written by Bdicocco 
watch/listen to the audiobook chapter on Youtube

https://youtu.be/UFRmPctKCpU

Can you drown yourself in Netflix?

It's a question I've been asking myself a lot recently. A gorgon can only watch so many shows starring "sexy singles looking for love" without losing the ability to feel.

Even my snakes are bored by this content. On better days, they're a feisty bunch, hissing and slithering in their tangle atop of my head. Now, they're quiet, fast asleep as I lie on the couch for the third day in a row. Only Theo is still awake, watching the screen with me with his lidless eyes.

I hear the old wood floors creaking, and when I look up, I see my sister's face hovering overhead, along with her own set of snakes. Twenty-five pairs of eyes gaze at me with a level of pity.

"Medusa," my sister says.

"Euryale," I say, using her full name back. We've been Maddie and Yuri for a while now—she only whips out the real names when she's particularly irritated.

She glances at the television, making a face at the numerous skimpy bikinis and shirtless men populating the screen. "How can you watch that trash all day?" she asks.

I roll my eyes. "I'm depressed. Can you blame me?"

She sighs, sitting down next to me. I know she's about to launch into her spiel; I can almost recite it by memory at this point.

"This is the hand we've been dealt," she says, "and we have to make the most of it. You can't just watch TV all day."

"Then what else should I be doing?" I mumble, watching a girl sip on champagne in a hot tub. "It's not like I can go into town. It's not like I can leave this stupid house."

"You're obsessed with realty TV."

"At least it's better than my emo phase."

Yuri gives me a look, one that's both full of sisterly love and irritation. "Listen, I need you off the couch. You've been burning a hole in it for days and it needs to be cleaned."

I puff out my cheeks in annoyance, but I know she isn't giving me a choice. When Yuri wants to clean, she gets to clean. It's like she thinks she can fix our lot by dusting or mopping. Like we can just scrub the past away.

"Fine," I mumble, slowing getting off the couch. My bones creak as I do so—I might look like I'm 19, but add in 3000 years and you'll be closer to my actual age.

I know they say "time heals all wounds," but I don't really believe it at this point. Time just makes you more apathetic.

Over the whir of the vacuum, I wander to a window, peering out through the glass and at the sparkling sunshine outside. Yuri must have seen my wistful glance because she suddenly stops the vacuum and says, "Why don't you go outside? Sit in the garden? Winter's pretty much over."

"It's April. I don't know why we live somewhere where it's still winter in April." I shouldn't be so snarky, but it's only because of how desperately I want to go outside. Even though we live so far away from the rest of civilization, going outside is a luxury. There have been too many close calls despite all of our precautions. The fact that Yuri is suggesting I go outside must mean that I've been acting pretty pathetic.

Yuri passes me a silk bonnet. For most people, this sort of bonnet is meant to be worn at night, to protect their hair while they sleep. For me, it's meant to protect others from my hair.

"Thanks," I tell her, and then start to slip the black silk over my snakes. "Come on guys," I murmur. They've woken by now, and they hiss in annoyance as I tuck them under the fabric. "Sorry, sorry," I mumble, tucking in Theo last.

"Five minutes," Yuri says, and the next thing I know, the vacuum is back on.

The first thing I do when I step outside is take a deep breath of fresh mountain air.

Yuri and I have been living in this cottage in Vermont for the past 60 years. In many ways, we're lucky. We have running water, electricity, and heat—modern luxuries. And yet, it's hard to feel grateful.

I walk along the driveway made of crushed marble, each step bringing with it a pang of sadness. I then wind my way off the path to the small bench at the edge of our property. It's overgrown with tangled vines, dead leaves, and small flowers struggling to grow in the April frost. It's both my favorite and least favorite spot in the world.

From this bench, through the thick trees, I can see down to the town below. I see houses with smoke curling from their roofs, cars zooming by, and all those people, living their lives without a care.

I haven't gone to the town in years—not since the last major incident 20 years ago. We almost had to move after that. Now, Yuri is the one who ventures to town once a week, gathering groceries and supplies. And I stay up here, watching everything wistfully from above.

I watch as a girl with a golden retriever walks down the sidewalk, entering a grocery store. I've seen her before—with her bright pink jacket, she's hard to miss. It's odd how even though I've never met her, I feel like I know her.

I swing my feet, kicking blades of grass weighed down with melting snow, trying to enjoy my few minutes in the outside world.

And then I hear something that makes my blood curdle.

"Hi Miss! Delivery!"

I yelp, turning to see a man standing just a few feet away from me on the driveway. He's holding a brown cardboard box littered with the Amazon logo.

"What are you doing here?" I yell, holding down my bonnet. I feel my snakes squirm from beneath the fabric, confused at my now racing heart. "Wrong address!"

The delivery man frowns. "Are you sure?" He looks down at the package. "Are you Maddie—?"

I start backing up. I just need to get inside, get Yuri... "Yuri!" I call out, then realize, Fuck, she's vacuuming. There's no way she can hear me over the whine of the machine.

But it's okay, I think to myself, hands still clamped to my scalp. As long as I stay calm... as long as I can get inside...

And that's when it happens. As I back up onto the driveway, my heel strikes a chunk of marble. My ankle twists, and I fall, landing hard on the gravel. I yelp in pain, my hands instantly cut up from the shards of rock.

"Miss, are you okay?" the man says, hurrying over to help me up—but then he freezes. And I know why. In my fall, my bonnet has come off, and now he's staring into the eyes of 24 snakes.

I can't help it. I start crying. "I'm so sorry," I say. "I'm so sorry."

But he can't hear me—not anymore. Because he's no longer a man, but a marble statue.

I hear the door to the cabin swing open. "Maddie?" It's Yuri, but I'm too distraught to respond to her. All I can do is cry as my sister rushes to my side.

"Maddie, what happened?" she asks, staring at the white marble statue. She looks at the package he still holds in his hands, with our address scribbled on it. "Maddie! I told you to delete our address from your Amazon account! This is why we have a PO box!"

"I thought I did," I say between sobs. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Yuri stares at me, clearly torn between anger and pity. Then, she starts to wrestle the Amazon box out of the delivery man's hands. She gets it out, but not without breaking his hand in the process; it falls to the ground with a clank. "I'm going to put this package back and move his truck. When they discover he's gone missing, they can't find out that we were the last delivery he made."

"I'm sorry, Yuri. I tripped. I had my bonnet on, I swear. I'm so sorry..."

"I know, sis," she says, putting down the box for a moment to give me a tight hug and a kiss on the forehead. "But you know what you have to do now."

I nod, holding back tears. As Yuri makes her way down to the man's truck, I pull myself to my feet. My hands are burning, small points of blood welling up on my palms. Like a zombie, I stumble into the garden and find the sledge hammer discarded amongst the weeds. Slowly, I make my way back to the statue.

I stare into the delivery man's frozen marble face, at the look of horror etched into his features. "I'm so sorry," I say, one more time, my face wet with tears. And then I start swinging, adding more chunks of marble to our driveway.

* * *

Months pass, and I don't dream of going outside. I don't even peer out the window anymore. There are only so many traumas I can bear.

I've switched to HBO. The shows are a lot darker. It suits my mood.

But one morning, Yuri joins me on the couch, and I can tell something has changed.

"I'm sick," she says, her voice hoarse.

I pull my gaze away from the television screen to look at her. Her eyes are sunken, her nose is red. Her snakes slither listlessly on her scalp.

"The fever isn't breaking," she says. "I can hardly breathe. I scheduled a video visit with a doctor this morning and he prescribed me some medicine."

"Okay."

"And I need you to pick it up from the pharmacy."

I stare at her as if she's just announced that she is growing a second head of snakes. "I'm sorry—what?"

"Maddie, I need you to do this for me."

I shake my head firmly, waking my snakes from their slumber. Theo gives a malcontented hiss at the sudden movement. "Yuri, it's not safe for me to go down there. You know this! Not after the last time. Or just this spring, with the delivery guy!"

Yuri looks at me sadly. "It's my fault that you're so afraid to go into town. I shouldn't have been so hard on you. I should have helped you find ways to be around others safely instead of forcing you to stay up here. But I need you now. Please, Maddie."

My voice hitches in my throat. She really does look terrible, and I know she wouldn't be asking if she didn't really need this. "Okay," I say, trying to control my shaking hands. "I'll... I'll try."

Yuri can barely move, but she still helps me tuck my snakes into my bonnet. And then, once all of them are hidden, I start my journey.

It's the end of summer. The leaves are green, but the air is distinctly cool. Still, I feel myself sweating as I walk down our long driveway and wind my way through the woods. It takes me thirty minutes before I finally reach the asphalt roads of the main town.

It's early morning and the streets are deserted. I'm amazed at my luck.

Unfortunately, it doesn't last long. While the streets are empty, the inside of the pharmacy is not. As I push inside, my eyes immediately jump around, taking inventory. There's an old man browsing greeting cards, and a pharmacist behind a counter, ringing up medications for an elderly woman. And then there's one final person in the queue who I immediately recognize.

It's the girl with the dog, the one I've seen so many times before from my view up in the mountains. She isn't wearing the pink winter coat I saw her in last, but I know it's her. I recognize her golden retriever in its familiar black harness.

I get in line behind her, focusing on staying calm and keeping my snakes controlled. But as I draw near her, my breath hitches. She smells like something floral: hints of rose accented with spice. And her hair is bright gold, drawn back into a braid.

From up in the mountains, I could never make her out in much detail. She had always seemed like a figment of my imagination. But up close, she's real.

Something stirs in my chest. Oh god, Maddie. You have a crush on her.

I dig my fingernails into my palms, forcing myself to focus. I need to keep my mouth shut and my snakes under control so I can pick up Yuri's prescription and get home.

But of course, nothing is that simple. As I stand there waiting, I notice the girl's dog start to fidget. When I had first come in, it was sitting patiently at her side. Now, its head is cocked, and it pads at the carpet nervously. A moment later, it turns around, looking up at me warily.

It must sense my snakes, I realize.

The dog tugs on its harness, and the girl glances down. "Charlie stop it. Be good." Suddenly, she turns back towards me, her face coming into view for the first time. She has beautiful full pink lips, and her eyes are hidden behind a dark pair of sunglasses. "Sorry about him. He's usually really well-behaved. There must be something in here that's throwing him off."

"It's fine," I mumble, wishing I could disappear.

"I don't recognize you," the girl continues. "Are you a student at UVM?"

"Uh no... my family lives here," I say. Then, in a moment of madness, "I'm Maddie."

"Arielle," she says with a smile that makes me want to melt.

Thankfully, the pharmacist calls out "next" and Arielle goes up to the counter, taking her dog with her. I breathe a sigh of relief, trying to still my beating heart and taking a moment to adjust my bonnet. Once Arielle is done, I'm up next. I rush through the exchange with the pharmacist, nearly yanking Yuri's meds out of his hands. However, as I start to speed-walk out of the pharmacy, I see that Arielle has been lingering near the entrance. Waiting for me.

We step out together onto the deserted street. She opens her mouth, as if to ask me something, when suddenly her dog lets out a low growl.

"Oh my God, Charlie, what is wrong?"

I can't tell if it's my own nervousness, or because of the dog, but I feel my snakes wriggle under my bonnet. I put my hand up to calm them, but it's clear Charlie isn't a fan of my sudden movement because he lets out an angry bark.

The next few things seem to happen in both a flash and in slow motion. Theo slips out of my bonnet and hisses loudly at the dog in annoyance. I immediately force him back under the silk, but it's too late: Charlie is spooked and he bolts forward, yanking on his harness, pulling Arielle into to me. I lose my balance, and a second later, we've fallen to the ground together in a mass of tangled limbs.

I feel Arielle's skin on mine, the warmth of her breath, her lips grazing my neck in the fall—for a single moment, it's heaven.

And then I see my silk bonnet on the ground, and when I look up, Arielle's face is inches away from all 24 snakes.

"No!" I cry, slamming my eyes shut. I wait for the curse to set in, for her skin to turn to marble. My heart aches at the thought of another death, of losing someone before I ever got the chance to know them, and I pray that she crushes me dead beneath her.

Instead, I feel her scramble off of me. And when I open my eyes, she's standing, cheeks flushed, but fully human. Not of hint of marble in sight.

"Oh my God. I'm so sorry. I can't believe that just happened," she says. "I heard a snake—that must have been what spooked Charlie."

I stare up at her, confused. My hair is still exposed, all 24 snakes within her line of sight. Then her words sink in. "You... heard a snake. You mean... you didn't see it?"

Arielle makes a funny face. "No of course not. I'm blind."

It takes a moment for her words to settle in. In the meantime, she reaches out her hand. I quickly put my bonnet on, but then let her pull me to my feet. I'm still in shock. She's alive. And not just that—she's blind. Which means she's immune. To me.

"Charlie's my guide dog," she explained. "He's been in training to do this since he was a pup, but I think I need to take him to some refresher courses—he clearly needs to learn how to act around snakes." She pauses, then adds, "I'm sorry for all the trouble. It's unacceptable that he was acting like this. What can I do to repay you?"

I'm about to tell her she doesn't owe me anything, that I'm just so happy that she's alive, but I hold my tongue. Now that the threat of her imminent demise has passed, that feeling in my chest has returned—the subtle, squeezing longing—and with it, I'm encouraged to say, "What about dinner?"

She pauses, and for a moment I'm worried that I've gone too far. But then those perfect pink lips tilt upwards into a grin. "Dinner... I'd like that."

We exchange phone numbers and small talk for a few more minutes before she finally turns to leave, Charlie leading her down the street and into the rising sun.

I feel Theo poking out of my bonnet, but I tuck him back in. "You'll have plenty of time to look at her some other time," I say, trying to contain my smile. And then, with a warm heart, I start my trek back up the mountain. I have a lot to tell Yuri.

<<<<<FINIS>>>>>

Find more from Bdicocco on Wattpad.

Bianca Di Cocco is a New York City based writer who writes fantasy stories with a hint of romance and a good twist. Her novel "Dangerous Thoughts" recently won a 2022 Watty Award. When not writing, she enjoys petting her cat and singing mid-2000s rock songs at karaoke night.