Ambrose Bierce "The Man and The Snake" did that for me. I was only just beginning to read and rummaged around a bookshelf at my grandparents' and found this cute little book. Not your average children's book, as it turned out :-). The only story I read was this one.
It is of a soldier who, staying in someone's house, spots a snake under a bed and is mesmerized by it. He just keeps staring at it. The next morning, the owner comes in and finds the soldier dead on the floor and a toy snake under the bed.
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