The Snake Man

Chapter 1 - Sad news!

(Copyright)

"Sofia, your grandma's cancer has spread, and there's not anything else to be done, so the doctors said."

"IT CAN'T BE, mom!!! There's ALWAYS something we can do! Another surgery, maybe...?"

"Unfortunately not, honey!", mom said, sadly.

"I'm going to grandma's right now!"

"Honey, you can't do that, you have a lot of work at school, and this is your last year, you're going to get retained..."

"I don't care! I don't care whether you like it or not – I'm going to dedicate myself to my grandma.

"Sofia, you are still underage, you have your classmates at school, your prom dress is all but finished (which was made by my grandma). Besides, there's the trip with your classmates that you asked your father, honey!"

"I'm not having any of that. If you're not gonna let me, I'll go anyway!"

"Ok, I'll see what I can do about your school, sweetheart."

While mom gets in our Pajero, dad's precious jeep, and goes out to school, I go to my drawer and get the box with mauve roses painted on it, a gift from my grandma.

I open it, taking all of the money saved from my allowance in the last few months – a thousand and one hundred and sixty-seven bucks. I was saving it to buy a new iPhone 6.

I also fill my Puma backpack with two jeans and five tight T-shirts. I shove some socks and panties, too, and put on leggings under the jeans I'm wearing, with shorts over them.

Two bras, four shirts – two sleeveless, two of those large ones, with one shoulder showing. I also include a black denim jacket and a red sweatshirt.

All that, and a bag with my flip-flops, a pair of slip-ons, and a teddy bear with a honey pot... gift that I got from a cute neighbor.

I feel horribly hot, and I'm some twenty-two pounds fatter thanks to everything I'm wearing!

I sprint to the bus stop, taking the bus almost immediately. Soon, I get out, lucky enough to get to the second bus, which will take me to my grandma's city.

There, I walk up the avenue sadly, looking down.

Then I finally arrive at 210 Ohio street.

There is a bakery at the corner. Grandma and me used to go there buy a bottle of Coke and a Swiss roll to eat back at home, with her cheese bacon and chicken pot pie, made specially for me, her sweet grandchild.

I rush as I arrive... It is an old house, but to me it's also a mansion, of which I have only good memories.

I open the lock of the old gate, not with a key, but with a trick known only to the people who know the house.

I climb the cement stairs quickly, and run through a red-pavement walkway.

When I open the kitchen's door, she's there, all smiles, eating a huge bowl of salad. With my arms around her, I kiss her smooth cheek.

"Sofia, does your mom know you're here?" She asks happily, smiling for seeing me.

"Sure, grandma, she said it's OK. I even brought clothes to stay here.

"But what about your classes?" She asked, concerned.

"They won't be a problem, grandma. I have excellent grades, and I've not missed many classes. So, it's OK if I stay around as long as you like.

"Oh, that's great, Snuggle-bunny! You're so precious to me", she says, smiling and pinching my cheeks.

I really hate when she calls me Snuggle-bunny, but what could I do? She does that sometimes. Besides, she's ill.

"I don't feel so good. Do you mind if I take a nap?"

"Of course not, grandma! You go rest there, and I'll do the dishes."

As soon as I'm finished, I go check on my grandma, and there she is, still asleep.

The sadness gets to me. I go into the small tool room of my late grandpa's house, which has a few tools in the old shelves he built himself and some other shelves with my grandma's cleaning products.

I open a bottle of clothes softner, feeling the smooth scent of grandma's sheets.

As I keep going through the stuff, I end up finding a hidden vial of perfume. When I open it, it reminds me of the special occasions when my grandpa wore it. I spray a little on my wrist and my neck.

I go to the overgrown garden on the backyard, surrounded by wooden fences. I walk in through the wooden gate, stepping and pushing around the grass, almost three feet tall. Then I sit on the ground, over the lower grass, and cry desperately while I remember my history with my grandparents.

The despair and the feeling of powerlessness invade my soul.

I feel something on my arm – a lick, maybe, which I ignore, as it is probably some bug –, but I keep there still crying loud and desperately.

Then I feel something heavy touching my arm like a piece of rubber. When I finally look at it, I see the huge head of a SNAKE!