Warped (Maurissa Guibord)

in restaurants and planning vacations and shopping .
    It's like Mom was never even here .
    I think when somebody as special as her dies, everything should stop for a little while. But nothing does .
    I want everything to stop .
    Tessa still remembered that feeling she had right after they had told her. Her whole life suddenly became a blur. People came and went, conversations drifted past her, over her. The questions, the concerns. The talk. How badly she had wanted everything to stop so she could go back, fix things. But life never stops long enough for you to figure things out, never mind fix them. She knew that now.
    Tessa closed the book. That was all she had written. All she had ever written or said about her mother's death to anyone. Until today. With Will.
    A faint rustling noise came from under the bed.
    Tessa glanced down. "Pie?" She leaned over, hung upside down. She lifted the dust ruffle. In the darkness she caught a glimpse of big, glowing yellow eyes. Tessa sniffed. A dank, wet smell wafted up. Like a dirty fish tank.
    Tessa frowned. "Here, Pie. Bad kitty. Come out."
    There was a hiss. A green head shot out, straight at her face.
    Tessa screamed and wrenched away, feeling something swipe the top of her head. She rolled herself backward and scrambled to right herself on all fours, just in time to see a monstrous snake slither from beneath the bed. It undulated across the floor, its middle section looking as thick as her leg. Its scales, as big as thumbnails, were yellow, mottled with green. They rippled and rose like flexible armor as it moved.
    Tessa let out a frightened whimper and sprang up to stand on her bed. The snake coiled around the base of a nearby floor lamp and then, slowly, rose up the pole. The head turned toward her and hung in midair, nearly at a level with her own. A thin red blade of a tongue flicked. Two black-slitted eyes watched her.
    A shudder started at the top of Tessa's head and rattled down to her toes. Tessa tried to think. She couldn't get out. Getting to the door would put her within striking distance of the snake. She felt another scream begin in the back of her throat but choked it back. Maybe if she stayed really still, making no sudden moves, it would crawl away.
    Slowly, staring at the snake's head, she reached down and pulled the comforter from the bottom of her bed. She inched it up. At least it was something. A barrier between her and the scaly nightmare. She dipped her gaze to the floor for a second. Swallowed. The rest of the snake was still coming from beneath the bed. How long was it, anyway? Just stay still. Don't startle it .
    "Yeah," Tessa reasoned under her breath. "You're probably more scared of me than I am of--"
    The snake lunged. Fangs exposed, the pale, ridged flesh of its open mouth gaped and flew toward her. Tessa flung one end of the comforter up. The snake's head bulleted into it, its fangs sinking into the fabric. Tessa fell backward, tumbling off the bed. The lamp crashed to the floor.
    Tessa hung on to the thick material, trying to contain the snake's thrashing head. The comforter slipped and her fingers grabbed cool, writhing skin. "Ugh!" she screamed, and heaved the tangle of snake and flowery fabric away from her. Without thinking, she jumped down hard on the comforter and stomped on the wriggling mass. She grabbed the first thing that came to hand: her tennis racket. She turned it on edge and with a choked cry raised it and chopped down hard where she thought the head must be. She felt the metal racket frame connect with a grisly crunch. The foul, dank smell filled the air again, only stronger. The twisted shape on the floor was still.
    Tessa leapt to the door, opened it and launched herself into the hallway and down the stairs.

Chapter 23

She bolted down the stairs but stopped short, nearly crashing into her father.
    Tessa blurted out the words between gasps. "Dad. Snake. Up there."
    "Tessa, hold on. Calm down." He looked into her face. "Is that what the noise was? I thought the ceiling was going to fall on my head."
    Wordlessly, Tessa jabbed a finger upstairs. "Big snake," she repeated finally. She closed her eyes and shivered as she pictured it. Her stomach pitched. She would have to burn that comforter.
    Tessa opened her eyes to see her father watching her with a perplexed look. "What do you mean? Like a garden snake?" he asked. "How the heck would a snake get up there? Let me take a look," he said, heading up.
    "No!" Tessa grabbed him