Shouldn't Love You

9- Meeting

October 3rd, 2021 10:53 PM

Hey I'm here

Ok

... are you?

Not yet. It's 10:54

Okay well I'll be waiting 🙂

Is that you nervous pacing around the bench?

Yeah! Where are you?

"I'm right here, T"

"Hey! Hi I uh... I'm here." Toni said nervously as she squeezed her hands together.

"Yes, I see that." It was almost pitch black outside, there was only one streetlight. Half busted and barely shinning bright enough to let the girls see each other's faces. Only bright enough for them to know that they were there.

"So... what do you want me to say?"

"Honestly, T...I just want you to explain a little better I guess."

"Okay..." Toni sat on the bench with her hood pulled over her head.

"So basically, you already know I'm a serpent. You know about both of my parents and that I'm adopted."

"Yes" Cheryl sighed sympathetically as she stood beside Toni where she sat on the bench.

"When I was adopted it was by this man. The sweetest soul you'll ever meet. Tough exterior, big softy on the inside."

"I'm following."

"So his tough exterior was necessary his whole life. He struggled with really bad anxiety due to deep rooted trauma and because of it he was picked on in school. He was known as the scrawny weird kid who didn't have parents."

Cheryl let herself get lost in Toni's story. She liked to the way her soft, raspy voice sounded in her ears. She didn't expect her to speak so educatedly. She always knew the Southside to be full of idiots and thugs. Maybe she was wrong.

"His freshman year of high school the school counselor called the cops on him to try and get him into some type of therapy or psych ward. I assume that part because he won't tell me. Soon the whole school found out parts of the story and he got bullied, bad. His mental health started to decline rapidly and he was in a dark place with no one to help him. But he kept dragging himself to school, thank god."

Toni looked slightly up to her right where she could see Cheryl looking down on her, her pale cheek softly illuminated by the street light.

"He met this new guy. New guy didn't know about the whole counselor thing so he was just being his friend. One day he saw my dad getting jumped. He helped him out and basically told him after that he was a serpent. So long story short, the serpents quite literally saved my father. And I know you might not want to hear it but they're good people."

"The crimes they commit. As far as the vandalism goes, it's because they're not mentally stable so instead of hurting others or themselves they hurt inanimate objects or buildings. Some of them are drug addicts and that's just what they do, I guess. There's a really sad reality behind the crimes. The breaking and entering, it's so they can afford to put a single meal on the table."