Spiritual Experiences by Longshot (f, qs, grim) Theresa smiled to herself as she walked down the forest path. It had been years since she'd walked this path. She thought back, she was nine, a young girl then in jeans, tee shirt and pigtails. She bounced along ahead of her mother who watched her with that motherly smile as she walked along slowly. She smiled inwardly at the memory, it had been one of the many times her and her mother had walked this path. It made her feel closer to her recently deceased mother, which was part of the reason she was here again. She had inherited her parent's house, and with a recent divorce and some leave from work, had decided to return to her childhood home. The house itself was situated just outside of a small town on a large tract of forested land. There was a path that led through the forest taking anyone that walked it through some beautiful scenery before looping back to the house. Theresa had enjoyed walking this path many times as a child and a teen, even taken a few boyfriends back into the woods. She smiled a little as she remembered her younger wilder days. She was in her early thirties now and her beauty only slightly tampered by time. Theresa was still what most would call an attractive woman, she had warm, friendly green eyes, long, dark brown hair which at the moment was pulled into a french-braided pony tail. She had a young looking face, people always told her she only looked to be in her early twenties. This day she was wearing a blue denim sleeveless sundress under which she had a white tee shirt, her legs clad in white hose and her feet with blue flats. She felt like her mother did, she could almost envision a small child of nine running before her and laughing merrily. This made her smile again, so far it was turning out to be an enjoyable vacation for her. However, she hadn't been here in some time so she didn't know that a few years ago the small stream that ran through the forest has swelled quite a bit, transforming the deeper parts of the forest into a marsh area. Theresa wandered along in her dream like state, following the path completely from memory. She hadn't noticed much of the change of scenery still seeing things as they once were. Suddenly she was broken out of her dream as she realized that she couldn't walk. She looked down to see her ankles sticking out of a sticky brown spot of mud. Her feet completely covered by the mire and her shoes nowhere in sight. Theresa had no idea when she'd lost her flats, but she wasn't happy about it. They were a brand new pair, and now her hose were ruined too. She sighed annoyed and proceeded to try and tug her legs free from the mud. After a moment or two of tugging she finally had to resort to bending down and grabbing her knees to pull her feet from the sticky mire. She managed to get a few more steps forward before she sank past her ankles and got stuck again. Theresa cried out in frustration. She certainly didn't remember this swampy mess being here before. After another tiring struggle she managed to slowly start walking forward, having to tug her legs free with each step. She slowly began to turn herself around deciding that making an arc would be the best way to turn around. She walked forward slowly, each step sinking a little deeper into the mire. Her next step put her left leg to its knee, the hem of her dress brushing the top of the mud. Theresa pulled at her right leg pulling it free from the mire but shifting her weight to the right as she did so. The weight shift drove part of her thigh into the mire as she tried to pull her other leg free. She got her right leg free only to discover she had nowhere to put it. She stood there a moment balancing on her slowly sinking leg, trying to figure out how to step forward. To her dismay the skirt of her dress, combined with the depth to which her leg had sank prevented her from stepping forward, and she was about to lose her balance if she didn't put her leg down. Reluctantly she put her right leg next to her left and it quickly sank to its knee, beside her left. The mud was cold, soft and sticky, and it seemed to pull at her legs. She squirmed, trying to break free of its embrace like a pair of icy tentacles that had wrapped themselves around her stocking clad legs, but she only succeeded in sinking deeper. The skirt of her dress began to fan out on the surface of the mire. Theresa looked around desperately, trying to find some sort of salvation from the trap she had landed herself in and finding none. She was in a clearing trapped thigh deep in sticky, soft and very cold mire. She began to struggle again, trying hard to pull her legs free of the mire, pumping her legs up and down and only seeming to sink deeper into the mud. She stopped as she heard a voice, a man's voice. "That determined to die, madam?" it said. She looked around, but in the fleeting light she couldn't see the mysterious stranger that the voice belonged to. The mire had almost reached the top of her thighs and the skirt of her dress almost laid flat on the mire. "Please help me!" she cried out. "I'm sinking!" The voice showed no emotion as it replied, "If you didn't struggle so much you wouldn't sink. That's the way quicksand works." Theresa's eyes widened and she gasped, "Q-Quicksand?" she stuttered. The voice sighed. "Did I stutter miss? Yes, quicksand. You should be still and hope that someone comes along to save you." Theresa blinked. The voice's words and the whole concept hit her like a hammer. She was sinking into quicksand. She'd seen it on TV a few times, the heroine always stumbled blindly into the pit and sank helplessly until someone came to save her. Was that what was going to happen to her? What if no one came to save her? Panic began to set in and she began to struggle, thinking that if she could only get free she could save herself. The voice laughed coldly. "You aren't listening, you won't get anywhere that way." Theresa froze again. She was up to her waist, and she could see her skirt floating on the surface of the mire. She could wiggle her toes deep in the mud, it felt soft and squishy, like it could engulf her without much effort. However she seemed to stop sinking for the most part as she stopped moving. She looked around, moving her neck carefully as if she was scared she would start sinking again. "Why won't you help me? If you don't I could die!" she cried. The voice replied coldly, "And what makes you think you wouldn't die anyway?" Theresa gasped. "Y-You'd kill me?" The voice laughed again. "Of course not!" Theresa seemed confused by this. "But ... you said ..." The voice cut her off. "I said you would die anyway. Meaning that you will die, one day. Certainly not by my hand, but now by quicksand, tomorrow by a car accident, or perhaps twenty years from now by a heart attack, or even live to the ripe old age of eighty-five and be a grumpy old coot. Then you'll die one night in your sleep when your heart stops beating." Theresa shifted uneasily, and sank a little deeper into the quicksand. "But ..." she protested. "What if I want to live longer?" She started looking around again, but night was fast approaching and she couldn't see anything. The voice didn't answer her. Theresa sat still as long as she could, her legs were numb from the cold mud, and it was slowly claiming her body. Her breasts were just above the mire now, and her shivering seemed to only make her sink faster. She couldn't feel her legs anymore, and she hadn't heard the voice. Her cries for help had gone unanswered. She doubted anyone could hear her, or would even be looking for her for days anyway. She had taken pains to isolate herself for a few days. She'd given up on crying about an hour ago and had silently begun to accept her fate. Then she heard the voice again. "Finally seeing things my way?" She nodded. "Yes," she said sadly. "You're the only one that could save me, and since you refuse to, then I will die. I can't get free on my own I've tried." The voice chuckled. "Yes I know, but we must all learn to deal with the consequences of our actions." Theresa shook her head. "I was just trying to remember my mother in a good light, enjoy the memories, when was that such a crime?" The voice replied in its emotionless voice. "It's not, but perhaps you'll learn to watch where you walk." Theresa shook her head, she couldn't believe that anyone could be that heartless, that uncaring about others. "You bastard," she whispered. The voice finally took form, which began to hover over Theresa. "It's not nice to call your mother a bastard, Theresa dear." The form floated over her and took the shape of her mother. Theresa gasped and began to squirm, fear filling her eyes. She began to sink quickly and the quicksand accepted her breasts. The sudden chill through her tee shirt reminded her of the more impending danger, and she seemed to calm somewhat. "Mom?" she whimpered weakly. The figure nodded. "Yes dear. I'm glad you came to see me." Theresa looked up at the ghostly vision of her mother. "Please mom, don't let me die here." The ghost shook its head and reached down, as if to touch its daughter's cheek, she stroked it gently, even though Theresa could not feel it. "I'm sorry child, but there is nothing I can do, except to wait and help you along the path." Theresa broke down into tears. "Please, don't let me die!" she cried. Her arms rested on the surface of the sucking mud, her neck slowly being engulfed. The ghost shook it's head sadly. "It's time my child, I wish there was another way, but it's time. I personally requested the right to guide you, since I knew you would have me in your thoughts when it happened." Theresa nodded slowly, tears still in her eyes. She looked up at the night sky as if taking it in one last time, before she closed her eyes and surrendered to the mud's cold sticky grip. She awoke a few moments later, standing next to her mother. The world around her seemed as ghost like as her mother had just a few minutes ago. "Where am I?" she looked down and could see her hands and the last bit of her braided pony tail disappearing into the mire. She sighed as she realized where she was. "It's over now isn't it?" Her mother nodded. Theresa sighed, "Then it's time to move on. I suppose you're right, it was bound to happen." Her mother nodded again. "Come on dear, I missed you, and there's much to see here." Theresa smiled as she thought about it, she would be reunited with her loved ones, and the life she left behind could never trouble her again, perhaps in it's own way it wasn't so bad. Theresa's mother smiled, she hadn't wanted to be alone, and now she had her daughter. True it was difficult and draining to alter her perceptions to see the past and not the trap she was walking into, but the results had been worth it. Muffling her daughter's cries had probably been the hardest part, especially when that hunter had been wandering through. He had almost spotted Theresa, but she had done well, and now she would have her lovely daughter to spend eternity with.