Yours Truly, Cammie

“What do you want, Cammie?” he asked, voice raw and raspy.

I swallowed and thrusted my hips up again, harder this time.

“Tell me,” he barked.

“You. I want you.”

Then…

He hissed at me. Like a snake. What the hell?

Hiss. Hiss.

“What?” I cried out.

My eyes flew open. My vision was blurred at first, but I then realized I was in my bedroom, which was very poorly lit from the barely-there sun setting through the window. My gaze lingered there, amazed at the beautiful pink hues cast in the North Carolina sky.

I slowly sat up and looked around my room. I sat up even straighter when I heard another hissing noise come from the bottom of my bed. Oh my God! So, that wasn’t a dream?

When I looked down at my blanketed legs, I screamed bloody murder. I flew out of the bed so fast that I fell right on my ass. The second I felt the floor underneath me I scooted backward all the way to my dresser. My eyes widened as I stared at the black snake casually lying on my bed. He was lounging there, staring me like I was the intruder in his home. Not the other way around.

I couldn’t seem to make any other noise than the wheezing from deep within my chest. My head turned to my bedroom door when Luke came flying in with a bemused look on his face.

“What the hell, Cammie? What’s wrong?”

My shaky shoulders fell as I pointed to the snake whose head was now lifted, staring at the pair of us with slanted, demonic eyes.

“Uh…is this a pet snake of yours?”

I whispered, “NO! Get it out!”

Luke’s eyes squinted when he looked at me again, then he let out a huge breath of air while shaking his head. He and I were on the same page of major confusion.

Luke slowly crept past me, keeping his eyes trained on the snake, and very slowly moved behind its back end near the top of my bed. He pulled my white pillow off the bed and reached inside the opening, pulling the pillow out of its case. Then, he placed it back down and held the white pillowcase in his hand.

He looked at me and then at the snake again, and then back at me and mouthed the words, “Shut the door.”

Luke was in complete military mode, eyes narrowed at the enemy, who was lying on my pretty white blanket. Luke’s shoulders were intense and pulled back. It was mesmerizing, watching how intent he was.

I crawled over to my bedroom door and gave it a slight push with my hand to close it without it actually latching and scaring the snake.

It was a really gross-looking snake. Its black skin was shiny, and its eyes looked as if they were glowing at me. Goosebumps broke out on my arms.

I sat with my back against the door, barely breathing because I was afraid to startle it. Then I stopped breathing altogether when Luke slowly padded over to it.

In one single movement, Luke swooped up the snake into the pillowcase. He exhaled a huge breath, and I watched in horror as the snake thrashed inside its cotton enclosure. I put my hand over my mouth, fighting back a scream.

Luke and I were two unmoving statues as we both stared at the pillowcase he was holding with a death grip.

The second I let out a small giggle, Luke followed my cue and laughed uncomfortably for a few seconds.

“How did that get in here?” I pondered aloud.

No, seriously, how did it get in here, anyway? The trees rustled outside my window, and I glanced up to my white ceiling. Alex. I swore he had a way of messing with me all the way from heaven.

Luke, who had finally stopped laughing, looked at me, placing a hand on his hip. “I think I know how it got in here.”

I stuttered, “How? There aren’t any openings in my house. I don’t think.”