The Snake That Killed Me Became My Guardian

The snake's tongue flicked within a hair of my eye, and my body reacted before my mind could catch up. My back slammed into the wardrobe. My knees buckled, and I collapsed onto the floor. The memory of snakes dragging me over broken glass sent phantom pain shooting up my ankles. My skin was perfectly intact, yet I could smell the blood that had filled the house as I died. "Erin?" The blonde girl held the white snake even closer. Her smile was full of cruel anticipation. "I thought you were terrified of anything without legs. Why aren't you screaming?" The Welcome Week poster was still hanging on the wall. Cedar Ridge University. West Hall. I was back. Back in my 4th year in this dorm. Vanessa Grant was the resident assistant for our floor. She handled nightly rounds and wrote up violations. The hall director position had been vacant for two full years. No one reviewed Vanessa's reports, so if she said we had broken a rule, we had no choice but to take the punishment. In my previous life, I told her that animals weren't allowed in the dorm and insisted on calling a wildlife rescue center. She promised to send the snake away, then dumped it in an old greenhouse at the edge of campus instead. By day, she acted as if the snake disgusted her. At night, she brought it food and told it, "Don't blame me. Erin's the one who wouldn't give you a home. She wants you dead." The snake understood her. It remembered my voice and scent too. Over the next six months, I found mice with their bellies bitten open beneath my pillow and half of a bloody bird inside my bag. Just before Thanksgiving, my parents had to leave town unexpectedly, so I brought my 3-year-old sister Bella to stay with me for one night. Before bed, I went to the communal kitchen to warm some milk. When I came back, Bella was writhing beside my desk, two of her fingers gone. The white snake lay coiled beneath my desk lamp, blood around its mouth. I grabbed the knife I used to open packages and tried to kill it. Vanessa rammed into me from behind, bit down on my wrist, and stuffed the snake into an air vent. Then she screamed that it hadn't meant to do it—that seeing my sister had startled it into attacking. Four years later, unnatural swarms of snakes began appearing throughout the mountains. Every news photo showed a streak of white leading them. By the time I saw it again in my home, it was thick enough to coil around an adult's waist. My father lay dead by the stairs. My mother ran upstairs with Bella in her arms. As the white snake dragged me toward the basement, Bella struggled free and reached for me with the hand missing two fingers. I wanted to tell her to run, but the snake's body had crushed my throat. All I could do was watch as my mother threw herself over Bella. Before the white snake swallowed me, I remembered the words Vanessa had taught it. Erin wants to kill you. And now Vanessa was holding it, waiting for me to panic and object just as I had before. Then she would disguise her hatred for me as concern for the snake. I couldn't give her what she wanted. Digging my nails into my palm, I forced myself to rest my fingers on the white snake's head. Its scales were cold. My stomach clenched so hard that I nearly vomited, but I didn't pull away. This snake understood us. It remembered things. It had feelings. It could even tell who cared for it and who was using it. If I wanted to avoid repeating my past life, I had only one choice: make it remember my kindness. Helping it meant helping myself. "Keep it." I took a slow breath and forced my voice to stay steady. "You brought it here, so you're responsible for looking after it." Vanessa's smile froze for a second. The white snake tilted its head, its green eyes fixed on me without blinking. Then it gently nuzzled my fingertip. For a moment, I thought I had imagined it. In my previous life, it had wanted me dead. Now it was nuzzling me on its own. I pulled my hand back, got to my feet, and turned to straighten my desk as if nothing had happened. Only I knew my back was soaked with cold sweat. I slept lightly that night. At 3 a.m., something cold slithered onto my bed. I opened my eyes and saw the white snake climbing over the edge of the mattress. I sucked in a breath.