Blackout: Stand Your Ground by Shan, David Weaver Page B

Meesie’s face also as he listened to Jawan’s answer.
     

     
      “I didn’t even know until just now Officer. I only live three blocks away, so if you’ll just let me turn around; I’ll park the car until I get the issue fixed.”
     

     
      The officer flashed the light inside of the ashtray and back into Jawan’s face. “Have you been drinking?”
     

     
      Jawan was offended. There was nothing in his ashtray that could have made the officer feel like he was smoking, so the light shouldn’t have been in his face. There were no empty bottles in the car and there was no erratic driving on his behalf to make the officer feel like he had been drinking, so he was definitely confused. “I don’t drink officer.”
     

     
      “Do you smoke? You been smoking reefer?”
     

     
      “Reefer? I don’t smoke officer. I don’t-“
     

     
      “I hear that shit every day. Step out of the car. Your eyes are red and swollen. You’ve been smoking or drinking and I just want to make sure you’re not under the influence. Young lady, put your hands on the dash. Young man step out of the vehicle.”
     

     
      In an instance, Jawan saw his life as he knew it flash before him. He saw his freedom removed from him for seven years, and his fiancé gone off to marry someone else while he sat rotting in prison. He tried to imagine his father’s gravesite unattended for seven years. He thought of his mother, and how much she depended on him. He loved his life as it was. There were things he disagreed with, such as the Zimmerman verdict; but for the most part, he was content.
     

     
      Tears leaked down Meesie’s face as Jawan started unbuckling his seatbelt. Jawan placed his hands on the door handle, and just as he was about to open the door; he heard some words that forever changed his life.
     

     
      “I’m pregnant Jawan .”
     

     
      The words set off an explosion. Three shots left the pistol and went into the officer’s body. The cop stumbled back and reached for his service weapon, only to be met with three more shots from Jawan’s pistol.
     

     
      Meesie’s mouth dropped open wide as she stared at her fiancé. Her mind was racing and she couldn’t believe what she had just witnessed. “ Jawan ! You killed a police officer!”
     

     
      Jawan started the car up and pressed his foot against the pedal. He had never taken a life before, let along imagined hurting a peace officer; but his life was on the line. He knew in his heart that he would die before he let something happen to his family. He was his father in the flesh.
     

     
      He drove through the backstreets of Sanford swiftly. He drove behind a grocery store, parked the car and got out. Meesie got out and followed him as he walked back around the store. “ Jawan you just killed a police officer! They’ll give us the death penalty for that!”
     

     
      Immediately, Jawan snapped. “So what! I killed the officer in order to save my family. I knew the procedure! I was going to prison to be caged up like an animal for the next seven years! Zimmerman killed Trayvon for nothing! He chased down and killed a black teenager for no fucking reason whatsoever! Zimmerman was grown! An old man! What old man let’s a teenager beat him up so bad that he has to kill him? It’s some fuck shit! They took my father away from me the same way! ”
     

     
      Jawan’s words touched Meesie deeply. She knew how he felt about equal rights, and after being with him for so long; she had grown to think like he did and feel the same feelings he did also. “ Jawan , where are we going baby? We just killed a police officer.”
     

     
      Jawan stopped in front of the store and stared at the still atmosphere. There was nobody looking their direction, and the mood was relaxed; despite their dilemma. “Shit… we gotta get the fuck out of Sanford. We gotta take the bus to Miami I guess. Don’t nobody know we killed that officer. At least not