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The serpent lived under the house for months.
She ate the hapless mice who wandered into the crawl space, but could still venture out for larger prey when she wanted. The mice were not very filling for a serpent her size.
The neighbors 6 month old kitten went missing. And the lady who lived 3 doors down had an older dog who went berserk everytime she walked past William and Clara's house.
There were fewer rabbits in the yard hopping about, but no one paid much attention to the bunnies other than the kids.
The serpent had been looking for a way into the home. At last she found the perfect spot.
A pipe in the laundry room behind the washer was not sealed properly. The hole was just large enough for the snake to flatten her head and push her way in alongside the pipe. The laundry room, while an active place in the daytime, was quiet every night and afforded the serpent the ability to come and go as she pleased.
Now that she was familiar with the occupants of the house, William, Clara, Billy, and Hannah, she wanted their things. She coveted them.
On her first entry, following a scent, she went straight to Hannah's room. The little girl was sleeping soundly in her bed, her door left ajar and a nightlight was glowing softly.
The serpent, impossibly silent, moved towards the bed and raised herself up to see the sleeping child, flicking her toungue to fully taste her scent.
"Sssssweeeeet", the beast whispered, with a vile look and an evil smile.
She lowered herself back to the floor and looked for something special.
An item completely covered with the scent of the child. She soon found it.
Hannah's favorite blue bear, the one she slept with nightly, had been thrown on the floor in a tantrum of sorts at bed time. It was gone in the morning.
Next, in the boy's room, a favorite silver race car disappeared.
The silver one had been his dad's. It was sleek, and fast, and even though it had been scratched up a little, it was pretty. He placed the little silver car on the edge of his window seal earlier in the day. Several more days would pass before he noticed it was missing.
In the mornings Clara did not have much of a beauty routine.
Dressing, feeding, and getting the kids ready for school was her top priority. If she had one minute to herself, after getting dressed, she brushed her hair, put on her moisturizer and her favorite lipstick.
It was one of the few things she did for herself- and sometimes didn't even have time to do that.
On this day though, she had a few minutes to spare. The kids were ready and waiting on the couch watching Sesamee Street. Feeling somewhat pleased, Clara headed for her bathroom.
She brushed her long brown hair, it was pretty when she left it down, but she usually pulled it back, it seemed to get in the way. She washed her face and put on her moisturizer, reached for her lipstick...and it wasn't there.
She looked on the floor, and in the drawers. She double checked her make-up bag, and the basket on her bathroom sink...She even went out to the living room to check her purse. It was gone!
This frustrated Clara. As she walked back to her bathroom- under her breath she scolded herself, "If I could just keep this house organized I wouldn't lose things!" And glancing over at her husbands side of the bed, which was empty and unmade, she muttered, "Of course, it would be nice if I had some help around here."
William's Swiss Army knife was missing too. He left it on his night-stand and usually put it in his pocket before heading to work. Clara was still asleep when he'd left that morning, so he couldn't ask her if she had seen it. She was always moving things like that to places where the kids couldn't reach them. He used the pocket knife several times a day- to open mail, and various boxes of stuff at work and he needed it. It had a cool little screwdriver and a bottle opener too. He was bummed about it, but assumed his wife knew where it was, and he'd ask her about it when he got home later that day.
The serpent encircled herself around her new found loot. The house was full of
things, and she was greedy, but patient.
Eventually she inteneded to hoard most of their "prizes". She would drain the home, one by one, of its valued treasures, no mater how worthless they really were.
The faintest odor was beginning to permeate the home. It was stronger in some places than others, particularly towards the front of the house. It was the odor of death, of small things decaying under the house. Regurgitated bones of mice, and bunnies, and one kitten.
Clara got out an air freshener. "That should take care of things" she thought. And it seemed to.
But over all it was barely noticable. The kitchen trash, which daddy often forgot to empty, usually smelled worse.
