Misunderstood Monsters

Chapter 7: The Frisbee and the Snake

Dr. Collingwood buried her face in her pillow, trying to fall asleep. Ever since she started working at the Foundation, the horrible things she'd seen would often keep her up at night.

It's fine, she told herself. It's fine, it's fine, it's fine. 106 isn't hiding in the closet, 173 isn't going to try and snap your neck, and 682 isn't patiently waiting for you to fall asleep and let your guard down to devour you.

She sighed and let exhaustion slowly lull her to sleep.

"Hey, Richard, catch!" Molly hurled the Frisbee at Richard.

He reached up and caught, throwing it to Sophie, who threw it to Ben, who threw it to Hannah.

"Hannah! Over here!" Molly flailed her arms above her head. She usually messed up on catching, well, anything that was thrown at her, but it didn't stop her from trying.

The Frisbee soared through the air and dove into a section of thick brush.

"I'll go get it." Molly scrambled over to the bushes.

"Be careful," Sophie called out. "You never know if there's snakes hiding there."

Molly looked over her shoulder with a grin. "Don't worry, I'll be fi-"

Bzzzzzzzzzzzttttttttzzzzzzzzz.

The children froze in fear, Molly with her hand still in the bush. There it was. That dreaded rattle. The one noise they all never hoped to hear. Molly slowly, more slowly than she ever had and ever would in her life, turned her head back towards the bush.

Bzzzzzzzzzzzttttttttzzzzzzzzz.

"Don't move, Molly, don't move! Don't even breathe!" Ben whispered.

Molly was forced into a staring contest with the reptile. The Frisbee had landed right on top of it and her hand was inches away from the snake's face. And it wasn't happy.

Bzzzzzzzzzzzttttttttzzzzzzzzz.

The serpent's head was right between her hand and the toy. There was no way she could grab it fast enough to avoid the snake's strike.

Richard cried out. "Mr. Collingwood! Help! There's a rattlesnake and Molly's right in front of it!"

"I'm coming! Molly, stay still!"

"Hurry!"

What seemed like a collection of needles stabbed into Molly's hand and she cried out.

It had bitten her.

Dr. Collingwood jerked awake and strained her ears for any noise. Nothing.

"I-It was just a dream," she told herself. "It was just a dream."

Her eyes darted to the U-shaped semicircle of little dots situated between her thumb and index finger. Two of them were larger and darker than the rest where the venom-laced fangs had punctured her skin.

She had almost died that day.