Five minute free write - snake

mikesthoughts (58)in #freewrite • 7 years ago (edited)

My mind is focused elsewhere this morning

But I wanted to do my morning warm up before moving on to other things. It's a habit I've grown accustomed to and enjoy the release of it. This mornings prompt, SNAKE, brought to mind a couple different directions. Go literal, or go figurative. A snake doing something, or betrayal of some kind.

Since I've been edging on the negative side of things lately, I figured I'd take a more literal approach. Not let the seed of darkness grow this morning. Instead, a life and death battle of wills is what I determined would be what I wrote about.

Without further ado...

A picture, frozen in time, both motionless.

One human.
One not.
Both deadly.

Eyes locked on one another. A deadly struggle fought in the mind but with real consequence. One move and a world could come to an end. At least for one of them.

Millions of years of evolution. Fighting, screaming, crying to be let out.

One yelling, 'Run! Fight! Run! Fight! Run! Fight!'

The other, silence. It's actions dicated not by thought but by the reality of life.

Evolved, or not. It's just a matter of opinion at this point.

His heart beats, faster than it's ever gone before. His mind a point of light bombarded by unfailing electric signals. Death looks right at him. He looks back.

Another, deeper, older fight rages. Survival of the fittest. Will the tools of nature win, or the tools of man. Gun in hand, machete at the ready, would it make a difference?

A tongue flicks out, in, out, in, out, out. Tasting. Tasting. Is it fear? Is it danger? Is it dinner?

Definitely not my best piece...

The rallying cry of creatives everywhere, hehe. I've always found evolution, how the mind works, how it reacts to certain situations fascinating. One side of it reaches far back into the past, primitive, unthinking, something that keeps us alive. But, not always. We've also been giving the ability to rise above that, to think in more ways than one. But, will it always be useful.

The snake just is. Thought, action, reaction, living. When brought face to face what happens? I just realized where the seed of inspiration for this writing came from. Last night I was writing about Malaysia again, the Cameron Highlands. My focus was on the tea fields but I ended with a teaser about poisonous snakes and cinnamon. When we were on a tour in the jungle looks for some bark to chew on our guide mentioned them. Small, deadly, and hanging from branches. A hard image to get out of your mind once it's in.

If you like to write and are looking for a challenge, check out @mariannewest's Five minute free write. If you're looking for a step up to that challenge, try it on The most dangerous writing app.

Hope everyone has an awesome day!

Michael