Pop! Pop! Pop!

That's it. That fast. And my friend is dead.

Pop-pop-pop! Another guy. Dead.

That's how fast it happens. All at once. All of a sudden.

All the time.

So you get primed for it. Cocked. The wrong car, the wrong color... You don't even think. You lift your heat, you aim, you squeeze.

It's you or them. Quick as that. Wait too long, choose wrong, turn your back, you're down.

So the moment that car came close, I didn't think, just opened up in their general direction. It's not like I was aiming. Least of all at her. At my cousin Destiny.

My four-year-old cousin Destiny.

They're talking like I'm a monster. Like I did it on purpose. But it's not like that.

I should be there today. I should be shedding tears with the rest of them. I should be bringing her flowers.

Instead, I'm in here. And everyone out there hates me. My own uncle, he'd kill me with his bare hands if he could. No bullets. His bare hands.

But he knows. They all know. They know how fast it happens.

Pop-pop-pop!

Quick as that.