Two Snakes (ON BREAK FOR A WHILE)

Chapter 2: A little bit of kindness goes a long way

Lilah slowly started to pick herself up, which only then she noticed her twisted wrist. Her leggings had small holes in the knees , showing the grazing and small amounts of blood underneath. People parted out of the way as her friends rushed to her side and quickly helped her up. It had barely been three minutes since they had entered the market that this had happened. 'It's going to be fine.' A man steeped out from the parted crowd. He looked deeply concerned for her wellbeing, and put an arm over her shoulder.

The man ushered the three to a small market stall, where he thanked the stall owner for his hospitality, and set Lilah down on a bench behind the stall. He kneeled down and lifted up his dark tinted glasses and placed them on his head, and pulled out a set of cloth from his satchel bag. 'It's going to be fine. It's only a graze. Ooh.. looks like I'll have to clean the blood too...' he smiled slightly and bandaged her leg with the cloth, and stood back up.

'That should do. I noticed your wrist too though... just keep off it and it'll heal. You only pulled it a bit. Move it around, but not too much as you could damage yourself further, ok?' He placed his dark tinted glasses back on his face and held out an arm to the one that wasn't hurt.

Lilah gladly took it, as the man flashed a small smile and walked back into the market, sparing a wave at the group before heading off. 'Wait!' The man carried on walking further and further into the crowd, practically vanishing out of sight. 'Some people don't need recognition. Some people just do kind things because they can. Those kinds of people are selfless and can stick up for others, and we need more people like that in the world!' Ruby said to the two. She looked back at the clock, seeing that it was five to two. 'Gosh! We've got five minutes to get to the plaza, pronto!'

The three practically speed walked to the plaza, through more crowds of market-goers and stalls. It was barely a moment before they had reached their destination, and waved to a couple more of their classmates who were already sat down on the various benches set down for the day. One girl, who had wavy light brown hair, energetically ran towards Lilah and pulled her into a tight hug.

'Mate! We were so worried you wouldn't make it this week! Apparently you fell... and then this doctor guy took you... and then he helped you... and then..' Lilah cut the girl off and reassured her, even if she was still energetic and bouncy as normal. 'Chlo, I'm fine! Was just a scratch, s'all! We were heading up here anyway!' Chloe carried on smiling and patted down on the bench next to hers.

'Come on! I saved you three a bench! Just in case, you know!' Ruby smiled and gave Chloe a hug, before sitting down in between Cam and Lilah. The group, as well as some of their other classmates, chatted amongst themselves for the next five minutes, pushing and messing with each other, like a bunch of teens would. Various remarks and insults were thrown around, and various groups and cliques were sitting on benches, discussing the 'story' which could be told. It could just have easily been an old classic to a new one, but the majority of the age group were especially hoping for it to be a new one this time.

One by one, three ancestors walked out of the little hut next to the plaza centre. Francis, the eldest, walked at the front, with a winding wooden staff in his right hand. His beige robes going down to his knees, and his normal white clothes underneath, fit with a pair of brown sandals. His white goatee curling up slightly as he smiled at the group of teens.

The second Ancestor, Valentina, was very short in stature, with her silvery grey hair in a small bun on the back of her head. Her many wrinkles were showing, and she was proud of them. She also wore a long, white robe-like dress, and a pair of white sandals, similar to Francis'. The third Ancestor in the three was Marcos. He had short dark grey hair, and dark brown robes, tied with a rope belt and sandals of the same colour. He walked behind the other two and sat down on a bench with the other two facing the group of teens. Francis spoke, grabbing the group's attention. 'I will be telling you your story today.' He made finger quotes in the air on the word 'story', after putting his staff down on the ground. 'This is a two part story, so instead of meeting next week, we will meet in four days, as you are off for autumn for the next two weeks. Are you ready for a new story?' The group nodded, waiting for just a little bit of excitement.

'This is the story of the Snake Man...'