Falice 2

Southside Serpents

Alice despised the Southside Serpents. She hated to hear anything related to the Serpents so when she heard her son mention them she took it to heart.

Charles followed her around the house. "Mom, he's my friend and he's not a bad person. I got to know him. Why do you make him out to be so depraved?" He tried to reason with her. He knew she was angry about the fact that he met a Serpent at school. "Why do you even hate them so much? They live on the other side of town for Christ's sake."

"You can't be associating with those people." She huffed as she entered her bedroom.

"Why can't you just give him a chance? Get to know him. If you weren't so stubborn about it you would know how compelling they can actually be as a person." Charles huffed. He didn't understand why she was being so unreasonable about this. "He's a genuine guy. He told me about what it's like to be one of them. They're a family to one another." Alice zoned out as he tried to explain it to her. She could see his lips moving but her ears weren't taking it in. She just kept thinking about what happened. "They even follow these Serpent laws he said, which may I add, include protecting one another."

"They can easily not live up to them." Alice bitterly gritted through her teeth.

"I doubt they would intentionally." Charles was clueless. "How can they be so united without sticking to them?" He innocently pointed out.

He didn't know. For that she couldn't blame him. Alice felt her tears stinging her eyes. She fought the lump forming in her throat. "They broke the fourth law just fine." She subconsciously spilled.

No Serpent is left for dead.

"What?" Charles looked at her perplexed. "How...how would you even know about the laws?"

Alice felt her legs grow weaker so she sat down on the edge of her bed. Her face fell into the palm of hers hands. She was trying to hide her tears from him but it was no use.

"Mom?" His face softened. He walked up to the bed and sat beside her. "What do you mean they broke the fourth law?"

Alice anticipated this day coming one day. She knew that one day she would have to tell him about the past she tried so hard to leave behind. "I was one of them too," She mumbled. Charles couldn't understand her. "Huh?" He said. She didn't want to repeat what she said but she did. "I was a Serpent." She nervously looked at him.

Charles was not expecting that to come out of his mother's mouth. His eyes widened and his jaw had dropped. "You? You were a Serpent?" He questioned. "That doesn't make any sense. You hate them."

"I hate what they did." She felt her heart shatter inside.

"What did they do?" The teenage boy quietly asked. Alice shook her head. She couldn't find the words to tell him. "It's rather just what they didn't do." She wiped her eyes. She stood up and walked to her mirror to check herself. She fixed the small smudge of make up at the corner of her eye. Once she recollected herself she walked out of the room.

"Mom, where are you going?" Charles trailed behind.

"I'm going to the office," Alice grabbed her purse from the counter. She was on her way to work before their little dispute.

"But I think there's a lot to talk about here."

"No, sweetheart, not right now."

"Later?"

"Maybe," She grabbed his chin and pecked a sweet kiss on his cheek. "Just please don't mention the Serpents anymore, okay?" Charles nodded to her behest. "Thank you. I'll be home later. Don't wait up, sweetie. I love you."