Black Beauty

Shemeya Has To Make A Choice

Taking a deep breath, she used her body weight to roll over. Latreece fell to the ground. Shemeya stood and ran through the group of kids as fast as she could.

The snakes hissed while she rushed away, sending tingles through her body. She escaped to an empty classroom, switched off the lights, and hid in a closet towards the back of the room. Everything had been fine up until that bitch attacked her. The same thing happened with Jason. She was fine until he tried to rape her. The snakes had to be connected with her anger. If she calmed down, would they go away? She sat in a ball in the corner of the closet and caressed her hair, hoping it would calm them, calm her.

The door opened. Her heart raced and the snakes began to move again. No. She needed to stay calm. Whoever it is will go away.

"Shemeya?" said a voice from inside of the room.

Fuck, it was Corey, Latreece's boyfriend. But he'd also been Shemeya's first love. She'd broken up with him during freshman year to date a senior. She'd learned too late the older boy had only wanted one thing, and when he got it, he never talked to her again.

"Please go away." Suspecting he wouldn't, Shemeya re-braided her hair, and hid the snakes in the braid as best she could. Just as she'd finished, the closet light switched on.

"Shemeya, are you okay?" Corey stepped into the closet and kneeled so that they were face to face. "I'm sorry about Latreece."

The concern in his eyes touched her. "How can you stand to be with someone like that?" He was too good for her.

"She's not usually like that. She's been acting crazy since the party last week."

"If you didn't want to piss her off then why did you tell the entire school we fucked?" Shemeya asked, louder than she intended.

"I didn't tell anyone we... slept together."

"Then why all the stories? Everyone thinks I'm a hoe and your girlfriend just kicked my ass."

"An entire room of people saw you pull me into that room at the party."

They both stood. "You could have told everyone the truth," Shemeya said.

"I did. No one believed me." When they had dated he was awkward and gawky, but over the past few years he'd turned into one the finest boy in school. She shouldn't have broken up with him. He had even encouraged her to grow dreads after her hair had broken off from a bad perm.

"Why didn't anything happen at the party?" Shemeya asked. "You wanted to at first."

He licked his full dark lips and looked away. "That was a mistake. I'm with Latreece. I shouldn't have let it get that far." He tried to walk towards the closet door, but she moved in front of him, placing her hands on his chest.

"Please don't go." The snakes sent thrills down her spine as they tickled her scalp.

"I just came to make sure you were okay." He met her gaze. "You look fine."

She grabbed his shirt. "No one will see us this time." He tried harder to move past her but then stopped.

"Why does it look like there are snakes in your hair?"

"Don't worry about them. If you are nice to me, they'll be nice to you." She should have been worried, but she needed to tell him how she felt. "I miss you."

He looked from the snakes then back to her. "You been fucking with Crazy Jade, haven't you?"

She shrugged and let go of his shirt. "Maybe."

"Shemeya, there are snakes attached to your head. That ain't normal."

"Why aren't you surprised?" She patted her hair and the snakes moved to stroke her hand.

"I've heard of crazy shit like this in Jamaica."

She grimaced. "It's common to have dreadlocked snakes there?"

"No, but there are so many fairies coming through, anything's possible."

"Fairies?"

"Fairies like monsters," Corey stepped back and slapped his hand over his mouth. "Oh, fuck! Did you kill Jason?"

She bit her lip, suppressing the urge to cry. How did such a great day end up going so fucking bad? "I didn't kill him. The snakes did, and I didn't know my hair was going to turn to snakes, and I didn't know Jason would try to rape me. The snakes were only trying to protect me."

"Calm down, Shemeya.  You need to get rid of those snakes before anyone finds out."

"So you won't tell anyone about Jason?"

"It was an accident and won't nobody believe me anyway. Not in this country."

"Do you think Jade will take the snakes away?"

"No. Don't go near her." He pulled her out of the closet and into the classroom.

"Just cut them off," he said, pulling out a pair scissors from the teacher's desk.

Shemeya gasped. "Cut what off?"

Corey had left Jamaica when he was ten and he'd lost his accent, except for when he was excited. "Cut your dreads, mon."

"You gotta be kidding! I've been growing these for four years."

"Your dreads turn into snakes. If you don't have the dreads then you don't have snakes."

Both she and the snakes cringed as Corey held the ominous metallic scissors. Her dreads were a part of her. They separated her from everyone else. She ran her fingers through her hair- and the snakes. The decision should be simple: dreads or a normal life.

So why was she hesitating to choose?

Author's note: Y'all know the routine. I'm leaving Shemeya and coming back to her  later.  I think next I'll write about Bug Boy.