Title: "Adversity On Gilman: Part 3 of 12"        

         "Hi."

         Zero opened his apartment door to find Erica outside. She looked as if she hadn't had much sleep the night before. Zero could see the bags slightly under her eyes.

         She had called earlier about being able to come over for awhile. She needed someone to talk to, like the previous night. Her chest was still heavy. Zero was the person who she could come to and talk about the touchy subject of what she was experiencing.

         Zero opened the door wider, letting her come in. "How are you doing today?" he asked as he closed the door behind her.

         Erica walked to the couch in Zero's apartment. "Maybe a little better," she said as she sat down. "Being able to finally say something about it to someone helped out a lot."

         Zero sat down beside her on the couch. He flicked the television off and turned to her. He felt compassion for her. He felt compassion for Matt, too, but it was Erica who was in the direst need of someone to talk to at the moment. So he responded to her by saying. "I can only imagine. Do you know one way or the other yet?"

         Erica shook her head and cupped her hands in her lap. "No. I haven't taken a test, yet." She looked back to Zero. "I'm a little too scared to."

         Zero could see the fear that she was trying to contain deep inside of her. It wasn't obvious, but he had grown to know her fairly well over the near-past year. He could now spot those things. "Did you decide to tell Matt?"

         She ran her hands down her knee, like a child who is unsure of what to answer when a parent asks them about a broken dish. But Zero wasn't a parent. "No." She looked back to Zero. "I talked to him a little on the phone this morning. He had to go to work, though. But I decided not to say anything to him."

         Zero nodded his head affirmatively and leaned forward in his position. "It's the best thing you can do right now." He tilted his head back to Erica. "But if you have to eventually tell him, make sure it's under the best circumstances possible."

         Erica shook her head, trying to block out that thought. "I don't even want to think like that." The buildup of fear in her started forming in tears under her eyes.

         Zero then realized that he probably said the wrong thing. He tried to comfort her. He reached over to her and put his arm around her. "Well, come on. Let's try to get your mind off of it somehow. Maybe something is on the television." He picked the remote back up.

         Erica tried to smile. "Good luck. It's all that I've thought about for the past few days."

         Zero put the remote back down onto the table. He never even turned the television on. "Well, it's just a scare. Keep telling yourself that." It was an attempt to take back what he had said earlier.

* * * * *

         Matt stormed up the stairs of the Gilman apartments. He had seen Erica's car parked in the parking lot. He had skipped the rest of work just to come to these apartments. And what did he see? Why, the two of them together, obviously, in Zero's apartment. He didn't want to believe Carenthia, but the facts were suddenly right under his nose.

         He came upon apartment #13. He raised his hand to knock, but listened inside first. He heard Erica talking. So instead, he reached for the door handle and threw the door open in a fit of his anger.

         Inside, he saw Erica with tears down her face. Her head was laying against Zero's chest. And Zero had his arm around her. The scene was crystal clear for Matt. "What the hell is..." His eyes were wide open, staring at what he thought were his friends before him.

         Erica had raised up once she saw Matt come in. She didn't rise out of fear of being caught, though. She had no reason to be wary that Matt might think otherwise of something; something that was obviously not true.

         Zero sat where he was, but obviously surprised by Matt's sudden outbreak. It wasn't like him. "Matt, hey, what's wrong?" he said.

         Matt didn't even pay attention to the comment. He just shook his head and stared obliquely ahead at nothing. "Carenthia was right." His gaze floated to Zero. He spoke in a straight, even-tempered voice. "You're a fucking bastard, Lint!"

         That caused Zero to raise up out of his chair. What had came over Matt so suddenly? He didn't raise his voice, but he did contain a definite edge to it as he quickly responded to Matt. "Hang on! What in the hell do you think you're talking about!"

         Matt started walking towards Zero in a strong stride. "Carenthia has already told me the whole story. I wouldn't have believed it, except that I just walked in and I see her in your arms!" He pointed to Erica, but she was just as confused about what Matt was saying as Zero was.

         Zero started walking towards Matt. There was no more than seven feet in-between the two, and those feet were shortening by each second. Zero said, "Carenthia? What? What are you talking about?"

         Erica remained on the couch. She wanted to get up, but wasn't exactly sure what was about to happen. Instead, she hollered up to Matt. "Matt, what's going on? How come you're not at work?"

         Matt stopped in his walk and looked over to Erica. His face grew angrier. His skin was reddening. His feelings and emotions were being thrown from one side to the other. "What, did I catch you'll during the time behind my back?" he said, roughly, to Erica.

         Zero stopped where he was, threw his hands into the air, and just hollered out, "STOP!" The two looked at him. He looked at Matt. He continued with an agitation sounding through his voice. "What are you talking about, and what does Carenthia have to do with anything?"

         Matt knew that Zero was trying to hide it. He just wanted to hear Zero say so. He didn't know what he would do, but he wanted to hear Zero say it. Matt looked at Zero, straight in the eyes, and said, "I saw her earlier. She told me that Erica is pregnant and that you're the father. Is this true?"

         What?! It threw Zero for a sudden loop. He didn't know what Matt was talking about (about him being the father part, at least), but he suddenly had no idea what was happening. He summed up what was running through his head as he said...

         "What the fuck is going on here?"