and Amber head back to the science building.“I don't like that Callum guy and the way he talked to you,”“Maybe he was just having a bad day. It doesn't matter anyway. Although that Gumby comment wasn't very nice. Want me to talk with him about it.”“No no, it's fine just. It's nothing. I don't want anyone to talk to you like that.”“Let's not get worked up over this, okay? It's only a few hours a week towards a good cause, right? Remember we’ll do anything to get into med school,”“I guess, it still doesn't sit right with me,”They arrive at their class on time but a few minutes early.
They look around the room, only seeing a few students waiting for class to start. They made their way to their spots.“Hey Amber, how did you know that douche's name,” James asked her genuinely.“Well, first of all, harsh. Second of all, I share a class with him,”"What class could he possibly share with you?"
"James!"
“I didn’t like his attitude,”
“He must have felt threatened by your manly presence,” Amber teased.
“Ha ha very funny. You should stay away from that guy, I don’t like his vibes,”
“Oh, you’re being silly, James. He must have had a rough morning or something. Anyway, it's no big deal. I won't even be around him all that much, I'm not sure why you’re worried.” Amber laughs it off and gives James a small slap on the back.