(Inspired by the following picture and originally posted at DFN)
“That’s the craziest Halloween story I’ve EVER heard!” he blurted out when I was done telling it. Allan always was the skeptical one of our group. But I could tell I had Rebekah hanging on every word.
“Did that REALLY happen here, Anjelica?”
“Every word of it,” I told her solemnly.
“Ahh, you’re just shittin’ us!”
“Am I, Allan?” I asked, looking right at him.
Eva clung a little closer to Jeffrey while Sadie and Evan looked at me rather dubiously.
“What?” I told them all. “You don’t hear it? Listen!” They all went quiet except for Allan who loudly proclaimed I was the biggest distributer of horseshit in the bayou. But that’s when Becca shushed him… “I think I DO hear it, Allan!”
“I hear it too!” Eva said quietly. Somewhere in the direction of those two decrepit old buildings was a distinct tapping sound.
“He’s here,” I told them soberly. “Maybe I shouldn’t have brought you here. Besides, this is a pretty creepy place to hang out for the night.”
Just then we all heard the faint hiss of a nearby snake. “COTTONMOUTH!” Eva screamed, jumping up as she caught sight of it. It was far enough away not to be of danger to anyone. But of course by then everyone else was on their feet.
A sudden crashing sound was heard from somewhere in the woods as though something was coming right toward us. “Oh, SHIT!” I blurted out in growing fear. That’s when everyone scattered in separate directions, abandoning the campfire we had built.
As it turns out, Allan and Rebekah were the easiest. After all, the blowhards usually turn out to be the cowards. In fact I really didn’t have to do much of anything.
He went left and Rebekah went right so that they lost each other. There was another crashing sound nearby that caused her to abruptly change course. She finally stopped beside a tree, screaming when she found a machete embedded in the bark. I knew she would take it, choosing to grab whatever was handy as a possible weapon.
Feeling a little braver now that she was armed, Rebekah went looking for Allan. But another crashing sound came right at her, and she turned and ran in the opposite direction in the near darkness. She finally ducked behind a tree, cowering as though she was going to die of fright at any moment!
Crashing sounds and footsteps meant something terrible was coming toward her. She waited until the very last moment before taking the initiative. That’s when she came out from behind that tree and thrust that machete forward, crying out like a hardened warrior…
It all but gutted poor Allan, a look of complete and utter shock in his expression as he went down with his entrails starting to come out.
Poor Rebekah screamed, “Allan, NO!” Then there was a growl from somewhere nearby. Rebekah dropped the machete, turned and went shrieking off into the woods.
It is never a good idea to run pell-mell when you have no clue where you’re going or what lies directly in front of you. She plunged headlong into a big pit of quicksand, going completely under. Arms broke the surface and flailed in desperation as she coughed and sputtered, swallowing a ton of quicksand. Then she slipped back under the surface. There were a couple of brief undulations before all was still…
–
Eva and Jeffrey made it close to one of the buildings, only to hear that tapping sound get louder. They decided that was the last thing they wanted to investigate, especially after my terrifying little tale. They ran in the opposite direction holding each other’s hands until they came to a dock and caught sight of a canoe.
“Let’s take it; let’s get out of here!” he declared.
“What about the others?” she asked in growing panic. “We can’t just leave them behind??!!”
“They left US behind, remember?” he told her. “Now get in, Eva! I’m getting us out of here!”
They both climbed in, whereupon he grabbed the lone paddle and started to row. Soon they were starting to put distance between themselves and the two buildings and that tapping sound. But canoes are famously unstable unless you have good balance, and in their panicked state they kept rocking it back and forth…
“Jeffrey, take it easy! We’re going to fall out!”
“No we’re not, Eva! I know what I’m – WHAAAA!” Then Jeffrey went right over into the water with a splash.
He came up sputtering, having lost the oar. He grabbed onto the side of the canoe, frantically holding a hand out toward his date. “Help me back into the canoe, Eva!” he declared in a trembling voice.
The canoe suddenly acted as though it had been bumped. Jeffrey lost his grasp and went back under. That’s when the water seemed to churn underneath the canoe before it became still. Then Eva thought she saw the water in her vicinity take on a reddish hue.
“Jeffrey?” she called out in a trembling voice. “JEFFREY??!!”
She thought she saw his hand near the surface. So she grabbed for it, only to pull out a severed arm. Eva screamed and then let go of it as though it had suddenly turned into a hot poker. Then something seemed to come up to the surface. But what she thought was the rest of Jeffrey’s body turned out to be large and scaly with soulless, hideous eyes.
Eva screamed as the canoe rocked with her inside. She was pitched out, hitting the water with a splash. Almost immediately she came up swimming for shore as though her life depended on it. She probably shouldn’t have looked back because that’s when she discovered her life really DID depend on it!
She was almost to shore when she felt something bite down on her feet and drag her under. She screamed a froth of bubbles as blood came up everywhere. Then she was twisted over and over as the creature rolled her under the surface.
It suddenly let go and she shot back up, panting wildly for breath. Her feet were gone; she couldn’t kick anymore. It hurt so bad that she simply rolled over onto her back, trying to catch her breath as shock set in.
She looked up at the misty sky as though unable to comprehend where she was or what had just happened to her and Jeffrey. That’s when the snout reappeared and bit down hard into her stomach. Eva screamed and then coughed up blood as it took her down.
A froth of bubbles came up as it rolled her over and over again. Then the surface of the water began to settle before one last little burst of bubbles came up. By then the meal was no longer in a position to fight back as the creature swam the corpse down toward the bottom of the swamp, ultimately to serve as a midnight snack when the time came…
–
That left Evan and Sadie who were making their way back to the campfire looking for their friends. They looked all around, painfully aware of the dangers all around them. They felt as if the entire Swamp wanted them dead, which in this case was a totally accurate assessment. But I wanted them dead even more… and now I had Rebekah’s machete.
I had the last act of our little play all set up when I went after them. They were easy to find. I crept up close and then tossed a branch ahead of them. It made enough noise when it landed to send them scurrying back my way.
I ducked behind a tree and waited. Then I took the machete, came out and swung with all my might. Evan’s head went sailing; it was a perfect blow.
Sadie screamed as the body of her boyfriend toppled onto the soft earth, blood spurting out of the severed neck. Then she saw me brandishing the menacing weapon. “WHY??” she wailed.
“Over that way!” I motioned.
She numbly went in the direction I had indicated until we entered a little clearing. There dangling over a really low branch near the ground was a rope in the shape of a noose. “Climb onto that branch and then put your head in the noose, honey.” I told her.
“Anjelica; NO!” I just motioned threateningly with the machete while evilly chuckling, “Do you want to lose your head like your boyfriend?”
She gasped as she clambered up. Then she reached up and pulled on the noose. It didn’t come down all the way and she told me she couldn’t get it down!
“Stretch up on your toes and put your head up into it!” I commanded.
She had to stretch upward and pull the noose down toward her. But the branch above gave way just enough for her to get it around her neck. When she let go, it snugged itself right up around her throat as though the swamp was eager for her to dance.
She squawked like a frightened little bird as she rasped for breath while shuffling around on the toes of her sneakers. Then she suddenly stared at me in horror. “Your story!” she gasped. “This was in your story… and so was a guy losing his head to a machete!”
“It was, wasn’t it,” I told her with a chuckle. “You catch on quick.”
“And the others?” she gasped in a trembling voice.
“Just like I described in my story,” I told her. “Two went into the water and are nothing but hors d’oeuvres now. Allan got gutted by his date, and Rebekah went for a little swim in some quicksand.” Then I chuckled sinisterly at her.
“Would you believe I’m just making all this up on the fly? Actually you can blame it all on the ghost that’s tapping in that house over there!” I pointed over in that direction as she went white as a sheet.
“Anjelica, please don’t DO this!” she whimpered.
“Why not?” I wanted to know. “It’s a swamp story, the very one I told to you stupid people back at the campfire! And by now you should know how it ends, right?”
Her eyes got big as saucers she started to shake her head. That’s when I brought the machete down just as hard as I could on the low branch she was standing on. It broke apart and she dropped a little as the noose took her full weight.
She kicked and struggled as she clawed at the rope around her neck. I just stood there and let her do that. She looked good dancing and kicking in that tight sweater and short skirt.
She started to get weak as she rasped for breath, frantically clawing in a vain attempt to loosen the noose around her throat. Then her arms finally fell away. She hung quietly, her body gently swaying back and forth as little spasms made her arms and legs twitch a little.
“Not bad,” I told her with a smile. “Not bad at all.” Then I left her there as I made my way toward the building with that tapping sound…
–
“How did I do this time?” I ask him with a seductive smile as he sat there typing away on an antique Corona at an aging oak desk. “Did you like how it all turned out? Did all of that make you horny? Want me to come over and make it all better for you?” I had sucked his cock before and was looking forward to doing so again.
He looked at me for a moment before turning and typing some more as I got on my hands and knees. Then I seductively crawled toward him across the old, wooden floor, licking my lips with anticipation. I assumed he was typing what I was about to do to him next. Then I heard his voice as though he was speaking the words he was typing
…and then the old, weakened floor suddenly gave out on her…
I cried out in surprise as I fell right through the newly created hole in the floor. I landed with a splash in a very thick ooze. I fought my way to the surface only to hear him typing away on the keys through the hole in the floor, his voice coming down in my direction
…she could not reach the edge of the quicksand pit she had fallen into…
“QUICKSAND??!! RIWA; NOO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING??!!”
…screamed as she flailed around, frantically looking for something to grab onto, her heart racing…
My heart raced as I looked all around, frantically looking for something to grab onto. I was in it up to my shoulders and I couldn’t get out! Then I found a vine nearby and I stretched out for it, wrapping my fingers around it
…only to discover the vine was not attached to anything…
“RIWA; NOOO!” I pulled on the vine, but it came all the way in with me! I panted anxiously for breath until my foot found something solid beneath me… or at least I thought it did. But when I pushed down
…it gave way underneath her, causing her to sink a little deeper…
“STOP IT, RIWA! DON’T DO THIS TO ME!! I DON’T WANT TO DIE LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE!!”
I tried floating on my back …but it was too deep… I tried to work my way over to the edge of the pit I was in …but every little movement made her sink even deeper…
“NO, RIWA!” I cried out. “I DON”T WANT TO GO OUT THIS WAY!” …but she was slipping deeper and deeper until her head started to tip back…
“No, Riwa!” I begged. “Please… stop banging on those damn keys and help me out of this!”
Once more I tried to find solid footing beneath me. It felt like there was something there …in the pit of quicksand with her. But it wasn’t solid enough… to push myself up out of the – “RIWA; DAMN YOU! QUIT IT! DON’T KILL ME LIKE THIS!”
She slipped ever deeper… “No, Riwa; Please…” …but she couldn’t stop herself from sinking. “Gawd no, Riwa! You told me I was your MUSE! Please let me go get someone else for you to write about!” …begged him to allow her to get someone else for him to write about. That’s when she felt all around…
I reached down as I whimpered in growing panic until I felt something. I grabbed on and started to pull upward, only to discover …had discovered the fate of his previous muse…
“GAWD, NO! NO, RIWA; NO! RIWA; I’M SINKING! I’M SINK… I’M… HELP-PFFT… HELP ME-PFFT!”
…spitting water out of her mouth…
My lips were submerged; I was slowly going down. Only my eyes …were left at the surface as her nose slipped under. That’s when she knew that… I had taken my last breath! OHMYGAWD; I WAS GOING TO DROWN NOW!
She panicked as she… tried to struggle my way back up. Then I totally slipped under the surface. That’s when I felt …a previous muse grab on and start to pull her deeper. She… screamed my breath away as I was dragged down among his other muses! Then I gurgled as …she inhaled water, her body spasming and convulsing painfully. Instinctively she started thrashing about as she was overcome with drowning spasms. It felt as though hands were pulling her down, hands dragging her to the depths to join all the others. Her mind screamed in sheer terror at the darkness totally enveloping her, the darkness and all those hands grabbing onto her body as her lungs kept heaving from sucking water down her windpipe…
He paused to study the last page of the manuscript he had just finished. He pulled the sheet of paper out of the typewriter and tucked it in with all the others he had typed earlier that evening. Then he scrolled in a clean sheet – a brand new sheet –and started typing
The door swung open and a sultry brunette walked in wearing a form fitting black outfit as though she owned the place. She walked right up to him as he sat there typing away. Her first words were…
“Good evening, Riwa. My name is Savannah. How may I serve you?”
© 2015 (written Oct 19 ’15 by riwa)