Fowler is just like any other small town to the naked eye. Full of teenagers who walk the streets during the day and cause mischief at night. The main attraction to the town is not an old haunted apartment building or the annual Parish Festival; it is the town’s water tower. It is the tallest structure in Fowler, the most popular meeting place for carpooling and getting together with friends. Every night the spotlight comes on at dusk, signaling to the travelers that the town is nearby. At the bottom of the tower is a door for workers to open up if the tower needs maintenance. Usually the door stays locked. Sami is a senior at Fowler High School. She drives up to the water tower every weekend to meet up with friends from in and out of town. Tonight she and five friends are going to St. Johns for dinner at Jade Garden. She will meet with Jessica, Carmen, William, Camden, and James. Once everyone gets to the parking lot, under the water tower, the five friends file one by one into Sami’s van.



“You see that door on the water tower,” Carmen observed, “I wonder if we can open it and climb to the top.” With everyone laughing at Carmen and listening to the music, nobody gave the question a serious thought.



Later with bellies full and happy faces, Sami drives all of her friends back into Fowler so they can hang out at the water tower before they have to go home. When Sami makes it back to the parking lot, she turns off the engine. They all pile out of the minivan and sit on the cement blocks in front of the parking spots.



“I know we were just going to sit here for a while, but do you guys want to go bowling or hang out at the park?” William asks.



“Will, are you going to pay for all of us?” James replies sarcastically.



“Okay, I guess we won’t go bowling. Are we just going to sit here and hang out like usual then? No park?”



“YES!” they all reply in unison. After talking for a couple of hours, Jessica decided it was time to go home. All but two people followed her, starting up their cars and leaving the water tower. Sami and Carmen were the only two left sitting on the cement blocks.



“Sami,” Carmen asked, “do you really think that we could get to the top of the water tower? I think it would be fun to sit up there. We’d be able to see the whole town!”



“I really have no idea, Carmen. Let’s go check to see if the door is unlocked.” Sami replies. They both stand up and walk to the door of the water tower. Once at the foot of the tower, Carmen slowly reaches for the doorknob.



“OUCH,” Carmen exclaims as she wraps her hand around the knob. “It just shocked me!”



“Ugh! Come on, Carmen. Stop fooling around. Just try to open the door.”



She quickly grabs the doorknob again and twists it. Surprisingly it opens! Both girls cautiously walk in and see a ladder that extends all the way to the top. They quickly start to climb. Sami notices rust on the steps of the ladder, so she urges Carmen to climb faster. With relief they finally reach the top. There is a little door to open up to the outside, Carmen unlatches the door and opens it with ease.


“Wow! That was easy!” Carmen exclaims.


“Yes, almost too easy” Sami replies. They walk around the top of the tower and sit to talk for a while. Two a.m. quickly comes, and it is time for Sami to head home.


“It’s about time for me to...” Sami starts to say.


“SHHH!” Carmen hushes. Suddenly a loud hissing noise reaches their ears. The girls freeze with fear.


“What is that?” Sami whispers.


“I have no idea but we need to leave NOW!” Carmen replies.


The girls open the door to head back to the rusty ladder, but what they see is a giant snake slithering around the bottom of the water tower. It reaches the door and slowly slithers out. Sami quickly calls her mom to tell her that she will be home late and not to wait up for her. After she gets off the phone with her mom, she and Carmen watch the snake slither out of the parking lot.


The girls climb down the ladder as fast as possible. They run outside and jump into Sami’s mini-van.


“Do we leave? I want to leave!” Carmen says.


“No, we need to wait for it to come back and go into the water tower.” The girls wait for two hours before the snake returns. Instead of going back to the water tower, it searches the parking lot.


“Sami, turn on the van.” Carmen insisted. Sami started the van. The snake senses the changed atmosphere and turns towards Carmen and Sami.


“All right,” Sami starts, “I have to hit the snake and run it over. I have to kill this thing!” As the snake gets closer, Sami throws the car into reverse and gets as far away from the snake as she can. The snake doesn’t back away. It keeps advancing on them.


“Go now!” Carmen screams. Sami floors the gas pedal and the car races towards the snake. 50 feet, 20 feet, 10 feet away from the snake. The car jolted as it hit the snake head on, running it over. The whole length of the body was split in half. Sami parks her van right next to Carmen’s car so she can get in it quickly.


They both decide that they should take pictures so people will believe their incredible story. They take a couple of pictures with their cell phones and part ways until the following day. The next afternoon Sami and Carmen show friends and family the pictures and tell their story together. They all head up town to look at the snake but there are dozens of people blocking their view. Sami writes a paper titled, Water Tower Terror, and sends it into the local newspaper. There is no more giant snake in the water tower to cause any harm to anyone.