Amber had just gotten home from a very disappointing visit with her parents and went right to the tank where she kept David. David was a two foot long bullnose snake, and it was probably the only real friend she had. When she opened the lid of the tank, it looked up at her and hissed in greetings.

  The apartment she had was in downtown Chicago and was small. It only had the one bedroom, a small living room, and a kitchen that was so narrow she wasn’t able to open the oven door all the way. The only real perk of the apartment was that it was super close to the lab where she worked. On top of it being small, it was also sparsely decorated.

  She didn’t bother hanging anything on the plain white walls besides a simple lighthouse painting over her couch and the plant that was barely hanging on to life in the corner. The plant hung right next to the small bookshelf where she kept her books. The only books she really had were old textbooks from college. She didn’t see the point in selling them back to the college because they were going to give her pennies on the dollar. That, and she figured they might come in handy down the line sometime.

  “How ya doin’, Mr. Hisselhoff?” She asked the snake as she reached down and scooped it up.

  The snake slithered up and rested around her neck and on her shoulders. She dug around in her purse until she found the case that held the glowing blue butterfly. She stared at the case as they went to the kitchen. Although she’d had wine at dinner with her parents, she needed a stronger drink before sleeping. Amber had felt David tighten up as she inspected the butterfly, but didn’t think anything of it. She just figured it was getting a better hold, so it wouldn’t fall off as she moved through the apartment.

  David hissed softly as she carried him over to the couch and then laid down. The snake slithered around and slithered onto her shoulder and relaxed there. Amber fished down to the floor and grabbed around for the TV remote. When she found it, she clicked it on and just left it on whatever channel she was last watching. It was only for background noise.

  “If only they understood me like you do, David,” Amber lamented as she rotated the glass case in her hands.

  The snake hissed frantically and tried to hide deeper in the crevice between her neck and the pillow she was lying against.

  “Come on, don’t stay back there. I might crush you or something. What’s wrong? Come out here,” she said and reached down for her martini glass, which she put on the floor next to the TV remote.

  She felt the snake slither out and peek around her shoulder, which made her smile. “Good-” but right in the middle of praising it, the cat threw itself off the couch to the ground and tried to slither away.

  “Hey!” she called and then tried to reach for him. She could barely reach it and pick him up and bring him back to her.

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  “What’s your problem? What’s got you all excited?” she asked as she tried to hold the snake on her stomach. The butterfly fell to the floor when she reached for David and, with the glowing case gone, David now seemed to relax.

  Once she picked the butterfly back up and brought it back to her chest, though, the snake once more went frantic. Amber gaped when David actually struck the glass case. Its mouth was closed, so it didn’t bite. Its nose bounced off the glass case with a soft clunk, and it managed to knock it out of her hands and back onto the floor.

  “Are you hungry or something?” she asked, and left the butterfly on the floor for now.

  David turned his head and hissed at her in response before it turned its eyes back to the floor where the butterfly sat.

  “Yeah, I guess you are probably hungry,” she said and stood and held onto David. A few moments later, David was back in his tank. She put the mouse in the tank and then walked over to grab her drink and the butterfly.

  “I guess I should just go to bed,” she muttered and set the butterfly on the tank by the tank and downed her martini.

  “You be good,” she said and pointed at David as she set the empty glass down on the table by the butterfly. She didn’t notice that the snake wasn’t even looking at the small mouse. It kept its gaze centered on the glowing case.

  She headed into her bedroom, wondering if the weird lightning struck the butterfly and that’s why it glowed. “No, that would just vaporize it,” she said as she climbed into her bed.

  Thunk.

  Clunk.

  Thud.

  Out in the living room, the snake was striking against its tank with as much force as it could. It repeatedly tried to knock the case down to escape the butterfly. It had glowed brighter after his human went to bed, and around the edges of the butterfly glowed red as well.

  Amber wasn’t sure what time it was when she heard a loud crash come from the living room. “Huh?”

  The scientist blinked rapidly, and she fought to climb to her feet and walk to the bedroom door she had left open. She frowned when she saw David’s tank had somehow been knocked off the table it rested on and the snake and a little mouse were running for freedom.

  She ran out of her room and down the small hallway to the living room. “David!” She yelled and chased after the snake.

  Once she grabbed hold of the snake, it writhed and slithered, trying to free itself from her grip. It even struck out at her chest. “Hey, knock it off!” she shouted at the snake.

  The attack, though, was forgotten almost as soon as it happened when she saw what else fell to the ground. The impact cracked open the butterfly’s case, and a miniature lightning storm surrounded it. Streaks of that weird red and blue lightning were buzzing around the case and she gasped. It looked like a storm was raging right in her living room around the case.

  She knew she shouldn’t, but she had to. Reaching down, she grabbed the case. She had to see it close up. The researcher inside her wouldn’t let her not examine this little phenomenon closer. The snake fought against her grip as she reached and picked up the case.

  Before she realized what was happening, she felt the lightning strike her. Her whole body buzzed with electricity, as she could feel it buzz through her veins. The girl’s eyes went wide, and she looked down at David, who stared back into her eyes.

  Around the snake’s eyes, the red parts of the lightning buzzed, and its tongue hissed at her. She frowned at the snake’s ‘I told you so’ look.

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