Another day after a long, tiring night, a group of little creatures encircled the invisible
barrier, and as always, I shot them disapproving looks. I was sick and tired of this endless
sequence of little creatures and big creatures staring at me until my skin wore out. I could
scarcely hide my annoyance as one of the little creatures started knocking on the invisible barrier.
I hissed, annoyed. Why couldn’t they just leave me alone?
The little creatures suddenly looked frightened, and they all ran off to the big creatures. I
went back to sleep, with the bright light from the tank shining on me.
“The snake is feeling lonely. All he needs is a family or a friend to share his feelings with,”
said the doctor, patting the snake softly. Kai and Kris thanked the doctor, relieved.
As they returned to the zoo, they decided to put Harry, a snake from the neighboring tank,
into Tao’s tank to give Tao some company.
Unfortunately, I was soon awakened at the uncomfortable feeling that I sensed during sleep. I
opened my eyes, and almost fell straight back to the rock.
There was a snake in my tank.
Not the one that I saw before on the invisible barrier, but an actual snake, right in front of me.
It had attractive green scales that ran all the way across its long healthy, perhaps the longest I’ve
ever seen, body. Its eyes flickered with curiosity as it looked at me.
I hissed, delighted at the new company. The snake seemed a little dazzled at my reaction, but
it soon got used to the surroundings.
“How old are you?” it hissed. I almost jumped at his question, at his speech. It was the first
time for me to communicate with something else. It surprised me that I could understand and
speak a language that I didn’t know existed.
“I’m not sure,” I said, realizing that I really didn’t know much about myself. Then thousands of
questions poured into my mind, the ones that always encircled my head and bothered me at night.
“What am I? Who am I? Where do I belong? Why am I here? Am I supposed to be here? Or is
the invisible barrier just blocking me? What do I look like? Am I one of the creatures outside the
invisible barrier-“
“Stop! Stop! How am I supposed to know the answer to those questions? I mean, who are you?
You’re a snake! What else can I say?” hissed the guest, who was clearly bothered.
“I’m a snake? Like the other snakes over the invisible barriers and the one that appears at
the invisible barrier? So I’m not one of those creatures?” I asked, shocked. The snake looked
dumbstruck at my response.
“How could you have not known what you were? Don’t you ever see yourself on the glass or
the invisible barrier as you call it?”asked the new snake.
The sudden realization hit me. I am the snake.
I felt strangely sad. I am a snake. The snake that I always see on the invisible barrier that
looked sick, the very snake that seemed to have a sickening desire to have a reason; an answer to
its existence.
The shock of finding what I was did not wear away fast. That day, I stared at the invisible
barrier (or glass, as Harry called it) and talked with Harry all night. By the way, Harry is the
name of the guest of my house. Harry is a snake that was caught in the wild, and taken to the
* * *
