chapter 5

Chapter 5

Camila sat at her desk, fighting exhaustion. Guthren had told her--more like ordered her--to find out everything possible about Petty Officer Valanse and Jody Mulani. She had been sitting at her desk for the past two hours, making phone call after phone call, growing extremely bored. After staring at the computer screen for the excessive amount of time, her eyes grew sore and tired. Rubbing her eyes and hanging up the phone, she noticed an intense throbbing in her temples. Glancing around, she noticed that she was the only one in the squad room, which meant no Guthren or director. She folded her arms on her desk, creating a pillow for her head. Intending to only rest her eyes for a few minutes, she fell fast asleep.

About an hour later she felt someone flicking her head.

"Unghugh," she groaned, swatting at whoever was doing this. Just five more minutes....

"Camila!" Josh shouted in her ear, causing her to smack her knee, hard, on her desk.

"Ow! Was that neccessary?" she asked, rubbing her sore knee.

"I hope you really enjoyed that nap, because the boss is not very happy with you. You don't look that great," he commented.

"Yeah, because that's what every woman wants to hear," she snapped, standing up.

"I didn't mean it like that. I meant, you look sick," he said, concern actually crossing his face.

"Maybe that's why I was sleeping." She grabbed her purse and started to walk away, her mission being the women's restroom. Before she could make it there, however, she dropped her purse, its contents exploding all over the floor. Josh rushed to help her pick it all up.

"No, no, I've got it," she shooed him away.

She finished pcking up her things, walking as fast as she possibly could in high heels. She got to the bathroom just in time, dashing into the first stall, vomiting into the toilet before she could even hold her hair back. She grabbed some toilet paper, wiped off her mouth, and leaned her head against the wall.

Was it something I ate? she thought, trying to recall if she had eaten anything unusual.

Before she could complete that thought. she felt bile rise in her throat again. She leaned over the porcelain, making sure to hold her long, honey-colored hair back this time. As she was flushing the toilet, she heard the bathroom door open and the clicking of high heels on the tile floor.

"Camila?" Dr. Miranda Schiltz, more commonly known as Randy, the medical examiner asked. "Oh my God, what's wrong?"

"I don't know," Camila answered, grabbing more toilet paper to wipe her mouth.

"Ew, you've got it in your hair. Are you good for now?" Randy asked.

"Yeah," Camila answered, struggling to stand due to shaky legs.

"Oh my God, you're all clammy and shaky! Here, let's wash this out." Randy led her to the sink, attempting to wash the puke out of her hair with hand soap. Camila slid out of her heels as Randy spoke to her comfortingly. Camila focused all of her attention and energy on standing, until Randy let go of the arm she had been gripping since she entered and grabbed Camila's purse and shoes. She then started steering Camila towards the bathroom door.

She let Randy take over as she let her thoughts wander. She only had a bagel for breakfast, which is what she has everyday, along with a salad and a Coke for lunch. At that point she was in the squad room, sitting at her desk, being told to put her head between her knees and breathe deeply. She obeyed, trying to listen to the conversation. When she managed to tune in, Josh said, "Come on, 'Milla, we're going home."

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