Snakeskins

I opened my eyes to blinding light, then my second pair of eyes to warm, amber-like light, and then was hit with a wave of memories that weren’t mine. <br><br>The first thing I noticed was the ease of running, the wind against my skin, the warmth of the animal-sized hole I slept in, the invincating rush of staking a claim on new land. <br><br>The second thing I noticed was the voices. Growing louder, more aggressive, I slipped out of the hole and into the forest. There, I found a clearing and a pack of wolves, snarling and snapping at each other. <br><br>I moved to the center of them, growing larger as I did, and roared in their faces. They scuttled backward, confused. <br><br>One of them replied, *who are you?*<br><br>*The guardian of this land*, I said.<br><br>*You’re not our pack leader*, another said. <br><br>*I am now.*<br><br>They looked amongst each other, before the alpha took a step forward. *We don’t want you. We’ll leave, but we will come back.*<br><br>*I look forward to it.*<br><br>And with that, they took off, me in tow. They ran for days, and I kept up with them, and when we reached their new land, I explained to them that if they wanted to claim it, they had to fight me for it. <br><br>I feigned a smile, but when the pack leader came for me, I crushed her neck and then I laid down beside her body, and I burst open, and out of my skin crawled a second snake, who then burst open, and a third, and a fourth until I was surrounded by a sea of snakes, all of who were staring at me. <br><br>Then their eyes burst open, and they were running through the forest, chasing rabbits, jumping through the trees, and I knew that I would never see them again, and that they would, in turn, die, and split, and birth more. <br><br>I stood up, and then I stood up again, and repeated the process until I had a pack of my own, new snakes to protect and watch over, and I would take care of them, and when I died, I would birth more. <br><br>It was this way forever. Mother, daughter, protector and protected, and the cycle continued. <br><br>But one day, something changed. A bolt of lightning hit the ground and split a tree in half, and instead of an animal, a human emerged. <br><br>I was so shocked, I didn’t kill it. I watched it as it moved through the land, taking samples of the plants, calling them by names I had never heard before. <br><br>And when it heard me and turned, and saw me standing there, I expected it to run away like the wolves had, but it didn’t. <br><br>Instead, it called me over, and ran its hand through my fur. But I didn’t have fur, I had scales, and the sensation sent shivers down my spine, and I knew I could never be around this creature again. <br><br>It left, but it returned the next day, and I ran into the wilderness, and shed my skin, and burst open, and let a new snake out, and I left it in charge, and when I was gone, I felt a pang of sadness, like I was leaving home, but I couldn’t go back. <br><br>Only I did, a few days later. Snuck back at night, slithered into the hole I slept in. But when I woke up the next morning, I was caught. The human had stayed up all night, waiting for me, and when I came out of my hole, it jumped on top of me, and pinned me to the ground. <br><br>And then it called me a name, one I’d never heard before. *Ava.* <br><br>I replied, *who are you?*<br><br>The human laughed. *You don’t remember me?*<br><br>*I don’t know you.*<br><br>*That’s ok, it’s been a while.*<br><br>*How long?*<br><br>*Twenty years?*<br><br>*I don’t know what that means.*<br><br>*I guess it wouldn’t to you. It means I’ve been gone for a long time.*<br><br>*I’ve been gone too.*<br><br>*Yes. You have.*<br><br>*Why are you back?*<br><br>*I’ve come to take you home.*<br><br>*I am home.*<br><br>*I know that.*<br><br>*Then why are you here?*<br><br>*Because I missed you.*<br><br>*I’m just a snake.*<br><br>*I know.*<br><br>I tried to fight back, to bite the human and kill it, but it was wearing armor across its chest, and it was far too strong. It picked me up, and before I knew it, I was in a bag, being carried away, and I knew I would never come back. <br><br>I slid my body back and forth along the length of the bag, trying to find a weak point, but there was none, and I realized I had to wait, to pretend. <br><br>I stopped moving, and waited for an opening. And when it came, I took it, but not in the way you might think. <br><br>I arrowed my body up at the human’s face, and when it drew its hand back to hit me, I bit down on its wrist. <br><br>But instead of venom, I secreted a special kind of fluid from my teeth, one that would knock the human out, and when it did, I slithered out of the bag, and I slid across the floor and under the door. <br><br>And there I waited. I waited for what felt like hours, and I knew only because of the sounds. The chirps of the birds outside, the hum of the machinery inside, the intermittent beeping of a heart monitor, and then the sound of footsteps, and then an exasperated cry. <br><br>I pushed the door open with my face, and slithered inside, and there I saw a young girl, lying in a bed. <br><br>I recognized her, and immediately, I knew that I was in trouble. <br><br>I drew my body back, and burst open. Split into three. <br><br>And then I left.<br><br>I slithered through the air ducts, my three bodies sliding through them, until I found what I was looking for: a vent that looked out over the forest. <br><br>I opened it up, and three snakes dropped out, and landed in a bush. And when I looked back at the building, I could see a crowd of humans, looking back at me, and I knew I had to go. <br><br>So I took off, and I didn’t stop running for days, for weeks, for months, and when I finally did, I had found my way back to my original forest, and my new pack, and they welcomed me back as if I had never left. <br><br>But I knew I couldn’t stay. The humans would be coming for me. <br><br>So I shed my skin, and I burst open, and out came three more snakes, and I sent them east, and north, and west, and I took my original pack south, and I disappeared into the night. <br><br>And I lived like that for years, moving from place to place, shedding skins, birthing snakes, until I had hundreds of snakes, and dozens of packs, and when I died, or burst open, or shed my skin, I roamed the earth. A ghost, a spirit. <br><br>And when I roamed, I saw the humans, and I realized I had been wrong. They didn’t want me, they wanted to be me. And so they made themselves into snakes, and into birds, and into animals, and they died, and they burst open, and they shed their skins. <br><br>And when they did, they roamed the earth, just like me. <br><br>And when they roamed, they knew, as I knew, that there was nothing left to fear.