snakes

I was in the bedroom of my teenage years. Someone else was sleeping in my single bed though I was not concerned, rather I felt nurturing and protective of the person who needed to sleep. I saw something under the bed and reached under to find a small black and white snake coiled there, waiting to slither out when the light was turned off. I held the snake fast, one hand tight around its neck just below the head to prevent it from biting me, and the other around the base of its tail to stop it from curling around my wrist or writhing out of my control. I had a dilemma as the window was shut and there was nowhere to throw the snake and I didn't want to kill it, but at the same time I needed to keep the person in my bed from harm. I tried throwing the snake across the room, hoping that it would leave us in peace, but it slithered back under the bed waiting to attack in the dark. I grabbed it a second and third time, repeating the process, but it came back more aggressively each time. Finally, my father walked into the room and threw the snake down with such force that he knocked its head off its body. Relieved, though disturbed that we had killed it, I said goodnight to the person in my bed but just before I turned off the light, I noticed another snake coiled under the cover of the bed, hidden by the bedspread. I braced myself and reached under the bed to grab the snake. This one was a luminous green, much larger and doubly aggressive. I held this snake in the same way, around the tail and below the head. I had to keep adjusting my grip as the snake was very strong and kept managing to wriggle through my hands. It thrashed about, red gash of a mouth open and teeth bared, angry that it was captive. I did not dare to throw this snake, knowing that it was far too dangerous, but waited for my father to return to help me kill it. This time I knew that there was no room for mercy, it was time to take action to protect the person who was in the bed who I then understood was my sister.