A bandage covers the twin holes where the snake's teeth went in, but doesn't disguise the swollen red lump my right hand has become, the fingers like fat red sausages. Painkillers have subdued the agony that the slightest movement would have caused, and now all I can really feel is a heavy deadness. Where I should have a functional hand, I now have a useless lump of meat.
But hey, all those years of teachers trying to correct my left handedness, and I get the last laugh. My best hand will still be functional when things kick off.
Visiting hours are over now. My family are off to jolly pasta, while I stay here in this bed. Beside me, my machine beeps. The tube in my left arm continues to feed nutrients into my blood, to make up for my inability to keep anything down.
Crap. What if I have to move? Can I take out the IV drip without it killing me? Will it really, really hurt? Will it pull my circulatory system out with it like a red, sticky net?
This is all stuff I might need to know. I grab my phone from the bedside table and start to google it. See? It's good to keep some fingers in working order.
YOU ARE READING
Mamushi
FantasyIn a little town in rural Japan, Kou Nakamura, a not-so-normal junior high school student, finds himself drawn into the dark, magical and slithery world of the hebi-tsukai, the snake-witches.
