Strength

34.

Excuse any mistakes. Nia in the mm.

3 hours later

It's the game of life. Do I win or do I lose? One day they're gonna shut the game down. I gotta have as much fun and go around the board as many times as I can before it's my turn to leave.

Tupac

—

   After sitting in the waiting for almost an hour, Nia was a wreck. As soon as she received the news, she flew straight home.

The clacking of the keys coming from the receptionist and the constant boring commercials from the TV was driving her insane.

   She had mixed emotions. She was angry, angry at Shiloh and Travis. Nia was also hurt and heartbroken. Because Shiloh was in there fighting for his life and he'd lied to her about being all the way in.

She couldn't understand why he went back.

    As she stared at the blank white wall in front of her, Naomi attempted to comfort her the best way possible. Nia felt the tension and anxiety build up inside of her as she stared blankly, her mind full of emptiness.

Before the panic could eat her alive, she managed to catch up on subtle breathing exercises to help her relax.

   "He's going to be okay." She says repeatedly to herself.

Ayshah and Nyah were sitting in a corner, crying. From the short time that Nia knew his little sister, she never seen Nyah show any type of emotion until tonight.

   For some reason, that made Nia's stomach twist into knots.

She stared at the black-framed wall clock for the ninth time this hour, scrutinizing the second hand, which seemed to linger an extra minute at every passing second. Nia took her gaze off of the clock, silently vowing to not look at it once more until absolutely necessary.

    Sitting on the edge of the chair, Nia placed her hands on her knees with the intention to stop them from bouncing up and down.

Nia was extremely parched after refusing to eat or drink any edible substance for the past three hours. She walked over to the water fountain and picked up a worn out disposable cup to which she fixed herself a cold cup of water.

    She quickly gulped down the water, producing a sound similar to that made by the water dispenser itself, and licked her dry lips, which were stained with crimson lipstick.

She crushed the frail plastic cup in her hand and threw it in the bin. Nia walked back over to her seat and sat down, yet again, on the edge of the chair and resumed her tiresome wait for the doctor to come with good news.

     Zeke rushes inside with a worrisome look on his face. He tried to get a read on the situation by looking at everyone's faces. Naomi simply shook her head to let him know that they'd heard nothing.

He sighs as he takes the empty chair beside Nia. She continued to stare blankly at the wall, showing a little life from her every so often blinking.

   Suddenly, a doctor approached them and the five of them immediately stood up.

The doctor had the posture of a soldier. It seemed like every action she took was precise and purposeful. She smiled in the cold and distant way professionals do.

The smile didn't reach her eyes. Nia could never relax around such expressions. She needed a genuine face, preferably a smile, but she'd really rather they didn't fake it.