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Ever since he got to Heaven, Sir Pentious had agreed to go outside more, accompanied by Emily. It was her idea. Something about keeping a healthy body and mind, getting enough vitamin D, that sort of stuff. He had to admit he needed that, with his bad tendency to stay inside for days and days on end. And he was starting to really enjoy this new habit, too. With his noise cancelling headphones, going outside didn’t seem so bad anymore.
However, for the past few days, he was starting to not really feel like it.
Recently, he didn’t have much appetite, felt even less energetic than usual, and was overall just moody. He had noticed it took less sensory stimuli than usual to get him irritated or stressed. He was feeling uncomfortable, and his skin felt overly sensitive to the slightest touch.
This morning, a knock on his door woke him up. He opened his eyes, his vision still really blurry.
“Pen? Are you feeling like taking a walk today?”
It was Emily’s voice. Sir Pentious turned in his bed. Right now, he just wanted to hide under his new weighted blanket all day. But if he did, that would be the third time he’d have told Emily he didn’t want to go with her. He didn’t want to keep leaving her alone like that.
“Uh… yesss, Miss Emily! Just give me a sssecond to get ready!”
He rubbed his eyes, which felt strangely itchy, and tiredly got up. His vision was still blurry, but he attributed it to his sleepiness. After putting on his trusty noise cancelling headphones, he opened his door to find Emily waiting on the other side.
“Well, let’s not waste any time!” She said, grabbing his arm and pulling him outside.
Pentious hissed at the sudden physical contact. It just itched so much. It wasn’t painful, just extremely itchy. Like his whole body was tightly wrapped in plastic. He simply shrugged as the both of them started walking around in the city. Everything still seemed cloudy, no matter how much he rubbed his eyes.
“Uh… Emily? Is there… fog, today?”
“Fog? What are you talking about? Can’t you see how sunny it is?”
“I… guess? My eyes are probably just tired, you know, I feel kind of…”
“Look! A waffle shop!” Emily interrupted him, running towards the sellers.
Pentious flicked his tongue in the air, bringing the good smell inside his mouth and towards his Jacobson’s organ, one of his particularities that came with being a snake. Strangely, the smell didn’t make him hungry. Because of his currently impaired vision, he followed the smell to find the waffle shop, where Emily was.
“What do you want to order, Pen?”
“I don’t know, I… I’m not even sure I want to eat.”
“Oh, come on, you’ll feel more energized once you get some food in your stomach!”
“Listen, I’m not sssure about this. I don’t know what’s happening to me, I can’t sssee properly, my skin feels all itchy and…”
And that’s when it hit him. He was going through ecdysis. Shedding, more commonly.
“Don’t worry, you’ll feel much better after some activity, that’ll cheer you up! Now let’s…”
“Leave me alone!” He snapped.
Through his cloudy eyes, he could tell Emily was upset.
“Sorry, I shouldn’t… sssnap like this… just… please, let me go home.”
And he left.
***
Pentious was now curled up in a ball under his weighted blanket and he planned to stay there until he got his old skin off. He just wanted it off his body. It was wrapping him and itching. At every movement, he could feel it rubbing against him. He wished he could just rip it off, leave the shed skin in the corner of his bedroom and move on with his life with a brand new skin, all clean and nice. But it wasn’t ready. He had to wait several days now.
His eggs cuddled him, probably sensing he was upset. Little did they know, they only made it worse as they rubbed back and forth against Sir Pentious’ shedding skin. He was grateful he had them, though.
The discomfort and the guilt of snapping earlier becoming too much for him, he began to cry. When suddenly, he heard a faint knock on the door.
“Pen? Is everything okay?”
“Emily?!”
His head perked up.
“You can enter” he said, too tired to get up and open the door. Not like he could see anything, anyway.
She opened the door and floated towards his bed.
“I’m really sorry for… how I behaved earlier” she said. “I should have believed you.”
“No, I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have yelled at you! You were just trying to be a good friend! I don’t deserve you, Emily, I’m sssorry…” he sobbed, holding her in his arms.
Emily tried to suppress a chuckle. She had to admit she found her friend’s tendency to get emotional really endearing.
“There, there” Emily said, patting his back. “Now, can you tell me what’s wrong? Are you sick? You look pale.”
Sir Pentious got back to laying on his bed.
“Well, not exactly, it’s just, uh… that time of the month…”
Emily put her hands on her mouth, making a little “oh” sound.
“Okay, so, tell me if you need anything. I can get you some pads, or tampons if you prefer those, and a heating pad and some chocolate, it should help with the cramps.”
Sir Pentious looked at her, confused, for a brief moment, until he realized what he was accidentally implying.
“I did not mean THAT!” He yelled, suddenly sitting up. “I don’t have that kind of anatomy!”
“Oh. Right. I’m still a bit confused about the anatomy of mortals, please forgive me” she laughed. “So, what did you actually mean?”
“Well, uh, I’m shedding, as I do every 4 or 6 weeks.”
“Ohhhhh, that makes more sense. Snakes on earth do shed their skin, so it’s only natural that you would too.”
Sir Pentious sighed as he put his head in his hands.
“Does it hurt?” Emily asked.
“No. It’s jussst really uncomfortable and all itchy. It’s like being forced to wear paper thin clothes with a really bad texture, except it’s all over your body and you can’t remove it until more than a week has passed. I hate it.”
As Emily took a look at his face, she noticed his eyes looked very cloudy and grayish, like he had some kind of scales covering them.
“Why do your eyes look like this?” She asked. “Does it have to do with your shedding process?”
“Yes, as if it wasn’t already annoying enough. Those are eye caps that form with the new skin layers. As you can see, they are opaque, which means they impair my vision. So, uh… in the next few days… I’ll need sssome help. Could you… uh… lend me a hand? When I’ll need it?”
“Of course! You’re my friend, Pentious!”
She hugged him, but he quickly pulled back.
“Oh, uh, and one more thing,” he said, “I can’t really be hugged right now. Because of the skin forming. Sssorry…”
“Don’t worry. I should be the one to apologize, I really need to pull back on the physical contact…”
After a second, Emily spoke again.
“Is there anything else I can do for you?”
“Well… just being there for me is more than enough. Except when I’ll need some alone time to rest. Which I’ll tell you. But otherwise, I’d like you to stay there. Cause you’re my friend.”
And with these words, he smiled at her. She returned it.
***
They both stayed in the room for the afternoon, talking and playing board games. Eventually, it started to get a little darker outside.
“Do you want to go eat something for the evening?” Emily asked.
“Well… yeah, but I’d prefer if we ordered something. Preferably something light, I’m not very hungry. Shedding makes me lose my appetite, but it’s nothing to worry about.”
“Got it.”
Emily took out her phone.
“Do you want sushi?” She asked.
“Yes, I’d like that.”
After tapping on her phone, Emily looked at Pentious.
“It says the food with be delivered in 30 minutes. Wanna do something in the meantime?”
“Uh… yes, I’d like to take a warm bath. It helps loosen the old ssskin so it sheds better. But… again, I can’t really sssee anything with those things on my eyes…”
“You want my help?”
He nodded.
Emily very carefully took his hand and guided him to the bathroom. She turned on the bathtub faucet and made sure the water was hot, but not too much. After a few minutes, the tub was filled.
“The towel is right here, for when you’re finished” Emily said. “Need anything else?”
“No, it’s fine.”
As he reached for his coat to take it off, his cheeks blushed a little bit.
“You… you can leave now” he chuckled nervously. “I’d rather, um… save this “view” for Miss Cherri Bomb…”
“Sure thing.”
Emily left the room, giving Pentious some privacy to undress. Once he was naked, he let his body slide into the tub. He let out a sigh as his body relaxed in the hot water. It relieved the discomfort a little bit, and the water helped soothe his itches. He immersed his whole body in it, only keeping his face out of the water. He was thankful to have a bathtub big enough for his tail to fit inside.
For a moment, he got to forget about his discomfort. He felt good.
He didn’t want to leave the tub anymore. He didn’t want to go back to the dry world. He would get all vulnerable and itchy again. He hated it. It was sensory hell for him. But, sadly, after a while, he had to get out at some point. He tiredly sat up and dragged himself out of the bathtub, then stayed laying down on the floor for a few minutes, soaking wet. He didn’t really care about all the water that ended up on the floor tiles. He was too tired to think about it.
Eventually, after a few minutes of rest, he stood up and reached for the towel, struggling a little to find it due to his temporary blindness. Once it was in his hands, he gently dried his body, being careful not to hurt his skin, and then lazily wiped the floor a little bit. After that, he put his coat back on.
Rubbing his eyes, he opened the door to find Emily waiting for him outside, holding the food bags in her hands.
“Penny! Come eat!”
He sat down as Emily gave him his bag. He reached inside it and used his sense of touch to find his food, as his vision was too impaired to make out its shape. He grabbed one sushi with his fingers and brought it to his mouth. Still feeling sleepy and not very hungry, he had to make an effort to chew and swallow it. But after a whole day of not eating anything, it did feel good to get some food in him.
After a bit of time, he had eaten his whole meal. He yawned.
“Emily, I’m ssstarting to feel tired… I think I’d rather go to sleep.”
“Good idea. Need any more help?”
“Thanks for asssking, but… I think I’ll be fine.”
He slithered into his bed, sliding under his beloved weighted blanket.
“Good night, Emily…”
“Nighty night, Pen!”
***
It had now been nine days. During those nine days, Pentious had spent some time with Emily, who was more than happy to come to his house to keep him company, but he mostly just stayed alone in his room, enjoying some peace and quiet. When he needed to get up to do anything, which was still difficult with his impaired vision, his eggs helped him. He was glad he could count on them.
This day, he woke up more energetic than the past few days. He could feel he was about to finally, FINALLY shed. Feeling a boost of energy, he texted Emily to visit him. After more than a week of staying in his room, in the dark, he really wanted to do something.
As he got dressed and opened his curtains, he heard a knock on the door.
“Emily!” He said, opening the door.
“Oh, Pen, you finished shedding?” She excitedly said, seeing how he looked back to normal.
“Uh, not yet. But I’m in the last phase, as you can see. My body is clearing up, and I can finally see again!”
“That’s great!”
“And I can feel it’s gonna happen today! In the meantime, do you want to spend some time with me?”
“Of course!”
Once again, they played board games for the whole morning.
***
After a while, Pentious started rubbing firmly against his mouth with the back of his hand.
“What are you doing?” Emily asked.
“Trying to loosen the old skin… don’t mind it, I’ll tell you when it’s ready.”
“Okay!”
And with that, they resumed playing. Sir Pentious continued to rub against his face to start peeling off the skin layer, feeling like it was time. A few minutes later, he felt it coming off. It was now time to finally take it off, and he knew he first had to remove his clothes for this.
“Uh… Emily? Would you mind, uh, stepping outside for a bit?”
“Of course! I’ll be right there if you need me” she said as she went through the front door, closing it behind her.
Now that Emily had left the room, he started unbuttoning his coat. He glanced at his Egg Bois and gestured at them to look away, which they did. Finally having complete privacy, Sir Pentious undressed completely. Now, he was ready to shed.
He started slithering across his room, rubbing his body against his furniture and walls. The old skin layer around his jaw started to peel off. The relief was incredible as he felt the air against his brand new skin. Determined to continue, he resumed the process. More of his old skin started coming off almost effortlessly, all in one single piece. Little by little, the layer uncovered his new skin. It felt insanely satisfying, like peeling off dried glue from his whole body. Finally, his skin no longer felt itchy.
Soon, the whole skin had come off. Pentious took a moment to appreciate the feeling of fresh air against his body, which no longer felt tightly wrapped in some kind of bag. He felt insanely relieved. Blissful, even. He knew he was going to go through it all over again in a few weeks, but, for now, he let out a sigh of relief.
He put his clothes back on and opened the door, feeling good as new. Emily smiled when he saw him seemingly feeling much better than before.
“Pen! I’m so glad you’re back to normal! You must feel so much better!”
“I do.”
He moved closer towards Emily.
“Now that I’m done with that… do you want to hug me?”
While she was clearly enthusiastic about it, Emily hesitated.
“Are you sure you’re okay with that? Because of your issues with physical contact and stuff…”
“If I ask you, it’s because right now, I want a hug. It’s what I need at this moment.”
Emily squealed as she hugged her friend tightly. He was really glad to have a friend like her.