1. The Snake in the Meadow

I

-Finley pov-

"Leave me to wallow in my solitude!"

I scream at Marius as he tries to pull me out of my desk chair. He gives me a sharp tug but his strength was nothing in comparison to mine and he loses his grip, falling to the floor.

"Finley! You haven't left your room in nearly two weeks! You don't eat or drink, I don't even think you sleep! I get it, you're heartbroken but this isn't healthy!" Mari yells at me and I stand up.

Grabbing him by the hood of his sweatshirt and dragging him across the hardwood floor of my bedroom to the door. Tossing him out with such vigor that he goes flying into the wall in the hallway causing him to scream in pain.

"HEY! You don't get to abuse people just because you're having a hard time!" Mari's boyfriend Jamie decides to chime in as he rushes to the scene and stands between us to protect my precious cousin.

"Oh good, you're both here. Now stay out of my life, stop trying to check up on me, and Leave...Me...ALONE!" I scream at both of them. Jamie's intense stance and deadly glare quickly transforms into one of pure concern.

"Fin, we're just worried about..." I slam the door right in his face. Hopefully hard enough to break his nose or some shit so both of them learned a lesson.

Turning the lock I walk back to the desk and grab hold of my phone.

Staring at the message, I read it over and over again until I felt like I was going insane.

"I'm sorry, I want to talk, let me explain myself, please talk to me,"

He had texted me thirty minutes ago.

No amount of cursing in the vocabulary of all the languages around the world could begin to describe this snake I had gotten tangled up with.

There was no amount of apologizing that could ever launch my forgiveness. I hate him with every piece of my being, I had run out of tears four days ago but the burn in my heart never faded away.

I feel disgusting, useless, and shameful as I cup my face with my palms and try to scream, but my throat was too far gone.

The last of my vocals had been used up in the fight with Mari.

My phone vibrates across the desk, dancing in rhythmic movements and I glance at it through trembling fingertips.

It was him.

He was trying to call me now.

With a hysterical laugh, I pick up my phone and whip around, throwing it as hard as I could against the plain white wall, shattering it to pieces.

"Fuck," I mutter under my breath as I try to stand but my legs give out and I fall to the floor. I had given up and sink the rest of my body to the cold hard floor of my dorm room, facing the windows of the closed balcony doors.

Although I had drawn the curtains tight, a small amount of light still shines through and warms my fragile body. Wishing for death in the blinding yellow light, I quietly close my eyes and with a loud sigh, prepare to take my last breath.

But the sharp grinding of some unholy sound pierces my eardrums and I open my eyes again.

The sound goes away and I close my eyes once more.

Ready to accept...

there it goes again.

"Goddammit who the fuck is making all that noise? Don't they understand I'm trying to die here?" I groan as I sit up and rub my burning eye sockets.

It was coming from outside my balcony window so I work up the energy to stand again, turning the small knob and opening the door to peek out onto the quad where all these Uni brats likes to congregate on nice days like this.

The sunlight burns my eyes from my lack of vitamin D these past few days. After a few seconds of adjusting, the light finally dies down and I look down to see just below my first-floor balcony, some idiot was standing with a table saw cutting pieces of wood with two girls helping him out.

"Hey! Hey you!" I call down to him but he doesn't hear me through his headphones.

"HEY!" I yell out as long as I possibly can when he stops cutting. He turns his head to peer around and catches a glimpse of me flailing my arms to get his attention. He turns around and takes off his headphones.

"Hey! Can't you see I'm trying to go through a dramatic moment in my life here! Can you do that somewhere else?" I call down, leaning over the railing. The guy smirks and flips the switch on the saw, turning it off.

"Well not when you ask like that, Serious life-changing shit or not, nothing gives you the right to be rude," He calls back.

If only he knew.

"Well you can go fuck yourself then and take your stupid saw with you," I respond and he gasps dramatically.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know I was cutting wood under the king of the quad himself, my apologies your majesty. Give my best regards to the queen," He says with a dramatic flair and a deep 90-degree bow for extra sarcasm.

"Shut the fuck up, what are you doing anyway?" I ask, and he laughs. I didn't know I was being funny.

"Do you want me to shut up or answer your question?" he asks and I cross my arms.

"If you must know, King of the Quad, I'm building the set for a production we're putting on in the theatre. You should come join us, you look like you could use some sun and fresh air." He says with a smile on his face. The girls behind him frown as they hit him for his outrageous suggestion.

"Why would I want to join some random stranger in physical labor for something I have no interest in?" I say. He laughs and puts his hands on his hips.

"You were having a dramatic moment, we do that every day in theatre so I'm sure you would fit right in, also I'm not stopping so I guess you have no other choice than to either ignore us, which you're clearly incapable of or join us," he continues.

I consider his offer and without answering I duck back inside. Slamming the door behind me with as much aggression as I could muster before leaning against it.

The saw continues from outside and for a second I think of going back to what I was doing before, but the sound was far too distracting.

So instead of submitting to death like I wanted to, I go into my closet and toss on some simple clean articles of clothing and deodorant before tucking my curly black hair under a cap. Catching a glance of myself in the mirror, I still looked like shit, but now we were bordering household rubbish on the outside instead of looking like the full-on dumpster that I was on the inside.

"Hey! Look who actually decided to come out!"

The annoying guy says as I join him at the saw. I somewhat recognize one of the girls he was with and tried to decipher if she was from class or a part of the long string of women I did before I fell in love with a demon snake.

"I thought maybe if I asked you in person you would actually do it but I see now that I was clearly wrong," I groan and he hands me a pair of thick work gloves.

"Well, it's nice to have extra muscle on the job. That's Cassie and Sonya. Oh, I'm Kaeden by the way," He points out the girls then offers his hand and I slowly shake it after putting on the gloves.

"Finley," I introduce myself and the girls stare at me in shock.

"You're Finley? Like the Finley Grayson? Holy shit, I thought you were suppose to be some god but you look rough in person," Cassie mutters to Sonya's cackle laughter. Kaeden gives both of them a look and they instantly shut up. He turns back to me with his emotion fueled light brown eyes peered down at me with remorse. He was about a few inches taller than me as I stood at just his shoulder.

"I'm sorry for your loss," he says through pouty pink lips and my heart stops.

"H-How did you know?" I stutter. Terrified that the death of my cousins had been broadcasted to the entire school. "I can tell you're going through something is all. I just guessed it was a loss. Maybe I'm slightly psychic," He smiles and pats me on the shoulder. Relief comes back and takes the pain away for a few seconds before my heart continues to take on its dull ache.

"Yeah...something like that," I sigh as I take hold of the saw.

"Lets cut some wood shall w-" My diverted sentence is interrupted by an all too familiar voice.

"Hey! What the fuck do you think you're doing!" I look up to see Leitus Walker stomping across the freshly cut grass.

The Leitus Walker.

My now ex-boyfriend Leitus Walker.

"Fin! I call you and text you over and over asking you to talk and now I see you here? With this guy? Is this why you won't give me a chance! You've already moved on!" I can hear Lei's voice get louder as he comes closer and closer to where I stood.

My body automatically starts to quake with fear and when I finally decide to glance up he was right in front of me. Petrified, I was unable to move as Lei reached out to grab me. But before he can Kaeden suddenly gets in the way. His body between the two of us.

"Hey, I don't know who the fuck you think you are talking to another person like that but you're getting too close for my liking so I think you need to back the hell up," He says to Lei's face in my defense and the snake takes a few steps back with a dominant smirk.

"I'm not looking to fight. I don't care. I just want to talk," He pleads and Kaeden looks back at me for guidance but I had no thoughts or opinions to give. Here he was.

The man I hated so much, the man who killed my cousins, was standing in front of me trying to win me back like he only cheated on me with some side whore. Kaeden turns back to Leitus.

"Well he clearly doesn't want to talk right now, so I think it would be best for all of us if you turned around and went back to whatever place you spawned from," He suggested, raising a fist and Leitus jumps back.

"Whatever man," he grumbles before turning and walking the other way. I waited for my lungs to let out that deep sigh of relief but it never came. Instead I started hyperventilating like a dog and Kaeden had to turn back to me.

"Hey, don't worry about it, you're okay now." He says with a gentle smile.

"T-t-thanks," I manage to get out in one breath and he nods.

"It's okay, I got your back if you need it. Here, help me measure this piece really quick,"