CHAPTER 31
NIYAH
After exiting the Uber, Niyah hurried inside the hospital. She took quick steps to her office and closed the door. With her back to the door, she covered her face with her hands and slid down the door.
“Oh, my God,” Niyah whispered with a breath that she’d been holding since leaving her mother’s house.
The sound of someone clearing their throat made Niyah jump. She looked up to find her new intern standing near her desk with an awkward and horrified look on her face.
“Dr. Reed, are you okay?”
Niyah jumped to her feet and narrowed her eyes at the intern for asking such a dumb question.
Of course, she wasn’t okay. Nothing about her was okay.
“What are doing in here, Dr. Leer? What do you need?” Niyah asked in a tone that was weirdly calm for someone who’d just gotten caught falling to pieces.
Katima blinked with confusion with Niyah's bipolarized response. “I-I,” she began. “Are you sure you’re--”
“What do you need?” Niyah repeated.
“Well…” Katima picked up a note from her desk. “There’s another gangbanger murder.”
Niyah balled her fist until she could feel her nails pinching her skin. “Fuck me!” she cursed, kicking back at the door with her heel.
Katima returned the note to the desk and approached Niyah with a wrinkled brow. She must’ve thought she was insane or at the very least, too emotional about one homicide in a city like Chicago. “Dr. Reed, are you okay? Can I do anything for you?”
Niyah shook her head and sighed. “No. But, thank you. I’m just tired. Been working like crazy.”
To avoid the heat from her intern's glare, Niyah pushed off the door and moved over to her desk. “Thank you, Dr. Leer,” she said, coolly concluding their encounter.
“Yes, Doctor,” the intern conceded before leaving.
Niyah leaned over and pressed her palms on the desk. “Goddamn it, Naomi!”