Zero Degrees Part 1 - By Leo Sullivan Page 0,3

in my room and try to get in bed with me. A few days ago was the last time the bastard tried to rape me. He almost succeeded. I had to kill him Officer Greyson. I had no choice. Either I killed him or he’d rape me or kill my mother.”

“What exactly happened today?” Officer Stephens quizzed me with creases in his forehead. He looked like he couldn’t fathom the thought of me being a murderer.

I narrowed my eyes at him. “I already told you that I shot his sorry ass. The motherfucka had that shit coming. I was tired of seeing my mom go through that shit with him. I was tired of going through it. I just see it as freeing the world of one more punk ass nigga.”

Officer Greyson visibly cringed. “You seem really cold to be so young. I also think you should watch your language young lady.”

“I’ve been through a lot and I’ve seen a lot Officer. I had to grow up really fast to keep up with the things going on around me.”

He nodded. “So, at the time that you shot him he wasn’t actually trying to rape you.”

“No, he was just walking around here talking shit as usual. He was tired of my mom fussing about him fixing the pipe under the kitchen sink. Before he fixed it he came in here going off on me about not giving him what he wanted the other night. He kept saying that he was going to get it eventually. I told him to leave me alone, but he got up in my face and said that before I turned sixteen he was going to fuck the shit out of me. He told me that right now, at my age I am ripe and ready for the picking. After he said that I waited for him to start fixing the pipe. I had enough of his threats and I couldn’t resist it as I watched him lying underneath the kitchen sink with his legs open and his big ass head right there, waiting to be filled with bullets. It was the perfect opportunity, so I went upstairs and got the gun. I came back down and he was still there. I shot him in the balls first and then I emptied the clip in the bastard’s head.” I simply shrugged my shoulders like my actions were completely normal for a girl my age. Well, I was no ordinary teenaged girl.

Officer Stephens flinched noticeably when he asked. “Where did you get the gun from?” I could tell that it was something about me that piqued his interest. It was like maybe in his job experience he had never come across a young girl as heartless as me.

“It was his gun.” Actually it was a gun that Buff had given me, but I couldn’t snitch on my boy. Fuck Goody. He couldn’t get a gun charge if he was already dead. What the pigs didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them.

At that moment my mom walked in the house. I could see the panic in her eyes as she looked around at the police searching the house. That’s when it dawned on me that there was money and drugs hidden somewhere. She had been a mystery to me since we’d moved in with Goody. He had drugs and I guess she saw him as a good protector because of his reputation in the streets. In her eyes those attributes made him a good catch.

One morning I woke up early and saw a suitcase full of money on her bed. She closed it when I walked in and tried to play it off.

“Thank God you’re okay chica,” she said grabbing me for a hug. Her eyes continued to look around at the cops.

“I’m fine mama,” I said as she kissed the top of my head.

“What’s going on?” She asked no one in particular. “Why are there so many police cars in my yard? Where’s Goody?” When she asked about him she looked at me.

“Ma’am,” Officer Greyson cleared his throat. “There’s no other way to say this. You may want to sit down.”

“Fuck that. What the fuck is going on and why are you all searching my house!?” She yelled frantically.

“Calm down ma’am,” Officer Stephens said putting his hand on my mother’s shoulder.

She moved away from him and he dropped his hand before he continued. “Your daughter shot your boyfriend. He’s dead.”

She looked at me. “Ze, what the hell did you do?”

I