Mythfits

21-Ella

After an aggravating day of school and searching for wherever a basilisk would be. What's a basilisk? Good question. But while I will never admit it out loud, the notes on the different creatures have actually been helpful. According to the info on basilisks, they are three-legged reptiles that grow to be the size of small horses and can turn things to stone with their gaze and have deadly venom. And I get to track one and figure out how to get a scale. Sounds fun. 

Deciding that the best place for a creature that large to live and remain unnoticed was the woods surrounding my house, I headed out after school. 3 hours later, considerably lost and having not seen any signs of anything besides normal woody wildlife, I stopped and spun in a circle, looking for any sort of a path or trail or something that would . Not seeing any way to tell where I was, I growled in frustration, sitting down hard on a nearby rock. 

A rock that was covered in slippery moss, causing me to slip off and land on the ground. Wonderful. Standing up and brushing off my pants, I sigh in exasperation and pick a direction and start walking. 

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I finally reach the edge of the woods as the sun slips behind the horizon, causing the red sky behind the woods look like the trees were on fire. As I walk along the treeline towards my neighborhood, the flash of fading sunlight off of scales catches my attention. Seeing the tip of a tail disappear behind a boulder, I jump to chase it but pause, wondering if it was such a good idea to go back into the woods I just spent hours being lost in.

My phone dings, breaking the dead silence of the trees. A text from Dad, saying that he won't be home until late. Well in that case, I try to move as quietly as possible around the boulder, I suppose I can stay out a little longer.

I end up staying out longer than I initially thought.

Soon, the waning moon is slowly rising, peeking through the trees. I had searched the pile of boulders, the surrounding area, and anything else I could find, with no sign of the potential basilisk. Finally, I accept that I was probably just seeing things and should probably get back to my house before Dad freaks out. 

As I blunder semi-blindly through the trees (Warning: the woods are dark at night) I keep one hand out so as not to run face first into a tree.

It doesn't work- I face plant into an evergreen anyway.

Spitting needles out of my mouth, I wince at the taste and take a blind step forward. Instead of the springy earth, carpeted by moss and soft needles, my foot lands on a smooth metal plate. As soon as I realize the trap, I jerk away. But faster than I can blink, the strong metal jaws close around my ankle, the teeth, shining in the faint moonlight, bite into my skin. The sharp pain is accompanied by small, bright rivulets of blood that begin to trickle down my ankle, staining my shoes red.