“I walked out the doors of the First Hill women’s health clinic and sent my husband, Conor, a text.
[It’s been taken care of. The baby’s gone.]
His reply appeared instantly on the screen. [K.]
I stared at that single letter and suddenly felt something close to amusement.
For years, whenever I sent him check-in messages before high-risk field surveys as a structural engineer, I got [K.] back. When I reminded him to call the police if he couldn’t reach me within twenty-four hours, I got [K.] back.
Three years ago, during the I-90 tunnel expansion through the Cascades, a mudslide hit. I was pinned under steel and concrete, completely cut off for seventy-two hours.
In the grip of absolute terror and searing pain, I sent Conor two hundred and thirty-seven messages begging for help.
He replied with two hundred and thirty-seven [K.]s.
That was when the truth finally punched through. The responses I’d been receiving all along were from an auto-reply he’d set up on his phone. Driving mode.
Conor didn’t read my messages.
Which meant he had no way of knowing I’d told him half a month ago about accepting an internal transfer to our London office. Or that I’d scheduled the appointment at the clinic yesterday. Today was just the final signature.
His energy, his attention—those had only ever belonged to the girl who filled his social feeds and Snapchat chat logs.
[1000 days! Huge thanks to this little demon for tormenting me nonstop.]
The post came with a screenshot of his Snapchat conversation with Hailey. Next to a dense wall of back-and-forth messages sat a streak flame icon with the number “”1000″” beside it.
I liked the post.
Then I commented: [Congrats on hitting the milestone. The man seriously deserves a medal.]
That day was the anniversary of my escape from the mudslide.
And it was the day I decided to leave Conor for good.”
237 Ks Zero Fs Chapter 12 After a month of adjusting in London, I officially onboarded at the UK division. The salary and rank were a significant jump from Seattle headquarters. As a senior engineer with extensive complex-terrain survey experience, I took over several core projects and was primarily responsible for training the new batch […]
237 Ks Zero Fs Chapter 12 Read Post »
237 Ks Zero Fs Chapter 11 The next morning, he sat in front of his computer, eyes swollen and bloodshot. Still wearing last night’s shirt. The blood on the collar had dried to a crusted brown. He logged into the American Institute of Architects’ internal system with his partner-level access. Posted a notice: “Former engineering
237 Ks Zero Fs Chapter 11 Read Post »
237 Ks Zero Fs Chapter 10 She stepped back on instinct. Her heel ground against broken glass with a sickening crunch. “I… how should I know? Just calm down—” Conor kicked the coffee table over. The tempered glass exploded like firecrackers. Hailey shrieked, jumped back, twisted her ankle, and fell to the floor. “You wear
237 Ks Zero Fs Chapter 10 Read Post »
237 Ks Zero Fs Chapter 09 By the time the flight touched down at Heathrow, night had already fallen over London. Maya went back to her South Kensington apartment late and drew a hot bath. She put her phone on silent, lay down in bed, and closed her eyes. She knew nothing of what was
237 Ks Zero Fs Chapter 09 Read Post »
237 Ks Zero Fs Chapter 08 Airport. Security checkpoint. Two guards had him by the arms. The gash on his forehead had split open at least three centimeters. Blood ran from his eyebrow all the way down to his chin. His shirt collar was a mess of red fingerprints. His left eye was glued shut
237 Ks Zero Fs Chapter 08 Read Post »
237 Ks Zero Fs Chapter 07 Alcohol made his brain churn slowly, like rusted gears grinding against each other. He frowned, flipping the paper over and over, trying to confirm he wasn’t reading it wrong. Then he grabbed his phone and started texting Maya. The first message still carried the tone of irritated reproach. [Maya,
237 Ks Zero Fs Chapter 07 Read Post »
237 Ks Zero Fs Chapter 06 This was the first time in three years Conor had ever sent me anything besides “K.” At the gala, he’d watched Maya push back her chair, grab her trench coat, and stride out the ballroom doors without a backward glance. The heavy mahogany doors sealed shut in front of
237 Ks Zero Fs Chapter 06 Read Post »
237 Ks Zero Fs Chapter 05 Under the spotlight, Hailey stood on stage with flushed cheeks, holding the microphone. She asked a question that crossed every boundary. “If you could ride a time machine back to the past, would you choose your partner again?” The crowd erupted. The director’s face went white. She coughed loudly,
237 Ks Zero Fs Chapter 05 Read Post »
237 Ks Zero Fs Chapter 04 Three years ago, Hailey had taken leave to go to Coachella. That was why I’d been forced to take her half-finished geological sketches and enter the deep mountain worksite in her place. The rain that day fell like it wanted to drown Seattle. There were barely any workers on
237 Ks Zero Fs Chapter 04 Read Post »
237 Ks Zero Fs Chapter 03 My posting to London happened to overlap with the Seattle headquarters’ annual business gala. The HR director posted the dress code in the team Slack channel. I glanced at it and felt exhaustion settle into my bones. I didn’t want to go. I was halfway through typing my excuse
237 Ks Zero Fs Chapter 03 Read Post »
