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When Ponyboy woke up in the middle of the night in his pitch black bedroom, the first thing he processed was the ravaging hunger in his stomach. And it wasn't the type of hunger you'd feel when you're just simply hungry after a long, few hours of not eating. It was that sharp, stabbing pain in your abdomen that makes it feel like something is about to explode if you don't get your hands on something edible in three seconds.
So Pony clambered out of bed, being careful not to wake Sodapop in the process, who was snoring away. He put his hands out in front of him, trying to avoid anything that he could bump into on the way to the door because his eyes hadn't adjusted yet and the room around him was still completely dark. He felt his way to the door and opened it slowly, slipping through the doorway because he knew if he opened it too much it would let out a loud creak and wake up the whole house. He shut it tightly when he got to the other side, satisfied when he didn't notice Soda's snores wavering.
Ponyboy then walked down the hallway, rather fast for someone who just climbed out of bed a minute ago. He cringed when he stepped on a creaky floorboard, squeezing his eyes shut and saying a quick silent prayer that it wasn't too loud. But Soda could sleep through a tornado if he was allowed, and it's not like Darry would crucify him if he caught Pony up looking for a snack. But they all know how grumpy he gets when somebody wakes him up when he doesn't need to be awake. It's almost funny really, and Soda and Pony love to tease him in the morning for it. But not so much in the moment.
He continued moving when he didn't hear anyone stir, sharply turning around the corner and into the kitchen, ready to feast on the first thing he could get his hands on.
Then, through the dim light of the kitchen, his eyes landed on the toaster. And suddenly, the thing Pony was really craving was toast. Something short to make and not necessarily loud either. Perfect!
Ponyboy walked over to the counter and pulled out two pieces of white bread from the little bag, placing them haphazardly on the countertop. He went to grab the toaster with two hands, to bring it out more from where it was pushed more towards the wall, when suddenly, his fingers grazed something that seemed to be coiled behind it. For a split second, he thought it was just the plug and was about to pull it out farther, until from the corner of his eye he saw the actual plug laying to the side of it through the darkness of the room, nearly falling off the edge of the counter.
This set off a million different alarms in his still sleepy mind, and he ripped his hands back immediately. Pony didn't feel anything move, but he swore he felt the scaley, thin tail of... something. He didn't even want to think about the possibilities of snakes right now. So instead, took two apprehensive steps to the side closer to the wall, and reached a little bit behind him to flick the light switch on.
He blinked rapidly to let his eyes adjust as light flooded the room, and caught sight of the toaster. It looked so innocent just sitting there on the counter, but he could've sworn there was something hiding behind it. After all, this wouldn't be the first time they've found scaly creatures in the house, especially around this time of year. But even then, it was usually just a common house gecko that sprints away at the speed of light if you even went near it. Ponyboy silently pleaded that it was just his imagination just playing tricks on him as he inched back towards the toaster, planning to snatch it away to reveal whatever's behind it.
When Pony stopped he was still relatively far from the counter, his arms elongated just enough to grasp the front sides of the toaster. He took a deep breath, and held onto it tighter, a little more at ease when he didn't see anything shoot out from behind it.
But that pinch of calm washed down the drain in an instant when he pulled away the toaster to reveal a dark brown colored snake, coiled in on itself. And huge, at that, despite the fact it was curled into a ball. Ponyboy just stood there and stared at it for a second as it lay unmoving, and he wondered, hoped even, if it could be dead. But all of the sudden, the toaster plug smacked the ground as it fell off the counter completely, causing the snake's head to shoot up from where it was buried in itself, and Pony flinched so hard he practically jumped.
'It's awfully ugly,' he thought as it stared at him for a second that felt like hours, its black, beady eyes, unblinking and unmoving. But obviously it woke up and chose violence because it quickly opened its mouth to bare its fangs and hiss, showing off the white of its mouth. Oh, God. A Cottonmouth.
Ponyboy dropped the toaster with a loud bang and let out a short, shrill yell when the snake's head snapped forward a few times, chomping it's jaw down as if it were imagining to be biting down on Pony's flesh.
In seconds, stumbling could be heard from one of the bedrooms, probably Darry's. His bedroom door slammed open and his heavy footsteps came running down the hallway. He practically skidded into the kitchen, hair tousled from sleep and muscles tense expecting to find an intruder. But instead, he found his baby brother shaking in his boots with the toaster at his feet, staring at something Darry couldn't see from where he was positioned.
"My God, Pony, what happened? It's three in the morning, what are you doing-" Darry began to lecture him, but cut himself short when he saw the limbless spawn of satan on the counter.
"Holy shit," Darry muttered under his breath, grabbing Pony's shoulder and taking him back a few steps.
"I was up looking for a snack and I found it behind the toaster... I'm sorry I woke you up," Ponyboy told him, voice shaking slightly and eyes blown wide, still fixed on the snake.
"Just.. okay, just stay put." Darry said, raking his hand through his hair. Pony nodded and started to chew on his fingernails, watching as Darry tried to inch past the snake to cupboards under the sink where the pots and pans were held. But the snake striked again, narrowly missing his forearm after it silently slithered to the edge of the countertop when he went to reach for the knob to open it.
This caused Darry to screech and fall back onto the ground, something that would've been funny if they weren't facing a deadly predator. The noise scared Pony out of his skin and caused him to scream too, possibly louder than the first time, as Darry scrambled to his feet, nearly tripping over the stupid toaster that was still on the ground. He grabbed Pony by the shoulder and dragged both of them back a few feet, watching as the snake slithered around the countertop.
Just as soon as they were back a safer distance, the familiar sound of a bedroom door slammed open and footsteps ran down the hall.
"What's going on?" Soda exclaimed, darting into the kitchen pretty quickly for someone who probably woke up literally ten seconds ago.
"There's a damn snake that nearly bit my arm off," Darry said, pointing to the snake on the countertop, the other hand splayed out in front of Ponyboy to keep him away from it. Darry looked away for one second to meet Soda's face, when suddenly, Pony let out a gasp.
"Look!" He said, pointing at the snake, which was starting to make its way off the countertop, half of its body dangling off the side. Darry whipped his head back to see the snake staring right at them, a murderous look in its small, black eyes, and its pink tongue sticking out every few seconds.
Darry was about to give up, he figured he could just hole him and his brothers up in his room for the night and call some guy to find it and kill it in the morning, until Soda shouted "I got it!" from behind them.
He was just hardly able to get him and Pony out of the way before all of a sudden, a random, white dinner plate was flung through the air and hit the snake head on. Glass shattered everywhere and the snake flopped to the ground instantly. They stood around in silence for a second, watching to see if the snake would make another move, but luckily it never did.
"Well, you're welcome," Soda spoke, posing with his hands on his hips like he just saved a baby from a burning building.
"Jeez, Soda, don't you think that was a little violent?" Pony asked, crouching down where the remains of the glass plate and snake lay, Darry following in suit.
"What? It was a quick death. Plus, he was threatening us." Sodapop said matter-of-factly, shrugging his shoulders.
"You still hungry?" Darry asked, flicking away a piece of snake carcass that was on the floor and smirked at Ponyboy, who grimaced and shook his head immediately.
No, he was definitely not hungry at all anymore.