Suds

Suds | Season 1, Episode 4

[Last time on Suds, Shantel was leaving on the morning train to Georgia? Not Georgia, to Carbondale with lofty expectations of resuming her relationship with the ex, Darien, which would be a simple task if she didn't feel a need to hold on to new beau, Terrance. Meanwhile, Leilah's trip to the nursing home has granny trippin'.]

The stout woman charged at LEILAH with bloodshot eyes and a menacing scowl. Before Leilah could move out of the way, Grandma's heavy right hand smacked into her face. Leilah stumbled back, gripping her burning cheek.

She backpedaled into the hallway.
"Grandma, I'm Leilah." she screamed, stumbling as she held her hands out to ward off the attack.

Big black eyes burrowed deep into Leilah's soul, stabbing her with accusations.
"You don't care about nobody but yourself and them filthy drugs!" Grandma charged at Leilah again, pounding her balled fists into the girl's arm, face, and back.

"Leilah," she begged in vain, "I'm your granddaughter, Leilah!"
Another round of punches knocked her to the ground. She rolled into a ball, bracing herself for stomping.

Grandma drew her face near, spewing hate. "You ungrateful tramp. I gave you everything and you threw it all away. What kind of mother throws away her own kin?"
Leilah cowered against the wall, pleading.
"It's me, Leilah."

She heard the nurses running down the hall toward them as her grandmother thick fingers wrapped around neck. Lost to dementia, she choked her granddaughter.

"Get out, Sheila! You not taking nothing else from us." She pushed Leilah's head to the ground.

Hot tears flooded her face, burning as they rounded the cheekbones that matched her mother's. Everything about Leilah, her nose, her lips, her skin, and her smile, could be confused with her Sheila.

Leilah braced herself for another blow, knowing she would feel at least one more back breaking thump before the nurses were able to restrain her grandmother. She closed her eyes tight, waiting for the nightmare to end.

A little voice squeaked.
"No, Grandma! You don't hit Leilah!"
The hall quieted.

A second later, soft, pudgy hands stroked Leilah's hair. "Are you okay, Lily?" Tuilette asked.

~

SHANTEL stroked his cheek. "Baby, you know I need to pass this class." They sat in his car in front of her house.

Terrance held her hand. "You don't have to catch the train, Shantel. I can drive you back. Let's just leave at two o'clock instead of six."

"Baby," she pulled his attention away from the parked car in front of them.

Terrance leaned back on the headrest.

"You can come over tomorrow night, and by then I'll be finished studying." Shantel tried not to let on that there would not be a tomorrow night for them, and for a moment, she almost regretted her decision to leave him.

"Alright," he sighed, wishing he didn't have to spend Sunday morning with his mother before heading back to campus.

A giddy sensation rippled through her.
It's happening.
She bit her cheeks to quell the smile.

~

LEILAH opened her eyes to TuTu's tear-streaked face. Across the hall, her grandmother scuttled backwards with both hands clasped over her mouth. Her bewildered expression stopped the nurses in their tracks.

The elderly woman backed herself against the wall and slid down to the dingy carpet. She dropped her face into her hands and cried. The painful tune of her sobs echoed through the eerie quiet of the stink hallway.

Leilah crawled to her grandmother's side and hugged the ailing woman.
Her body heaved between sobs. "I'm sorry, baby girl," she bawled. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know it was you."

Leilah held her grandmother tight. "It's okay, Ma." Fear filled tremors shook her core. She swallowed it down. "It's okay, Mama."

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