Outside the storm was raging. Rain beat down on Angela's window relentlessly, the regular drumming as loud as her TV. She turned it up so that she could hear it properly over the noise, and settled down in the warm, glad that she was inside and not out in the pouring rain.
Because of the volume of her television she did not hear the knock on the door. She was suddenly startled by a face at the window, looking in on her. It was the face of her husband John. She went round to open the door.
"I'm glad I'm not out there with you. What's it like driving out there?" She looked up and screamed. It was John's head, but not attached to his body, and it was being held by a strange man.
"Welcome to your worst nightmare," he said, and stepped inside.
The story was all over the papers the next day. "Husband decapitated, wife missing, feared dead," they screamed. Yet none of the papers could offer a motive for the killing, and no-one had any idea where Angela could be. Soon a rumour went round that Angela had killed him and had run off. Her friends ridiculed the idea, saying that they had enjoyed a very close and happy marriage, but there was no other explanation.
Melanie was sitting, reading the weekend papers. The article of the murder caught her eye. She read it with interest, and was chilled by the fact that the weather was the same as the night of the murder, according to the paper.
Suddenly she heard a knock at the door. "Who could that be in this weather?" she thought aloud. She went to the door and opened it. Outside stood a man, soaking wet and shivering, carrying a rather large bag, which seemed to weigh a fair bit by the way it was being carried.
"Do you have a phone I could use?" he asked.
"Be my guest. Please, come in, you look terrible." Melanie could not help but feel sorry for him, standing there in sodden clothes. "Let me take your bag."
"Don't worry, its rather heavy. Anyway, I only want to use your phone, and then I'll be off. I don't want to trouble you in any way."
"Come on in then. Coffee?" she asked.
"Thanks." He put the bag down, and picked up the phone. "I really am sorry to trouble you like this, but I've been lost in this town for two hours now, and so I would like to phone the people who I am staying with."
"Really, its fine," Melanie replied, slightly embarrassed.
The man dialled a number. In a few seconds he put the phone down. "It's engaged. Do you mind if I stay just for a couple of minutes?"
"No, not at all, Mr?"
"Bateson, Lee Bateson."
"Here you are," Melanie said handing him his coffee. "Please excuse me just a minute."
"Thanks. I'll try again in a minute or so."
Melanie left the room to go to the bathroom. She returned a couple of minutes later, but the man wasn't there, although his bag was on the floor, although it was empty.
"Mr Bateson," she called. She caught sight of the newspaper open where she had been reading it, on the article of the murder. "Oh my god, what have I done. How could I be so stupid? What kind of person is he?" She picked up the phone and started to dial the police. Suddenly a hand grabbed her.
"Not so fast, my dear. Come, I have a surprise for you." He quickly tied her hands together, surprising Melanie with his strength. He marched Melanie up her stairs, and threw her onto her bed. "You might have heard of me. I've been in the papers a lot recently. In fact, I see you were reading about me when I came."
"You killed that man and woman, didn't you?" Melanie asked.
"I killed him, certainly. But as for her, she met with a different end. So can you, if you're lucky."
"What do you mean?"
"I'd like you to meet a friend of mine. She's called Amy, and she likes to squeeze." The man bent down to get something from the floor. He stood back up again, this time with a large snake around him. "Isn't she beautiful? She's a Burmese python, almost sixteen feet long, and I think she wants to give you a hug. First though, a little more tying and a few less clothes."
The man tied Melanie's hands to the head of the bed, and her feet to the foot, although leaving a couple of feet slack at each end so that she could move around. He then took a knife and slit her shirt exposing her breasts, and then her pants, ripping them off and leaving her naked.
"You won't get away with this, you bastard," Melanie screamed. "My boyfriend will be home in a few minutes, and he is a security guard."
"There is no point in trying to deceive me, Melanie. I've been watching you for the last few days, and listening in on your phone calls. I know you live alone, and I know you have nothing planned for tonight. Now, I think that Amy wants to meet you."
The man took the snake from round his neck and placed it on the bed next to Melanie. She screamed and edged away as far as she could from the snake.
"Don't worry, she won't bite, just squeeze a bit," he said.
The snake flicked her tongue out a few times, trying to assess the situation after having been stuck in the bag for half an hour. Slowly, she slid across the bed towards Melanie, towards her face. Melanie froze in fear.
The snake moved over Melanie's naked breasts, and to her neck. Slowly she moved round, and under Melanie's neck. The smooth skin against her sensitive breasts brought Melanie back from her terror, and she tried to move away, but could not move fast enough to stop Amy.
"She has a coil round you now. It's too late to struggle. Relax, enjoy her embrace."
"You're a pervert," Melanie shouted, and spat at him, falling short. She could see his obvious erection in his trousers, and knew why he was doing this.
Meanwhile Amy was still moving. Her head had travelled all the way around Melanie's neck, and was on her breasts again, facing up at her head.
"Don't look at me," Melanie screamed at the snake. Amy seemed happy to comply, and started to go down Melanie's body, beginning another coil. Melanie could feel the strong head push underneath her, and she arched her back to try and keep it from touching her.
The head soon reappeared at Melanie's side, and moved up, below her breasts, and then down again, covering her waist in thick grey and green muscle. There was still three feet of tail lying on the bed beside Melanie, easily enough for another coil.
"This is how you killed her, isn't it? This is what you did to that woman." Melanie said to him, almost crying.
"She wasn't as beautiful as you though, my dear," the man said. "Although I think Amy enjoyed taking her life as much as she will enjoy taking yours."
Amy was still moving round Melanie, under her lower back, and then up at the other side. Her head slowly moved across Melanie's vagina, frightening her, yet reassuring her.
"At least you can't rape me, bastard. Your darling Amy has put a stop to that."
"Darling, I never intended to. I just like to watch," he replied. "Now Amy has wrapped you up, you know what comes next, don't you? She is a constrictor, after all."
True to his words, the snake started to tighten on Melanie. The snake's body slowly pushed into Melanie's, the coils closing up. She could only lay there helpless as the snake slowly embraced her, getting slowly, but noticeably tighter.
"I'll kill you, I will fucking kill you," she shouted at him. He just laughed and watched in pleasure as sixteen foot of snake slowly tightened, its strong coils holding her soft, beautiful curves.
For the first time Melanie realised that he would let the snake kill her. She would die, crushed by her greatest fear, enwrapped by its strong body. Yet at the same time, she saw the beauty and majesty of the snake, powerful enough to hold her, but still smooth and slender.
The feel of the snake pressing on her, now noticeably tighter, brought her fear back to her. The coils crushed her fragile body, restricting her breathing. Each time she breathed in she was fighting against strong muscle, pushing with what little strength she had against the might of the snake.
Slowly the coils gained ground, tightening with each breath she took, forcing each one to be shallower and more difficult. Sweat formed on her chest from the exertion of just trying to stay alive. Meanwhile the man just stood, watching silently.
Melanie could feel her muscles straining more with every breath, yet the snake was showing no signs of effort, just continuing its slow, but deadly, embrace. The great coils flattened her breasts, held her neck and tested her ribs, but she refused to give in.
"I do like to see my favourite girl play with another girl," he said. "Especially when she is as sexy and as persistent as you. But why fight her? It is truly a beautiful way to die."
"It's not over yet," Melanie hissed through her teeth between gasps. Her breaths came short and often, as she fought to get the oxygen she needed to carry on fighting. Each gasp brought the coils a little tighter, a little closer to her death.
"But it so nearly is," he replied, and Melanie knew that he was right. The coils could not be halted, could not be stopped. "I love to see Amy's victims like this, weak against her strength, sweating against her coolness."
Melanie did not reply, saving her breath, knowing that any more large breaths and she would be gone. The great loops still tightened despite her efforts, making her feel dizzy from the lack of oxygen, and putting pain throughout her body.
She started to feel herself lose a grip on consciousness, starved of the oxygen her brain cried out for, trapped by the strong body of the snake. Slowly she slid away, no longer able to fight, no longer able even to take the smallest of breaths.
The man sat and watched her take a final, tiny breath, before stopping. He waited for a few minutes, as Amy continued to crush, bending her fragile figure, before unwinding her, and freeing the unconscious Melanie. Then he took a knife from his pocket and slit her throat, and then threw it next to her. He draped Amy round his neck and walked down the stairs, back to the kitchen. He put Amy back into her bag, opened the door and stepped out into the night, ready to prey again.
By Konstricta