Elisa laid down on the cool, cherry wood floor. Its sweet fragrance danced around her nostrils. She raised her hand up toward the ceiling and turned her wrist to face her. A black tattoo, highlighted with a purple glow was etched upon it. The symbol of Ouroboros. She took a moment to examine it, something she’d done many times before, and let her arm fall back onto the floor.
Elisa wasn’t sure how much time had passed. A musty smell had overtaken the air around her. Her body creaked as she pushed herself up off of the floor, brushing off the dust that had accumulated on her body. A loud sigh echoed throughout the four walls and ceiling that sheltered her from the elements. She walked toward a lone photo on her wall. Plucking it from its rusty nail she looked at it intensely. Diving into the memory captured for eternity.
Elisa recalled it as clear as day. Her and her friends Ellie, Katie, and John all gathered around a warm, crackling fire. Beer cans tossed into the grass at their feet they all laughed about their years at college. Elisa wanted their last night together as students to be remembered as long as they lived. That was her one wish.
A slight grin crept across John’s face. “You know you three, there’s only one thing we haven’t explored in this town.”
Katie adamantly replied, “Oh hell no, John. We are not going to Snake’s Clearing.”
Ellie nodded in agreement. “That place is cursed. There’s no way I’m spending my last night there.”
John nonchalantly shrugged his arms and laughed. “C’mon you two, it’s the last thing we have to do while we’re here.”
Elisa remained silent as she watched her friends go back and forth on the issue. After a few minutes of arguing her friends seemed to disperse. Cooling their heads so that they could continue to enjoy their night.
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The fire slowly burned to ash as the sun began to creep up in the distance. Elisa’s friends had never returned to the fire that night. Her wish had begun to crumble right in front of her.
Elisa spoke quietly to herself, “Well I guess, that’s that.” John’s words stuck in her mind. Perhaps if she explored Snake’s Clearing, she could hold onto this memory nonetheless.
Elisa had heard about Snake’s Clearing several times throughout her college life. A clearing located within a forest only a few miles from campus. Many snakes made their home there. It wasn’t all that special, however over the years it had gained quite a reputation. From fraternities performing hazing rituals, to students claiming you could see the dead there. However, there was one claim that seemingly was taboo amongst the students.
Years ago, a student had gone to explore the clearing alone. The following morning he was found incoherent and on the verge of madness. He was never the same following the incident. This was the inception of the multitude of theories, rituals, and overall discomfort surrounding Snake’s Clearing. None of this fazed Elisa though. Snakes are poisonous after all and college students are always looking for a new thrill. With this in mind she walked headstrong through the woods and reached the clearing.
Her tall silhouette was framed by the early sunrise. Curly brown hair sat atop her head. Her fair skin and green eyes seemed to shimmer in the fading darkness. The clearing was oddly desolate. Not a single snake was in sight. She walked toward a tall and jagged stone in the middle of the clearing.
Elisa was a history major. Her keen memory gave her an edge on her fellow classmates and she had always loved studying ancient civilizations. She picked up a sharp stone on the ground and began to carve a symbol onto the rock. Leaving her mark one way or the other, with or without her friends. Ouroboros, a snake eating its tail, she felt was a fitting carving for Snake’s Clearing.
“Anndddd done!” Elisa stepped back admiring her work. “Maybe I should text the group and see if they want to get coffee.”
Elisa looked down towards her jean pocket to reach out her phone and noticed a purple glow surrounding her feet. “What the fuck…?”
Elisa never believed in the supernatural, but as an apparition of a snake curled around her body she couldn’t help but panic. She tried desperately to control her body as the snake began to sink its ghostly teeth into the back of her hand, however she was at the mercy of the snake.
A tattoo was etched into her wrist that day. A day that changed the world forever. A day one thousand two hundred and thirty three years ago.
Elisa brought her mind back to the present, and flipped to the back of the photo. Scrawled in faded, black ink was the phrase, “Year 2000.” She then placed the photo back on its rusty nail.
Speaking to no one but herself she uttered under her breath, “Be careful what you wish for, Elisa.”