Chapter 29: Parcel + tongue

Holly quietly closed the backdoor and smiled. Finally. She turned around and started whispering quietly, her voice accompanied by a couple of hisses here and there. In reality, Holly should have been asleep by now but she simply couldn't resist and came to visit her dear friend.

Her face lit up, when she finally heard a hiss response to her as nearby bushes rustled about.

"Robert!" She whispered happily as the snake in question slithered out of the bushes. He stopped and lifted his upper body and let Holly take him into her arms and hug him. "I've missed you so much!" She whispered as he settled himself on her small shoulders.

"Greetings to you too, hatchling." He hissed back, tongue flicking as he licked her cheeks slightly. Robert, the once small garden snake, had now grown by a couple of inches and was the approximate length of Holly's shoulders. "Are you alright? From that carnivore attack that is." He hissed in worry.

Holly cocked her head to the side as she observed the small snake. 'Carnivore?' She was confused by Robert's implications. She thought for a couple of moments as she recalled the last few days.

"Oh! You mean that time I was in the garden a few days back?"

Robert nodded and his body shivered slightly. "Yes. I've never seen a scarier human! She looked absolutely mad!" Holly winced. Well; he wasn't entirely wrong…

"Yes, that was my aunt." She hissed quietly and winced as she felt Robert completely stiffen. "That…was you're aunt?" If snakes had facial expressions, than Robert's right now would display shock and anger. He shook his head. "How can you sleep in the same den?" He uttered, shocked and disappointed at the same time. Did these humans have no sense of self-preservation?

Holly sighed and then explained exactly where she was the last few days and how she had only returned this evening. She even started to explain what happened in school yesterday and how Mrs. Culpor suddenly transformed into different animals depending on their wish. She asked for his opinion on that particular event, as she grinned inwardly.

Robert was such a good listener- he never felt the need to but in and he was never over sentimental concerning some things (which was sometimes a bad thing, actually). He was straight forward and to the point- feeling no such regard as being rude or cruel (which was also, at times, a bad thing). "The wild holds no mercy." He would often hiss.

"To tell the truth this is the first time that I've ever heard of a human transforming into animals…" He shook his head. "I apologize hatchling, but I have no knowledge of such things." He hissed, slightly disappointed himself before he changed the subject. "So, that man was you're uncle then? He doesn't seem overly large as you have described him…"

Holly smiled slightly. "Yes. Uncle has changed a lot this year. He isn't as mean as he was… he is actually quite nice now. We…talk a lot." She realized that she hasn't ever talked about the sudden change her relatives had gone through. Robert had hibernated the entire winter and since it was very cold in spring too, he only woke up recently. By then, it must have slipped from her mind.

But instead of feeling happy or sighing from relief, Robert's reaction completely surprised her. He had hissed dangerously and curled his neck as if he were to attack. "You should be careful, hatchling…"

Holly had only cocked her head to the side as she petted the snake on her right shoulder so he would relax. His body tension loosened, but when he spoke, his hisses were dangerously low. His words actually shook Holly up a bit, so after a couple of more minutes of chatter, Holly had parted with Robert. She had apologized since she needed to go to sleep as she had school tomorrow.

It seemed to take forever for Holly to slowly and quietly sneak back in her room, but when she did she wasted no time and immediately curled up in her bed.

Yet, she didn't fall asleep for a long time. It seemed that Robert's words had a big impact on her as his hisses seemed to ring in her mind. She knew that this did not apply to humans; yet it still haunted her thoughts.

"Many things in the wild change into beautiful creatures. Yet, fools only learn later that, inside, those creatures haven't changed at all. Appearances can be deceiving…"

A/N: Surprisingly, this chapter was very easy to write. I enjoyed it. Robert is a very easy character to write about; he's a wild animal so his views in life are completely different. For him it's all a means of survival- emotions can't get in the way.

Right, I was noticing how I'm stretching things out a bit. But what can ya do? I'll try to fix it, and finally there will be some action in a couple of chapters.