This morning started out like any other. I went into the bathroom to wash my face, half awake and thinking about breakfast. But the moment I lifted the toilet lid, I couldn’t breathe. Something dark was resting at the bottom of the bowl.

I froze. For a few seconds, I just stared, trying to make sense of what I was seeing. The movement was slow, almost graceful, like something pushing gently from beneath the water.

And then it hit me — what I was looking at wasn’t an object at all. When the surface rippled, I caught a glimpse of dark, shiny scales. That’s when I realized — there was a snake inside my toilet.