Echoes of War

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Viridian
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Joined: Wed Apr 15, 2009 10:03 am

Echoes of War

Postby Viridian » Mon Dec 28, 2015 7:43 am

It's been a while since I wrote a straightforward story (or, well, any story). This one was done in one sitting. Hope it's readable.

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Echoes of War
By Viridian

Heidi found the crystal clear water of the island to be closest thing to paradise. She bathed in the cool lake, losing herself in the simple pleasure of feeling the cool water against her skin, washing away the sand and the sweat. Two weeks into the expedition and they had achieved little, charting some lost wrecks dating from the Second World War, but finding nothing of particular value – no relics, no weapons, no secrets. But she didn’t expect much anyway. They were just college students tagging along. Most of the work was done by the team of professors, a joint effort between Stanford University and the University of Tokyo, with the stated objective being to catalogue the effects of the war on the island, but it was really just an initial attempt to bring welcome more collaboration across the ocean.

Though it was early morning, they had a lot scheduled for the day – likely a lot of walking, staking out plots like stereotypical archaeologists with silly little brushes. She flicked her long blonde hair back, emerging from the water like a model, glistening water cascading off her toned shoulders and full figure. Wading towards the shore, she reached for her towel and clothes, only to find that they weren’t there.

“Looking for something?”

Heidi covered up, but it was only Kaori, the only other female in the group, playing a prank. Despite her appearance, she was not actually from the Japanese contingent. She was half-Japanese half-American, studying at Stanford with Heidi, and the only person in the group who Heidi was familiar with. Kaori came along because of the significance of the project to her personal history, but she was very cheerful and adventurous in the untamed wilderness of the island. She treated the project like a holiday, spending time in the sun and the sea, and was open about flaunting her curves, going braless most of the time and exposing her smooth, pale legs. She had the adventurer look today, with a white blouse tied off under her breasts and khaki shorts. While they normally wore boots while trekking through forest, the sand and moisture made it more comfortable to go barefoot, and she kept her boots hanging off her backpack. She handed Heidi’s clothes back to her, smiling in admiration at Heidi’s naked body.

“What’s planned for today?” Heidi asked, getting dressed. She slipped on a pair of cotton shorts and a tank top. Though she normally did wear a bra when working with the men, she found it uncomfortable in the tropical climate and went without one whenever she could, and with Kaori, she didn’t mind that her tank top revealed more cleavage than what most would consider professional.

“Actually, we’ve got it easy,” Kaori said. “I was getting bored of digging around the sand like kids, so I did some persuasive talk with the Japanese team. They’re looking at exploring the north part of the island, but their team had become ill and they’re short on people, so I decided to volunteer both of us.”

“Wow,” Heidi said. “I don’t mind exploring, and that means less guys looking at my ass.”

“Well, that means I get to look at your ass all day,” Kaori teased.

A couple of hours later, they were well within the interior of the island. Heidi felt uncertain about going this far out from the main camp. Though the island wasn’t very large, the jungle terrain was very dense. They took their time in travelling, having frequent breaks, and it looked like they weren’t going to find anything other than bugs and berries. Earlier, the American team confided that the most they could expect to find was wreckage of a fighter plane. The island was not occupied during the war, so it didn’t have any settlement or fortification, but it was common for pilots to ditch their planes after being shot down. The two women did find something, but it wasn’t a plane.

“Holy crap,” Heidi said, mouth agape. “How did that get here?”

It was a ship. A destroyer, to be exact. They didn’t know enough about naval history to recognise it was American or Japanese, and the hull had long since rusted in the tropical environment. Most of the destroyer was submerged in the water and sand, listing to its side. While it was a great discovery, it was puzzling. It wasn’t unusual to find beached shipwrecks, but this one was right in the middle of the island. Excited, the girls approached the wreck, crossing a wide expanse of sand streaked with trickles of water, in what seemed to be an old lagoon. They had taken their boots off and were enjoying the feeling of the fine white sand against their feet. They got close to the keel of the destroyer, with a large gaping hole in the side, where there seemed to be enough room to crawl inside.

As they approached the ship, the sand began to get softer and sucked against their feet. At first they didn’t pay much attention to it – they had been walking around in wet sand for weeks - but a few feet from the hole, they were up to their calves. Heidi felt this was strange. The sand was very fine and while it took some effort to remove their feet, it felt warm and relaxing, sifting between their toes. What bothered Heidi was the quivering surface and the fact that they were getting deeper with each step. She looked behind her to see how far they had crossed, but gasped when she saw their footsteps disappearing, filled in by the soft, waterlogged sand.

“Kaori! Wait!” Something was really wrong. Kaori stopped. “This could be quicksand.”

“Quicksand?” she looked down. She was up to her knees. She could still move her legs, but it had been getting deeper.

“The professors said something about quicksand on the island,” Heidi continued, trying to cast her memory back to the beginning of the expedition. Kaori heard the Japanese professors mentioning something similar, but she hadn’t clearly understood due to her lack of fluency. She knew what quicksand was, but she still wasn’t convinced that they were in danger, until she felt her feet settle an inch deeper.

“Oh gosh, we are sinking!” she said. It was very slow, but the sand was beginning to liquefy and she could feel herself sink faster. “What do we do?”

They were a short distance away from the ship, so they decided to cross the quaking sand, hoping not to get stuck. Walking over the quicksand was tricky work, lifting their legs clear of the sand, pulling the next one out, and so on. Each time they did so, they sank deeper. Soon they were up to their thighs, and they were going down faster than they were going forward, and they were tiring fast.

“Nearly there!” Kaori gasped. Feeling her backpack weighing her down, she unbuckled it and tossed it through the hole. Then she took hold of the rusty metal frame, being careful not to prick herself against the sharp edges. The quicksand held her legs firmly, but with a bit of wriggling, she was able to break the suction and slide her legs out before ducking her head and entering what was formerly the ship’s hold.

“Kaori! Help!”

Heidi had sunk to her waist. She couldn’t feel a solid bottom and with the sand agitated, she kept on sinking, unable to budge from her spot. Kaori stepped back out of the hold to help her friend. However, the sand had become so soft that her leg plunged right through it. She had to grab hold of the steel frame to stop herself from sinking past her waist. The sand gushed into her shorts, giving her an odd sensation between her legs. She had no time to enjoy it however, as Heidi was now up to her hips and was beginning to get desperate. She was just out of reach. Not hesitating, Kaori removed her blouse and used it as a rope, tossing one end to Heidi. Heidi lunged forward to grab it, gasping when the sand hungrily groped her breasts. The sand was so soft now, she was sinking straight down.

“Drop your pack!” Kaori shouted, feeling her blouse begin to give way.

Heidi quickly slipped the heavy pack from her shoulders, allowing it to plop into the sand and sink under within minutes. The effort caused her to sink to her chest. However, free of the pack, she was able to lean forward and kick her legs free to work into a horizontal position. Even so, there wasn’t much Heidi could do to extricate herself, and she had to rely on Kaori to drag her across the surface. Then, as her sand-covered breasts emerged, the inevitable happened: the fabric ripped all the way through, searing Heidi’s lifeline. She began to sink once more, quickly going down to her shoulders. Kaori leaned forward and grabbed Heidi’s arms, braced herself against the hold’s frame, and lifted Heidi to safety. Once inside, the girls rested from their close call and looked out at the treacherous quicksand.

“I can’t believe we nearly drowned in quicksand!” said Kaori.

“I know! It looked completely fine too,” Heidi agreed. Kaori fetched a bottle of water and they both took a drink. They were both soaked and covered with grains of sand. “I don’t suppose you have some spare clothing in your pack too?”

Kaori didn’t. They were now awkwardly immodest. Kaori’s shirt was ripped and discarded, and Heidi lost her shorts and underwear while being pulled out, meaning that Kaori was naked from the waist up, and Heidi bare from the waist down. Heidi did have a shirt and jacket in her pack, which was now somewhere in the quicksand.

“Great,” Heidi said, “now the boys will have something to talk about when we get back.”

Kaori’s curiosity, however, hadn’t diminished, and now that they were inside the wreck, they might as well have a look around. They also had to find another way off the ship, as they didn’t want to attempt to cross the quicksand again.

Unfortunately, they were going to encounter far more of it. While the ship had come to rest on solid ground, much of it was under the quicksand, and they had to navigate through it to get deeper into the wreck. They had to be careful – with the ship listing, the floors were at a slant. Some sections were deeper than others. The consistency of the sand was like a thick soup, and while it meant that they were able to trudge through the sand without too much energy exerted, it also meant that they would sink very quickly if they found a deep spot. This was particularly concerning for Heidi. Whenever they went through a waist-deep section, the sand would lap against her crotch, sending an uncomfortable shiver through her body with its warm, gentle touch. Even Kaori was having trouble with concentrating. She wasn’t sure how much more she could take. It was like torture. They had to get to the upper decks, but they got lost in the labyrinth of corridors and cabins.

“Look!” Heidi pointed to a stairwell that led out of the sand. The passage leading to it, however, was especially deep. Kaori looked nervously at the quicksand just under her bare breasts.

“I don’t know about this,” she said. “If it gets any deeper, we won’t be able to get through.”

“It’s the only way up,” Heidi replied. “And this place is giving me the creeps. I want to get out and clean up as soon as we can.”

Kaori agreed and pushed ahead. This deep in the fine wet sand, their movements were very slow. The sand caressed her breasts, and the grains felt like gritty fingers playing with her nipples. Again, she began to feel light-headed, leaning against the corridor wall. Heidi urged her forward, struggling with the unwanted pleasurable feelings herself. They reached the stairs and climbed out of the quicksand. Sometime during the journey, Kaori had also lost her shorts, and she was left in just a thong. Just ignored her predicament, not keen on going back through the corridor to look for it.

The upper deck was in better condition and they had a much easier time going through the corridors in this dry section. Some of the cabin doors were rusted shut or were too heavy for them to open, but they stumbled across one door that was missing. Ducking inside, they found the room still had things in it. From the appearance of the room, it looked like an officer’s cabin, perhaps even the captain’s quarters. On one wall, faded from decades of exposure, was the rising sun flag.

“I guess that answers the question,” Heidi said. “Wow, we actually found a piece of history. Maybe this was worth it after all.”

But Kaori wasn’t done. The only other thing in the cabin was a chest of drawers, inside of which was a small handwritten journal. The pages were faded and fragile, and the ink was barely discernible. It was written in Japanese, but with the damaged leaves and archaic characters, Kaori couldn’t understand much. She read the legible sections out loud.

“August 1945…surrender. Emperor…stand down. Orders…” the rest of the page was too damaged to read. The next few pages referred to anger, loyalty and honour. “Conflict between the men…serve the Emperor…no surrender.” The language was too difficult for Kaori to make complete sense of it.

“Could it be a mutiny?” Heidi asked, recalling what she had learned in history. “Many Japanese soldiers refused to surrender and held out for a long time. Maybe there was a disagreement on the ship.”

Kaori quickly flipped through the remainder of the journal. There was a faded photo of the captain. She found the last entry, which was surprisingly intact. She read it out loud.

“Shame. We have shamed the Emperor. The Emperor’s will is absolute. If he has bid us to lay down our arms, we must not dishonour the Emperor’s name by disobeying. The young officers do not understand. They think they are upholding the Emperor’s divine will by fighting to the end. They have shed blood. Japanese blood. A shameful display. I am dishonoured. I wish I never took command of this ship. I have shamed my name and my family. I take my own life. May my name never be remembered. May the ship sink under the waves and the men buried deep in the ground where their souls will never find peace.” There was a break in the passage, followed by what appeared to be a death poem. “Paradise in heaven, hell on earth. Oceans cleanse me. I return to the earth’s womb.”

“Jesus,” Heidi muttered. “That was heavy.”

Then, a deafening crash echoed through the ship, as if something had fallen onto the old hull, or something had broken off. The whole ship vibrated.

“What was that?” Kaori asked, heart beating fast.

“I don’t know, but I think it’s time to leave,” said Heidi.

Kaori placed the journal into her backpack. Heidi also suggested taking the flag too, which she did. Deciding that the fastest way out was to go back through the lower corridor, they returned to the stairs and prepared for another wet slog through the sand. Kaori stepped in first, plopping into the sand and quickly sinking to her thighs, then her hips, then her waist. The sand, playful as ever, tickled her womanhood, and despite their horrific discovery, she found herself more relaxed about the sand toying with her. She knew it was chest-deep when they first passed through here, so when Kaori sank past her shoulders, she panicked. She cried out and Heidi grabbed her and pulled her back up before she sank all the way under.

“I couldn’t feel a bottom!” she gasped. “It wasn’t this deep before!”

The girls stared at the nearly submerged corridor with confusion. It looked like the sand had filled up more of the space. It was definitely too high for them to navigate through. Heidi reckoned it had something to do with the tide, but in any case, they had to find another way. They returned to the upper deck. They could clearly see the sky above them through the holes in the deck, but there didn’t seem to be a way for them to climb out. They had to follow the slanted corridors, looking for another way off the ship.

They came across another gaping hole in the hull below. This time, they could see where they had entered. To their horror, it was no longer there. Or at least, it wasn’t visible above the surface. What remained of the gap was disappearing before their very eyes into the soft, white quicksand.

“Kaori,” Heidi started. “I think the whole ship might be sinking.”

“That’s crazy,” Kaori said in disbelief. “We’ve got to get out here, now!”

Haste, as they say, is the cradle of mistakes, and Heidi discovered that the hard way. Rushing through the slippery, slanted corridor, Heidi turned the corner, only to find that the passage had fallen apart, angling down towards the quicksand below. She lost her footing, slid down the incline, which broke off, sending her plunging into the waiting sand. She landed feet first, sinking to her thighs. The impact sent a shockwave through the chamber she now found herself in, the ripples in the sand remind her of the fate that awaited her if she didn’t get out. Unfortunately, nothing was within reach. She was trapped in the narrow compartment and she could feel nothing beneath her feet except for moving sand. Kaori, metres above her, was out of reach. Then, in a moment of relief, her feet felt something solid. She had touched the bottom of the hold. Heidi still couldn’t reach her though, so Kaori would have had to find another way down to the level below, where she might have a better chance of getting to her.

“Hold on, I’ll get down there!” Kaori yelled, disappearing from sight.

“Easy for you to say!” Heidi called after all. She gulped and slowed her breathing down. Alone for the time being, Heidi tried to recollect her thoughts. For the second time she was trapped in quicksand. They were in an old destroyer and discovered evidence of a mutiny that sealed the fate of the crew. Everything played out like a horror movie. She rubbed her neck and rolled her shoulders to loosen up. Another jolt ran through her body. The sand was exactly at crotch-depth, and again she was exposed to the torture of the living sand licking at her exposed womanhood. This time it felt different. She wasn’t sinking out in the open and Kaori was coming to help her out, so it didn’t feel so urgent. With a rare moment to herself, she closed her eyes and began to enjoy the feeling, twisting her hips back and forth to get the most stimulation. The sand seemed to play along with her, caressing her like a delicate lover, pulsing at the right tempo. Even just standing there was pushing her close to climax. She reached under her top and played with hard nipples. She had been aroused ever since she fell into the quicksand and now she had the chance to relieve herself. She kept her moaning quiet, not wanting to arouse suspicions from Kaori. It was a short and straightforward orgasm, and with a sigh of relief, she relaxed, resting her arms on the soft sand circling her waist.

Waist? She still had her feet on the solid floor and she wasn’t sinking. Why was the sand higher? The eerie creaking of the metal hull reminded her of where she was, and she understood what was happening. The ship was sinking. She called out to Kaori, her arousal replaced by genuine fear. She was trapped in this compartment, which was becoming more claustrophobic with each passing minute. The sand was rising, reaching her ribs and soon her breasts were touching the surface. Just as the sand oozed into her cleavage, Kaori appeared on the platform above her. She was coated in a fresh layer of sand, and had lost her thong, evidently encountering another soft spot before finding her way. She lay flat on the platform and reached down, but could only touch Heidi’s fingertips. The sand was rising fast, and out of desperation Heidi slipped her top off and tossed to Kaori. It wasn’t enough leverage for her, so Kaori took off her pack and tied the top onto one of the straps, giving her something bigger to anchor onto.

“Hurry!” Heidi yelled out, the quicksand under her armpits.

Kaori lowered the rope and braced herself against the metal platform, allowing Heidi to do most of the work this time. Lifting her whole body out of the sand took much more effort this time, and as the minutes passed, the compartment was sinking deeper. Heidi only managed to lift herself up a few inches. Up to her neck, Heidi had no time left. Kaori, with a renewed burst of energy, grabbed Heidi’s arm and began pulling. She hooked her other arm around Heidi, letting go of the lifeline and using her full body weight to lift her. It only added a few more inches to Heidi’s height, but it was enough for Heidi to reach the platform. Kaori didn’t wait. Not caring where she touched Heidi, she shoved her onto the platform. The pack slid down and sunk into the quicksand.

“The pack!” Heidi cried.

“Forget it!” Kaori screamed. “We’ve got to get out, now!”

Kaori took Heidi’s hand and led her through the passages, now filling up with sand. There was no time for doubt or mistakes. The ship was listing even further so that it was nearly on its side. The quicksand was up to their legs. They powered through, going straight for the clear sky above. They climbed up the old frame and emerged at the top, and not a moment too soon. The destroyer was nearly completely submerged in the quicksand.

“What now?” Heidi asked. They were standing on the last part of the ship still above the surface, and it was shrinking fast.

“Jump!”

Facing what looked like the nearest shore, they did a short run-up and leapt free of the sinking ship. They hit the quicksand hard and sank to thighs. The destroyer finally disappeared forever beneath the island’s sand, sending a faint ripple that pushed the girls further away.

They were off the ship now, but they hadn’t made it. They were still a long way from solid ground, and they were far too exhausted to even struggle. Compared to the intense escape, their descent was now painfully slow. They couldn’t move a muscle. They resorted out to yelling for help, hoping that someone from the expedition would come looking for them. They were met only with the exotic birds, oblivious to their peril. They watched helplessly as their breasts were consumed by the quicksand that had been so hungry for them, and after what felt like hours, they were up to their necks.

“I’m sorry it ended like this,” Kaori said. “It was all my fault.”

“It’s not,” said Heidi. “It’s okay.”

She couldn’t think of anything else to say. They took their last breaths before they both went under, taking with them the secret of the past they discovered, joining the sailors who perished under the captain’s curse.

* * *

“Harold! Harold! She’s coming around.”

Heidi blinked. The sun felt painful to her eyes; the same feeling one got from spending too much time in a swimming pool. Her throat was agonisingly dry and her body felt like it had been twisted and thrown away like a towel. But she was alive. Covered in a blanket, she recognised the expedition’s base camp. Kaori was beside her, unconscious but breathing. Harold, the team leader, entered the tent.

“Thank god,” he said. “We thought we were too late.”

Heidi rubbed her eyes. “What happened?”

“We sent a group to look for you after you had been gone for hours,” he explained. “They said that they found both of you naked and in a coma. They carried you back and you’ve been asleep for a day.”

“What about the ship?”

“What ship?”

“The Japanese destroyer in the quicksand,” Heidi said, trying to push her memories together. “We found the wreck, and the diary, and Kaori translated it, and then we were trapped, and it sank, and…”

Harold shook his head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. There’s no ship in the middle of the island.” He rubbed his forehead. “It’s worse than I thought. The Japanese team mentioned that they encountered a plant that caused hallucinations. That’s why they cancelled their exploration. You must have fallen victim to it. You must have been delirious. The symptoms match – wild delusions, removal of clothes, extreme muscle fatigue. I’m just glad you’re alive.”

Heidi found it hard to believe. Everything felt so real. The fear, the arousal, the escape. Was it really all just a dream? Kaori was still asleep. She had to take Harold’s word for it. She had nothing to prove otherwise other than fragments of a lost memory. He had to be right. There was no way they could have gone through all that. Harold told her to take it easy and that he’d check on them later.

“By the way, we also found your packs,” he said, pointing to them in the corner.

Heidi nodded glumly. It was just a fantasy. There was no destroyer, no mutiny, no shamed captain who committed seppuku and cursed the ship and its crew. It was just a hallucination. Thirsty, she reached for the pack to grab a water bottle. What she found inside left her speechless.

A tattered Japanese flag and an old journal.
Viridian @ deviantART: http://viridianqs.deviantart.com/

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PM2K
Always Remembered
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Re: Echoes of War

Postby PM2K » Mon Dec 28, 2015 10:44 pm

Excellent! :D Nicely done, Viridian.

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nachtjaeger
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Re: Echoes of War

Postby nachtjaeger » Tue Dec 29, 2015 2:46 am

Wow! I would love to see that one made into a movie! Definitely a psychological thriller, not a "splatter movie" or "torture porn." Loved the twist at the end, too!
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Stephymink
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Re: Echoes of War

Postby Stephymink » Wed Dec 30, 2015 1:21 am

Wow, lovely story Viridian!

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kerri zhong
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Re: Echoes of War

Postby kerri zhong » Thu Aug 24, 2017 5:23 am

im japanese, pretty crazy!

master3
Posts: 54
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Re: Echoes of War

Postby master3 » Sat Aug 26, 2017 6:41 pm

I feel like I saw this same story somewhere before...


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