You Are Not Alone, by Alison Arnold

Crunch! As Ella walks, her boots stomp through mounds of red-orange-gold leaves. The air is crisp, but a warm breeze flows through the trees, and it feels like sinking into a hot bath. Overhead, birds sing. Thimble Woods in autumn is her favourite way to spend the afternoon. Ella shivers. It’s getting dark, she should start heading home. Is it just her, or is there something close by? She shakes her head; her eyes must be playing tricks on her. She doesn’t notice the slithering on wet, dead leaves.

In the distance, a twig snaps. Something creaks. It’s just the wind, she thinks. She tries to ignore the hairs on the back of her neck prickling. Creak. An icy trickle runs down her spine. Ella stops. Something else stops too. Her heart is not the only heart beating. She is not alone.

Heart thudding in her chest, Ella turns around. In the dark, two pinpricks gleam, as malicious as an obsidian black river, waiting to swallow her up. Eyes. Eyes that look like death approaching. And they’re getting closer. The fog slowly fades, reaching its long, thin, spindly fingers towards her. A shape gradually reveals itself to Ella. A flash of scales. The glint of fangs. Those obsidian black eyes. Shrouded in fog, a huge serpent flicks its forked tongue between its teeth, tasting the air. Ella tries to scream but no sound comes out. Heart racing, she grips the handle of her dagger and waits.

Suddenly, the giant snake lunges forward, its jaws swing open as if on a hinge. Blindly, Ella stabs wildly, her dagger sinking to the hilt into the roof of its mouth. She has to jump aside as the coils of the giant serpent thump down, dead. She breathes a sigh of relief. She smiles shakily. A small laugh bubbles up inside her. She looks down and almost vomits. She is covered in the serpent's blood. How will I explain this to Mum? She thinks. Little does Ella know, the tip of a long, venomous fang has penetrated her skin, and icy venom is spreading through her…