The Gift

"Did you see the necklace she was wearing?" Tiffany whispered to Rachel as they huddled around the water cooler. Rachel's eyes widened. "No, what was it?" she replied, her curiosity piqued.

"It was... mesmerizing," Tiffany said, her voice dropping to a hush. "White gold, with a snake amulet that had the tiniest rubies for eyes. She said it was from a secret admirer." Rachel leaned in closer, her voice barely above a murmur. "Do you think it's worth something?"

The office buzzed with the usual hum of keyboards and muffled phone calls, but all anyone could talk about was the necklace. It had arrived at her home by mail in a small velvet box. Laura had found the necklace fascinating. Laura had unclipped the necklace with trembling hands, revealing the serpentine design. She hadn't taken it off, even to sleep. The next morning, she had put it on with a smile, the silk band and gleaming amulet resting against her collarbone. It was unlike any of the other gifts she had received over the past few weeks. The costume jewellery and trinkets had been a topic of amusement, but this... this was something else entirely.

Laura had looked so radiant, so confident, as she walked around the office, the silk and gold glinting in the fluorescent lights. "It's so... unique," Rachel had said, her voice genuinely impressed. Laura had just nodded, her eyes never leaving her own reflection in the glass of a nearby framed award.

As the day wound down, Laura had thanked everyone for their compliments, but declined the invitation to join the after-work gathering at the pub. "I'm just too tired," she had said with a yawn, her hand unconsciously touching the snake's head of the amulet. Her colleagues had nodded in understanding, some of them envying her early night. Little did they know, the necklace would bring Laura more than just a good night's rest.

When Laura finally made it home, she collapsed onto her bed without even bothering to change or eat dinner. The necklace felt surprisingly warm against her skin, almost as if it was alive. She drifted off into a deep sleep, the amulet's now luminous ruby eyes seemingly watching over her.

The next morning, Laura woke with a start, feeling strange sensations in her body. Panic surged through her as she took in the sight of her transformed legs and hips, which had become a scaly, six-meter-long tail. She slithered to the bathroom mirror, her heart racing. The necklace, and the amulet, were gone. The reflection that stared back at her was not the one she expected. Her eyes were now narrow slits, her pupils vertical like a snake's.

Her mind reeled as she tried to piece together what had happened. The necklace! It had to be the necklace. Laura's thoughts raced as she reached for the gold and white snake amulet. The rubies glinted malevolently in the morning light, and she realised with a horrifying clarity that it was not just a any piece of jewellery—it was a curse. A powerful, ancient curse that had transformed her into a creature of myth and legend. She screamed, the sound echoing through her apartment, a sound that was no longer human.

The curse had taken hold of her, and there was no turning back. Laura's life as she knew it was over. But she was not alone in her despair. The necklace's previous owner had left a note, hidden in the velvet box that now, once again, held the necklace an amulet. It spoke of a hidden chamber in the distant museum, where a similar amulet lay waiting—a serpent's head to match her tail. It was her only hope for reversing the transformation. With determination, Laura knew she had to find it. Now all she had to do was get to the British museum across the Atlantic Ocean.

Woman: Mahafsoun 
Snake: Wikimedia Commons: 2_Peter