Bonnie was going out of her mind.
"SIT!" She commanded, her index finger thrust out in front of her like she was picking an invisible nose. Her four-year-old cousin, Amana, came to a screeching halt. Amana looked back and forth between the disheveled couch she'd been jumping on and her Aunt Bonnie—weighing her options carefully. Once she'd determined that her best option to avoid a scolding was to cry, her face crumpled into one of agony. Bonnie shook her head and sighed. She went and picked up her small, sweaty, sticky cousin.
"Uh huh, Amana. Uh huh." She said, carrying the little girl out of her family's living room and into her own room. The house was empty, save Bonnie and her ward, since her father, Grams, and her Aunt Cynthia had gone to a town function. She was left babysitting the most excitable child on the east coast of the United States.
"BB, I don't want to go to sleep yet!" Amana yelled, squirming and writhing like a jungle cat. She shoved her head into Bonnie's neck, simultaneously upset with her and in need of consoling. Bonnie just sat Amana down on the bed and went to pick out the clothes Amana would put on after her bath. Bonnie had decided she couldn't go to bed in her current state.
"Nana, you know your bedtime was over an hour ago. I gave you what was supposed to be fifteen extra minutes, but now it's time to sleep. You're going to bathe and then we're both going to dreamland." Bonnie explained patiently. When she was done she was surprised not to hear a high-pitched whine—which was Amana's specialty—following her statement. She turned around.
The room was empty.
"Amana? Nana, playtime is over. Come out." Bonnie was only greeted with more silence, which was becoming more and more unwelcome with each passing moment. Bonnie sprinted out into the hallway and looked around. There was no movement; no small, brown girl with peanut butter stuck in her curly hair. No snickering or giggling coming from behind the curtains. Bonnie's heart hitched itself in her throat.
"Amana!" She croaked, jogging into the kitchen only to find the door to the back porch open. "Amana!" She called, more desperate now that she realized the child was out of the house.
Once Bonnie was in the backyard she was able to look around and survey the space, which was curiously empty of her cousin. Her house was situated directly in front of a heavily wooded area, so it was possible Amana had run into the trees. If that was the case it would take all night to find her if she didn't want to be found.
"Amana!" Bonnie cried again while pulling her cellphone out of her back pocket. She would have to call her dad and have them all come home. It was going to be embarrassing and horrifying to tell Aunt Cynthia that Bonnie, a seventeen-year old, had been incapable of watching a four-year-old. She cringed just thinking about it. But they needed to find Amana before the sun went down completely.
Before she was able to even type the numbers into her phone Bonnie heard something that made her blood curdle. It was a scream—the fearful, desperate scream of a child. After that, there was no thought. Bonnie took off into the woods.
The sun had already sank below the clouds sitting low on the western skyline, so what light was able to break through the trees was weak and utterly unhelpful. Bonnie stumbled and almost tripped several times, but the pain in her ankles was second to the worry she felt for her little cousin. She needed to find her before… something happened that couldn't be undone.
Bonnie stopped. She thought she could hear something, but wasn't sure if it was just her imagination. She stilled her ragged breathing and listened harder. There was definitely something—a low hissing sound. Bonnie stepped carefully over leaves and fallen branches, following the sound until it got louder and louder. Suddenly the trees opened up into a clearing. There, in the center, was her cousin Amana—wrapped up in the largest snake she had ever seen. A snake with the head of a woman.
Amana, whose body was bound completely by the snake, wasn't moving. It was hard for Bonnie to tell in the dark—Amana's skin color made it even more difficult—but her cousin's seemed to be turning a deep shade of blue. Bonnie didn't know what to do.
"Amana!" She screamed out of impulse. She prayed silently that her scream would somehow rouse her unconscious cousin, but Amana remained still and lifeless. She had however gained the attention of the snake-woman.
The snake's human head whipped sickly towards Bonnie's direction and Bonnie thought she might throw up. Seeing a snake's eyes on a woman's face was so unnatural—so wrong—that it made her head spin. But thankfully, the snake-lady began to release Amana—whose lifeless body slumped over onto the ground. Unfortunately, the horrid monster then began to slither menacingly across the clearing toward Bonnie.
Bonnie had enough fear in her to take several steps back, but not enough to run away. She couldn't leave her cousin lying limp out there—even if it meant this was the moment she was going die. And how strange it would be, she thought, to die like this.
That thought was abruptly blasted from her mind as the clearing exploded-or seemed to explode. Bonnie had to shield her eyes from the black light emanating out of a vortex that had just suddenly appeared out of thin air—only three or four feet from her unconscious cousin. The snake-lady was thrown up into the air and slammed hard into a tree on the other end of the clearing. The impact seemed to shake the very ground. Bonnie, miraculously, was spared. She remained rooted to the same spot she had resigned herself to.
The dark light faded slowly, and when it was finally gone Bonnie took her hands from around her eyes. At first, there was nothing. Then, there was a man.
A man shrouded in black mist, standing beside Amana's tiny, wilted body. He seemed to regard Amana with cautious interest and curiosity, but in the end, stepped gently around her. Bonnie wasn't sure he was even aware of her presence yet, as his gaze was cast in the direction of the snake.
The reptilian atrocity had shaken off her previous impact and poised herself in a manner of attack—long, scaly body coiled beneath her and head raised high. She didn't approach the man, but rather remain still as he glided closer. She released a low, sharp hiss.
"Lamia—still after children I see. One would think that after all this time you'd have given up." The man said, his voice asserting itself over the hissing. He moved closer and closer and Bonnie wondered what exactly she was watching. "You know my sister would never give you the satisfaction of keeping one. And just think, what kind of mother would you would make?" He taunted. Lamia—the lady with fangs—lurched forward and then retreated. She seemed, to Bonnie, to be offended.
"It's time to go home L." He said, sounding both apologetic and apathetic all at once. Lamia turned her head to the sky, and in a show of anguish that would have turned hearts more hard than Bonnie's, gave a single hiss. Then she melted into ash and what little wind touched that clearing blew her into nothingness.
Bonnie felt a moment of hesitation—a single second where she was unsure whether she should go to her cousin or stay hidden until the man was gone. Her indecision was fleeting though. She gave a start and then raced to her cousin, dropping to her knees beside the small girl.
Amana had regained some of her color but her breathing was frighteningly shallow. Bonnie placed her hands on Amana's face gently and prayed to whatever God was in Heaven that she would be okay. She didn't notice the man in black kneeling down next to her until he was right beside her. Upon instinct, she gathered up Amana and drew her into her chest, away from the young man. Well, he appeared young to Bonnie; probably in his twenties.
The man studied Bonnie with what could only be described as shocked awe. His eyes grew to be twice their normal size and his hand was slowly lifting up from his side and drifting towards her. She scooted away as best she could with a child in her arms. The man let his hand drop back to his side. Bonnie felt a small tick of movement against her and gasped. Amana was waking up.
Bonnie didn't understand the events that had just passed, but in that moment she was happier and more content than she had ever been in her whole life. She began to move, putting her feet under herself and getting a better grip on the little girl. Once she was up she turned to the man, who had stood up with her.
Carefully, she spoke to him. "Thank you." She couldn't think of anything more appropriate to say, and Amana was gaining more consciousness with each second. The man in black gave a half-nod. It was awkward, and the silence only propelled her to move away faster.
Bonnie, with her back to the clearing, carried her cousin out into the woods. She didn't see the man in black raise his hand, as if willing her to stay. As if gathering the courage to yell, wait!
But she felt it when Amana finally lifted her head and asked, "BB? What happened?" in her croaky, high-pitched child's voice. Bonnie smiled tiredly, not sure she could make it home and go on like she hadn't just witnesses hell on Earth.
But, still, she said softly, "Nothing, Nana. Nothing. Now sleep."