The Deadsong Read Free

over her exposed body. She lay perfectly still and listened for shuffling or the shallow breathing of some pervert that might be standing over her. A shot of adrenaline-drenched paranoia gushed through her and popped open her eyes.
    It was a snake. She froze and immediately scanned over the glossy scales and the diamonds on its back. Dylan, I'm going to kill you , she thought. Surely that pecker-headed twerp had put that damned rubber thing on her bed, but it wasn't of the run-of-the-mill, made-in-China variety. It came from the desert, forged by the mighty hands of God himself––or perhaps by someone else or something else entirely.
    But it was a snake. Its black tongue flicked out at her.
    “Hey there, baby girl. You smell terrific.”
    Gina almost thanked the snake before she realized what had happened. It had spoken to her.
    She had to be mistaken. Surely it was a dream. She had a flash of what little she remembered from the Bible––a serpent comes into the Garden of Eden and tells Eve to eat an apple from the tree of life. Just eat the damn thing it might have said like a drunken brute sliding an apologetic meal under his wife’s blackened eyes. Sorry, honey, but you had it coming.
    “Hello,” Gina said. It was all she could say. The snake lay flat with its head tilted up at her. It seemed to smile, but it couldn’t have. Snakes can’t smile. This one was smiling.
    “Sorry if I woke you. I hadn’t planned to visit until much later this week––after that pigskin-totin pretty boy has had you bent over this bed, railin and wailin in your snatch patch.”
    Her jaw unhinged and hung with the words in the air. The snake slithered closer. Her brain told her body to jerk itself away, but she couldn’t move. She was paralyzed.
    “I can taste your thoughts, sinfully tasty they are. It wouldn't be your first rough romp in this house, would it? You know what I'm talking about. Don't act like you've forgotten. Why say anything when your uncle is locked up far from here? Is it because of your mother? What it would do to her? Hasn't she been through enough already, you ask? And your brother would tease you, call you names, and tell everybody. Everybody, Gina. Your teachers, neighbors, friends, classmates––even the clerks at the public library would secretly point and snicker like children. Is that what you want?
    “You're safe now, baby girl. He's afraid of you. Did you know that? Why do you think he's paid your bills, bought your first car, hell––nested for your college tuition? He's afraid you'll tell what he did to you. But you won't. You can't. He'll deny it, dontcha know? Then you'll be the liar.
    “This brings me to lover boy. He has a secret. A dirty little secret indeed. He hides it well. So cunning, so clever. Even I admire his style. It's mighty fine, baby girl. Migh-tee fine.”
    Like fine wine in the summertime.
    “It seems Jared enjoys playing a certain game, you might say. I'm not talking about Candyland or Scrabble, no ma'am, nothing as innocent as that, I assure you. But enough of that. We’d better get this over with.”
    Gina’s heart thudded in her chest as the snake coiled up in a rigid pose, rattling, opening its pink, wet mouth to reveal––
    "Rise and shine, slacker!" Dylan was standing in the doorway with muddy patches of earth on his blue jeans. His voice startled her out of her paralysis and in a fleeting blink, the slimy reptilian shaft smiling beside her was gone. Dylan stared at her blue-trimmed bikini with butterflies on them until she jerked up the sheet tightly below her face. "Eff'n pervo! You ever hear of knocking?"
    "Spare me the bitchy attitude, will ya? I had a blowout up the road a piece. Tried changing it, but the jack sank in the mud. I need a ride."
    "Forget it. I am not going to school today." The sun hid itself, taking with it the golden rods of sunlight that had felt so good. She flipped over to face the window, shaking.
    "I already called for a tow. Pleeease?