[h3][b]Katherine[/b][/h3][hr]

The phone lying on the nightstand buzzed to life, setting a warm, faint glow in an otherwise pitch-black room as the screen illuminated with an unknown number. It buzzed again, and again. Each time, it was invasively loud, louder than it had any business being. Katherine stirred within the white comforter shared with her boyfriend, Samuel. 

“Hmm.” 

The phone continued buzzing, making the girl sigh in defeat. She reached out for the device, her hand first making contact with the nightstand before she found the phone. It buzzed in her hand, and Katherine tapped the screen to answer without so much looking at it. She brought it to her ear, her face still half-buried into the pillow. “Hello?”

On the other end, a man introduced himself as Detective Russell. Katherine listened, and what he said next made her sit straight up in record speed. 

“Are you sure about that?”

Her heart began to race, her free hand clutching the comforter that was now on her lap. She didn’t keep her voice low, not even considering Samuel who’d just finished a shift at the local hospital. He was doing his residency, and he must have gotten home maybe not even an hour ago while she slept. The man continued speaking, but it didn’t register with her. Katherine had an insane amount of thoughts running through her head all at once, and they didn’t stop when the call was ended, her phone remaining against her ear for a few more moments before she placed it down beside her. 

“Sam.” She shook his shoulder slightly, figuring he’d been broken out of his deep sleep by then. But he didn’t so much as make a peep. “Sam! Sam, wake up Goddammit!” This time she shook him hard, much harder than she wanted to. In response, he woke up startled.

[I]"Wh—what’s going on?"[/I] He was barely there, but he was alert.

“Sam, it’s my father, he’s been found dead.”

[I]”What?!"[/I] Samuel sat up beside her, the comforter now covering only their legs. [I]”What happened?"[/I]

“He wouldn’t say...” Katherine shook her head slightly, her gaze straight ahead even though she couldn’t make out the finer details of the wall decor across from them thanks to the blackout curtains draped over the floor-to-ceiling window. She didn’t say anything else,  not even when Samuel got out of bed and pulled her with him as he went, part of the comforter falling to the floor. With one hand on her shoulder and another one wrapped around her waist, Samuel swiftly led her to their walk-in closet which resembled a small room. Without so much as a warning, he switched on the lights in the closet and Katherine squinted hard. [I]”Sorry love, but we’ve got to go,"[/I] he whispered, leaving her standing cold and alone in the middle of the closet as he went to fetch some clothes for the both of them. He moved with a purpose, going from one side to the other as their clothes were organized opposite of each other. 

Eventually, what nearly felt like an eternity, he returned to her side. [I]”Here, put these on."[/i]