"Jason, that hurt."
He looked into her eyes. "Please," he begged. A snake sunk its fangs into his cheek. Another struck his ear. One clung to his nose. And another hung below his left eye. He writhed in pain as he tried to escape the snakes and her thighs. His pleading eyes came back to her before he stopped moving completely. The snakes retracted their fangs. She relaxed her legs. Jason fell onto the carpeted floor.
She stood and nearly fainted before she righted herself by grabbing the side of the couch. She bought her hands up to fix her hair, but hesitated a few inches away. She'd never touched snakes before. But the snakes came to her, caressing her open palm. They were cold and smooth and full of life.
***
Trying to ignore the pain in her jaw, Shemeya brushed her teeth. She had no idea how she got home yesterday. All she remembered was fighting off Jason and having some type of hallucination about snakes. No, the herb didn't get you high, but it sure as hell made you hallucinate.
Shemeya covered her bruised jaw with foundation before she tied her hair back in an intricate braid down her back. She looked good, she thought as she admired herself in the mirror.
Her mom popped her head into the bathroom. "I'm passing your school on the way to a patient's house, you want a ride?"
"Yes!" Shemeya exclaimed, relieved she wouldn't have to see Jason or Latreece on either bus.
"Hurry the fuck up. I'm leaving in five minutes."
Shemeya appreciated herself in the mirror one last time before she walked out.
"I've been hearing stories about Jade. Stay away from her," Mary said, as she pulled in front of the school.
Too late for that. "She's crazy, but Rashawn is pretty normal."
"Stay away from Jade," her mom reiterated, "and Rashawn."
"Okay." That won't be a problem after she had me smoke that crazy shit.
Mary hesitated, as if expecting a bigger fight. "Well good."
Shemeya opened her car door and stepped out. "Bye, I'll see you later."
"By the way, you look pretty," Mary said. "Those dreads are looking nice."
Shemeya touched her hair. No snakes. "Thank you."
"Maybe I'll grow me some. I'm tired of messin' with those damn relaxers." Mary drove away, leaving Shemeya standing in front of the school gaping. Her mother had never complimented her dreads. Never.
***
Shemeya sat in her third-hour chemistry class pretending to study the course notes from yesterday. Today no one had pushed, groped, or called her out of her name. Her mother, who had never approved of her hair, had even given her a compliment. Just like every other person in Oklahoma, she'd been taught dreads were unnatural and dirty. But truthfully, once started, dreads naturally locked on their own. And, unlike when she had a relaxer, she could wash them as much as she wanted without messing up her hair.
She gnawed on her pencil and smiled. Maybe the herb worked. She felt strong, confident and beautiful. Now if she could only get out of seeing Jason. His seat was empty. Maybe he'd skip today and save both of them the embarrassment of having to deal with what happened last night. She could barely remember any of it, but the throbbing in her jaw wasn't reassuring.
"I'm sorry to hear about your lab partner." Jasmine, an advanced placement sophomore, stood beside Shemeya's lab table.
"What are you talking about?" Shemeya stared up at Jasmine's shiny metal braces.
Jasmine grinned but then frowned. "He died last night, of not one, but five snake bites." She stopped for breath then licked her braces. "He could have survived if it was just one or two bites, but no one can shake off five snake bites."
Shemeya's chest tightened. "How do you know this?"
"It was on the news. They didn't release his name, but I live down the street from him. I saw the ambulance and the news trucks last night at his house."
Fuck. She had just been with Jason. Her eyes widened as she remembered the hallucination from last night. Without another word, Shemeya sped past Jasmine and out of the class. She hurriedly made her way to the girls' bathroom, took down her braid, and ran her fingers through her dreads and along her scalp. Nothing lived in her hair.
Her dreads were not alive.
Whatever had happened with Jason had nothing to do with her.
Nothing.
Once completely convinced she possessed dreads instead of snakes, Shemeya stepped into the hallway. Latreece, her two cousins, and a small group of students wearing gym clothes were standing outside the bathroom waiting for her.
Latreece separated herself from the crowd. "I've been looking for you."
Shemeya looked for an escape, trying to think of a way to leave without looking like a punk. "I'm not in the mood to deal with you right now, Latreece." Shemeya tried to push Latreece to the side but the girl grabbed Shemeya's arm and pulled her back.
"No, we're dealing with this now." She swung, hitting Shemeya in the eye. The blow sent Shemeya to the floor. Who knew that bag of skin and bones could hit that hard? Before Shemeya could recover, Latreece sat on top of her and began punching.
Shemeya's scalp began to itch. The same itch she'd had when she'd been fighting Jason. Fuck, that hadn't been a hallucination! The itching increased, eclipsing the pain from Latreece's punches. She needed to get out of there before the entire school saw her. 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 thr
ills 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 fucking fairies coming through, anything's possible."
"Fairies? Like gay people?"
"No, 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?
The End
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