The Snake Princess

Chapter 1

I wake up feeling exhausted from the dream. At first, this dream was my nightmare, but after seeing the same nightmare every single night, it became a regular dream. I gave up on looking for answers after a couple of months after being unsuccessful. But there is something deeper to this. I know it deep down. Every morning I wake up exhausted no matter how much I sleep, I have mud on my feet and random bruises appear on my body. I fear bringing it up to my parents because I do not have any answers for the questions they might ask and so I must suffer in silence till I get some answers myself. I take a deep breath and put aside all the thoughts regarding the dream and get ready for my day. It is still the summer vacation and the weather is perfect for reading a book in the backyard. I shower and go downstairs to see my mother sitting in her seat at the dining table sipping her coffee and looking at her phone. I grab some coffee and an omlette, take the seat opposite to her.

"Mia, good that you are up. I wanted to see you before I went to work." she said, looking up from her phone.

"Umhm" I replied with my mouth full, hinting her to continue.

"I'll be late tonight. We have the monthly work party tonight and dad left for his work trip to Virginia early in the morning and won't be back until Friday." she said with a sigh. She hated these parties but didn't have a choice. She has been working with this company for as long as I can remember and her boss relied on her heavily to take care of these parties, but more than that she hated leaving me alone on my own. Like leaving me home for a couple of hours was highly unsafe and something might happen. I understood her concern as we lived in the countryside with our nearest neighbors kilometers away, but I am sixteen now. I know what is good and bad and what to stay away from. My dad, on the other hand, has his own company and had to travel a lot for business. There was always a trip once a month. But also, dad never bothered about being so protective. He was very sure that nothing could touch me. He trusted me, but he trusted his training more. When I was a kid, dad trained me in all sorts of combat. I was given all sorts of strength and survival training. I can live in this forest if I had to, with or without all the right tools.

"I have already put dinner in the fridge. Don't stay up late and wait." she continued as she got up to leave.

"Bye Mia. Love you." she said as she kissed my forehead.

"Bye Maa." I replied.

I finish my breakfast and do the dishes before grabbing a book and going to the backyard. It is a perfect summer day, blue skies with white fluffy clouds scattered here and there. The trees are swaying lightly due to the breeze. I settle in the hammock my father put up for me when I was a kid. It is perfectly located between two huge red maple trees which provide shade on sunny days like today. I open the book from where I last left it but I just cannot seem to enjoy it. I have reread the same line atleast five times now. I sigh lightly and close the book and decide to go for a walk in the woods. One of the perks of living in the country is you have access to nature at all times. The backyard of my house leads straight into the forest. The woods bought me peace since I was a child. No matter how uneasy I felt, a walk in the backyard forest always helped me calm down. I go grab my hiking shoes and start towards the forest. I can hear the crickets and birds, the rustling of leaves. It's peaceful. The sunlight becomes scarce as I enter deeper into the forest where the canopy becomes denser and it is difficult for the sunlight to penetrate. I keep on walking aimlessly for sometime and then decide to go to my pond. I discovered this pond when I was twelve, and have come here ever since. I have never seen anyone here, so I think no one knows about it. I sit on a patch of grass surrounded by wild flowers and the smell of the forest is enchanting. I feel foolish now, I should have packed my lunch and had a picnic and spent the whole day here but a couple of hours couldn't hurt.