The Leaf Watcher

                                by Sonic Blond
                                (f, qs, grim?)


The  leaf-watching  season  was  in full swing. It was a much hotter then usual
fall  and when Indian summer arrived the temperatures were hovering in the 80s.
Missy  was  driving  North  on  Interstate 81 in central New York State heading
towards  some  of  the  best leaf changing vistas in the United States. She had
packed  all her camera gear and a video tape recorder and taken both Friday and
Monday off from work. It was going to be a wonderful weekend. She roared up the
highway  in  her  convertible  RX7  wind  blowing her red hair around wearing a
skirt,  blouse  and hunting boots with white stockings on. She was glad she had
worn a garter belt and stockings; it was so hot outside.

As  she  drove  north of Cortland she began to notice the subtle changes in the
leaves  on  surrounding  hills.  To  her  left  was  a  deep valley dotted with
farmhouses  with  a small river running through it. It was typical terrain that
had  been  gorged  out  of  the  land by the glaciers of the ice age. When they
retreated  they left the small hills of glacial debris behind and deep scars in
the  land  that  filled  with glacial runoff water. It was how the Finger Lakes
were  formed.  The work of tons upon tons of ice scouring and scraping the land
only to retreat and leave behind their mark.

When  she  got  to  Syracuse  some  thirty  minutes later the white roof of the
carrier  dome  jutted  out  from  the  ugly  city like a giant marshmallow. She
continued  north  and saw signs for the Cicero swamp. She remembered her mentor
from  college telling her about that magnificent swamp. It too was a by-product
of  the  ice  age. It was the largest swamp in central New York and a haven for
all types of wildlife. She decided to pull off the highway and get a room. This
was her chance to get some real good pictures of wildlife she thought.

The  Holiday  Inn was comfortable and had a pool. After checking in she quickly
changed  and  went to it. It was cool and relaxing after the long hot drive and
she  stayed in until the skin on her fingers shriveled. After her swim she went
to  her room and got a pizza delivered. She asked the pizza delivery person how
close  the  swamp  was  and he looked at her puzzled. "Why would you want to go
there?"  he  asked.  She  noticed he had a map under his arm and offered him 20
dollars  for  it. He gladly took the money and said thank you. She unfurled the
map  out  and  to  her  surprise  noticed the swamp was utterly huge and rather
close. There were small dirt roads criss-crossing it all over so it looked like
she  would  be  able  to  get around in it rather easily. She figured she would
spend  a  day in the swamp and then head north the following day to capture the
leaves  on camera and settled herselfs for her favorite dinner, pepperoni pizza
and  coke.  The  pizza  was  delicious. The aroma of it filled her nostrils and
every  bite  was  heaven.  Each  long drink of Coca Cola burned the back of her
throat but felt so good going down.

After  her  dinner  she  napped a while. When she awoke she couldn't go back to
sleep so she turned on the TV. It was late on a Friday so some horror movie was
playing.  She  watched with disinterest as a cute English girl dressed up as an
explorer  got  in  and  out  of  trouble  while  being chased by bad guys. Then
something  caught  her attention. The girl had been running from a rather large
snake  and  wandered  into  some  quicksand.  She  watched as the helpless girl
struggled.  Something  inside her stirred. She began to get wet and her nipples
began  to  get  hard.  As  the  girl  began  to  sink  from  sight  she had the
uncontrollable  urge  to masturbate and began to reach into her panties. To her
dismay  the  girl  was rescued before she went under. She finished what she had
started and rolled over and went to sleep with the TV still on.

The morning sunlight peeked through the cracked curtains and awoke Missy from a
deep  sleep.  She  rolled out of bed and began to plan her day. She decided she
would  shower later after the swamp trip to save time. It was early around 8:00
am  so if she hurried maybe she could get some decent pictures and make it back
before  checkout.  She threw on some shorts, black panty hose, her hiking boots
and  a  long sleeve shirt. She flipped her long red hair into a ponytail, threw
on  some  makeup,  grabbed  her  camera  gear  and  flew  out the door with the
partially  folded map under her arm and a piece of cold pizza between her lips.
She went by the front desk where a twenty-something year old guy was ogling her
ample  breasts  as she sauntered up to him. She leaned over just like a hooters
girl  with  her  cleavage showing and asked for a very late checkout. The young
man  nervously  agreed and she could tell he was struck by her. She loved doing
that  to  men.  She  would come back grab the last of her cold pizza for lunch,
take  a  shower  and head north with a crop of pictures she had no idea she was
going to get before. Pictures of a lush swamp and wildlife.

She  got  in the red RX7 flipped the top down and headed where the map told her
to  go.  A  little  ways down a few streets and she found herself on a two-lane
country  road  heading towards the Cicero swamp. As she drove she thought about
the  movie  the night before and the strange way it made her excited. Something
about it felt unresolved however. The girl had been rescued. 'Damn, I wanted to
see her go under!' she thought ...

She  turned down a dirt road that was on the map. It was well traveled and well
kept. The woods around her were thick and the colorful dead leaves of fall were
everywhere.  Brilliant  yellows,  reds  and  browns  layered  everything like a
carpet.  There  were  still  a  lot  of  leaves  in the trees for the next days
shootings  farther  north, so she wasn't too worried about them all falling. It
was yet another hot day and she wished it were cooler. Something about the fall
being  hot  just  wasn't  right.  She longed for that cold crisp back to school
feeling in the air. This certainly wasn't it. The trees suddenly broke open and
then she saw it. Stretching as far as she could see a massive swamp. Dead trees
jutting  up  from  within it and greenish patches of growth all over the place.
There  were pools of stagnant green water and layers of muck as far as could be
seen. The road went straight up the middle. She followed the road for a mile or
two  and  came  out  the  other side. At the other side there were smaller dirt
roads that went to the left and the right. She went down the one to the right.

The  road  followed  the  swamp. Between the tress she could intermittently see
that  swamp  to  the  right. Several times her car had to sneak over dry stream
beds  without  bridges that were a bit muddy. She worried about her car getting
stuck  but  it  did  just fine. Then she saw it. A large magnificent white bird
standing  in  the swamp to her right through the trees. She pulled the car to a
stop and grabbed her camera gear. The ground was dry on the road and occasional
leaves  bunched up here and there. There was no path leading to the bird so she
lunged  forward  into the woods along the edge of the swamp. The bird heard her
and  took  to flight. She watched it fly another 100 feet away and come to rest
in  the  shallow  water  again.  She  snapped  a  few long-range shots and half
sprinted along the marshy edge.

She  saw  the  bird  take  off  again  when  she  got  close.  This was getting
frustrating she thought. The bird flew over a small rise ahead and out of view.
Missy  decided  to give it one more try to get some close ups. She bolted ahead
and  climbed  the rise. When she reached the top she was looking down into what
seemed to be another of the dry creek beds she had seen earlier. This one was a
bit  wider,  and the closer it was to the swamp the muddier it seemed to be. To
her  right was the massive swamp, ahead of her the muddy mouth of the dry creek
bed,  and  to her left a carpet of colorful leaves covering the rest of the dry
creek  bed from the trees along the edge of the embankment. The bird was out of
sight  but  she had an idea that it was on the other side of the creek bed. She
decided to cross the creek bed where the leaves were. This would keep her boots
from getting muddy. Chances were it was dry anyway she thought.

She  walked over to the leaf covered part of the creek and took several strides
out  towards the center of the carpet of red, gold, brown and yellow. She could
tell there was a little mud underneath the blanket but the leaves did their job
and  protected  her boots. As she got to the middle suddenly the bird fluttered
up  from the marsh grass near her to the swamp and landed not ten feet in front
of  her!  Missy  stood still and stopped walking. The bird sat there staring at
her.  Missy  pulled  her camera up and began taking shots. She took a few steps
sideways  but didn't notice how the carpet of leaves slowly started to tremble.
It  was a gentle motion that someone even paying attention might not recognize.
But  Missy  was  focused  on  the  beautiful  bird. She decided to get a little
closer.

Her left foot took a step forward and the leaves opened up and accepted it with
a  sloshing sound. Before Missy knew what was happening she put the full weight
on  her  foot  and it was swallowed up by thick black mud under the leaves half
way  up  her  boot. She had already began the next step with her right foot and
tried  to stop the stepping motion but it was too late, she was off balance and
her  right foot plopped into the same morass even deeper then the left. "Gush!"
she  announced  and  the bird just watched. She tried to pull her left foot out
since  it wasn't as deep as the right. The mud was very sticky and with a slurp
her  right  foot  drove in a few inches deeper as the left was held fast by the
suction.  She  then  tried the right and the left went deeper. She tried this a
few  times  but  her  wide  boots  were  stuck fast in the goo that was rapidly
getting  softer with her struggles. The leaves were mixing into it and a little
black  patch  was developing in the carpet with Missy standing in the center of
it now stuck up to her calves.

Missy  was  just  standing there wondering how to get unstuck when she felt the
cool mud slowly creeping up her bare calves even though she was not moving. She
started  to  panic a bit, thinking she didn't want to sink anymore since it was
such  a  struggle at this point as it was. She was about ten feet from the bank
in  front  of  her and she had walked about ten feet to get to this spot. There
was  nothing  around  to grab on to. She tried to pull her left leg up with her
arms.  She pulled with all her might and the leg was coming free. Her right leg
was driving deeper though and she knew she had to get the left one out. Just as
the boot was beginning to break the surface she lost her grip and it drove back
into  the  mud.  Something  seemed to happen in the bog as suddenly she lurched
downward to the top of her thighs. A wave went through the leaf-covered mud and
a large slurping sound filled her ears. She continued to sink a bit faster now.

A  monster wave of panic set in and Missy's eyes opened wide and her lips began
to  quiver. Her breathing got quick and the adrenaline filled her body. The mud
rose  past  her  crotch and engulfed the bottom of her shorts and licked at her
ass  cheeks.  She  began  to  struggle, twisting her hips this way and that and
leaning forward and backwards to try to loosen the grip. She just sank further.
She  gasped  in  horror as her waist met the mud and she seemed to settle in to
her  belly button. She leaned as far forward as she could and grabbed a handful
of  leaves  from  in  front of her. The black hole of her deathtrap was getting
larger  as  she  struggled. The edges a mixture of the beautiful leaves and the
deadly  mud.  Her mind was telling her not to struggle but she continued to try
and claw her way through the leaves and the trap just widened.

After ten minutes of struggle she was now hopelessly mired in up to her breasts
and  steadily  and slowly sinking. The bird was still watching. She screamed in
terror  for  help  as  the realization of her fate began to set in. She stopped
moving  altogether  hoping  it would help. It didn't help; she had made the mud
too  soft  during her struggles earlier. Her arms were resting above the mud as
it moved up past her breasts. Her legs were now held in a vice grip and the mud
was  pressuring  her  body from the surface to her feet. It was getting hard to
breathe.  Her shoulders went under with a plop and the end of her ponytail hung
in  the  morass. Her arms were half in and out of the mud and leaf mixture. She
attempted  one  last  struggle trying to kick her feet and move her arms. For a
moment  she  rose out of the mud for three or four inches. She groaned from the
strain.  The mud seemed to loosen for a moment and she felt like she was coming
free.  Then  her  strength  gave out and she was sucked back in. Her whole neck
went  under  and  she tilted her head back screaming weakly. Her ears filled in
and  the  mud  crept  up over her cheeks and suddenly with a plop her face went
under with her hands stretching outward grasping at the mud. The last thing she
saw was the beautiful leaves in the trees ...

The  day  manager  went  inside  the room. Missy Michalson had not come back to
check  out  after  a  whole  day.  There  was a half eaten pizza on the bed. He
thought  to  himself  about how she had had a nice rack and wondered if she was
going to come back for her stuff.