Snow, page 13
Snow groaned, trying to hold her own as she felt people watching. Most were people who had watched her grow up since she once lived in that same neighborhood. “Fuck school.”
Zo was shocked. “Fuck school?” From watching her social media, Zo had found it admirable that Snow had been so focused on getting into an HBCU. And once she did, he was proud of her as if he personally knew her.
“Yeah, fuck everything,” Snow spit. “I don’t give a fuck about anything at this point.”
“I know you going through stuff and—”
“You don’t know shit!” Snow griped as she pulled away from him. She stopped walking. They had reached the corner. She had decided that it was as far as she was willing to go with him.
“I do, actually. I follow your social media, so I do know.”
Snow quieted, humbly.
Sighing, Zo continued, “Look, shit happens in life, but you can’t let it make you fall off like this.”
Stubbornly, Snow stood with her arms folded tightly across her chest, fighting the urge to tilt over because she was too onery to further prove Zo right.
“You know how many people out here going through shit?” Zo fussed. “You can’t stop living just because life is kicking your ass right now. You can’t give up. Retaliate just like you would if one of these bitches on the streets was trying you. Get back on. That’s what you do. You’re not supposed to fall off and allow some nigga to run through you in a trap house. You better than that. Azu’s daughter is better than that.”
Snow hated that Zo was right. She cut her eyes towards the corner so he couldn’t see the tears in her eyes. She sniffed hard, making the tears retreat. She wasn’t so drunk and high to allow anybody on the block to see her crying on the corner in Englewood.
“I can’t get back on,” she confessed lowly. “My mother took everything from me. When she killed my father, she took it all: my means of living, my college tuition, the love of my life.”
“Get her back by continuing his legacy, by moving forward as the independent, strong woman he groomed you to be. Take his spot so you can take care of yourself and your family. You’re standing right in front of the gold mine. You don’t even have to work your way in. The door is open for you already.”
Realization swam over Snow and a sarcastic smile laced her lips. “You just want me to connect you to the plug.”
“And what's wrong with that? That’s putting you on too. Your father had an insurance policy or savings? If he did, he’s the first hood nigga I know that did. You got tuition to pay and siblings to feed. You the only one who knows the plug. You the only one he trusts.”
Zo was making it sound so easy, but after watching her father for years, she knew that being the hood’s connect to pure cocaine was anything but easy. “I don’t know shit about selling drugs.”
“That’s a lie. You know this game. I’ve seen you. You watched your father run this game for years. And what you don’t know, I will teach you.”
Tired, high, and drunk, Snow had nothing else to say. Her momentary vacation from her hellish existence had been brought to an abrupt halt. Now, she just wanted her bed. And since she had no desire to return to a house that no longer housed Tristan, she would have to settle for the let-out couch in her grandmother’s basement.
“Just think about it.”
Snow rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Can you take me home please?”
“I don’t have a car.”
“Loooordt!” Snow groaned as she took her cell out of her back pocket.
She was so tired of basic niggas.
KENZO
No matter his situation, Zo was too much a man to allow Snow to make him feel small. Life had been doing enough of that. And as Snow stood in front of him angrily ordering an Uber, he felt no shame in his current position. It had been out of his hands. He had not been irresponsible and fallen off because he wasn’t smart. The arrest, his mother being evicted, and Kelly leaving Cameron with him had all been out of his hands. As far as he saw it, he had taken every blow to the chin like a man. He had not been able to get out of his situation as fast as he had hoped, but he was confident that he had grown. As the ignorant teen boy he used to be, he would have robbed and killed his way into a new home, car, and drugs to sell in order to maintain it all. Yet, that day, he was standing in front of his job wearing a uniform.
Though he had no fancy car or dope spot to call his own, he was proud of himself for at least maturing out of a mindset that would have led him back to prison.
Zo noticed how dark it had gotten. He figured it was almost closing time. He needed to get back inside of the store, but wanted to ensure that Zo got into her Uber safely. “I gotta head back to work. I’ll watch you from the doorway to make sure you get in your Uber.”
“Yeah, thanks,” Snow mumbled.
Zo shook his head as he walked away towards the store. Since Snow was younger than him, he knew what her problem was. She was spoiled, angry, and lost. She had never had to fend for herself. Now, she had to. She’d once had everything and now, she had nothing.
Still, he thought it was a shame that she was coupling her striking beauty with such a bitchy attitude. Lucky for her, it took more than a bitch to put fear in Zo’s heart.
He had only gone to Trell’s house to get Snow out of there. He didn’t feel like a man allowing Trell to get away with slutting a woman like Snow out.
Zo hoped he had gotten through to Snow about not only getting her shit together, but his business proposition as well. Yet, he knew she was so wasted that he wasn’t sure.
“Please don’t shoot me!” Hearing Katya’s pleas, Zo sprinted into the store, drawing his gun from his waist. Racing through the door, he brandished his gun for the second time that night. Only this time, it was on a kid. Even though he was wearing a hood over his head, Zo could tell by his frame, stature, and this mediocre robbery that he was a young boy, no older than fifteen with a gun pointed at Katya as she stood with her hands up behind the register.
Zo’s heart beat feverishly as he remembered that Cameron was with her. Despite the possibility of the robber turning his gun on Zo, he rushed in closer, to get his eyes on his son. Yet, he was frozen in his tracks when he saw that there was a second young boy, behind the counter, holding a gun to Katya’s head as his arm pressed tightly around her neck.
“Open the fucking register!” the second robber demanded.
“Put the fucking gun down!” Zo heard Abdul’s voice ricochet through the store. He spun around while keeping his gun on the first robber. Abdul was behind him in the aisle. Boiling anger was making his aged face redden. His store had been in this neighborhood for twelve years. His patience had grown thin with the hoodlums, and Zo knew he had no problem shooting these young boys.
“Abdul, wait!” Zo ordered over Katya’s cries.
“Move, Zo! I am sick of these motherfuckers!” Abdul fussed as he shook with anger.
Zo’s eyes narrowed. “What motherfuckers? The motherfuckers that patronize this store and keep it running? Those motherfuckers?” Zo asked, daring him to say it. He appreciated everything they had done for him, but he wasn’t about to let Abdul disrespect his people. “Abdul, I swear to God, I will pop yo’ ass first. Put the fucking gun down!”
“Open the fucking register, bitch!” the second robber rushed.
Zo saw Abdul flinch and exploded. “Abdul, chill!” The authority in his voice caused everyone to freeze.
“Zo?” The second robber spread a slow smile across his face as he recognized Zo. “Man, what you doin’ working in this motherfucker?” And then he released Katya without a thought. He took the gun from her head and hurried from behind the counter.
The first robber looked at Zo, wondering who the hell he was.
“Mally?” Zo called his name with surprise as he lowered his weapon. “Shorty, get yo’ ass outta here,” Zo fussed.
Back when Zo was hustling, Mally used to be one of the bad-ass kids in the neighborhood he saw daily. He was only about twelve back then.
With a smile, Mally walked towards him with hands slightly raised in surrender. “My bad, my bad, big homie.”
Zo ignored Mally’s smile. “And hurry up! I bet’ not see y’all in here no more or I’m shooting on sight, dead ass. And tell your homies too. This store off limits.”
“Okay, okay,” Mally insisted as he pushed his friend towards the exit.
To ensure that they were leaving, Zo turned to watch them, but stopped in his tracks when he saw Snow standing in the doorway watching in amazement.
“Snow Wilson?” he heard someone call from outside, and before he or she could say anything, she turned on her heels and jogged towards a waiting Uber.
16
November 2018
SNOW
It was now November, and Snow was still in Chicago. Halloween had passed and Snow had taken no parts in it because she had experienced enough fright and eeriness in the last two months. Because she had yet to return to Tallahassee, Snow was officially failing her first semester of college. She had no plans of returning. Though Danny had offered to pay her way until she graduated, she didn’t trust that her life would have such perfection anymore. Besides, Nana seemed to be relieved that Snow was still there. Papa Joe hadn’t been much physical help with Prince, so Nana appreciated that Snow and Prince couldn’t be pried apart.
Since the day Zo snatched her out of Trell’s house, she had been paying attention to his social media. After she’d awakened the next morning sobered up, she felt the influence Zo’s action had left on her the day before. She appreciated his fearlessness amongst the hood. She adored the way they respected him. As she followed his social media, she noticed how much Zo was with Cameron. They were always together. Cameron was nearly in every picture and video Zo posted. Cameron and Zo’s relationship mirrored her relationship with Azu, which caused her heart to go out to him even more.
As the weeks went by, she often found herself making time go by, by watching Zo’s Snap, admiring the images of Cameron, who was an adorable reflection of his father, only with a lighter complexion.
“Shit,” Snow quietly whispered as her phone started to blare. She jumped to answer it because she had just put a very energetic Prince to sleep. Her little brother had been working every one of her nerves that day, and at seven o’clock that evening all of the screaming, playing, flipping, and jumping had finally worn him out.
It was Bae calling, so she answered, pressed the necessary prompts, and waited for Bae to come on the line.
However, instead of Bae saying anything when their call was connected, all Snow heard was crying.
“Bae? What’s wrong?” Snow instantly got afraid, expecting more bad news, preparing herself for it. But she prayed it wasn’t Bae’s mother. Snow couldn’t take any more death, but Bae definitely couldn’t take any more while being locked away to grieve alone.
“Bae,” Snow pressed over her tears. “You’re scaring me. Say something.”
Bae continued to sob. Yet, Snow could hear her taking deep breaths as if she were attempting to calm down enough to speak.
“My lawyer quit,” she finally cried.
“Why?”
“The money your father gave him has run out. He needs more in order to continue with my case.”
Snow’s eyes squeezed shut as she bit her bottom lip. “Shit.”
“I’m never getting out of here,” Bae cried.
“Yes, you are,” Snow tried to encourage her.
“How? My family doesn’t have money. They can’t afford to pay the lawyer.”
“I’ll get a job.”
Bae sarcastically laughed over her tears. Yet, Snow did not feel any offense. She agreed that the idea of her inexperience ever getting a good enough job to pay a lawyer was laughable.
“What you gon’ do? Start stripping or selling pussy?” Bae tearfully laughed. “‘Cause that’s the kind of money it takes to overturn a murder conviction.”
Bae was right again, so Snow just sat quietly on the pull-out sofa, listening to Bae’s tears. She had now turned her grandparents’ small basement into her bedroom.
She could have taken over Killion’s bedroom since he was rarely home. He had continued to run from his anger by putting all of his attention on the streets. By watching his social media, Snow could see he was hanging with the wrong crowd, ditching school, and smoking weed. Snow tried to talk to him when he would answer her calls. So many boys his age that ran the streets ended up dead either by the hands of opps or the police. She couldn’t stomach either happening to the only man left in her life. But Snow’s pleas constantly went through one ear and out of the other.
As Bae cried, Snow tried to ensure her everything would be okay. Snow knew without money, Bae’s possibility of ever seeing outside those four walls was a long shot, but, regardless, she had promised her only surviving soul mate that everything would be okay.
Trell was calling Snow for the fifth time that evening. After getting off of the emotional call with Bae, she just wanted some quiet time, so she answered to keep him from ever calling again.
“You might as well stop calling me, Trell,” she answered.
Since the night Zo had ended their date abruptly, Trell had been calling and texting her nonstop. However, Snow would either ignore him or tell him that whatever had been developing between them was now over.
“What’s your problem?” Trell asked.
“I told you I’m not fucking with you no more. You still ain’t shit.”
“What are you talking about?”
“So, you don’t have a pregnant girlfriend living with you?” Snow wasn’t willing to throw Zo under the bus by telling Trell how she had found out. However, she did know what Zo had said was true after some investigation. All it had taken was scanning Trell’s social media to see which female usernames commented and liked his posts the most. Then after scanning their profiles, she’d found one with pictures of many kids and a chick that showed she was indeed pregnant and even some comments from Trell that definitely linked the two together.
“No.” It was sickening the way that Trell answered with such confidence.
Snow chuckled and shook her head. “You ain’t shit.”
“C’mon, man. We were having fun. Don’t stop that because of my past.”
Wow, Snow mouthed in amazement at the lengths men would go to keep a lie alive.
“Trell, I gotta go.”
“Baby—”
A call came in, so Snow pulled her ear away from the phone to look at the Caller ID. She didn’t recognize the number, so she answered without even telling Trell she was hanging up.
“Hello?”
“This is a collect call from an inmate at the Cook County jail.”
Snow wondered who it could be. She wondered if Bae had gotten transferred since they had ended their call, but she knew she wouldn’t have been able to be transferred and make a phone call that fast. However, as she followed the recorded operator’s prompts, she hoped that was the case some way, because she would be able to visit Bae more often.
“Hello?”
“Snow, it's me,” a voice rushed.
Confusion etched her face as she recognized the voice, but hoped she was wrong. “Killion?”
“I need your help, Snow. It’s bad. It’s real bad.”
Snow sat straight up. She had never heard this much fear in Killion’s voice. “What did you do?” she asked reluctantly.
“What?” he spit. “What makes you think I did something?”
“Because your dumb ass has been on bullshit for months!” Snow spazzed. Thoughts flooded her mind. All she could think about was what he could have possibly done and what it would take to get him out. The possibilities nauseated her as she sat with her head in her hands. “I told you to sit yo’ little ass down. I don’t have money to bail you out!”
“See, man?” Killion groaned. “I knew I shouldn’t have called you.”
Snow heard the line go dead. Panicking, she asked to be sure. “Hello? Killion? Killion?!”
Snow had hurried to throw on her shoes. She took Prince upstairs to Nana without worrying her with any details. She then rushed to the jail. However, there was nothing that she could do. The police weren’t willing to give her any details. All she was told was Killion would have a bail hearing the next morning.
Therefore, Snow returned home heavy burdened. She crept up the stairs and took Prince from Nana and Papa Joe’s bed because she needed someone to cuddle up with. She then lay there, praying that Killion had done something minor, something he could make it out of, without getting any sleep at all.
With tired and weary eyes, she showed up to the bail hearing holding her breath. When Killion appeared, it looked as if a child had entered the adult courtroom. It was so obvious that he was immature, juvenile, and stubborn. Anger etched his face as he stood next to his court-appointed attorney and faced the judge.
The state court solicitor announced, “Judge Gavins, Mr. Wilson is being charged with the first-degree murder of—”
Snow’s loud gasp grabbed the attention of nearly everyone in the courtroom. The judge eyed her grimly as her eyes filled with tears. She held her chest, trying to compose herself before she exploded into a panic attack. Because she was breaking down, she missed much of what the solicitor had said.
“Any thoughts on bail?” she heard Judge Gavins ask, so she suppressed her breakdown in order to pay attention.
“Your Honor,” the defense attorney spoke. “This is the defendant’s first offense. He has no arrest record, and there is no evidence that places him at the scene, only the word of a witness—”
“A very viable witness,” the solicitor interrupted.
“That is to be determined,” the defense cut in. “Your Honor, the defendant is only fourteen years old. He does not deserve to be held on bond. He should be at school.”
