Sinking in it by Fear359 (f, qs, grim) "When the real estate man told me that there was a small swamp about a 1/2 a mile away from my house, I just laughed and said, 'Just because I'm single and pretty, that is the worst come on line I have heard in a long time!' Well, he assured me that he was telling the truth, and that's why this house is avaiable. The last owner's lost two children in there, and they just needed to get away and would take anything for the house. I remember reading something about that in the paper. But I was still not sure if he was telling me the truth or not, so I let him finish talking." "Okay, Miss Smith. Just sign on this line, and then the last line on the last page, and the house is all yours." "So tell me, Tony, how far is this swamp, and am I in any danger?" "Well, Miss Smith, like I said before, it is about a 1/2 mile away, and if you stay out of there you will be in no danger at all. Besides having snakes and a few gators there is a few amount of quicksand in there, and they believe that is what happened to those two kids. Well if that will be all Miss Smith, I will be on my way back to my office, and if you need anything, please by all means call." And with that he hopped back into his car, and drove off down the road. "Well, I guess that it's time to get this house in order, and this is gonna take a long time. Man, you never know how much stuff you have until you move, and then it's like "Hey! Where and when did I get all this stuff?" Well, as you can tell my last name is Smith, my first name is Starr, and I hate it when people call me Miss Smith. I know that they are being polite, but Starr would sound so much better than Miss Smith! Oh, well! Let me get into this house and start getting things into order." Ring ... ring ... "Man, oh man! Not even here a day yet and the phone starts ringing! Hello? Oh, hi Mom! Yeah. Things are going good, and I was trying to unpack right now, so I can't talk long. - What? - Yes, I have heard all the stories about the swamp behind the house, and no, I'm not going to go out there. - Yes Mom, I know about the to kids who died out there. Mom, Mom, Mom! I gotta go, alright? I want to get the house set up before you and Dad come down this weekend, alright? - Yes, Mom. I know. I'll be careful. Bye, Mom!" - *click* - "Why are Moms so hard headed and won't listen to anything that you have to say? Oh well, let's get this done." After 5 hours of moving boxes here and there, unpacking this box and that box, and then having to break them down, Starr decides that it's time to take a nap for a few hours. It's only 1:30 in the afternoon, and the nap would do her wonders. "Man, this moving is for the birds! I'm gonna go lay down for a few hours, and then when I get up I'll get something to eat and start on the front yard." Starr is out before her head hits the pillow, and for two hours she has a very peaceful and deep sleep, when ... Buzzzzzzzzz! "What? Time to get up already? Man I was sleeping good, too. Oh well, let's get the rest of this together, and-" *gurrrrr* "First, I think it's time to get something to eat, I'm starving!" As Starr walks downstairs to the kitchen to make her some lunch her mind for no reason says, 'Starr, let's go for a walk after lunch and check out this swamp!' "What? You have got to be kidding me! No way!" Starr starts laughing because she realizes that she is talking to herself. "Man, I think I need to go back to bed after I eat. I must be really tired to be talking to myself." After lunch, she is sitting at her dining room table, thinking about this so called swamp behind her house, and then she starts thinking. "Well, maybe I could just go in a little bit and check things out. I won't go that far in, just a little ways to see it for myself. And that way if I ever get lost in there I'll know where I am and can get out." - "Starr, you have got to be out of your mind! Girl, that is a swamp! Two little kids died in there and you could be next! This is not a good idea." - "Would you shut up? They were kids and I'm a grown woman! I know what the hell I'm doing, and ... Uh oh, there I go talking to myself again. I think I'm going crazy! So I think that I'll get out of the house for a while and take a walk." Starr walks upstairs and changes clothes and puts on a pair of tight blue jeans, a thin long sleeve shirt and a pair of hiking boots, and then walks back downstairs, locks the front door, grabs her keys, and heads out the back door. Once out the back door, she makes sure it's locked, and then turns and heads for the gate. Opening the gate Starr sees a few trails that lead down towards the dense forest, and begins to have seconds thoughts. But they only last for a few minutes, and then she is on her way. "I don't know what in the world I am doing out here, and I really should go back in the house. But for some reason I have to see this place for myself. I don't know why, I just do, and ... and ... If I don't quit talking to myself, I gonna commit myself to a nut house!" The farther Starr walks on the darker the forest becomes, until she comes to two trails. One goes straight and the other one goes to the left. "Damnit! Which way now?" Then she see's a sign. 'Danger! S.I.I. swamp! Proceed at your own risk.' "S.I.I.? I wonder what that stands for, anyway? Oh well, might as well get this over with." Starr begins to head down the trail. Her heart begins to race a little and her pulse quickens and she can't understand why, but she knows that she likes this feeling. "Well, so far, so good. Nothing out of the ordinary so far. Well I'll just keep going until I feel like going back." Starr can understand how two little kids died in here. If you don't know where you are going it would be so easy to get lost, and she knew that all she had to do was turn around and go back the way she came, if anything were to happen. Taking in all the sights and sounds of the swamp was great. Starr kept on, heard birds and things she knew were not birds, but she was not scared. In fact that drove her on deeper into the swamp, until she came to a small foot bridge. "Well, what do ya know! Someone built a bridge here. I wonder why? There's no water there, just a little mud, that's all and ... I wonder ..." And with that Starr found a big rock and threw it right at the sand, and what happened next shocked her. The rock just simply disapeared, with a *plunk* sound. "Oh my God! This bridge is over quicksand! I think, I've had enough for one day. I'll come back another day." But as Starr turned around she got the biggest scare of her life. A snake had come out of the bushes and was just lying there in the middle of the trail. "Ah! Hell, not a snake!" Starr tried to scare the snake away, but it just looked at her, and when she jumped up and down the snake started to come forward, right at her. "Shit! Not this way, you stupid snake! Just go back the way you came so I can go home!" The snake was still inching its way forward, and Starr knew that she had only one choice now. "Damn! I hope this bridge holds me. You stupid snake! If I find the right trail back, I'm gonna come back a turn you into a pair of boots, you hear me!" And with that Starr turned around and gently put one foot on the bridge. It seemed to hold her so she put her other foot on the bridge, and it held strong. So Starr started walking across the bridge. When she turned around and looked the snake was on the bridge also, about 5 to 7 yards behind her. Starr turned around, and begain to walk a little faster, until she got to the other end of the bridge, and when she turned around again the snake was still following her. "What is it with you, anyway? Is it my perfume or what? God, get away from me!" The snake still moved forward, and when it was less than 3 yards away, Starr turned around and bolted down the path as fast as she could. She knew that she could outrun the snake as long as she stayed on this path. After about 150 yards down the path she stopped and turned around, and much to her surpise the snake was still there. It wasn't moving fast but it was still there. So Starr took off running again, and after about 50 yards down there was a turn in the trail that looked like it circled around the swamp, and came out the other side. Well, Starr poured on the speed and hit the turn running as fast as her legs would carry her, and that's when she saw it, the path back to the main trail. Not looking back Starr took off in a full sprint, telling herself that once she got home, she would never come out here ever again. Thiry yards from the main trail she saw that it was muddy, but not caring if she got a little muddy in the process she hit the mud at full speed, and was shocked when her feet and legs sank into the mud. It was more like stepping into glue, because it grabbed hold of her calves and wouldn't let go. "What? What in the hell is this?" Starr begins to pump her legs, and the more she pumps the deeper she sinks, and then she remembers what Tony had said about this place having quicksand in it. "No, no, no! Help! Somebody, help me! I'm stuck and I can't get out! Please! Is anybody out there? Help me! I'm trapped in quicksand and I'm sinking! For God's sake! Somebody, please!" Starr knows that if she keeps struggling like she is she will only sink more. But trying to stay calm when you're in quicksand is hard, and the more she struggles the deeper she sinks. And when it has her waist she can feel it loosening up, and now instead of being like glue its now like a runny soup that is taking more and more of her beautful body. "Ahh! This stuff has got to let me go! If I could somehow grab my left leg and pull it out, then I could pull the right one out and get out of this mess!" As Starr plungs her arms into the soupy like glue she grabs her left leg and pulls with all her might. But as hard as she pulls the quicksand pulls even harder. "That's no good. Maybe ... What? Hey, I can't get my arms out now! NO!" Now Starr is really freaking out, and in trying to free her arms she has sank up to her chest. Legs trapped, arms trapped, there is nothing to do, but sit and wait. And as Starr waits for the end to come she notices that she is not sinking as fast as she was. In fact, she hasn't sunk anymore in the last five minutes. "Maybe if I take it nice and slow I can get my arms out and then the rest of my body. Ahh!" *pop* "Ahh! Ahh, ahh!" *pop*. Starr has gotten both arms out, but in doing so she has started sinking again. As the quicksand moves over her breasts and up to her neck, once again Starr begins to struggle making the quicksand softer and softer. "Somebody please help me! Help me, I'm trapped in quicksand! Please!" Starr feels the quicksand touch the bottom of her lip and she tilts her head back, and she begins to think that she is done for. All because she listened to that inner voice, that damned inner voice! And for some strange reason she knows what S.I.I. means. And yes, she's sinking in it. Starr tries one more time to free herself, and with one giant push against the quicksand she struggles. But the quicksand having the advantage and almost all of her body it pulls back, and in one swift motion it swallows Starr Smith completely. Then nothing. The trail looks as it did before Starr ran into it. Ring ... ring ... ring ... ring ... 'Hi, this is Starr. I can't come to the phone right now, but leave your name and number after the beep, and I'll get back with you as soon as I get in. *beeep*' "Hi, Miss Smith. This is Tony from the real estate office. I have been asking around and I just wanted to let you know that, if you go walking towards the swamp, don't go to the straight. There is quicksand on the main trail about 30 yards down the road. Well, I hope you are getting settled in alright. Well, good bye." *click*