Today's #flashfiction The Snake's Cloudy Day

“It went straight to voicemail.”

Madam Helena Blavatsky* #quote

         Today I studied the Japanese characters hiragana. I'm actually getting pretty close to memorizing that set of characters in the language. My friend Jessica got her degree in Japanese so learning even a smidge of it will make talking with her about the subject of it more interesting and looking at Japanese stuff with her funner. Anyway onto the flash fiction!

The Snake's Cloudy Day

        It'd been awhile since I came to this part of the valley. I thought to find a new hole to live in and hunt from since prey didn't seem as common in the area I lived in previously the past month. I slithered along with my brown scales shining when the Sun hit them occasionally in his cloudy day. Not a lot of snakes had the guts to move on such a cool day, or the energy. I hated the chill that came with the clouds overhead. Even in a desert when the Sun was masked by those massive things in the sky the day could become a tiring cold. The best days came when only a few of them floated above and a slight breeze went through the air. Perhaps in my next life I could be a mammal and not have to worry about the chills around me.

        But by going out during the cold the other snakes retreated to their dens and I could search for my own. I'd keep smelling the air by flicking my tongue and find a little hole to call my own, and if I'm lucky there'd be a rodent inside to eat.

      A strange thing first caught my eye, then it took my entire attention when I felt a warm aura of heat from it. A new thing that appeared here since my last visit to this part of the valley. A completely flat, black formation of rocks. It held the heat better than any rock around it. The formation had completely perfect edges and stretched on for miles. My brain told me it must be the creation of some animal, a nest, and I shouldn't approach it. But with the chill in the air and the perfect heat I had to.

      I went to the long, flat thing and stretched my body flat along it. So wonderful, comfortable and perfect. Not curved like normal rocks. Even, warm. Did I get some reward from a god for a good deed I didn't even know I committed? I wanted to sleep the whole day away here. My body agreed, even if a bird could easily come down to snatch me. I flicked my tongue and another strange smell came to me. Metal?

      I turned my head softly, a giant square thing with turning legs came for me. I felt too happy to move. It must have liked the flat rocks too.