FICTION

Snakes on a Train

“Shove and squish!”

The sea of female faces seemed to be inaudibly chanting this in unison as I stood watching, half-paralysed. The beeping of the train’s doors indicated that they had closed, holding us in the glass box like magician’s assistants.

I saw the movement from the scenery passing me by. They slipped away like film montages, each leading onto unrelated environments, as is the case with big cities. The compartment was filled with the faint sound of an air conditioner, the intercom announcements and the smell of stale perfume. Oh, and the women, of course.

I think I must have lifted my head for half a second when I noticed all the heads bent down in military precision, all poring over texts from Whatsapp lovers or self-obsessed photo feeds. And that’s when I heard it.

It began as a soft rattle that could’ve easily been passed off for the creaking of the train. Then came the hiss, quiet at first, gradually growing so loud that I couldn’t miss it.

I looked around at the bent necks around me. None of them seemed to have noticed or even cared. I realised that their earphones must have them completely distracted from what was going on around them, but I wondered how long that would last until one of them screamed out from the bite…

“Hiss!”

There it was again. The unmistakable hiss of a rattlesnake, or my understanding of a rattlesnake. From my place in the moving icebox, I could hardly take a step to escape.

And escape? To where?

“HISS!”

Almost deafening, this time. So loud that I felt like it was in my ear, crawling and slithering its way along the trail of vertebrae on my back. I felt a swooping, slimy feeling all over my body that I ached to throw off but couldn’t, because in reality, my corporeal body remained dry.

“HISS! HISS, I SAY!”

And still the ladies noticed nothing.

My frozen fear kept my eyes glued to the ground, keeping watch over what I knew I couldn’t escape.

I saw the length of the blackish brown creature smoothly slip past legs, the slit eyes taking it all in, pausing as if to tease. And then, as it slowly made its way closer to where I stood, I saw it move its hooded head in the direction of my petrified eyes, locking it with mine.

It stared – no, sneered – at me. My throat siezed up, the many-decibel scream locked away in my chest forever. I couldn’t look away. The creature opened its fangs wide, aiming to strike.

And then, it laughed.

Loud, guffawing, thunderous, stomach-churning laughs. He just looked at me and laughed, long and hard, mocking my fear with those deadly fangs that reverberated every tenor of his bloodcurdling laughter.

“…Please stand away from the doors…”

My brain faintly registered the announcement over the intercom. Blood rushed back to my feet, and the movement of people allowed me to hurtle out of the train. I promptly found the closest dustbin and proceeded to throw up.

I looked up from my hurled guts to see the train moving away, with the remaining bent necks looking at me through the window, aghast.

I rolled my eyes in spite of my trouble breathing. Now they decided to look.