The Snake Struck

• Natalia Danil, Grade 5, MATER DEI Catholic Primary School
• Short Story
• 2014

Excellence Award in the 'Write As Rain 2014' competition

I was lost, scared and alone. Then as I stumbled over a log, the snake struck. It wasn't any snake. It was a Rattle snake. An orange tribal print pattern snake. It had overlapping scales. It quickly grabbed my leg and squeezed tightly. It was staring at me. I was terrified and too scared to even blink. I thought that if I ran or shook my leg it would just get me in more trouble and that I would most likely get bitten.
It kept staring at me and squeezing my leg tighter. I remembered that I had an apple in my pocket. I got the apple from my pocket and threw it about two metres away from me thinking I would distract the snake. The snake turned back and looked at the apple and stared back at me. It squeezed my leg even tighter. It was so painful. My leg was numb.
Suddenly, a flock of birds passed by and got the snake's attention. And out of the distance, the flock was followed by a hawk that quickly merged down from the sky and attacked the snake without mercy. My leg was freed, so I started running for my life, but I could still hear a rattling noise following me. I thought that's it, this is the end of me.
The end of the forest was a bit further than I expected but I continued running fast without looking behind.
I passed thousands of long trees that blocked the colour of the sky. I kept hearing the rattling sound following me. But then I heard my dog, Kozbo, bark from a distance. It seemed he was looking for me. He was barking continuously. I was hoping that the snake wasn't attacking him. I finally reached Kozbo, he was fine, but it seemed like he felt that I was in danger. He kept barking even after he saw me. He was sniffing the ground repeatedly. It seemed that the rattle snake was still around and escaped from the hawk.
Finally I arrived home; my shirt was sweaty and had some spots of blood from my bleeding arms. My pants were ripped from my knees to my toes and my hair was full of twigs and sticks. I have no idea where I lost one of my shoes. I think the snake kept it. But the most important thing was that I was home.