In Stitches

I used to love snakes. In fact, I absolutely adored them. I used to have several snake plushies, snake posters, snake EVERYTHING in my room. If a new movie came out featuring a snake, as long as it wasn't a kids' movie, I'd watch it. I just loved snakes. I don't know why. I guess I just found them.. cool. One day, however, I was browsing through a garbage sale, looking for some cool things, ESPECIALLY some snake related items for my collection. There were piles upon piles of lions, dragons, wolves, bunnies, cat, etc., but no snakes. Guess snakes aren't that popular. However, in the corner of my eye, I spotted something; a little plushie snake tail sticking out of a pile of rubbish. Excitedly, I ran to it and pulled it out of the pile. It was a simple plushie, with a small oval shaped head with a long but rounded body. It was a whimsical green, though, it had a vibrant red tongue made of pure fabric hanging from it's "mouth." It's eyes were a sunlight yellow. However, on closer expectation of the doll, it was obvious why it had been ignored. It was covered in lots of dirt and was stained with a crimson liquid, though, I had no idea what the crimson liquid was, and the toy smelled HORRIBLE! Like, it smelled like if somebody farted several times in a trash can! "*Well, a snake plush is still a snake plush, no matter the quality.*" Despite the item's obviously bad condition, I grabbed the plushie and decided to take it home.

After finding the strangely stained doll, I decided to give it a good wash in my sink with some nice soap and lots of water, which was able to clean away the dirt and it's putrid smell, but, those stains were heavily etched onto it's fabric surface, and didn't wash off. I decided to shrug off the stains, and began to watch my favorite movie.

It was later in the movie that things seemed to get weird. I was watching the scariest scene, one where the main character, a snake, almost gets killed. I was hugging the doll close, when I noticed a flash of red on my snake t-shirt.

It was a splat of blood, smack dab on my shirt.

I turned to the doll, only see that blood was seeping out of it's stitches, staining my mattress a vibrant crimson. Horrified, I stopped clenching the doll, but blood was still flowing out of it's stitches. In my panic, I threw the snake toy into the garbage bin, where blood was still pooling under the sickening toy. Admittedly, it was hard to do, but I couldn't leave myself with a doll that could literately SEEP BLOOD.

That night, I had a terrifying nightmare. Several shadowy hands were disemboweling a snake. Oh, I remember of petrified hisses of agony. It stare of pain as it ripped to shreds by creatures of Hell. After the snake was torn to shreds, it head was mounted on the top of a wooden stake which it's organs were scattered around. Then, a raspy voice whispered "This snake represents you, as you will soon end up like this snake, so watch out."

The next day, I decided to look up the snake doll, to see if anyone else had encountered the same ordeal. It seemed that several people had experienced the same event; they got a snake plushie that looked just like hers, and eventually found out it's stitches leaked blood. Now, I was wondering a different question; WHY did it leak blood? I looked that up, but I came up with zero results. So, I decided I'd find out myself...

I grabbed a pair of scissors and took that blood-leaking doll out of the garbage. Then, with a quick "Snip!", I cut open the doll. I dug through the blood-doused stuffing that sat inside it's fabric body. I dug until I found it's horrific truth.

Inside that doll sat the rotting corpse of a snake.

It had been dissected, and blood was pouring out of it's stomach. The snake released a rancid aroma, and several maggots could be seen crawling in's it skin. Terrified, I screamed as I threw the doll into the trash, before quickly hurling my breakfast everywhere. That was the grossest thing I had seen in my life.

During that night, I couldn't sleep, as there was a mental disturbance in my mind do to the gruesome sight I had saw. However, it turned out there was also a physical disturbance, as well... A shadow figure crept through my room silently, blending in with the shadows. It knew I had learned the secret of that toy. Why the toy bled whenever you squished it. And it would make sure I wouldn't tell anyone that secret.

I only noticed the figure when it was already on my bed, and it whispered the praise "Hehe... you'll be in stitches, soon, just like that little snake plush..." It sounded just like the crooked voice I had heard in my nightmare. The last sound I ever let out was a horrified screech as the figure sent a knife through my stomach, ripping open my belly. Blood spilled onto my mattress. Then, he stitched the wound shut like nothing ever happened, and silently, he left.

The next day, my parents would be faced with the terrifying sight of their daughter, curled up in her bed, dead and in stitches, just like that man had said...