Daniela

I walked over to Dorian and grabbed his hand.

We walked to Monica who was holding Nico in her hands.

Dorian grabbed her hand when Nico climbed up her shoulder.

Then we went to Mark and he grabbed my other hand.

We went to Damien who would not hold hands with anyone.

Then when William showed up and he held hands with Monica and Damien.

“Happy birthday, Dani and Dorian,” Monica said.

“Happy Birthday you two,” William said looking at me and Dorian.

“Dani, Dorian I don’t want to fucking say Happy birthday to you two,” Damien said.

“Happy 13th birthday,” Mark said along with Nico.

“Happy birthday, Dani,” Dorian told me.

“You too!” I said back.

We sat down on the sand together.

I leaned my head on Dorian’s shoulder, and he leaned his head on mine.

I closed my eyes when I heard footsteps.

I opened my eyes to see Alex holding out two boxes, one said: To Dani, and the other said To Dorian.

“Happy 13th birthday guys,” Alex said. “Take the one that has your name on it.”

Dorian

I reached out for the gift excitedly, my smile widening as I tore off the paper wrapping to reveal a big plain white box. I tried to shake it a bit, not anticipating it to be pretty heavy to hold. "What is it? A new console?" I peeked over at Dani, who had her box sitting on her lap. It was identical to mine.

Alex shrugged, sitting down heavily on the sand and spraying bits of it onto my hands. "Open it and you'll find out." I gave the gift another solid shake, turning back to Dani. She whispered to me, "On the count of three. Ready? One, two... three!" We took the lids off at the same time, and I was seriously expecting it to be something stupid for a prank, based on Alex's reaction to my question. But what we got was much worse than I thought.

Dani screamed and flung the box away from her, scrambling to her feet and backing away. I leaned over my box, my eyes widening once it hit me what was in the box.

A real live snake. One that appeared to be upset I had tossed it around like a ragdoll. I could vaguely hear the others, even stone cold Damien, yelling and trying to get away from our boxes. But I felt hypnotised by the snake's eyes as it raised itself up, uncoiling itself. My eyes made contact with it, and it was the last thing I saw before it struck me between the eyes.

The first thing i registered when I woke up was that I was in a hospital.

I hate hospitals.

They smelled like old and sick and dying people and i don't like it one bit.

A needle was jabbed into my arm.

Suddenly, without knowing what i was doing, I ripped the needle off me and threw it onto the floor. Machines started beeping loudly. I bit my tongue in surprise.

That is, i would have bitten my tongue.

What i bit instead was thin and wet, and when i stuck out my tongue to get a better look i saw a black, slimy thing slide out of my mouth.

I screamed.

But no shriek came, what i heard instead was a sinister hissing sound...

Coming from me.

I touched my face and discovered the scar where the snake bit me. I recalled the day i opened the present...

I sat bolt upright.

Nononononononononononono!

The snake, it had a black aura around it, and it was as green as poison.

The snake, it was a parasite snake.

It had parasites in its venom.

The parasite could cause you to slowly transform into one of them...

The snake was once a human...

Daniela

I sat by my brother's bedside, holding his hand tightly. He had been asleep for 3 days now. Every time I took a good look at Dorian laying in the hospital bed, tubes weaving in and around his small, sickly body, I felt my heartbeat stuttering and my breath coming out faster. I couldn't bear to stare at him for long periods of time.

Dorian sat upright, startling me out of my daydream and letting go of his hand. I was so shocked, I almost fell out my chair. He was awake!

But he was acting... odd. He looked around like he couldn't recognise where he was, and he kept trying to rip out the tubes and needles connected to him. He opened his mouth, and I could sort of see a little black ribbon where his tongue was. I shook my head aggressively from side to side; the lack of sleep must be catching up to me.

"Dorian. Dorian. It's me, Daniela. Mom and Dad are out right now. Remember them?" I asked cautiously, leaning closer to hear his response. He must be unused to speaking, having been sleeping for so long.

He parted his lips, and instead of words, a lengthy hiss escaped, He clapped his hands to his mouth, his eyes wide with terror. I was confused; maybe his throat was dry? Maybe he needed some water.

I got a cup of water from the table nearby, adjusting the straw to face Dorian and holding it front of his face. "Drink. You must be thirsty."

He refused the cup. I had never known Dorian to ever refuse water. It was his favourite drink.

"Are you... alright? How're you feeling?" No response. Maybe if Mom and Dad came back, he would start talking.

I left the room to go find our parents. They were probably downstairs in the-

I stopped short. Alex sat outside Dorian's room on a plastic chair that smelled like hand sanitiser. "What are you doing here? I thought I told you, you shouldn't come here." He was the reason my brother was in the hospital. The reason he'll have that scar across his face for the rest of his life. A reminder of what he did.

He shrugged, standing up. "Wanted to check on my dude. Is that so bad?" "Yes, it is! Especially when you tried to kill 'your dude'!" My voice became shrill, attracting the attention of a few curious nurses.

How could he have the audacity to show up?