The Stars Above

Turning onto her back, Jade slowly opened both eyes.

The sky was an inky, velvety black and the stars a bright silver white. The Milky Way was above her head. She could see more than when she was in the city, surrounded by neon lights and skyscrapers.

Breathing deeply, she placed her hands behind her head and scanned the sky for a shooting star.

You never knew.

It was a warm night, too warm to be under cover but the buzz of a mosquito flying past her ear, made her snuggle down further in the swag.

There were still bright embers burning in the camp fire, kept bright from the slight breeze blowing from the nearby paddocks. A small tumbleweed rolled past her and the caravan where her sister was sleeping, not far away.

It was good to get away from the rat race, even for a short while.

A sudden, sharp jab to her left ankle made her squeal.

“What the….’, she started to say before she felt something cold and heavy start to slither up her leg.

Jade felt sweaty, and clammy, and cold all at the same time.

“Pull yourself together”, she muttered to herself.

Slowly, carefully so she didn’t disturb it, she wriggled back up. The heavy weight remained still on her leg.

Cautiously she sat up and looked down.

It was too dark in the swag to see but two bright eyes looked back at her, staring.

A low hissing sound came from it.

“Okay’ Jade said to herself, forcing herself to remain calm,’ it’s just a snake”.

How did it get into the swag? she wondered, and then shook her head. It wasn’t the right time to ask that.

She looked wildly around her, trying to find something to lift or move the snake off of her and as far away as possible.

There were several large branches among the tree stumps waiting in the wood pile to go onto the fire. They’d spent most of the afternoon collecting them, driving through the paddocks in the old dusty ute.

But they were too far away for her to reach.

Her swag was well away from everything else, which at the time had seemed like a good idea.

Jade slowly inhaled, breathing in the orange bull dust that covered the ground.

The snake started to slither further up her leg. She froze instinctively, not wanting it to move any further, but not wanting to touch or pick it up.

“It’s just a snake’ she repeated to herself,’ it’s more scared of you, than you are of it”.

The snake settled itself, lying across both her legs. She could feel it starting to coil itself up.

Maybe it would go to sleep, now?, she thought, and then shook her head, snakes liked the warm, and her swag was cosy. This is where it would be at it’s happiest.

“Mandy”, she tried to call, but her throat was dry and her voice trembly and scared. With the wind blowing, her sister had no chance of hearing her.

Clearing her throat, she called again,” Mandy!”.

The shout echoed around the camp site.

She glanced anxiously at the caravan. It remained dark and silent. Her sister was still asleep.

“Mandy!”, she yelled again, tears coming suddenly to her eyes.

Hurriedly she wiped the back of her hand across her face.

The caravan remained dark and silent.

Slowly, carefully, Jade pushed herself further out of the swag, so only her legs were left covered.

The snake remained still, almost as if it were waiting to see what would happen next.

She could see it now, until the starlight. It was still small for a snake but dark brown almost black. She couldn’t see her ankle where it had bitten her.

“You’re going to have to do this, there’s no one else’ she whispered to herself,’ you’re going to have to move the snake. This means you need to touch it”.

With her hands trembling and palms sweaty, she reached down and touched the snake gently. It didn’t move but remained coiled. Maybe it had gone to sleep.

She felt her stomach heave as she felt it’s cold body, the scales rough and smooth at the same time.

She eased both hands under the snakes body. It still didn’t move.

Holding her breath, she lifted it into the air so her legs were free. The snake felt heavier than she thought it would.

Slowly, almost in slow motion, it lifted it’s head and looked at her, it’s bright eyes beady and staring, it’s forked tongue escaping it’s mouth to hiss.

“Ohh”, Jade gasped, throwing the snake as far from her as she could, and pulling her hands back quick in case it tried to latch on.

She heard a thud as it fell to the ground near the stumps, and a small cloud of orange dust rose in the air. She didn’t know that she could throw that far.

Quickly she pulled her legs free from the swag. They were wobbly. The ground seemed to move beneath her feet.

“Mandy!”, she called again, as she stumbled and fell to her knees, a sharp jabbing pain coming from her ankle, a trickle of blood running down her foot.

Putting the thought to the back of her mind that there were probably more snakes, as well as giant bugs crawling along the ground, Jade crawled to the caravan and hammered on the door, screaming, “ Mandy! Mandy! Mandy!”.

The door opened.

Mandy looked down at her, the earphones still hanging around her neck from where she’d pulled them from her ears.

“What are you doing?’ she asked, frowning, ’ some of us are trying to sleep, you know”.

Tears and snot started to stream down Jade’s face as she explained. Suddenly she felt weak and very tired. All she wanted to do was to go to sleep.

She could hear Mandy talking as she tried to treat the snake bite, kneeling in the dust, but the words were fading. After a while, she could hear the ambulance siren coming closer, faintly.

She looked up at the night sky and saw it was still inky and velvety with hundreds of tiny silver white stars.

As her eyelids started to close, she continued to search for a shooting star.

You never knew.