Eye for an Eye

Chapter 8

TW: sexual abuse mention, self harm.

D,

Delano spits out the leftover toothpaste is his mouth and washes his face with a rag. he exits the bathroom and goes into his room to find his scrubs for work. he looks over at arielle sleeping with a frown on his face. why does she have to be such a bitch? he knows his mother is a pain in the ass but the least she can do is respect her. he shakes his head and changes into his scrubs. he grabs his brush from the top of the drawer and brushes his hair. he misses his locs but they held trauma for him and they were also thinning. he felt that if he cut them off, it would make him forget what he went through. he finishes packing up his work bag and goes over to arielle, looking down at her. she was laying on her side, her arm resting under her head with drool on her chin. she's so beautiful though he thought. he kisses her head and walks out the room, heading downstairs. he gets in his car and turns the heat on, shivering lightly. it was 5am in the morning and the temperature outside was 25 degrees, being at its coldest. he peels out of the parking spot, planning to stop to get some coffee and heads to work.

when he gets to work, he starts putting his belongings in his locker and sees his coworker/friend coming into work as well. he closes his locker and walks up him, smiling.

"Hey Kameron, wassup" he dabs him up, giving him a mini hug. delano and kameron met in college a couple years ago. they studied the same major and ultimately had the same classes, which made them become friends. kameron is from brooklyn so when delano told him that he was moving to new york city with his girlfriend, he was excited because he lost all his friends when he went to NC for college. after they graduated, they applied for the same position at good samaritan and they both got the job, mainly by luck. kameron is now 26 years old, living in brooklyn with his 4 year old son, the mother not being in the picture.

"wassup, how was north carolina?" he replies, taking the other cup of coffee from delano and thanking him. delano takes a sip and sighs, thinking about the argument between his mother and arielle.

"it was nice. there was some stupid disputes between my mom and my girlfriend but otherwise than that, I had a great time" which was true, he did. he got to see his whole family after not seeing them for years and he really did miss them. he just wished that his mom and arielle got along because he knows that she wants a mother figure in her life but his mother is stubborn, he knows all too well.

"ah, that's just girl stuff, they'll come around sooner or later" delano nods his head and finishes his coffee, throwing it in the trash.

"yeah I know, i'll catch up with you later though, I gotta get my chart to see who my first victim is" he says jokingly while he walks backwards out the break room , wiggling his eyebrows. he turns around and suddenly bumps into someone, papers flying everywhere.

"shit, i'm sorry about that, I di-" he says but pauses, taking a closer glance at who it is. Tatiana.

"i-it's fine, don't worry about it." Tatiana says, picking up the papers off the ground and pushes her glasses back up against her face. delano bends down and helps her collect the papers off the ground. tatiana is a 19 year old nursing assistant at good samaritan. she got hired a couple months ago and has been up delano's ass ever since. she gives him snacks, compliments him and even makes sure she says hi to him every time they work together. delano shrugged her off though and didn't feed into her so she wouldn't think she had a chance with him. he looked at her like she was a little girl and had zero interest in being with her, let alone being friends with her. she finished collecting her papers off the ground and looks up at delano, smiling from ear to ear.

"erm, hi delano. how are you this morning?" she says, her cheeks heating up. he rolls his eyes and gives her the last sheet of paper.

"i'm fine, a little tired but i'm hanging in there. how are you?" he says, ready for this conversation to be over so he can get to his patient.