A Father Who Had Run Out of Answers

“Please,” the man said, his voice barely cutting through the sound of rain. “Help her.”

The word hit Naomi harder than she expected.

She was twenty-three, Black, exhausted, and used to carrying responsibility far heavier than her age should allow. She worked double shifts to help support her mother, whose health had been fragile for years, and her younger brother, who still believed life would be kinder than it often was.

She recognized fear when she heard it.

And this man was drowning in it.