Hiss for Me, Nagaina.

The room was a jungle. Loose leaves of paper crunched beneath footsteps as she paced around her bedroom floor. Her eyes were everywhere, scanning each corner - even the walls - until they all became one, big blur.

She crouched under the canopy of falling light and crawled in circles, preying on hope with her fingertips. All she could feel were the pins in her knees as they slid across the shag carpet and the handfuls of emptiness between her loaded fists.

In one quick motion, she stood up, searching the floor again with her towering gaze. She found nothing. Frustration flowed through her, forming drops of sweat above her brow, identical to the moisture building up in her eyes.

If only she were a tiger. She'd bow down to the ground and use her keen sense of smell to finish this hunt. But she wasn't. She was a 12 year old girl and her nose only picked up the sweet scent of air.

Her hands swung blankets like vines across the room, revealing nothing but the naked surface beneath her feet. She stomped rage into its floorboards as she slipped into the living room where a mantle held photographs from long ago and a gentle fire eased her into the past.

In the same room 10 years ago, her two year old body wrapped around the soft shape of a painted snake and her baby teeth nibbled on each hair of color, spitting rainbows of fuzz into the air. She studied its spine, wondering how many times it would bend for her until it finally snapped, but the toy survived each crease and knot. Even as she grew, it continued to hold her in its coils.

These memories evaporated and rose up from her nostrils like smoke. Defeated, she curled herself into a ball and prayed for hope through folded hands and flame-dried eyes. In the still silence, she listened for the multi-colored sounds of a snake. And they surrounded her. This rainbow girl with a reptile tongue.