Skin

"I'm home" Yvie said as she walked into the long, empty, hallway that was right at the entrance. After having looked around to see if anyone was there she took off her shoes, and placed them neatly behind a plant, where she had the habit of hiding them. Ever since her shoes had once been held hostage, she felt it easier to hide them away.

She went directly into her room, but got stopped as she went by her father's office.

"Yvie, come here" Her dad ordered, to which she could do nothing but obey.

"The next full moon is in two days and nine hours. I think we can solve your problem if you bath in cleansing salt water, while the moon is high" Her fathers words were more enthusiastic than his tone, which brought Yvie a weird feeling, as he talked. She nodded as if she agreed as he was explaining, just standing by. Yvie just hoped it was another fluke. That it wouldn't help. That it was simple superstition.

But sadly, Yvie also had the feeling that there was a way to break the curse, as it would make sense, since she got it in the first place.

'What's so great about being a full human anyway…' She thought as she tried to force a smile. The forcing was obvious, but since her father was busy with his own agenda, he didn't notice. Rather, he didn't care to notice.

After being given information and directions, Yvie finally went into her room, falling down with a flop on the bed. She could feel her body getting smaller as the exhaustion slowly vanished. She could feel how her toes became one with her feet, which became one with her legs.

Feeling totally stretched out, she had shifted into a snake, as she had the habit of doing when she was by herself. She moved under the blanket.

'If only I could just hibernate until they die' she thought moodily, not really meaning it, but also not being totally opposed to the idea.

'I wonder what the crabs are doing' Her mind wandered as she closed her eyes, listening to the sound of waves from the inside of her mind. Getting lulled into a comfortable sleep, though she knew she had to change back so her parent's didn't find her like this.

"Yvie, dinner!" The vibrations from the floor reached her, as she slowly awoke from her slumber, reaching for her eyes, as it was her habit. For a while she wondered why everything looked so big, but it was but her sleepiness playing a little trick on her.

'I better turn back' She thought, as she could feel her body go back to human shape, making her one, long, being turn in to multiple little flaps, such as fingers and toes.

Standing naked, she could hear her mom coming her way.

"ON MY WAY" Yvie shouted, in the hope that her mother would go back to the kitchen, once she was sure Yvie had heard her.

It worked. As the steps got further and further away, Yvie stood there, looking at her skin.

"HUH?" She shrieked in horror, as she noticed the long white skin lying in the bed, where she had been only just a minute ago.

"What's this?" She asked the teddy bear, sitting nearest. Not waiting for an answer, she picked up the skin.

"It's beautiful, huh…?" She once again made the teddy bear her unwilling and mute conversation partner.

Sounds from the kitchen reminded her that her mother was waiting. This made her hurry up and hide the skin. She then took on her clothes, while thinking that clothes could be some kind of extra skin as well.

Out to dinner, she only nipped at her food.

'I wonder how a mouse taste…" She thought, as she put her fork in the beef-looking thing in front of her, disinterested in her parent's talk.

"Right Yvie?" Her father asked, to which she gave an awkward nod, which her father was fine with. However, her mother was different.

"Yvie, listen when your father talks" She said, with every word she spewed grinding Yvie's ears.

"I'm sorry" Yvie said, as she really was sorry… About her mother having discovered she wasn't listening.

"Now, please continue dear" Her mother said, nodding towards Yvie's dad, so he could ask Yvie again, now that they had her undivided attention.

"Dearest, I told you. Yvie already agreed earlier" He said, in a tone that made it clear that he was not feeling the need to repeat himself.

"That doesn't mean she should be allowed to get away with half answers" Her mother disagreed, with her tone of voice sounding horrified at her husband's defense of their impudent daughter.

"Can I please leave now?" Yvie asked, putting down the fork that had been the most interesting thing at the table to her.

"MAY I please leave now?" Her mother corrected her, looking at Yvie's plate

"But dear child, you haven't eaten anything!" She shrieked. Her husband sighed, but let his wife act out as hysterical as she wanted. He didn't feel like getting into it.

Yvie didn't want to spend a single moment more at the dinner table, but she also didn't want to give any reason for further strictness. With a few options weighing on her, she decided to stand up.

"May I please leave for tonight?" She asked, bowing down as she had been taught by her mother, feeling like this should be enough to soften her a bit.

"Don't come crying to me if you're hungry tonight" Her mother complained, but then waved her hand as if to say 'go ahead then'.

Yvie didn't wait for a second, and hurriedly went away.

She ran into her room and found the skin she had hidden.

'I know snakes shed their skin, but this hasn't happened to me before, so why now?' Yvie thought to herself, inspecting the long ripped skin.

'It also doesn't look much like ordinary snake skin…' She pondered as she continued to caress it.

'Maybe it's different because I'm not completely a snake?' She rationalized to herself. In truth she didn't care much about why or how. For now she just wanted to enjoy it a bit.