Bathing in Danger

I followed the black stone path toward the pool in the forest. Almost certain that Will would not follow. He would be stupid to do so. Without thinking twice about, I tore off my sarong and stepped into the pool.

The cool water surrounded me; it was calming on the humid day. I felt fish swim around my legs, and though it startled me a little, I didn’t react. This was their territory—I was the intruder now. I took a deep breath and plunged into the pool. Underneath I could hear the gentle splashing of the waterfall. I opened my eyes and saw brightly colored fish living in the only world they knew, a world so foreign to me. I watched them until I needed oxygen, emerged and then sunk back to their world. The inlet was a little murky, but with the sun’s reflection, the grey of the water had turned to a blueish green. Another fish rubbed against my leg. I ignored it as I had the others, but there was something different about this fish. It was longer than the others. What would have been a quick brush against my leg became a smooth rub that continued as the animal moved along my leg, twisting its body around my thigh. I shut my eyes, fear stinging my stomach. The constrictor was being gentle right now, but I knew that would end soon. My lungs burned for air, but I was terrified of moving. The lake was only up to my chest, and I could easily straighten my back to get air, but I did not want the snake to react.

But I couldn’t hold my breath much longer. My lungs ached and my head was swimming. I felt the head of the snake nuzzle up against the back of my knee as the rest of its long body slithered farther up my thigh. And then it squeezed.

Not hard, but hard enough for me to know its evil purpose. I took that opportunity to lift my head to get air. I tried to think of what to do. Strangling my leg wouldn’t have the same effect as strangling my throat. I wished I knew what my predator was thinking. Did it mean to crawl up to my stomach or did it stupidly think that strangling my leg would do something? As these thoughts ran through my head, I felt it move again. It loosened its grip slightly, and I used that opportunity to move from the water. I picked up my free leg and started to move toward the shore, but just as I did I felt something sharp pierce my upper thigh.

I screamed, even though I knew no one would be coming for me. I fell over into the lake, but the snake didn’t let go. It only continued pumping venom into my leg. I could feel his teeth moving in a gentle motion, up and down. Relentless. My entire leg went numb from the bite on my thigh all the way down to my toes. The rest of my body tingled wildly the way a mouth does when it’s recovering from Novocain. The lake was no longer a cool release, but a freezing deathtrap. I began shivering uncontrollably and couldn’t move an inch as the fangs sucked on my flesh. The searing pain threatened to paralyze me, not only that, but now I could feel the snake’s body slithering upward. The head stayed on my thigh pumping venom, but the rest of the snake moved toward my torso. I didn’t know snakes moved like that.

I was on my hands and knees now. The snake had my left leg in its clutches, and meant to take the remainder of my body. My left leg was straightened completely by the snake’s body, and through the searing pain I attempted to crawl out of the water. At least there I wouldn’t face drowning and strangulation—only strangulation.

I dragged my aching body up closer to shore. The snake didn’t like that. It constricted around my waist and the fangs dug deeper until the hot pain raced across my body like fire across a gasoline trail. My fingernails dug into the sand, but my upper body refused to pull. The snake wound tighter and tighter around my hips until I thought my pelvis would snap in half, and its mouth, while loosening slightly continued to pump venom into my veins. Then everything went black.

Constant shuddering woke me from the darkness. At first I dared not open my eyes. My entire body pierced with icy pain, and I knew movement would only accelerate it, but I was moving. I was laying in something and being carried away on what I could only assume was something like a stretcher. Had Will and Josh found me? I breathed a sigh of relief and let them carry me to our hut, allowing the darkness to overcome me again.

But it didn’t last long. Soon I felt the makeshift stretcher tip and I fell. Cursing my friends’ lack of courtesy, I braced myself for the hard ground, but was pleasantly surprised and completely shocked when my entire body was embraced by a feather soft bed. I moaned, both from the comfort and the pain that was still shooting through my entire being. Although the soft bed was the last thing I expected and I was anxious to discover where I was, I was much too tired to look. I was about to let myself fall asleep, but then I felt something odd on my leg. It felt like a gloved hand, poking and prodding at the bite on my thigh, but whose hand it was, I had no idea. Reluctantly, I opened my eyes.

His thick black hair hung around his hazel eyes, and he had a thin, muscular chest that was hard against his thin button-up shirt. He didn’t see me looking at him. He was too busy focusing on my thigh. It was kind of odd for me to have a stranger looking at my thigh. I felt my head nod to the side; my head was muddled, heavy.

“Am I okay?” I managed to slur out.

He glanced at me for a second, holding his eyes on mine longer than I expected. The sides of his lips twitched slightly. “Yes. Yes, you are.”

He then removed an odd round tube-like device that looked to be made of leather from a wooden box near the bed, and he placed the end around the bite. It latched onto my thigh the way the snake had and then he lowered his mouth to the other end of the device and sucked in.

My body reacted immediately. I shivered the way I had in the lake and attempted to control my head that was trying so hard to fall unconscious again.

The gloved hand touched my forehead, which startled me. I looked up at the handsome man. He was staring down at me, concerned. “You need rest.” Then he brushed two fingers over my eyes to make me close my eyes, and I obeyed falling into an instant sleep.