Problems Ongoing

Chapter 2 – The Call

The silence didn’t last.

It stretched for a while—long enough for Nia to get lost in her thoughts, long enough for the ticking clock on the wall to become the loudest thing in the house.

Then her phone rang.

Nia glanced at the screen, frowning. Unknown number.

She almost ignored it.

Almost.

“Hello?” she said, tucking the phone between her ear and shoulder.

There was a pause on the other end. Not empty—just… heavy.

“Is this Nia Carter?”

Her chest tightened slightly. “Yes… who’s this?”

“My name is Officer Grant. I’m calling from the city police department.”

Something about the way he said it made her stand up.

Slowly.

“There’s been an accident.”

The words didn’t register at first. They just… hung there.

“I’m sorry,” he continued, his voice careful, “but the vehicle your family was in was involved in a serious crash.”

Nia’s grip on the phone tightened.

“Are they okay?” she asked quickly. Too quickly.

Another pause.

This one felt longer.

“I’m sorry,” he said again, softer this time. “They didn’t make it.”

The world didn’t shatter.

It didn’t explode or collapse like people always imagined.

It just… went quiet.

Too quiet.

Nia didn’t remember ending the call. She didn’t remember sitting down. At some point, she was on the floor, her back against the couch, staring at nothing.

It didn’t feel real.

It couldn’t be real.

Just hours ago, her mother had been standing right there. Smiling. Asking if she wanted to come along.

Her father’s voice echoed faintly in her head.

Don’t overwork yourself.

Her siblings…

Her chest tightened sharply, and this time she couldn’t ignore it.

“They’re not…” she whispered, shaking her head. “No… no, that’s not…”

But there was no one to argue with.

No one to correct her.

No one to walk back through the door and prove it wrong.

The house felt different now.

Empty in a way it had never been before.

Every room held a memory. Every corner felt… louder, somehow, even in silence.

Hours passed.

Or maybe minutes.

Time didn’t matter anymore.

The next few days blurred together.

Faces she barely knew filled the house—relatives, staff, people in suits speaking in low voices. Words like arrangements, assets, and responsibility floated around her like noise she couldn’t quite tune into.

Until one meeting.

One sentence.

One truth.

“You’ve been named the sole heir.”

The lawyer sat across from her, calm and composed, a folder open in front of him.

Nia blinked. “What?”

“Your father updated his will two years ago,” he explained. “Everything—his company, properties, accounts—has been placed under your name.”

Her mind struggled to catch up.

“What about—” she stopped.

There was no “what about.”

Her siblings were gone.

The realization hit again, just as hard as the first time.

The lawyer continued gently, “Instructions have been left for a board to assist you until you come of age. But legally… everything belongs to you.”

Everything.

The word felt heavy.

Too heavy.

She hadn’t even had time to understand what she’d lost… and now she was being handed something just as overwhelming.

That night, Nia stood alone in her parents’ room.

She hadn’t gone in since the call.

It still smelled like them. Faint, but there.

Her eyes moved slowly across the space—her mother’s things, her father’s desk, the life that had been here just days ago.

Gone.

Just like that.

She stepped forward, resting her hand lightly on the edge of the desk.

“This wasn’t supposed to happen…” she murmured.

No answer.

Of course not.

Her reflection caught in the dark window—still, composed, unreadable.

The same expression she always wore.

But something behind it had changed.

Something deeper.

Something heavier.

Outside, the city kept moving.

People laughed. Cars passed. Life continued like nothing had happened.

But inside that house…

Inside Nia…

Everything had shifted.

And she didn’t even know it yet—

This was only the beginning of the problems.