Southside

Chapter one

Living in Riverdale north side was nice but my dad's recent passing filled the air so did the regrets my mother faced, like most north sides my mother was uptight and strict thinking she was perfect in every way, to my own chagrin there was more to the story than just a normal spilt up like most parents. On the other hand, I knew very little which took me to the Southside with my mother...

2 weeks later

Southside

A little after 10 I head home from a long day at the library researching frogs for a paper due on Monday when I cross into serpent territory usual I try to keep to the outskirts but today I had niggling feeling that someone was watching me or following me and, yeah, it was scary. Living on the Southside as a nobody is dangerous, you can be ruffed up by the ghoulies or the serpent's one or the other was bad.

Two or three males step out from the dark behind me, I inhale then head off into a sprint down the footpath, the males make chase and I scream as one of them appeared beside me, then shoves me into the metal fence put up to stop pedestrian from passing them, which make loud clanging sound but they did not fall, I franticly hurried to crawl past them somehow but one grab a hand full of my hair forcing my head back. "Please leave me alone, I don't have much money", I beg but they just laughed, they drag me to my feet proceed to stick me with something in my side I didn't know what it was.

Yells came from an ally way as the man released me, leaving my body to crumple to the floor, "get out of here you Ghoulies scum", they was ghoulies, why did they do this? i tried to move but my body wouldn't comply a stinging pain erupted on my side where the ghoulies stuck me, then as I feel my side some kind of liquid stained my hand. Oh god, I have been stabbed! How have I been stabbed? Why? Everything began to get blurry even as people with snakes on their jackets, neared the only thing I could manage was "please help me". Before I passed out.

. . .

When I came to, the room around me was dark and forbodding , did I die? I moved my arm but I felt sore, trying to sit up, it took some effort but I managed. Then I saw more then one male staring back at me.

"Who are you people?" I ask, and arm chair that sat opposite the sofa I occupied, was the middle aged man with black hair slicked back, a shadow beard covered his jaw and a white teethed smile made him look 5 years younger, "who are you?"

" I" he began, resting his elbows to his knees. "i am FP head of the serpents". He paused as if to give me time to process what he just said, serpents, so they helped, but why?

"So why did you guys help me?" I looked, round to a chair behind me, not turning to must because of the pain, as a new person spoke.

"Because we are not bad or careless people that don't help people in need". He stood as he spoke walking to stand behind the sofa, I had to look up, up and up to see his face, " the names Sweet pea". He said, bracing his hands a part on the back of the sofa to that we were at the same eye level. Surprisingly enough that a cool introduction, which made her grin a little, he inspected her with interested as she did the same.

"nice to meet you, sweet pea, my name's Jewels". He grinned, then stepped back the moment broke like a string, he turned back to FP, " so, where do we go from here, because I need to get home to my mom". I splattered, worriedly.

"Well, that is goin be a problem". FP stated, "now that we have taken care of you, well now you under our protection, till we deem you safe". He finished matter-of-factly.

" Does that mean I can't go home?"

" No you can, but we will be with you, so what happened last night will never happen again, not under our watch".

...

Sometime later, a serpent named tall boy dove me down to my house with sweet pea, in passenger seat, and two others next to me one guy and a girl just as small as me, but with a darker shade of brown skin that glow, she smiled at me. " hi, I'm Toni". I smiled back.

" I'm.."

" I know who you are, well, everyone does". She said, cutting me off. I looked at her with her pink and brown hair, long lashes and sofa smile, a very kind smile, it made me feel good even though my side was still in pain and any wrong move could bust the stitches. The car pulled up a block from my place, when the guy next to me moved to open the door, i wiggled out the middle seat and headed for home three of them following behind me.

I rustled in my pocket for the key to the door, when I found it my hand shook not letting me put the key in. An arm stretched out from behind me, taking the poor key from me and placed it firmly in to the lock. Sweet pea Push the door open for me to  Enter first.

Stepping past the threshold a strange feeling came over me, I didn't know what but something was wrong, the house was cold and empty, as if no one was home. And during the night and part of the day that I missed, my phone died, with out a charger, I didn't know how much my mother worried.

"mom!" I called, sweet pea and the others followed me in all very cautious, they might have felt something was wrong too. "mom" I called again but nothing, no sound of movement.

"Did she go out to look for you? It doesn't look like anyone is home". The guy said, behind Toni. Two of them searched the kitchen and living room well, I headed upstairs with sweet pea. There was nothing out of place so why did a bad feeling come over me. My bedroom door was open as I warily walked to the door and when the room was in view, black locks fanned out over floor, out and around it blood which seeped into the carpet, my grey carpet. I can't stop myself from ripping free a shrink which pained me to my stitches. The pain in my heart drown out the pain on my side, nothing, I could do could stop it from ripping out as my heart collapsed to where her body lay.

I ran over to her body crouching over her, "mom, no no, please no!".

"holy shit", sweet pea hissed as he saw, my mother's body face down near my bed in the corner of the room. I couldn't tearaway from my mother, brushing away her hair from her face which reviled stained blood and floor creases on her cheek. " we have to get out of here, is a crime seen". He pulled out his phone, and dialled a number. The other two from downstairs found their way up to us, grimacing at the site.

"We need to call the police." The guy with them said, I didn't know who he was and forgot his name.

" I called FP, he said we need to get out of here and back to the car, the police will be here in 10 minutes. Jewels". He lowered his self down beside me. " we have to go, we have to go but will be watching over you when the police get here." He lifted me up to my feet,whilst holding my shoulders.

"Ok". Was all I could manage as they left and I sat on the stairs to hold up on my anguish to notice the police coming in and surveying the area. Even when the social worker arrived to take me away, their was nothing to shake me from the rutting pain that they call a tragedy.