You hear about this stuff in urban legends all the time. The Loch Ness Monster, the Qalupalik, the Kraken, the Umibozu, and many more. But, many have not heard of the legend of the Serpent.

Legend says that there is a small town in Florida called Blue Field. In the woods of the town was a small neighborhood, which was near a lake. Inside the lake lies…the Serpent… It has two forms one is a beautiful woman and the other is a humongous snake. The Serpent awakens once a year, and tries to hunt for humans. It pretends to be a drowning woman, and once someone tries to save it. The woman transforms into the snake and attacks.

Men are it’s dinner, women are it’s savior. Legend says the Serpent is a trapped soul of a woman. When the Serpent attacks a woman it’s soul is set free, and can move on while the other woman’s soul is trapped in it’s place. Even though I had heard this legend a million times why hadn’t I heeded it’s warning.

The day was July 4th, 2008. I lived in Blue Fields all my life with my Grandma. I was excited to be celebrating the Fourth of July. The town was close-knit, and everyone was lighting fireworks, cooking barbecue, and swimming in the lake. Everyone except me of course. My grandma was special. When she was my age, she tangled with the Serpent, and barely made it out with her life. My grandmother refused to let me swim in the lake.

She would say, “Amelia you are a smart young woman, so you should understand that your actual life is more important than your social life.” Or, “I love you so much honey, and you and I both know I’m not very strict on rules. But, Amelia this is a non-negotiable; this family has gone through enough trauma. You’re a young thirteen year old girl, your life is worth so much more than a swim in a lake.”

I was annoyed, but I loved my Grandma so I listened. But that night was different. My Grandma hated the Fourth of July, so she would take a ton of sleeping pills so the fireworks wouldn’t wake her up. My room’s window mirrored the lake, so I spent my night watching as the adults set off fireworks and the kids swam in the lake.

Then I heard a knock at the door; it was my friend Susie.

She said, “hey Amelia, my family are about to go down to the lake. We know that your Grandma usually sleeps through the Fourth of July, so we figured that we should invite you to come with us. I didn’t want you to be alone on your favorite holiday, so do you wanna come.”

I thought for a second. I didn’t wanna disobey my Grandma, but I would be surrounded by tons of people and the Serpent only comes up once a year there’s a huge chance that it’s not today.

So then I said, “sure Susie! I have never been to the lake before. Let me get my bathing suit and then we can go!”

I then shut the door and ran to grab my bathing suit. We walked to the lake. There were fireworks shooting off everywhere and all the children were enjoying their time in the lake. Susie and I jumped into the water and started swimming around.

We were talking to the other kids splashing each other and having a ball, but then Susie and I noticed a woman thrashing in the water. I knew immediately that it was the Serpent and started swimming to the shore but Susie didn’t. She began swimming towards it.

I screamed at her, “Susie No!”

But she seemed entranced by the Serpent. I was a fast swimmer, so I quickly began swimming towards her. Once I got to her she was a foot away from it, but that was all the Serpent needed to transform into it’s snake form. I saw it’s tail reach for Susie, so I pushed her out of the way and it grabbed me instead. It pushed me underwater and brought me to my death. The last things I remember before dying was hearing a lot of screaming and kids running out of the water.

I had became the Serpent that day. Since then no one enters the water, and I remain waiting for that one stupid person.