The Friendship that Survived Everything

Through the Grass

Prologue

Do you remember our heroines' adventures from previous tales? If not, go back and reread it. Go on. I'll wait.

Okay. Remember now? Yeah? Good, because I'm not giving much of a recap. So, last we saw our friends Mary Ann, Diana, and Fearless, they were settling in to sleep for the night. Fearless had mentioned how everyone has secrets, then smiled in way that showed he had several hidden behind his innocent, emerald scales. Now, let's continue with Fearless' tale in...

Fields of Pain

A backstory none can ignore

"Come along now, young riddle master. Time for bed, and I don't want trouble." Mama slithered around me leading me to my nest spot.

Sleep is not what I want

I want to play

Please won't you let me

Play all night and day?

Mama just hissed out a laugh, as my sleepy voice gave away my true feelings. "I think you really do want to stay up, but if you want to grow to be a nice, big, strong snake, you need to rest, and eat plenty of mice."

Little did she know, I would certainly grow to be a big, strong, beautiful snake. Just not the way anyone thought...

Several moons later

"Go, little Jade, be in the open world. I can no longer keep you in this nest... Live long, and live in peace." Mama lay, writhing and twitching, in the grass before me. I stared in horror, knowing there was nothing I could do, yet wishing there was.

Don't leave me, Mama

I need you here,

Don't leave me living

In a sack of fear...

I wailed, trying to pull her back, but, as her writhing and twitching slowed, so did her small pulse. I could hear her breathing shallowly, and, soon, nothing but the bugs creeping along the earthy ground and my own wails and sobs.

I dug out a hole twice as long as me, as I was a few inches longer than my sienna-scaled mother, and gently nudged her down into it, covering her in her small grave. I sat mourning for the rest of the day, and all through the night, not moving one scale out of where I had frozen for my vigil.

When dawn came, I was stiff with cold, and quickly found a warm place to cozy into. When I woke near dusk, I decided to wait one more day but found an overwhelming sense of danger, so I slithered along to the nearest town, and, feeling a pull to one house in particular, slipped through a downstairs window.

I found a small ramp leading up and followed, and found some sort of evil mist or something trying to escape into the room leading off of the small hole I was in. I absorbed it, feeling my body expand, and I had to let some go, or I would have been stuck in there for the rest of time. I wanted to be able to keep an eye on these people because I felt there would be more danger coming.

I saw the rest of the mist leave the hole right as one female voice called out to the other:

"Of course I don't want to be l-"

Then, there was a gasp, a thud, then, silence.

I peered out, flinching back when my scales scraped against the wood.

A second girl downstairs called out, and I heard her rush up the stairs to help the first girl. I stayed in the small, now cramped, hole.

"Diana? Diana, are you there? Diana, can you hear me? Diana! Please! Answer me, Diana!" I moved forward a bit, but that caused my scales to get caught in the tight space, and I hissed in frustration. I tried to tell her what happened, but could only talk in riddle, and barely human words slipped through my fangs.