In the busy and bustling city of Bangkok, lived a young woman named Indra. Or rather, worked a young woman named Indra. Because all she did was work, sleep and eat. You couldn't call that living. Oh, the life of a corporate worker in an up and rising city.
Today, she gets off work at 5pm on the dot as usual. It's not that work drains her, but rather it provides structure to her otherwise boring life. She has no friends and she finds that work occupies her mind more productively than ruminating on how pathetic and lonely her life is. However, the tap of her id card on the access gates does fill her with a sense of relief as it does for any other office worker. The beep of the machine signifies the end of the work day.
Indra looks forward to her journey home, one could call her a thought daughter the way she likes to let her thoughts run on while walking to the BTS train station, then staring past the window on the train, then walking back to her apartment.
With her earbuds in, she was listening to some music while walking through the park to the train station. The cold air and quietness of the evening was calming. She always chose this route as it took longer and allowed her not to clash with other office workers ready to head home or to wherever they were planning to head out for the evening. It was still around 5pm so there was plenty of daylight for another 2 hours before the sunset.
In the corner of her eye, on the grass, she sensed something moving, just ever so slightly. It could be a rat. Indra stopped in her tracks. She did not want to clash paths with the rat, just the thought of the rat, confused and panicking, crawling up her leg because it was the only thing in front of it. Oh, even just the thought of it freaked Indra out. So she slowed down, cautious, staring intently at the little thing in the grass shuffling. It doesn't seem to be moving like a rat. She gets closer, for a clearer look.
She jumps back slightly again when she realizes what it was. It was a snake! The thing was balled up and squiggling into itself. Brows furrowed she got closer to inspect it. She had spent hours watching videos of snakes and their behaviors during her free time. Honestly, this made her more afraid of rats than the snakes. It seemed like the snake was having trouble shedding? Indra could see bits and pieces of dry skin peeling off the creature, however it didn't appear like a full healthy shed like she had seen in those pet snake videos.
The more she looked at it, the more pity she felt for it. Poor thing, it's probably too stressed to shed properly. The owner must have abandoned it here. It clearly did not look like a wild snake, it was a ball python bred to be a docile pet. She sighed, she decided to bring it to the nearest vet clinic. Squatted down in front of the poor snake, she pulls out her phone to search for one. Closest one is a 20 minute walk away. Alright, let's go.
Indra pulls out a handkerchief from her work bag. Who tf uses handkerchiefs in this day and age? Is this the fucking 90's where you have to wave goodbye to your lover who's going off to war at the train station? "Goodbye my love, don't die!" as you frantically wave a flimsy handkerchief in your hand? Regardless of how Indra somehow has a handkerchief ready in her bag, yay plot convenience. She uses it to scoop the snake so that she doesn't risk any infections from it. Now the snake is in her hands, on top of the cloth, it's either extremely docile or too weak to be aggressive. She starts heading for the clinic.
She passes some people on the way, a few give her weird looks to see what she's holding in her hands. Indra carries on her way nonetheless.