"Ouroboros"

Illustration by Jen Tracy

**"Ouroboros"** is the second tale in the eighteenth episode of the eighth season of the Nolseep Podcast. In it, a group of friends are stalked by a large snake. Written by Matt Dymerski, it has a runtime of 23:12 and was performed by Jeff Clement, Jessica McEvoy, Matthew Bradford, Kyle Akers, and Atticus Jackson. It is the 988th tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

Matt and his friends Grant and Kyle are dismayed to learn that their friend Cody has been diagnosed with cancer. Determined to make this summer the best one yet, they meet a girl named Morgan on the internet with the intention of going on outdoor adventures. Morgan says she has found a large underground cave she wants to explore that is near their hometown. The four friends set out one summer afternoon and find Morgan sitting on a large boulder in the middle of a clearing, with scrape marks in the dirt around it. The five go to the other side of the rock and find a hole leading down into the darkness.

Everyone enters the cave and finds it to be made of ancient bricks in a circular pattern, with occasional alcoves along the way. Inside the alcoves are stick-figure carvings of a large snake chasing several villagers. As they think about leaving, Morgan shoves everyone into an alcove just as a gigantic snake with milky-white eyes slides past them in a wall of green scales, circuiting around the circular chamber.

The group ducks into a larger alcove and find themselves in large, cathedral-like space with an ornate hedron on an altar. Morgan picks it up and finds a series of scenes on it, depicting a man being chased by the snake only to turn and begin chasing it as it gets smaller, eventually shrinking into oblivion. The friends wait for the serpent to pass again before breaking out of the hole and back into the clearing.

On the walk back to town, Morgan finds a fifty-cent piece. That night, at a sleepover, the friends speculate what the hedron means as well as if the snake has been in the chamber of centuries. Cody begins coughing and thinks he sees a wall of scales rush by the basement window. Morgan speculates that the hedron allows people to ward off or control the serpent.

The next morning, the boys wake up to find Morgan gone. As they eat breakfast, she returns and says that she chased the snake off with the hedron. Matt realizes it gets smaller when it's chasing you. Everyone looks out the kitchen window to see the snake, the height of a dog but as long as a yard, watching them. The five flee the house, the four boys getting into various scrapes and accidents along the way. Calling later, Morgan reveals that her school is cancelled the next day and that she found a twenty-dollar bill.

The snake continues to chase the friends as bad luck plagues the boys. Cody's cancer suddenly takes a turn for the worse and he enters the hospital. Morgan's father wins the lottery and she is happy until Matt tells her of all the others' injuries. The four visit Cody the hospital. Hoping to transfer the good luck to him, Morgan gives him the hedron but nothing happens. She thinks it is bound to her. The snake suddenly appears in the hospital, only a foot high but an expert at hiding. It chases Matt and Morgan out into the street. The pair attempt to destroy the hedron to stop the curse by throwing it in a trash compactor, but the machine breaks down, leaving it untarnished.

The snake stalks everyone for the next week. Cody's health rapidly deteriorates. He realizes that the figures in the carvings only got away from the snake because one of the group was caught and offers to be the sacrifice so the others can get away. Though they attempt to protest, he says it's okay. They tearfully agree. The snake, now the size of a pencil, crawls up Cody's breathing tube and into his nose. He flatlines soon after.

Matt, Morgan, Grant, and Kyle attend the funeral, depressed and missing their friend. The hedron has lost its magical powers and is now just a regular stone. Late in the evening, after the service is over, the four wait by Cody's grave. The snake, grown back to its usual size, bursts from the ground and slithers back into the woods towards its cave. The four head back to their homes, determined to remain friends.

## Cast

Jeff Clement as Matt

Jessica McEvoy as Morgan

Matthew Bradford as Cody

Kyle Akers as Kyle

Atticus Jackson as Grant