Happy New Year

        A knock at the door brought Michael’s attention away from what he was watching on the T.V. He was embarrassingly enough watching the Tournament of Roses Parade on this New Year’s Day. He got up and walked to the door. He opened the door and was surprised to see a young woman standing there. She looked chilly and she was looking a little unkempt.

“Hello?” he said. 

“Hi,” she started, “Sir, could I use your phone. I can’t find my keys and I have my cell phone,” she held up her phone, “but I don’t know what happened to the battery.” 

“Long night, huh?” he said motioning for her to come in. 

“I… uh… I don’t really remember,” she said. 

The girl who was now standing in his entry way wasn’t one he entirely recognized. She was just one of the older kids in the neighborhood. She looked like she was maybe 19 or 20. She was definitely cute though and clueless as to what she had just walked into. She had straight brown hair. A blue skirt peaked out beneath her winter co\at and on her legs were sparkly black tights. She wore high-heeled ankle booties with a snake skin pattern. 

“Thank you so much,” she says once she is into his house and he shuts the door. 

He tried to not leer too much at the girl. He however was fascinated by her sparkly tights. He thought she was probably too hungover to notice his stares though. 

“I gotta get my cell phone from the bedroom,” he said. 

“Thanks again, Mr.... ?” she said. 

“I’m Michael,” he said. 

“Thank you, Michael,” she said, “I’m Katherine… um…  I go by Katie though.” 

“I’ll be right back,” he said. 

He disappeared up the stairs and Katie just stood there. She wondered how rude it would be to just go into his living room and just pass out on the couch. She didn’t know exactly what her plan was, because her parents weren’t in town. She wondered if anyone was up yet and how long it would take to locate her keys. She really wanted out her heels too. She also wanted to throw up. She heard him walking back down the stairs. 

“Here you go,” he said, handing her his cell phone. 

“Thank you,” she said. 

She was expecting him to walk away to give her some privacy, but he just sort of stood there. She knew it’s his house and his phone, but still she didn’t want him to stare at her calling people. She decided to just turn away from him and start dialing. He pulled out a white cloth out of his pocket and hurriedly grabbed the girl and shoved the cloth to her face. She was stunned initially. The phone had hit the floor phone before she knew she had to struggle. The heels of her booties frantically clicked against the hard floor of the entryway. She tried hitting at him, pulling away from him with all her might and scratching at him, but nothing worked. She fought to keep conscious, but eventually the chemicals that soaked the cloth won out and she went limp in his arms. 

He let the unconscious young woman fall to the floor. He slipped the cloth back into his pocket and then reached into his other pocket. He pulled out a pair of black tights. His niece had left them and a lot of others out before she had gone ‘missing’. He knelt down, rolled the girl over and used the tights to bind the girl’s hands behind her back. Then he removed her right bootie. He ran his hand up the coarseness of her sparkly tights. He couldn’t fully understand why he found them so sexy, but he did. 

Michael had plans to have been more aggressive in acquiring food for his new ‘pet’ since he had captured it two months ago. However, he had been too nervous to try anything and had just bought lots of meat to feed the beast. He would make elaborate plans to kidnap a girl, but then chicken out. Then this girl fell into his lap. 

He waited until she started to stir before he picked the girl up. He opened the door to his basement and carried the waking-up girl down the steps. The snake had learned that him walking down the stairs meant it was about to get food, so it was already slithering towards the base of the stairs. Katie was starting to fully wake up. 

“What... What the hell?” she said quietly. 

Then her eyes shot open and she screamed loudly. It was a mix of pleas and protests. He set her writhing form down on the floor in front of the approaching serpent. He quickly got away from her, making certain that she was definitely the first thing it would run into. He wasn’t sure if the snake knew that he was the one that brought it food, but wasn’t to be eaten, but he thought a hungry snake probably wasn’t too picky. 

“Oh God… no!” she screamed when she caught a glimpse of the snake closing in on her. 

She couldn’t get her balance to stand up with her hands behind her back, but she still tried desperately as the massive snake was nearly upon her. She was whimpering as the tears started trickling down her face. She tried to stand up, but fell back to the hard floor and in an instant her head was in the snake’s mouth. Her sparkly legs kicked frantically as she tried to get herself out of its mouth. However, with one gulp the snake had her chest into its mouth. 

He could hear muffled screams and cries as the snake began the process of swallowing the helpless girl. The light in the basement reflected off her tights as she kicked desperately. He could hear her pleading with him, her god and the snake. Eventually it became incomprehensible as she was muffled by inside a snake and she was sobbing hysterically.

        The snake had swallowed her entire upper body, but her legs still kicked frantically. Her already short skirt had ridden up, so all of her sparkling legs were on display. As she twisted and kicked her legs, the light on her tights showed the glittery pattern.

        Michael looked on, fixated on her legs. The legs slide further and further into the snakes jaw. Soon, her knees were in the creature's mouth. Her legs couldn't flail anymore, but she still twisted and flexed her ankles and toes. Her feet still moved as Katie's shins were swallowed up.

        He watched the last of her tights-clad wiggling toes disappeared into the serpent's mouth. The new bump in the snake whimpered and moved slighted as it slithered back to find comfort. He lingered for a bit and then walked back up the stairs.

        Michael grabbed Katie's left bootie, which still was on the ground near where he had knocked her out. He opened his front door and walked into the front lawn. He threw the shoe as far as he could towards his neighbors yard. He walked back into his house without bothering to watch where it landed. It would be another left shoe for the police to find.