Off the Beaten Path

                                   by Meggan
                                 (f, qs, grim)


Her  vacation was a deserved one. Jennifer was tired of her life and a few days
in  Accapulco  could  fix  a  lot.  She  had  opted  to  take  a tour through a
particularly nice forest on the third day of her vacation. A tour guide led her
and  several  others  down  a  worn dirt path through the most beautiful forest
Jennifer had ever seen.

Jennifer  heard a river roaring of to her left. She was drawn to the sound, she
had  to  see  it. She thought to herself that there would be little harm if she
went  and saw it. She could easily catch up with the others after a quick look.
Jennifer  quickly ducked off the path and within a few moments she was standing
on  the bank of the most beautiful thing her eyes had ever laid upon. She gazed
on  the  beautiful river for many moments and tuned back toward the way she had
come.

"I had better catch up with the group now."

Jennifer went to take a step but her feet would not respond. She looked down to
see  that  the  muddy bank had swallowed her hiking boots up to the ankles. Jen
pulled  again on her feet but it only suceeded in making the mud slide over the
top of her nice new boots.

"Oh no, I might loose the group if I dont get out of this quick."

Jen  became  frantic  taking turns pulling on either foot, trying desperatly to
take  at  least one step forward. However all she suceeded in doing was getting
in  deeper. When she had stopped she was calf deep in the mucky enbankment. She
stopped moving instantly.

Jen  became  scared  as  the  mud began to slide up and over her bare knees and
began  to climb her thighs. She realized that she had become stuck in quicksand
and  was now at the point where it was pulling her in whether she moved or not.
Jen  began  to  scream  for help at the top of her lungs, but she knew that the
group  was  now  too  far away to hear her and there was no one else around for
miles.

When  the  mud claimed her waist Jen began to cry. She began to ask herself why
she had to be so bold and leave the group. When the mud came to her breasts she
wiped  the  tears from her eyes and became determined to find a way free of the
quicksand that held her. She tried to grab everything near her, but nothing was
in reach, not a branch, not a rock, nothing.

The  quicksand  came  to  her shoulders and quickly pulled her arms beneath the
surface. The quicksand now was at her neck and Jen  was beyond determination or
fear.  She  turned  her  head  to  look  at the river once more as the quickand
reached  her  chin,  and it was the last thing she saw  before her head totally
slipped beneath the muck.