Star

By Nightabsol
Note: This is not posted on DeviantART.

One day, a snake named Star was slithering around in the forest. Star, a green corn snake, liked to hang out in a pile of fallen leaves from last fall. Star had just finished shredding his old, crispy skin, and it was replaced with a silky, shinier coat. Star glanced at his millions of tiny, beautiful scales. This was his favorite time of day to relax and enjoy himself.

Twisting through the crunchy leaves, Star thought, “There is nothing better than this…”

He sighed. Suddenly a giant shoe crashed into Star’s leaf pile. Star’s curiosity got the better of him, and he popped his head out of the pile to see the owner of the shoe. The sight horrified him. A human was towering over him. By the looks, Star could tell the human was a teenager. The teenager was staring at Star, so big-eyed; it seemed to drill into Star’s eyes. Star knew by instinct, that if he ran, there was going to be trouble. Star stayed were he was. He had heard about these two-legged creatures, but never seen them himself. Even the bravest of snakes never wanted to challenge a human, big or small.

Star could remember their words: “If you ever run into one, never ever run or it will chase you. Instead, stay calm, stay there…”

Suddenly the teenage boy snatched Star, Star squirming in the boy’s hand. Star, being small, took advantage of the human hands meant to be holding onto big things. The boy seemed to know what Star was thinking and snatched a “Walkie Talkie.”

“DAD!” he screamed into the device. “GET OVER HERE WITH MY CAPTURE TANK! I GOT A BIG ONE!”

Star squirmed with great difficulty, but managed to slip out of the boy’s hands, and dart for the safety of the trees.

“OH, NO YOU DON’T!” The boy screamed, and grabbed Star, who was dangling from the trunk.

The boy grabbed Star so fast; he accidentally threw Star the opposite direction. Star lay on the ground, stunned from the impact. Then Star heard footsteps: heavy footsteps. They were moving rapidly. Star felt dazed and confused. Was it another human or the teenager? Big, unlike the teenager’s hands lifted him up this time. The boy’s dad was very gentle. Star decided constricting the man’s arm would be a very bad idea, so he gently wrapped himself around it, enjoying the warmth. Suddenly Star realized he was being lifted into a small fish tank.

Star struck the man’s hand, hoping he would jump back in surprise and release Star, but this man only said, “No no no, don’t do that, big guy.”

Star spent the rest of his miserable day inside the fish tank, as the car rumbled along the highway, thinking of how to escape.

“Maybe I can play dead.” He thought. “Maybe I can pretend to be a good pet, and then jump out of his hands and slither away…”

Star decided that plan would work.                                                                          

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The next morning, Star heard the teenage boy burst out of his house, yelling, “I FORGOT TO BRING IN THE SNAKE!” Soon Star was face to face with the boy.

“Sorry,” he replied, looking at the shocked expression on Star’s face. “I was taking care of Scales.” Star wondered who Scales was. Star felt his tank being lifted again. As the teenage boy walked along the corridor, Star noticed that the boy was an artist; hundreds of paintings of snakes were taped onto the wall. The boy stopped in front of his door, and Star got a good look at it. It was just a plain door, brown and dull, but covered in paintings. A sign was on top of them all. It read, “ALL KEEP OUT EXCEPT FOR JOHNNY, RED, and SCALES.” Johnny drew out a pencil and wrote neatly after SCALES: STAR. Star smiled. The widest grin ever since he’d last eaten a giant, fat rat. Satisfied, Johnny opened his door, and exposed Star to a bright, colorful room. Star glanced at Johnny’s neat bed covers, covered with pictures of anacondas. Beside the bed was a night desk with a green lamp and a pile of papers, possibly a foot tall. The papers turned out to be paintings of Star that Johnny had painted the previous night.

“Like them?” Johnny asked, following Star’s gaze. Star had turned his attention to another, bigger desk, with another fish tank on it. Another snake witch turned out to be Scales was staring at Star, as though he’d never seen anything like him. Scales’ stare made Star very uncomfortable. Scales was a black snake with yellow, tired eyes. If he had hair, it would be matted and uncombed to match the rest of him. Johnny reached into the capture tank, and grasped Star very gently. The great warmth in Johnny’s hands made Star forget all about the plans he’d made the previous night. He had a chance to escape and run out the open door, but Star forgot all about that. The only thing he could think about was the warmth of Johnny’s hand. Before he knew it, Star was placed in another fish tank.

Star thought, “He was energetic the day he caught me, but now he’s like a whole different person: all calm and quiet.”

Suddenly Star missed all the excitement. He sighed. Then Star noticed the light bulb warming the tank. Although the light made the tank warm, it also reminded him of the sun, which led to the outdoors, which led to being free. Why hadn’t he run before, when he had a chance?

“Hello.” whispered a cool voice behind him. Star whirled around, and he was face to face with Scales. He showed a sign of displeasure, but tried to hide it. “What’s your name?”

“My-my-n-name is-” Star stopped because a rush of cold rippled down his back.

Red, a reddish-pink snake nudged Star warningly. He whispered, “Careful, you have to keep your name a secret, or you’ll regret it. Tell him that Johnny hasn’t given you a name yet.”

“J-Johnny-hasn’t-uh-given-me-uh”                                                                            

“A name yet?” Scales finished coldly. “Welcome Eye-socket.”

Scales slithered into a tube, and disappeared.

“What’s up with him?” asked Star, shocked.

“Come in here, I’ll tell you everything.” Red replied.

He slithered into a box that was a model of Johnny’s room, and motioned Star to follow.

“Listen, you nearly got into a fine mess. Scales heard Johnny muttering in his sleep about how brave you were to take him on, and he’s jealous; he never fought when he was caught. If you say you’re Star, he knows you were the one, and he can really break your back, you know. He’s been grumpy ever since. Look at mine!” Red complained, showing the scar on his tail. “I told him I didn’t like him, and look what I got!”

Red’s tail was covered in scratches and bruises.

“You know, you have to be care-” Red’s voice trailed off as Johnny’s hand appeared in the tank. “Finally!”

   Red slithered out of the model and swayed back and fourth like a waving hand to get Johnny’s attention.

“Whoa, whoa, I’m trying to get Star, silly!”  

Johnny’s hand closed around Star, and he felt the warmth again. Star almost forgot were he was… he was so warm… to Star’s surprise; Johnny placed Star on the carpet, and got up to get Scales and Red. After placing Red and Scales on the carpet, Johnny laid down on the floor at their eyelevel. Johnny gave them a smile.

“Don’t tell Mum, you’re supposed to eat in your cage.” He explained as he showed them a squeaking box labeled “MICE.” Dropping three mice on the floor, he exclaimed, “Let the chase begin!”

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After the hunt and placed back in the cage, Star noticed how hurt Scales looked.

Scales was covered in bite marks, and they were swollen. Scales looked blackish-red.

“Scales, do you need help?” Star asked suddenly, without thinking.

“What?” Scales definitely showed his displeasure now.

“Do…you…need…help?” Star replied, very slowly.

“You can try, although I doubt you can do anything, Eye-socket.” Scales looked confused and unhappy at the same time.

Star got an idea, noticing the towel, so he tapped the glass to get Johnny’s attention. Johnny rushed over.

“What do you want?”

Star wrote on the glass: S-O-A-P.

“Oh!”

Johnny rushed out of the room, and returned with a bottle of soap.

“Were do you want it?”

Star pointed to the damp towel.

“Okay, but why do you want soap?” he asked as he squished the liquid out of the cap.

Suddenly Johnny noticed Scales and gasped.

“WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM?! Was-was… was it the mice?”

Star nodded and dragged the towel over to Scales. Pressing the soapy side down on the bites, he was at least able to make Scales black again before the towel turned pink. Johnny opened and closed his mouth, finding no words he wanted to say. He was shocked at how smart Star was. Tapping on the glass again, Star managed to get Johnny to get another soapy towel. After using two towels to wash, and one to dry, Scales looked as good as new. For the first time Star saw it, Scales blushed.

“I-I’m s-sorry I m-made y-you a stupid name, I couldn’t h-help myself…” Scales, without warning, suddenly burst into tears. “I KNEW IT!” he sobbed. “You are Star… I’m sorry I was mean, I- I- guess I went out of control a moment there. I realize how nice you were to help me. Will you forgive me?”

It took a minute for Star to take all this in, but he replied, “Yes.”

Scales smiled such a wide grin it must have covered the whole universe.

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That night, Johnny, Red, Scales, and Star partied inside Johnny’s room. Star realized he actually liked being with his new family better than in that old pile of leaves; yes, this was home.

THE END