After a while Henry decides to head to the Zoo, “I honestly want to see if I am really able to talk with and understand all reptiles now,” he says to himself, getting up from his bed and putting on his sneakers.
Since it’s a warm day, Henry grabs his thin jeans jacket and is soon sitting on the bus on his way to the Zoo.
After an hour drive, Henry finally arrives at the Zoo, and after paying the entrance fee, he heads straight for the reptile house.
The 12-year-old’s eyes widen when he enters the large building, everywhere he turns he can see rows upon rows of large glass terrariums built into the walls, each terrarium housing a different reptile. There are snakes and lizards in every form, shape, size and coloring, there are even a terrarium with turtles, one with alligators and one with crocodiles.
Henry stands at the door for a while, unsure where to go first, seeing that there isn’t anyone standing at a terrarium which houses a king cobra, he decides to start there first.
The 12-year-old slowly approaches the glass, looking into the terrarium, he taps lightly against the glass with a finger. His eyes widen when suddenly the large head of the cobra appears, “whoa, it’s huge,” the boy gasps, he then swallows, “um… c-can you understand me?”
The snake seems to blink and tilt its head in confusion, before it slowly nods its head, “I don’t know how,” it then suddenly says in a deep male voice, which has a surprised, but dominant tone to it, “but yessss… I can undersssstand you, child”.
Henry’s eyes widen, the 12-year-old looks around, making sure that no one is close by to witness, before looking back at the snake, “and I can understand you,” he says, a huge smile appearing on his face, “this is so cool!”
“I think it’ssss weird,” the snake says, “we shouldn’t be able to communicate! How issss it possssible?”
Deciding it won’t cause any harm, Henry quickly explains how he is able to communicate with reptiles, “there you have the reason, my name is Henry, by the way”.
“Sssso… you are telling me, that there issss thisss human made program that issss sssssupossssedly able to transssssform anyone and anything into anything imaginable,” the snake asks.
Henry nods his head, “it’s so cool, but also so freaky,” he says, “I mean… it transformed my big brother into my pet king snake for two weeks, who knows what else it can do! And what damage it could cause in the wrong hands”.
The king cobra nods its head, “I may be a ssssnake, but we cobrassss… we are one of the sssssmartesssst sssssnakes in the world, ssssso I am able to underssssstand what you are talking about and the danger that that program could cause”.
Henry nods his head, “may I ask you a few questions,” he then asks, “I… I’m fascinated by reptiles, especially snakes, and would just like to learn more about your kind”.
The snake tilts its head, “why not,” it then says, “I’m alssssso curioussss about your sssspeciesssss”.
“Cool, um… first, do you have a name?”
The snake shakes its head, “no, I don’t,” he says, “there are ssssnakesssss here who have namesssss, but thosssse ssssnakessss I conssssider not to be real ssssnakesss”.
Henry tilts his head, “why,” he asks, “I mean… a snake is a snake… right?”
The large cobra lets out a snort, “in your eyessss,” it says, “but ssssnakesss, who were born in captivity are weak and wouldn’t sssssurvive a ssssingle day in the wild”.
“Oh, so you were captured and brought here,” Henry asks, frowning a little, “that must be awful, being ripped from you environment and home”.
The snake nods, “yessss, it issss,” it says, “although I get treated with ressssspect and taken good care of, I’d prefer to be free. Thissss terrarium, though ssssseeming large enough, feelssss so cramped to me”.
“I feel so bad,” Henry says, “I’m sorry that you have to suffer”.
The snake lets out a sound that almost sounds like a chuckle, “at leassssst there isssss one human who undersssstandssss,” it says, “I’m ssssstarting to like you, Henry,” it then says, seeming to smile.
Henry smiles back, “I… I kinda like you too,” he says, “though I do feel a little intimidated. You are so big and fierce looking”.
The cobra chuckles, “well, we king cobrassss, we are one of the largesssst ssssnakesss in the world,” it says, “yessss, we are pretty intimidating, but every sssssnake, no matter itsssss ssssize, hasssss itssss own way to put fear into humanssss and other animalssss”.
Henry nods his head, “your fangs must be huge,” he then says, “and I bet, one drop of your venom would be enough to kill hundreds of people!”
The king cobra chuckles, “to be honessssst, our venom isssssn’t that potent,” it says, “lesssss than five humanssss die from a king cobra bite each year. The mosssst potent venom issss that of the indian cobra”.
“I see,” Henry says, “I’ve heard that snakes bite ad attack humans without reason”.
The cobra snorts and seems to roll its eyes, “that’ssss a lie,” it says, “we ssssnakessss only bite to defend oursssselvesss. We don’t attack humanssss without reasssson!”
“Oh, so… if I were to gently stroke over your body, you wouldn’t bite?”
The cobra looks at the boy, “in your cassssse, that would be true, but only becausssse you are able to communicate with ussss reptilessss. If a “normal” human were to touch me, I might ssssee that assss a threat, becausssse we sssnakes do not like being… handled by humanssss”.
“I see,” Henry says, “um… you said earlier that you don’t have a name. W-would you mind if I’d give you one? I mean… I don’t really want to call you “mister snake” or “snakey”!”
The king cobra tilts its head, it then chuckles, “I wouldn’t mind,” it says, “what kind of name do you have in mind?”
“Since you are completely black,” Henry says, “I think “Phantom” would suit you well!”
The snake tilts its head, “Phantom… Phantom…,” it says, trying out the sound of the name, “you know… I really like that, it doessss have a nice ring to it”.
Henry smiles, “I’m glad,” he says, “by the way, you kind of remind me somehow of “Kaa” from Jungle Book, which is a children’s story about a human boy called mowgli who is raised by wolves. Kaa isn’t a cobra, I think he is more like a python, but he is huge and even has hypnotic powers!”
Phantom lets out a laugh, “that sssssoundssss ssssso sssssilly,” he says, “a ssssnake that issss able to hypnotize a human…. Pleasssse… we sssnakessss don’t have ssssuch power, though… it ssssoundssss like fun. Imagining to be able to hypnotize a human, have him or her do whatever I ssssay… hehe… that would make thissss whole ordeal more fun indeed”.
Before he even realizes what he is saying, Henry suddenly says, “I… I could… if you wanted to… use the app to give you hypnotic powers,” his eyes then widen in shock as he realizes what he had just said.
The snake seems surprised, it then chuckles, “that would be cool,” it says, “if I would have ssssuch power, I wouldn’t ussssse it for anything bad, I’d usssse it for sssssome laughssss… like… caussssing a ssssilly human to act like sssssome animal! HAHA! That would be ssssso hilarioussss!”
Henry relaxes a little, “so… you wouldn’t use it to… break free,” he asks a little hesitant.
“Of course not,” Phantom says, “even though the urge of esssscaping isssss sssstrong, I wouldn’t do it. I’d either be recaptured or killed, should sssssome human notice me, bessssidessss… it would causssse panic and chaos if I’d esssscape”.
Henry tilts his head, seemingly to think about it.
‘If he should actually do it,’ Phantom thinks to himself, ‘I could have ssssome fun with thisssss kid and all the other sssssilly humanssss, hehe… I could become an actual king… haha… that would be awessssome: A king cobra that rulesssss over the humanssss… I kinda like that idea!’
‘Something tells me Ii shouldn’t,’ Henry thinks to himself, ‘but… I trust him, and he makes a good point! He wouldn’t want to cause any panic, so I doubt he’d use the power to escape’. Henry then smiles at the snake, taking out his phone, “I’ll do it,” he says, aiming the phone at the cobra.
Phantom watches as the boy holds up the strange device and begins typing into it, after a few minutes the snake feels a shiver run through his body, and its eyes seem to widen when it suddenly is aware that he now has the power to hypnotize anyone and anything, “I feel sssso powerful,” he says, he then smiles, “thankssss Henry, I promisssse to not do anything bad with thisss power”.
Henry nods and smiles, “I know you won’t,” he says, “you said it yourself: you wouldn’t use it to escape, because you wouldn’t want to cause panic. I just want you to have some fun once in a while”.
The snake grins, “hehe… oh, I will defiantly have tonssss of fun!”
Henry giggles, “hey, I want to check out the other reptiles,” he says, “I’ll come back later before I head home to say good bye”.
Phantom nods, “okay, Henry,” he says, “I think I jusssst made my firsssst human friend,” it then chuckles.
Henry chuckles himself, “it’s kinda cool to have a “king” as a friend,” he says, “anyway, your majesty, I’ll see you again shortly,” he then says, bowing dramatically.
Hearing Henry say this causes Phantom to feel a surge of power rush through him, the snake grins, then nods his head, “I’ll ssssee you later, little one,” he says, then watches as Henry walks away. When Henry is gone, Phantom slithers over to a rock and curls up, grinning to himself as he closes his eyes, ‘that ssssilly boy, he has no idea what he hassss done by giving me thissss power,’ he thinks to himself, ‘but… I’m thankful to him that he did, Henry… I promise to treat you well, while I torment the other humanssss… hmmm… maybe, if I play thisss right… Henry would even make me more powerful… like a god,’ his grin widens more as he slowly drifts off to sleep, 'or I could... jusssst MAKE him give me more power,' is the last thought before he passes out.