Hi! I know it's been a while since I published the first chapter. I was working full time over the summer and didn't have much time to write. Plus I got sick and that completely eliminated any chance of anything creative happening. But as classes are back in session hopefully I will find more time to devote to writing this story, among others. I have a Twitter now, which can also be found on my Fanfiction profile page. /SuzanneTimm I will post updates for chapters and other stories there in between chapters, so if you're wondering how the next chapter is coming along, be sure to check it out! I'm really excited to see that you guys are enjoying this story and your enthusiasm is really encouraging. Thank you to all of you who have read the first chapter and will keep following the story! Thanks!
Chapter Two
A small snake slithered across the dusty floor. Its tongue flicked out, tasting the air. Another snake slid out from the shadows. With a jerk, the first snake quickly scurried away. It found refuge in the pant leg, slithering up the leg of the human who occupied it.
Snake gently stroked the reptile's head as it perched on his shoulder. "Now, now, she's not that scary is she?" he asked. The snake looked back at where he'd come from and wrapped himself closer around the human. "Come now, I bet if you tried, she'd take you." The snake hissed softly. "Just give it a try," Snake coaxed. "No one wants to be alone forever."
He carefully removed the snake from his body and set it on the floor. The reptile began to move toward the other snake, and then stopped to look back at the human. Snake gave it a reassuringly smile and the snake proceeded. It cautious approached the other snake and rubbed up against her. She rubbed her head against his is response, flicking her tongue. Delighted, the snake hurried back to the human, who picked him up. The snake flicked his tongue on the human's nose happily. "See?" Snake said, "I told you you could do it. Now hurry back to her, you've got a good life now." He put down the snake, which swiftly returned to his mate and the two of them disappeared among the floorboards and rafters.
Snake was happy for his little friend, but he'd miss him terribly. He hoped that the snake would come back to visit from time to time.
"Why the long face?" peeped a gray statue, who dropped from the rafters.
"Maybe he doesn't want to talk about it Finny, ever think of that?" said Bard, venturing in.
"It's ok guys," Snake said, "I just helped the little one get his mate."
"That snake?" said Maylene, glancing around, "He always made me nervous."
"It looks like you've got something more on your mind than that snake," Finny pointed out.
Snake sighed. "It's just that the Festival of Fools is today."
"Oooh, is it really?" said Maylene, "Why, it seems like it was just last week that we had that festival. Hard to believe it's been a whole year again. I can't wait to hear the music and see the dancing! Oh! And the costumes!"
"I don't think you're helping, Maylene," said Bard sternly.
"I'm sorry guys," said Snake, "I just…I just really wish I could go."
"Then go!" chirped Finny.
"Yeah!" agreed Maylene.
"We'll get you all spiffed up," said Bard. "We'll get you some fresh clothes and-
"Thanks, but you're all forgetting something, my master," Snake said glumly. The trio murmured and nodded.
"Well," said Finny, "I guess you'll just have to sneak out!"
"What?! No!"
"Come on, Snake," said Bard, "you'll just have to sneak out, go to the festival, and sneak back."
"Faustus won't even know you're gone!" squeaked Maylene.
Snake frowned, "I don't know, if he found out-"
"Just go!" They chimed.
"After all," said Bard, "who wants to be alone up here with us forever?"
After a moment, Snake smiled. "All right," he said, "I'll do it! I'm going to go down there, march through the hall, burst through those doors and-"
"Hello, Snake."
Snake stopped dead in his tracks. "H-hello, master."
Cold eyes scanned the dusty room. "Who were you talking to?"
"Uh, my…friends."
"Ah. And what," Faustus said coolly, walking circles around the trio, which had turned to stone, "are your friends made of?"
"Stone."
"Does stone talk?"
"No sir."
Faustus smiled. "Good boy. Now, how about lunch?"
"Yes master!" Snake dashed about the room, hastily setting up the tiny table with a fancy glass and plate for Faustus, and a rough wooden goblet and slab for himself.
"Shall we review your alphabet today?"
"Y-yes master, I would like that."
"Very well," said Faustus darkly. "A?"
"Atrocious."
"B?"
"Beastly."
"C?"
"Corrupt."
"D?"
"Detestable."
"E?"
"Evil."
"F?"
"Festival," slipped out before Snake could catch himself. Faustus stopped and looked at Snake with dark eyes that gave Snake shivers.
"What did you say?"
"I-I'm sorry master. It's, it's just that the festival is today and I was just wondering-"
"You want to go to the festival."
Snake gulped. "Yes sir."
Faustus sighed, "Dear boy, I thought I told you that you are forbidden?"
"I know, master, it's just that you get to go every year and-"
"I am a public figure," he said, walking to the archway. Snake followed. "I have to go, but trust me I don't enjoy it at all. All of those thieves, no goods, and gypsies. Snake," he said with a glance.
"The world is cruel, the world is wicked. It's I alone whom you can trust in this whole city. I am your only friend," Faustus said definitively. "I who keep you, teach you, feed you, dress you. I who look upon you without fear." Snake's eyes stared at the floor, horribly aware of his unfortunate skin condition. "How can I protect you boy unless you always stay in here, away in here." Faustus walked away from the archway, back into the confines of the top of the cathedral. "Remember what I taught you Snake."
"You are deformed."
"I am deformed," Snake said quietly.
"And you are ugly."
"And I am ugly.
"And these are crimes for which the world shows little pity. You do not comprehend."
"You are my one defender."
Faustus gestured toward the light from outside and the world beyond. "Out there they'll revile you as a monster."
"I am a monster."
"Out there they will hate and scorn and jeer."
"Only a monster."
"Why invite their calumny and consternation? Stay in here. Be faithful to me."
"I'm faithful."
"Grateful to me."
"I'm grateful."
Faustus' dark eyes bored into Snake's, "Then do as I say, obey, and stay in here."
"I'll stay in here."
"Good boy," said Faustus, heading for the way down.
"I'm sorry master."
"You are forgiven, Snake. But remember, it is a dark, cruel world out there."
Snake turned as the door shut, still longing to go to the festival. He went to the archway and looked at the people on the streets, as he had innumerable times before.
"Safe behind these windows and these parapets of stone, gazing at the people down below me. All my life I've watched them as I hide up here alone, hungry for the histories they show me."
"All my life I've memorized their faces, knowing them as they will never know me. All my life I've wondered how it feels to pass a day, not above them, but part of them…"
"And out there, living in the sun. Give me one day out there, all I ask is one, to hold forever. Out there where they all live unaware, what I'd give, what I'd dare, just to live one day out there!"
Snake ran along the high rail that surrounded the top of the cathedral, his practiced limbs accustomed to the height.
"Out there among the millers and the weavers and their wives, through the roofs and gables I can see them. Every day they shout and scold and go about their lives, heedless of the gift it is to be them." He began scaling one of the towers to perch himself on the top of the steeple.
"If I was in their skin I'd treasure every instant. Out there strolling by the Seine, taste the morning out there, like ordinary men who freely walk about there, just one day and then I swear I'll be content, with my share." Snake swung down into the bell tower surrounded by the bells he lived for. He pulled each rope in turn, making each bell shout out its tone.
"Won't resent, won't despair, old and scaly, I won't care. I'll have spent one day out there!"