Curiosity snatched up the snake

*This story is underneath my folder titled “Salem, Daisy, and other lost souls in Cherry Brook”.   This is based off a Halloween tale from my story “31  Hellish Halloween tales” and that is under my folder titled “31 Halloween tales”. Gacha Club character designs are under my forum titled “My character designs<33[2]”. Enjoy!*

Introduction

Cherry Brook was a small town far off in America, a town that one would have to drive to for many upon many miles in order to get to.

It wasn’t always a town, though. It used to be an unnamed patch of land where only a few people lived, one group being the Selander family.

The Selander family consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Selander and their sixteen year old son, Salem Selander. Salem was a green-eyed boy who wanted to find out more about the place his family lived in, the place that his family settled in back when he was a little boy.

So he would do what he could to search for answers. Even if it meant going further to the woods.

Because every stretch of land had a story, had a reason to its creation.

It meant something, did it not?

Chapter One

Salem pushed away the tree branches, ever so determined to find other settlements of land. His parents had lived in the town for many years, yet they knew nothing about it. They just told Salem to be lucky that he had a place to call home.

But how could he be “lucky” if he didn’t know what to be grateful for? The townspeople could make up their own history all they wanted, but the real history was more important because it was real. It was the truth. The only truth.

Salem didn’t see anything but tree branches. He didn’t hear anything but the few animals scurrying about.

And then, he heard it. A child giggling.

Chapter Two

His heart had notes of fear, but sparks of determination. Finding the truth wouldn’t be an easy task. Maybe the child wasn’t a demon either. His parents may have said that “children in the woods” were demon children, but that didn’t apply to all children.

Salem followed the sound of the giggling.

Chapter Three

The giggling got louder…and louder…and louder…twisting…and turning…lower…higher…

He spotted the source of the giggling. A little girl in a burlap dress, her soft brown boots tied up with strings. She was completely dirty, her black hair was in tangles and had chunks of mud, and yet, while sitting on a log, she was giggling.

“Excuse me? Do you have any family here?” Salem asked, approaching her with caution. He heard legends of the fae, so he didn’t want to potentially anger her.

The little girl stopped giggling and shook her head. Her orange eyes had hints of happiness in them, though.

“I do not! But I was here for a long, longgg time! I can show you where I live! I can tell you all about me! What’s your name?” The little girl asked.

Her eyes went wide with curiosity. There seemed to be deepening depth within them, as though she had a million questions all tied up inside.

Should he answer her? Could she possibly know more about the town than he did?

“Are you a little girl?” Salem asked.

The little girl got up from her log and skip-danced her way to him, all with a big smile on her face. Her grin was toothy like a child’s but far too in-the-know, like an adult’s. From that perplexing smile came a song in a voice both soft and raspy at the same time, innocent and malevolent, beautiful and grating:

“I come from neither land nor sea!

I can be any creature I want to be!

Child, cat, or banshee.

I am called Eerie!”

When Eerie finished, she was standing in front of Salem, her smile gone from unnerving to cheeky. She had switched her nature in the blink of an eye.

She had revealed herself to be one of the fae just from her song. The fae commonly sang.

“Pleasure to meet you, Eerie. My name is Salem. Do you know anything about this town? About how it was-Eerie?!”

Eerie was beginning to disappear, to crumble away into black smoke. The smile didn’t leave her face, for she waved at him and cried:

“Come back tomorrow!”

Then, the last of the smoke snatched her away. Salem was left alone with his thoughts, for far more questions than answers were circulating his mind.

But Eerie was going to help him. Eerie was going to show him the truth. He would finally know more about his home!

Wasn’t that a good thing?

Chapter Four

BACK HOME

After Salem walked through the last of the brambles and branches, he was back at his town. There were small houses all lined up together, for farms mostly took up the town. Very few children laughed and played, as many were working with their families.

He walked down the muddied path to his house. His parents should be in the know of Eerie, even if they didn’t approve. Their town had no history and no culture, so how on Earth was anybody not bothered by that?

Once he made it to his white painted house that was a little bit further off from the rest of the houses, Salem knocked on the door, hoping this his parents wouldn’t shoot down his ideas before he even had a chance to speak.

Chapter Five

“Where have you been?” Mother asked, turning open the door, her eyes wide with fear and confusion.

Salem stepped inside his house and did not hesitate to say his words, for it was vital that his parents knew what he knew.

“At the forest, mother! I found a little girl who calls herself Eerie! She is not a human, but fae! She could tell us about the town! She-“

“Salem. If she’s a fae, don’t associate with her. She’s only going to hurt you.” Mother said. Her eyes were full of sorrow, but her voice was all set in stone.

“But mother-“

“No buts. Go and help your father tend the farm. Do something useful for once.” Mother said. She was setting the table for dinner, already doing something monotonous.

Salem wanted to say more, he wanted to bring up more of his point, but from the unwavering glint in her eye, he knew that she would not listen at the moment.

Perhaps next time.

Chapter Six

OUTSIDE

Salem knelt down on the dirt to pat dry the Earth. It looked like easy work to an outsider who had never farmed before, but the action of shoveling up dirt came to be quite the work from how it would layer and layer and layer. Dirt got heavy after a while, but he had to do it for the crops to grow.

Father was piling up the hay so that it would not interfere with the animals. The moment was thick with prolonged silence, but perhaps father would listen to his words.

“I met a fae-“

“One of those faes we warned you about? Son, you should know better than to associate with them.”

“She could tell me more about where we live! She could help us! Her name is-“

“I don’t want to know what her name is. We don’t need to know about this town. We’re safe and happy with everything we have. Now, get back to work.”

“I didn’t even-“

“I don’t want to hear it anymore!”

Father’s tone was angered and fixed, a telltale sign that he did not want to talk about it anymore. Salem wanted to tell father what he didn’t know, but the words in his throat had bubbled away like snake’s venom settling in his intestines.

Salem couldn’t even finish what he was saying and father already said no. That was the thing with his parents, wasn’t it? They always said no to new things. Sure, Eerie was a fae and wasn’t exactly a clean-cut creature, but just because she wasn’t human didn’t mean that she was malicious. He would try to talk about it with his parents another day and if that didn’t work, then oh well! He would meet with Eerie anyway.

Salem went on with his work.

Chapter Seven

THE NEXT MORNING

Salem walked through the forest, keeping his word. Goodness, but the trees had such thick and long branches! He couldn’t walk a single step without a few getting in his way, leaving thin scratches on his skin.

Below him, Salem felt snakes slithering about. He looked down, watching the few small, thin black snakes make their way into the dirt through the leaves. He didn’t want to accidentally step on them.

His parents would have screamed or cursed if they saw the snakes. Maybe both. They were harmless, but his parents wouldn’t listen to Salem when he tried to tell them.

Once they were gone, he walked on.

Chapter Eight

After much walking, he started to hear giggling. At first, it was nothing more than a child’s laugh, but then, it began to sound convoluted, contorted, evil…

Salem saw her. Eerie in her burlap dress that was covered with deep brown spots, spots that were akin to mud…

It could be blood. Blood turns dark when it has time to dry.

“What are you staring at? We can’t stay here forever! Come on, take my hand!” Eerie beamed, extending her small hand out for him to take.

Well, it was a child’s hand for a second, and then it was a claw, and then a child’s hand, and-

Salem just took her hand. Yes, he already established that she wasn’t a human, but he couldn’t let his parents’ ideas get to his head, could he?

She only wanted to help, after all. Maybe that looked different for a faerie.

Chapter Nine

After a while, the smoke cleared. Salem and Eerie were in a village that was thick with fog and didn’t have a single soul inside.

“This was the first place I ever visited! There was a big party when I first arrived, but then, when I wanted to show them something spectacular, they all disappeared! I still don’t know why they disappeared…but I think that my magic is still around here! Come along now, I’ll show you.” Eerie said eagerly.

As she trailed Salem along the dirt roads, he couldn’t help but marvel at how silent the village was.

How could such a place be so still, as though nothing, not even small animals, dared to breathe? How did come to such a state?

How much did Eerie know about what occurred the day she arrived in town?

Chapter Ten

All around them were houses that were left to the elements, decaying to the ground, covered in haphazard branches.

But in the fog, Salem saw human shapes forming, dancing along. He heard singing, he heard laughing. The scent of burning wood was in the air, but it didn’t feel threatening. It felt welcoming, like the love of many generations had all collided to care for the younger and the weaker forevermore.

“We’re almost at the cemetery! Funnily enough, it was the very first place I went to. You might even say that I was born there.” Eerie beamed.

Born in a cemetery? Strange, but not unsettling. The dead weren’t evil, they were just dead.

Salem smiled at how harmonious the human-fog shapes seemed to be, how they all moved at a rhythm of their own. If they were ghosts and not just shapes out of coincidence, then he hoped that they were resting in peace.

For he imagined that purgatory was an even worse fate than death.

Chapter Eleven

FLASHBACK-Salem is a young child.

“Are all faeries bad? Do they all want to take me away?” Salem asked.

He lay in bed, clutching the sheets tightly to his chest. Mommy had just finished telling him a story about tiny creatures with sharp teeth that liked to take people away, especially little kids, and then torture them until they became monsters.

The creatures were called “faeries” and they liked to make humans bathe in their own blood.

In the corner of his mind, Salem hoped that not all of them were bad, that maybe it would still be possible for him to have a magical friend, that they were like the beings in the happier fairytales that he read. He didn’t want to hate them, but Mommy’s story made it so hard not to.

Mommy turned away from the door, her eyes wider than Salem had ever seen before. He cowered under his sheets, for her eyes were wild under the moonlight wafting from his slightly cracked open window.

“Yes! They will tear through your flesh and drink your blood! You best be careful or you will never grow to eighteen!” Mommy screeched, her voice raspy from being up so long.

She slammed the door behind her, caring not that Salem flinched.

He didn’t let go of his sheets. He didn’t dare move, as though a faerie might lurch out and snatch him away at any moment, salivating at the prospect of tearing through his skin.

Salem only weeped, his flower-filled dreams withering into dirt, nightmares that would latch onto him like fleas.

Chapter Twelve

“Here it is! The cemetery! Look, the spirits of the townspeople! They’re having a party!” Eerie cried out joyfully.

Sure enough, there were human silhouettes made of the fog, holding hands as they danced and skipped along. Their voices rang out in laughter and stories. Salem saw eyes sparkle with vigor that for a moment, he forgot that they were ghosts.

But then, a crackling, piercing sound like a gunshot rang throughout the air and the ghosts began to run, run….

Why?

Chapter Thirteen

Out of black and orange crackling sparks that blossomed into something that very nearly took up the entire sky, was a phantom of Eerie. Eerie’s eyes were wide, innocent. Curious for what was waiting on the other side.

But still, the humans ran. They ran until the tendrils of black and orange curled around their ankles, crept up their spines, and choked them all…

“You didn’t kill them, did you?” Salem asked, taking a step back from Eerie, for it was her smoke, her magic that was choking them to death.

Eerie looked back at the smoke, then at Salem, then back at the smoke, and then she looked at him, aghast and cried out:

“No! I didn’t kill them, I just came! I didn’t mean for any of this to happen, I swear! I promise!”

Her voice was cracking as though she were on the verge of tears. Her orange eyes were filled with guilt and fright, the kind of look a child would get when they found out that they did something rather immoral.

Salem’s heart calmed down, the distrust ebbed away. He was already making quick judgements about Eerie, just like his parents would have done! So what if her smoke killed them? It wasn’t intentional! She wasn’t horrible, she just wanted to show him the secrets of the town.

“Of course you didn’t. It was your first day on Earth, you were just learning. Forgive me for being alarmed, I just didn’t know what to make of what I saw.” Salem said, hoping that she wouldn’t dwell on it.

Eerie shrugged and said with a smile:

“It’s okay! I know you didn’t mean it.”

As Eerie took his hand and the forsaken town began to fade from their eyes, Salem wondered why she had gotten over it so quickly.

Maybe she was just someone who didn’t worry so much. He shouldn’t judge like his parents. He should never judge.

He had to remind himself that.

Chapter Fourteen

When the smoke had cleared, Eerie was gone. Salem was back at his town, the sky slightly dimming down to the evening, a faded blue hanging high above.

Everyone else was in their homes, eating dinner with their families. It was believed that to eat an early dinner was good luck, so that the spirits couldn’t come snatch anybody away.

As a little boy, Salem would sit on the front steps, waiting for the spirits to come. They were his friends, his friends were always welcome.

If he waited a little while longer, then he could dance with the spirits!

Salem smiled as he stood outside, waiting for the fog to morph into human-like shapes.

The rest of the village didn’t know what they were missing.

Chapter Fifteen

All around him, the ghosts crawled out. They didn’t do anything too particularly frightening, they only roamed about.

But still, they were free. The town was theirs at night, the town was a home, a haven to their lost souls.

Salem sat on the dirt, watching the ghosts pass by. Sometimes they saw him. Most of the time, he was invisible to them. Contrary to what many believed, Salem thought that all humans could see ghosts if they didn’t reject it so, whereas ghosts could only see humans if they realized that they were dead, which most of the time, they didn’t.

It was during the night that Salem could feel himself flying, flying, flying away. It wasn’t a physical feeling, it was more like something inside of him wanted to float off to the moon.

Why were the living so scared of the dead? It would be them one day, so why cower from it? Did it even matter that Salem liked watching the ghosts? Wasn’t he destined to marry a girl taught to not say a word, wasn’t he fated to work even he was tired beyond belief?

The ghosts flickered away, Salem was all alone. No, not quite. Nobody was ever alone. Maybe they were still lingering, just out of sight. They were just all veiled up in their mystical, mysterious world.

His head felt clear, his heart felt calm. Nothing was definite, things were bound to change.

Salem got up from the ground and walked towards home. He would lay in bed, but he wouldn’t sleep. His thoughts would be sparkling like the ghosts’ presence, his hopes would rise like the grim reaper.

There was another town next to his. A town that Eerie had made barren from her arrival, but still a town, no less. Perhaps she would tell him more about herself, about the once alighted town.

What was there to lose?

Chapter Sixteen

When Salem was inside his house, he walked over to his room, closing the door softly behind him. His parents were asleep, the house was peaceful.

His stomach felt incredibly empty, as though it were spiraling on and on inside of him, a twisted void of intestines. His parents already had dinner and knowing his Mom, she didn’t save any leftovers.

That was alright. Salem would just go to sleep. He’d eat in the morning.

Yet as he closed his eyes, he smelled bread being baked…

Chapter Seventeen

DREAM? 

Salem found himself back in the town, only no ghosts were around. The air felt still, heavy with silence. In front of him, Eerie sat on a tree stump, breaking a loaf of bread in half.

“Want some?” She asked, her orange eyes glittering. The skin on her fingers looked like it was starting to peel off, her white bones with specks of dirt.

There was something about food and faeries deep in the back of Salem’s mind. Something that he could not quite recall, something that he couldn’t dig out of the recesses of his thoughts.

Out of courtesy, he accepted the half of the bread that Eerie was offering him and bit into it. After all, she was trying her very best to be friendly and he should be gracious of her efforts.

The bread was so soft, like the honey he used to have as a little boy.

Chapter Eighteen

Salem opened his eyes, the blanket only slightly covering his head. He could taste the bread in his mouth, it wasn’t quite a dream.

I came from the joy and celebration of All Hallows’ Eve. Yet it is oh so lonely without people.

The voice that came in his mind wasn’t human, it was more supernatural than anything. It felt familiar, but Salem couldn’t quite place it.

If he just got up, he’d be to figure it out as the day went on. He wasn’t one to forget things.

Chapter Nineteen

AT THE BREAKFAST TABLE

Salem bit into the cheddar block of cheese, wishing that it tasted as heavenly as the bread Eerie gave him. Mom had spent all her time making the bread next to the cheese, but the cheese had been stored away for a few months.

That was alright, it tasted just as fine. He’d see Eerie again, there was much more to uncover.

Dad was out on the fields, having already eaten his breakfast. Mom was giving Salem dirty looks, no doubt upset that he wasn’t out working with his father.

Don’t sweat it, magic is more important and much harder to wield. A boy’s voice whispered in his mind. It sounded like he was around Salem’s age, but it wasn’t Salem’s own voice in his mind.

Salem took another bite of his cheese, saving the magic thoughts for later.

Chapter Twenty

Breakfast had passed, Salem was outside. He could hear the wind sighing against the trees, like the ghosts in distress screeching and wailing.

I used to work with her, she helped with my magic. Come along and you will get help too. You will learn the truth if you follow the changing way of the branches.

With the wind, the branches pointed to the left, twisting and winding their way, but no, the path would never lead him astray.

Salem followed the turning trees and the colliding voice, head racing with many thoughts of what awaited beyond.

Chapter Twenty-One

“I was lost and then found. She saved me and she can save you too.” The boy’s voice said.

“Eerie will help that much?” Salem asked.

Everything became covered in murky fog, there was the stench of mildew rising throughout the air.

“No, not Eerie. Christian AND Eerie.” The boy’s voice said.

Time came to a standstill. The tree branches stopped moving, Salem couldn’t move his legs anymore.

Not even the ghosts made a sound.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Out of the fog, there walked a woman in a purple dress of many different shades, her black hair flowing around her. Her violet eyes seemed to glisten with tears, her ghost form looked like it was going to evaporate at any second from the slight flickers in her movement.

“You love your parents, don’t you? You love your family deeply?” The woman asked, her voice not quite aligning with the movement of her mouth.

Salem shrugged. He supposed that deep down, he loved them, but it wasn’t quite present. They never seemed to show that much love to him.

“Ah, but you’ll miss them. Just as I miss mine.” The woman smiled sadly.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Miss his parents? What did she mean? Whatever was she talking about?

The air shifted slightly and Eerie appeared in front of him, a grin on her face, her teeth sparkling like he had never seen before.

“Athan had looked up to Christian and suffered a terrible fate, but at least she’s not alone anymore. You know, I could use some company in this deserted town.” Eerie said softly.

She was only talking about getting a friend, but then why did she bring up Christian and somebody named Athan? Was he the boy that Salem heard?

Still, Salem couldn’t move.

Chapter Twenty-Four

A boy was walking down a fogged town, following a voice. A voice who beckoned him to “Come hither, come hither”.

Salem could feel his legs twisting and turning, melding together. The ghosts’ voices were getting louder, a symphony of screams and shouts. They could not have known of the faerie with the immense power, born straight out of the Earth, out of the spirit of celebration.

And just like Salem, the boy was becoming something far beyond human understanding, something morbid and ghastly, a creature of teeth and claws…

All the while, Salem could not scream. His throat felt too choked up.

Chapter Twenty-Five

The fog cleared enough so that Salem could see a pale creature hunched over, its bony claws twisting towards the ground, its blackened, empty eyes looking back at him sadly. The creature wore a misshapen burlap sack as clothes and with long, thin lips that dripped of black goo, it said:

“At least you look better than me.”

Salem jumped, startled by the fact that the creature’s voice sounded just like the boy’s. Just like Athan’s.

But what did he mean about looks? Salem didn’t quite jump earlier, it was as though his legs couldn’t move.

He looked down and…and..and…

Underneath his torso was not legs, but a writhing, slinking snake tail, black and red, coiled together, weighing with so much muscle and oh so heavy.

By George, he was half snake!

Chapter Twenty-Six

Salem didn’t hear the ghosts talking anymore. In fact, he didn’t hear any voices at all.

Well, almost no voices. He could hear the families in their homes, talking with one another as they ate dinner.

He stared at the tail, not quite believing his own eyes. If it was all a dream, wouldn’t it just fade away? Was Eerie playing a cruel trick on him? Why ever would she want to hurt him?

Because he should never trust the faeries.

Those were the words of his parents! He wasn’t like that! He wasn’t like that at all! He wasn’t like HIMSELF at all! He was a snake-creature, a beast, a monster…

And he’d never be able to come back home.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

“Monster! There’s a monster!” A little boy screamed.

Salem slithered far away, heart racing, thoughts racing in his head. He didn’t look back, for more voices began to cry out, announcing his presence.

No longer was he himself, but a creature of mystery and mayhem. His snake tail felt small nicks from the rocks, but goodness, his body felt so strangled, so string-like…

Oh, how he wished that he could drown in his own flesh!

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Salem slithered away from town, the tree branches coiling all around him, his tail never leaving his body.

He could hear the voices of the ghosts and the magical beings again. The fog was starting to come back again. Maybe he’d get answers.

Or maybe he’d wake up and become his normal self.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

“I just know that turning you into a monster was worth it, because now you are here with me! Now, you are more than you were before.” Eerie’s voice said through the fog.

“More? I can’t run, I can’t come back home! I’m stuck like this.” Salem cried out, his heart still racing in his chest. Wherever would he hide, whatever would he do?

He didn’t know how, but he felt the presence of Christian and Athan fade away, with only Eerie left to watch him, to laugh at him.

To keep him in her world.

Chapter Thirty

Salem hid deep in the forest, far from the human eye. He knew not what he was, only that he didn’t want to be perceived by the living.

The dead mouse felt rotten within his fanged mouth, his tail curled all around him, his eyes brimmed with tears. His parents, how they warned him!

But what use was crying? The faerie took him, he belonged in her world. Salem was a monster just like Athan and he’d have to live with that for an eternity.

Still, his sweet snake heart broke deep inside. Why did he let Eerie into his life?

Epilogue

There was a little warning that Salem remembered his Mom telling him, a warning that told him to never eat food from a fae or tell the fae his name, because doing either would grant them power over him.

But as the monster he was, he could never come back home. He saw to it that he stayed hidden from public eye. Athan and Christian were around sometimes, but they were hardly cheerful company.

Eerie? Eerie? Eerie wanted to play, play and play, mocking Salem every day!

How his head twisted with terror, how his heart convoluted with loneliness!

If only he had someone to love, a friend or something more, then it would be easier for him to get through with his cursed life.

At least, that was what Salem believed. He felt like he didn’t know much of anything anymore.