Meleisa Betts

The Absolution of Zero Meleisa Betts

The Absolution of Zero is a fiction novel told from a first person narrative. It involves Angiel Royal, a psychologically troubled woman who seems to have inexplicably "lost" blocks of time in her life. Throughout her existence she is at times both sinner and victim, but also the primary cause of her suffering, usually due to her self-possessed ambition and greed. To discover the reason for her actions as well as the lost life episodes, she is referred by medical mandate to Dr. Karen Oppenheim, a psychologist. Through their intense dialogue, Angiel unearths some eye-popping and scandalous aspects of her persona. Most of her revelations depict Angiel as an extremely ruthless and manipulative seducer of women and men, doing or saying whatever it takes to gain her objective. The objective generally vacillates between money to sex. However, there is "something" happening to Angiel which makes her feel at times as a spectator to things that she cannot either control or comprehend. As the story unfolds, Angiel searches for personal forgiveness and vindication. However, she and others who have wronged her, find themselves beset with misfortune. There has been nothing but tragedy and punishment doled out to them by some force; be it by man or just the karmic action of the Universe. The term "Absolution" means forgiveness by God, yet Angiel as well as those who oppose her are finding a difficult if not impossible road to redemption.