I was pretty proud of it at the time, and I haven't done much lately, so I figured I would re-post it here. Feel free to call me lazy, but since it's not already on this forum, why not bring it over? I haven't touched it, so please feel free to critique it. I'm sure there's more than enough room to improve this story. In fact, Viridian already commented,
I commend the enormous effort behind this. It was difficult to read through without the conveniences of links and anchors, and I understand the difficulty of making a branching storyline -- especially in the case of CYOA stories.
Something to consider when writing CYOAs is to make the choices more subtle. When faced with "Watch her die" or "Make her your slave", it becomes quite obvious what the result of the choice is, and with the choices being inherently "bad", it's kind of like you're forced to become a Sith. It makes this sort of writing a lot harder to make accessible.
Well done with this one. It gives me some motivation to have a go at this myself in the future.
I agree that the story could use some updates, but I'd have to spend a lot of time making the story more branched than a Bioware game.
So, with all those disclaimers, here's what I was writing back in High School:
1) TARA was a girl. Yes, it was a strange name, but not as bad as it could be. Still, I kind of wondered, when I first chatted with her, over the internet, before I taught her how to upload an Avatar, so I suppose I might as well tell you straight off. Oh, I suppose I should introduce myself. I’m ANDREW, and I’m writing about an experience TARA and I had a while ago. We met online, over a forum, and though I might have creeped her out, telling her all of my personal fantasies, she wasn’t scared of me. I suppose she just hated being thought of as a “Damsel in Distress.” As time wore on, we grew fond of each other, so you can imagine how thrilled I was to hear that she was moving near to me, not more than three miles off! I admit, I did tell her what kind of a town I lived in, and the huge forest to the East, but apparently, she needed a job, and someone in my town needed a journalist. And no, she was not a secretary. She made that very clear the first time I asked. She was more of a…an editor…
So, when she told me she was moving to my home town, I quickly asked her when.
“In about a month,” TARA replied. “Would you help me get settled?”
“Of course!” I replied, “You know my address, right?”
“Of course!”
After that, we had a long discussion about her jogging habit, and how I thought it would get her killed one of these days, but as always, she just said that she’d just have to run faster than the other guy, or at least until she got to a crowded area.
So, when I tell you that when I answered the door, one week later, and there she was, in a royal and navy blue spandex, one piece jogging suit,(That’s what she called it. It was really more like one of those gymnast’s suits, but with some shorts sewn on) you’ll know why I said, “Well, you’re not going to lose anyone in that. Let’s just hope you’re fast.”
“Ha!” she rolled her eyes, “Of course I am. Just because I’m short, doesn’t mean I’m slow!”
True. Though TARA only stood around 5’2,’’ I could see she had some nice gams under her suit. Of course, the suit only had long sleeves, not legs. It kind of made me wonder, why she would get one that covered everything but her hands, head, and three quarters of her legs. Well…that’s women for you. Still, I liked the nice stripe pattern that ran vertically along her chest, down to the end of the suit, a few inches above her knees. Of course, she wasn’t exactly buxom, but what there was kind of flattened by the suit. Still, her long, dark, silken hair was more of a turn on for me. Of course, her dark eyes weren’t bad either. They complimented the lighter freckles, except for the blind one…the one on her right, which would always seem to be looking over my left shoulder when she looked at me.
Well, even though she only had one eye to look me over, she seemed to approve what she saw. “Well, you’re taller than your pictures made you out to be.”
“I have tall friends…”
TARA laughed, and it was a pretty thing…made me wonder if I should skip asking her to be my girlfriend, and ask her to marry me already.
“Well,” She said, looking up at me, putting her hands behind her back, “If you’ve got so many big, tall, and hopefully strong friends, maybe they can help me move in next month.”
“I’ll ask…but that reminds me…” I raised an eyebrow, and looked her up and down once more… I also put my hands in my pockets…to try to hide my excitement for seeing TARA in person. “…What are you doing here?”
“Oh, do you not want me here?” TARA turned, as if to leave. Teasing me again.
“Well…I thought when you said ‘in a month’ you meant about three, since you’ve yet to be punctual.”
“I just had a lot of homework…”
“That’s what you said the first sixteen times. Still, I suppose now that we’ve finally met in person, I don’t have to worry about you turning out to be that old guy in the back, winking at me…”
“Hrm?” TARA asked, raising an eyebrow at me, and staring at me with those big, brown eyes.
“Er…I guess that’s a story for another time…”
“Yeah,” she laughed uneasily. “Anyway, I thought, while I was passing by, I might as well say hi.”
“Going by? You’re not staying?”
“No, I bought that old house, in the middle of the forest. It doesn’t have any electricity, but it has a propane tank, and running water, so I think I can live there, until I can save up enough to buy an apartment in town…” She paused, and looked at my face. “Hrm? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing…” I lied. If I had known that she was going to be living in the old hippie shack, back in the back of the woods, then I’d have asked her to bunk with me. I mean, I could sleep on the couch…And it wasn’t like I was living in a shoe. I must have had about 5,000 square feet…
“Well, I need to go clean up the house before the movers come…so…” As she turned to live, I couldn’t help but glance at her caboose. Heck, I could have died a happy man right then and there… or if not then, when she turned, and smiled at me. “I guess I’ll see you around, ANDREW.”
Now, here I wanted to say “Hey, why don’t I come over and help you clean? It’s Saturday, so I don’t really have anything I have to do…” However, as I opened my mouth, I had another idea. If I could grab my video camera quickly enough, then I could probably jump through the back window, and hide somewhere along the trail, and film her jogging.
So, you could see my conundrum. It was basically a choice of being the hero, or the villain. Guess what I chose?
I chose hormones, and followed her: turn to 2)
I chose to be the nice guy, and walked with her: turn to 3)
2) “Well, I guess I’ll see you around. Just be careful while you’re in the woods,” I grinned, and teased her one last time, “It is the day before Midsummer day, after all…” I knew that, from what she had said over the internet, TARA was very religious, and maybe even a little too superstitious, but I never expected her to look at her watch frantically, and then for her eyes to widen like that.
“My goodness, you’re right. I’d better hurry, if I’m going to make it before sunset…” She looked up and smiled again. “Sorry to run like this on you ANDREW, but… Well, according to that play ‘midsummer night’s dream,’ not much good happens Midsummer’s eve…” With that, the little thing turned on her heel, and shot off down the street. I couldn’t have imagined how fast that woman could go, and I had to slam the door, and rip my camera from the charger to get to the back window in time. Of course, I was only in time to watch her speed past, whilst I fumbled with the window locks.
By the time I finally got the damned locks off, it was all I could do to keep that blur of blue within my sight, when the trail was straight. When I came to a fork in the road, or when she rounded a curve, and I couldn’t see her, I just followed the trail of dust.
Eventually, however, I even lost that. I just stood at this one fork in the road, holding my knees, and gasping for air. “Piece of…Well, at least I don’t have to worry about her…I don’t think anyone could even see her, let alone catch her…”
Wouldn’t you know it? Right when I thought nothing could touch TARA, including myself, that’s when I heard her scream. I looked up, and listened, but he scream was so brief, and so soft, I didn’t know from whence it came.
I had two options: Go down the pitch black, from all the trees crowding around it, you know, the totally scary path, or go down the fairly sunny one, which looked like it opened out to a large field. Either way, I dearly hoped that this whole Midsummer eve wasn’t as bad as Shakespeare said.
I chose the forest path: turn to 4)
I went to look in the field: turn to 5)
3) “Hey, TARA, I’m not doing anything today…” I murmured, scratching the back of my neck. Although I had my fantasies, I liked to play the knight in all of them. However, this made me suck at the whole asking the girl out. Yeah, I know asking a girl if I can help her clean the house is nothing like asking her out, but you have to understand, this was TARA! Asking her to come indoors was the equivalent to asking Emma Watson if she’d sleep with you. Anyway, after a long, and awkward pause, I continued, “…er…May I help you clean at your place?”
“Aw, thank you ANDREW, that would be sweet. Thank you!” Her smile was more than worth it. Hell, for a smile like that, I’d work for free, for about a month. “Maybe we could do something later?”
I almost had a heart attack, right then and there. I mean, I have my fantasies, but even my imagination can’t comprehend some possibilities.
“Is there a movie you’d like to see? I heard that there’s a small, family run movie theatre, near my work place, so…”
“Hell yeah! I mean…” I coughed a few times, and blushed when I heard her laugh. “Erm…well…maybe later…”
“Sure. So…can you keep up? I’m going to be running all the way, so unless you’re as fast as you say you are, on the chat rooms, you’d best ask for mercy now.” Her smile showed that she was teasing again, and she also wiggled her eyebrows for effect this time.
“I’ll do my best…” In truth, unless the house was a mile away, I’d probably start looking like a total asthmatic at the end…especially since I was one… I ran a nice five minute mile, but every mile after that was closer and closer to a fifteen minute mile.
So, after I had grabbed my jacket, and had changed into a nicer pair of tennis shoes, we started off. To my inner disappointment, with that jogging suit on, nothing of TARA’s jiggled, or bounced. I suppose that was the idea…but I suppose being able to see TARA and her beautiful body in motion was enough.
For the first mile, I think she was really impressed, and she looked hard pressed to keep up with me. However, after my secret was out, and we neared the second mile marker, she took pity on me, and walked with me. To my surprise, and joy, she even grabbed my hand while we walked. I was so happy, I didn’t notice the sky grow dimmer, nor the fork in the road we approached, until TARA drew her hand away, and asked, “ANDREW? Which way do we go? It’s getting dark, and though I’m having a lovely time, we should get inside soon…”
I looked up. In front of us, there was a choice, of either an overgrown road, with trees clustering thick about it, or a road that was fairly clear of all large brush, that sloped gently downwards.
Usually, I’d ask the girl to make the decision, out of consideration, and because I had no idea where we were going, or how to get there. However, since she didn’t know the way either, it didn’t really matter who chose, right? It was about fifty-fifty, either way, so I decided to choose anyway.
I chose the road less traveled by: read 6)
I chose the easy path: read 7)
4) Scrambling over fallen logs, and through brush, I heard the scream again. I was starting to get angry, that maybe TARA had tripped, and now was screaming her head off at a garter snake, just because she ran a little too fast. Of course…on the other hand, I smiled when I considered the fact that I had a camera, and I could take pictures of her, if she was in a paralyzing, yet embarrassing predicament.
I looked around, and found that I was in a place divided in two, by the path. To the right, there were dark rocks, as well as moss, and very tall trees, with very little leaves. …Hickory, I think. To my left, there were giant bushes, and small bulbs, dotting here and there. They looked like artichokes, or at least the top part. At the base, ran a carpet of leaves, each one lying on top of each other, like the shingles on the roof of my house. The path curved to the right, but I could see TARA’s house, right above and past the Artichokes.
Just then, I heard TARA scream for a third time.
I heard TARA’s scream coming from the Artichokes: read 8 )
I heard TARA’s scream coming from around the bend: read 9)
5) Of course TARA would have chosen to take this easy, open, and more importantly, less dark path. Only an idiot would go and tramp around in the dark, in a place like this. Not to spoil the story, but this forest wasn’t exactly normal…
As I traveled through the field, I saw that a smaller cow trail followed a creek downstream, while the main path crossed it, and led into some more trees, curving left as it did so. I listened for TARA again, and I heard another scream. This one came somewhere to the right, and downstream. I couldn’t decide which path to take, so I yelled, “Hey! TARA! Where are you? Are you alright?”
Now, I knew that TARA was far from alright. However, I thought that if she screamed again, or at least made some noise, I could follow it, by way of whatever path was closest. So I just waited for her to scream another time. …Oh, yeah, and I turned on my camera. I thanked God, right then that I had decided to charge it yesterday. Whatever TARA had gotten herself into, I was sure that I could at least get some blackmail quality stuff, if not enjoyable stuff out of this…
Then I heard her third scream.
I thought TARA’s scream was coming from the forest: read 10)
I thought I heard TARA’s scream come from downstream: read 11)
6) “Well, I think we go this way, since you’re house is over in this direction…” I pointed somewhere to the left of the overgrown path.
“Yeah, I think you’re right…” TARA mumbled, putting a finger to her chin, “I did come another way, but someone told me that…” She then used all four of her fingers to rub her mouth, while her thumb stroked her chin. “…But…next time, I guess I should just stick to the main road…”
“I think it would be faster,” I offered, as we started wandering down the dark path, made darker by the setting sun.
As we strolled along, we came to something like a clearing, with a whole bunch of small plants that looked like some cross between ostrich eggs, and artichokes. The forest floor beneath them, however, looked like those weeds that grow in my front yard…you know, the yellow tops, with leaves that covered up any kind of grass, or any growth of anything, for that matter.
On the other side of the path, there was a small mountain crag, or what appeared to be one. It looked as if it was littered with sharp edges, but surprisingly round, and smooth cave openings. I guess there must have been some kind of mining operation or something, which would probably meant that the town we lived in must have been a mining town at one time.
“Hey, look there’s my house!” TARA cried, pointing up and over the funny looking plants. And there it was, looking pretty as a picture, sitting on a hill, framed against a field of green. “Do you want to try to squeeze through those weird looking things, ANDREW, or would you like to continue walking? I mean…you did offer to help me out...but…” She looked so cute as she smiled up at me, and whispered, “I like just walking with you…like this…”
“Well…” I began, being careful to keep my speech slow, as my thoughts raced. Yes, walking with a beautiful girl was much more desirable than going to her house, and cleaning for a while. Then again, going to a girl’s house, and starting to do work, might lead to staying at a girl’s house…or perhaps her staying at mine… So, nothing less than the future was at stake…so…
I chose to go straight to the house, through the funny-looking plants: read 12)
I chose to keep walking, with TARA, along the forest path: read 13)
7) “Well, it’s getting dark, so we would be able to see better if we took this path…” I pointed towards the easier path, the one witch sloped downwards, and to the right.
“That’s true ANDREW…” TARA admitted, then she smiled, and touched my nose, as she whispered, “Besides, you’d probably be scared, if we were left outside, in the dark…”
I blushed then, both at her touch, and at her comment. She was probably right. I could take anyone, in the day time, but I got freaked out too easily by what I couldn’t see. And for your information, my night vision sucked, and still does. So, I just nodded, and took her hand again, as I led her down the sloping path.
After a minute more of walking, we came to a stream, which glittered in the failing light, as well as a forest beyond it. At first, I started to follow the path, towards the forest, but then TARA’s tug on my hand stopped me. “What’s wrong? “ I asked.
“Look, there’s another path, that follows the stream.” As I followed her finger, there it was. I don’t know how I could miss it, but I had…well…I do know how I missed it. TARA.
“So, would you like to follow that one, or this one?” I asked TARA.
TARA chose the path that followed the stream: read 14)
TARA chose to follow the main path: read 15)
8) I trampled the first few artichokes, and as I tore my way through the artichokes, I found that they were all interwoven. The smaller ones were connected to medium sized ones, the medium sized ones were connected to larger ones…much in a web-like pattern, rather than a plant-like formation. For the sake of…well…I don’t know…a proper introduction?...I began filming, following the roots as they became larger and larger. Some were about three inches in diameter, and from the way they didn’t squish when I stepped on them, they must have been made of something hard, yet hollow. The most amazing thing, was that I could see through them, and see the stuff travel up through the stems. Most was just this regular clear fluid, but there were also other things, like pieces of mice, rabbits…and larger animals…
I had this funny feeling, as I continued along, filming what I saw, and seeing the bulbs getting bigger and bigger. Then I saw it. The center of the enormous plant was a three foot tall artichoke.
And there was TARA, being dragged towards it. Her arms were pinned, behind her back, by two enormous vines, and her legs were wrapped together by another. She was frantically looking around, and as soon as she saw me, she smiled through all the tears. “Oh, ANDREW, thank God…I can’t seem to get free…It’s grabbed my suit, and I can’t…” Then she saw the camera. “ANDREW? …What…What are you doing? Please, help me out of this!”
I tried to open my mouth, but nothing I wanted to say would sound right. Besides…this was…fun. I raised the camera, and tried to hold it still, in my shaking hands, as I got a close up of TARA’s face, down to the blind eye that couldn’t help but shed tears, as it looked over my left shoulder. “ANDREW! I need helphm!”
I wasn’t sure how the sound was going to come out, but the camera caught the image, of yet another tendril wrapping around TARA’s neck and face. My body shook, as it reeled in the feeling of power. Here I was, capturing TARA’s last moments on earth, the fear in both her eyes, as she was dragged right up to the Artichoke, as it opened, like a rose bud, with a slime lined maw in the center…with the tentacles bringing her up and above the plant. Her tears fell silently, or about as silently as they could. Every few seconds, I’d hear this wheezing, and suffocated mumble for help, which only made me love this even more.
As the tendrils wound their way around TARA’s tight bodysuit, they slowly made her into a mummy. With her arms behind her, it only took another to wrap around her torso, and squeeze them tighter, and flatten what was left of her bosom. The vine around her legs continued upwards, pushing her legs together, and covering what was left of her bare skin. Another vine took her crotch, spiraling down from her abdomen.
Once her head was the only thing showing, and boy did it show, the decent began. As her feet came near to the maw, the tentacles unwrapped themselves, and pushed her feet into the plant. I heard a sort of smoosh sound…like what happens when you first stick your knife into a jar of peanut butter. I saw the clear jell overflow, around the petals, as Tara came closer. It was enthralling, watching her struggle. Watching her wiggle back and forth, almost freely up top, but mercilessly still at the bottom, where her knees were being taken by the plant.
By now, TARA was sobbing, she was still thrashing about, but she was tired. Her hair was in a mess, and as her thighs disappeared into the slime, she looked up at me, with puffy red eyes, filled with pleading. She tried to say something, but it was unintelligible. However, as the slime reached her crotch, her high pitched intake of air, denoted the coldness of the plant, and the realization that she was being eaten. Finally, as her hips passed the plant’s green lips, she hung her head and sobbed. Her hair trailed in the slime, and as her abdomen was slowly taken, the slime rose to touch her breasts. She gasped, of course and squirmed some more. As the slime reached up and over her shoulders, as we reached the climax, I realized I could try something. It was dangerous, but I could probably catch TARA’s very last breath, if I could place the camera just so, above the top of her head…
Then again, I could always take pity on her, and save the beautiful creature from her certain doom…it wasn’t too late…yet…
And so, I captured her last moments: read 16)
And so, I saved TARA: read 17)
9) As I rounded the bend, I stepped in something sticky, and I stopped to wipe it off my shoe. On first glance, it looked like a stretched piece of gum. However, once I got it in my hand, and I actually held it, I saw that it was really a small piece of cobwebs…about the size of a marble. I couldn’t remove it, and I was only further entangling myself by stretching it with my hand, so I took out a lighter I always carried, and burned the darned thing off. As soon as the fire touched it, the thing dissipated, like so much gunpowder, or that special type of tissue paper, which burned to a crisp in milliseconds.
After that little adventure, I stood up just in time to hear TARA scream…and see it. TARA was trapped in a giant web. The web was spun across an entrance of one of those caves, right at the top of the hill. The problem was, there was this one rock stretched above the hole, right where I was standing, and if TARA was running as fast as she could, she would have leaped, or tripped, over the rock, and fallen face down, more or less eagle spread in the center of the web.
Either that’s what happened, or that’s what appeared to have happened, because I could see her tightly clad body, spread out like that DaVinchi sketch, but face-down, and wearing a blue bodysuit.
TARA apparently hadn’t been in many…sticky situations before. So far, the webbing wasn’t sticking to her…probably because of the sweat, but she I could already see some of it trying to stick to her legs, as she kicked away. The main problem was the jogging suit. For some reason, it stuck to her suit like it was cut from the same fabric..and it very well might have been made from the same material, now that II think about it…
Anyway, as she struggled, I heard her alternately cursing, screaming for help, and moaning. Of course, I don’t know why, but I felt like doing the same thing… There was just some voice screaming inside of me to just run, leave her there, and forget this ever happened, because something worse was going to happen.
Of course, I would have done just that, but there was another voice indie, screaming even louder for me to just shut up, walk around, and start recording, not necessarily in that order.
So, that’s what I did. I pressed the red button, after ducking behind the rock. So, I got some shots, of the rock’s face, with Tara’s moaning in the background, then I stood up, revealing the helpless fly behind the rock. As I walked around, to the right, I watched as TARA got her left, then right leg permanently stuck to the web. She cursed some more, then stopped, and listened. I kept walking, trying to keep silent, as I zoomed into her right eye, the blind one, rimmed with tears. Her face was lovely, her chin was beginning to stick to the webbing, and her lip was trembling in fear. Her hair was still in a pony-tail, but some of it had gotten stuck fast to the webbing on the right side of her head. She whimpered, and turned her head as much as she could to either side. When she saw me, with her seeing eye, she almost broke down and cried once more. “ANDREW!” she whispered, almost sobbing, “Thank God! Please, get me out of here! I’m stuck, and I can’t get free!”
The whine in her voice, as she said that last part, almost killed me. So I decided to save her…later… However, I was also determined to get some more shots of her struggle. After all, I wasn’t going to get an opportunity like this again, was I? So, I coaxed her softly, “Hey TARA! Keep struggling! Hey, could you get both arms tangled behind you? TARA, you have no idea how sexy you look right there…in your jogging suit…lying on that giant web… Could you get more webbing in your mouth maybe? Just think of it as cotton…”
Her seeing eye looked from one of my eyes to the other. Frantically. “Are you insane?” TARA gasped, “What are you thinking? There’s something alive down there…and I’m going to be eaten! Get me out of here, before it wakes up and comes after us! Come on! We have to hurry!”
“Well, I don’t have to. You do.” Her eyes widened, as I smiled, and continued filming. “Let me explain for you, you’re stuck in the middle of that web. I’m not. If you want to get out, you’re going to have to persuade me. Help me make a nice movie, and I’ll help you out. Just sit there, whine and complain, and I’ll leave you here.”
“You…you can’t be serious Andrew!” She whimpered, “I…I thought we were…that you…” She broke down and cried, as she saw that I wasn’t going to help her, unless she made me happy.
“Sorry, TARA,” I grinned, “But hey, look at it this way, you’re probably not going to die anytime soon. I mean, look at the webbing! It’s old, not very sticky, and was probably made by dozens of spiders, over the course of years. There’s nothing that’s going to eat you, way out here. …Maybe on the Continent of Asia, or South America, but not here.”
“ANDREW! Seriously, there’s something alive dmph,” The rest was muffled, as a spurt of pure silk came strait up, and hit her in the face. Her mouth and neck were covered in the webbing now but thankfully, she could still breathe through her nose. Quickly, something underneath the webbing grabbed her, and pulled her small body closer to the web. Silk shot out at odd angles, most of it ending up on or around TARA, but some shooting up at me. I jumped at first, then I steadied the camera once more, as the thing reached through, grabbed TARA, and started rolling her. It kept adding silk, weaving something like a net around her, and bringing her arms and legs together.
She wriggled and struggled, looking every once in a while in my direction. Her pleading eyes were so hard to resist…I’m not even sure they were worth resisting. But she resisted, resisted that spider with all her might. That wasn’t much, for a short girl like her, even if she did go and jog. Still, she kept at it, even as her lower body was completely encased in white silk, in a way reminiscent to the mummies of old. TARA kept moving though, even after layer upon layer had been added to her small frame. Eventually however, as the silk dried, and piled up, TARA’s frantic struggles slowed, until she couldn’t move at all. She could only whimper, as the thing began to encase her face in a net of silk. The last thing I saw go, was her nose, which was so lovely to behold, surrounded by such perfectly white silk.
I seriously considered trying to save her, after seeing all that. I don’t know how I’d do it, but I could probably think of something…
I chose to burn through the silk, with my lighter: read 18 )
I chose to leave her to her fate, as I watched: read 19)
10) I heard the third scream come from the forest, so that’s where I went. I made sure to turn my camera to high sensitivity, so that in case there was something worth filming, I could get a decent picture in this dark place. Here, trees were tall, and vines dangled at odd places, and wound their way throughout the canopy of leaves. Underfoot, the soil was a little moist, but as the path continued, the ground rose, and became sandy underfoot. In fact, I saw a pair of footprints in the sand, but just then, I heard TARA scream once more.
TARA’s scream came from the direction of the footprints: read 20)
TARA’s scream came from farther on down the path: read 21)
11) The scream came from downstream, so I jogged down, trying to be as quiet as possible, and keep my camera settings at optimum filming. After all, if I was going to start tracking a girl in basically a bathing suit, with sleeves and short legs, and she was in some sort of arousing situation, I wasn’t going to miss this opportunity…and if I did, I was going to kick myself so hard…
My shoes began to sink a little, as the area started to become marshy. It wasn’t so much of a bog, though, as a sort of clay depository…the kind of clay you’d use to make pottery, if you used white clay… Of course, this clay also had some ground water running through it.
After a while, the path began to dissolve, into the clay, becoming indistinguishable from the muck around it. By this time, the clay was about ready to swamp over the sides of my shoes, and take them off of me. Still, I continued, because I saw a pair of footprints right ahead of me. I also heard a moan, coming from around the bend. Instead of coming around the bend, like an idiot, however, I looked around for something to hide me. There was no brush whatsoever, just some trees, and the stream, which was very shallow at this end. …or was the ground just stream-level?
Either case, when I spotted a low-hanging branch, I hopped up and grabbed it. Using one hand to hold onto the camcorder, and one to hang onto the branch, it wasn’t easy to get into that tree. However, I’d grown up around enough trees to be able to climb anything, even with just one hand. Once I got both feet out of the clay, all I had to do was swing both legs up and over the branch. Using a hand-over-the same hand technique, I scooted over to the trunk, and then peered around it. When I looked, I almost fell out of the tree.
There was TARA, stuck in the mud up to her knees. She was looking around for something to something to grab, and her hands danced across the surface of the mud, testing the ground for any part that might be dry enough, or hard enough, to support her weight. Unfortunately, she found nothing. I smiled, as I began filming her. I was glad this was clay, because if this was a bog, or just deep, wet mud, it probably wouldn’t cling to her figure like that. I mean, every once in a while, she would swat at a mosquito, or wipe her forehead of the accumulating sweat, and she would just spread the clay even further. I hadn’t considered TARA in war paint, or with any sort of markings, on her pale skin…but in that suit, with the chalk-white clay slowly covering more and more of her skin, I found it…interesting… especially as she sank slowly in the cream-colored clay. I made sure to zoom in, as the clay received her thighs.
Then, wouldn’t you know it? TARA looked up and saw me. Her eyes brightened, and she waved a muddy palm in my direction. “ANDREW! Hey, I need some help here. Could you give me a hand? It’s getting a little deep here…and…well…I’m too short to reach tree branches like you…”
“Well…” I said, slowly, trying to think of something, “I could…and maybe I will…but…” I hesitated. I had the camera on her, and I got the satisfaction of watching, and recording, her crotch sink into the clay.
She gasped, as she probably felt the clay, even through her suit. She looked down quickly, then glanced back up at me. “Um…Could you please hurry? I don’t know how deep this is, and I wouldn’t want to spend the night like this…”
“…If I can think of a way…” I mumbled, looking around. Even if I was trying to stall for time, while I got some more of her plight recorded, I couldn’t help thinking that helping her was going to be hard. There weren’t any vines, or anything I could use to reach her. Jumping in after her would accomplish nothing, and get me stuck in the process. In fact, as far as I could see, TARA was not savable. Of course, I wasn’t trying to think of a way to get her out… I just enjoyed watching her sink slowly past her abdomen.
TARA probably saw this, and that’s why her eyebrows rose, in a worried expression. “ANDREW, you’re going to get me out of this, right? I need some help here…and soon!”
I contemplated what to do…as I listened to the clay move out of the way, to make room for her ribs… I couldn’t really make them out, mind you. The clay wasn’t quite touching her breasts yet, but it wasn’t more than inches away, that’s what I meant…
So, I started wondering, what should I do? Should I let the damsel go down another foot or two, before doing anything? Or should I try to bargain with her? I smiled, as I considered the idea of a life debt…a woman like TARA totally submitting to me, as a modern-day slave.
I asked for TARA to give me a second, while I watched her go under: read 22)
I asked TARA to either become my slave, or die: read 23)
12) “We can see your house from here, so we should probably try to get there before dark. I want to be able to at least help you with something, before I have to turn around and leave.” I smiled at her, and squeezed her hand. “I don’t mind helping you out around your house. In fact, I would consider it my privilege.”
“Oh, why thank you,” TARA smiled back, “ANDREW, you are being very nice today. Are you going to ask me something?
I wanted to say, “Marry me!” but all I could say was, “Erm…would you make dinner? I’m kind of hungry…”
TARA laughed, and pulled me along, as she said, “Well…I don’t know how good your cooking is, but mine’s barely better than ‘adequate.’”
I laughed with her, but then stopped. Something was wrong. I didn’t know what, but as I stepped over another one of those Artichoke plants, I tried to slow down. TARA kept pulling me, though, and as I watched the Artichoke plants get bigger and bigger. When we got to the biggest one, in the center of the clearing, TARA finally stopped. “Woah…I don’t know what kind of plant this is, but it’s huge!”
“TARA, something’s wrong here…” I backed away, as she let go of my hand, and began walking towards the big Artichoke, the one standing about three feet tall. “…Let’s get out of here, now…before something happens?”
“What? What’s going to happen?” TARA smirked at me over her shoulder, “Are you fantasizing again? I’m not going to be your damsel, you know. If you want to keep dreaming then go ahead, but I’m not…” She paused, and looked down at her feet. Her right foot was encircled by a soft, green vine. Frowning, TARA kicked it away. Another appeared around her left. Then one reached out, from the petals of the artichoke, and grabbed her torso. “ANDREW?!?” She cried, as she was lifted off her feet. I could only stare in awe, and reach out a hand to her while she was drawn over the blooming petals. As more vines sprung forth, her legs were bound together at the ankles, and a mouth appeared, in the center of the petals. The mouth looked very much like an iris, gaping open to receive TARA’s legs, even as she struggled to break free from the grip of vines. “ANDREW! Get me out of here!”
I reached for her hand, and she reached for mine, but the vines drew her away. As she squirmed, more vines bound her, both hand, and foot. More and more of her skin disappeared beneath the tendrils. Even as I grabbed hold of her hand, a vine encircled her other one. Though I pulled as hard as I could, it was impossible for me to budge her. TARA was on the verge of tears, and frantically tried to squirm out of the vine’s grasp, but to no avail. Unless I thought of something fast, TARA would get eaten by that…thing… I just had to think of something.
I did: read 24)
I wasn’t able to, in time: read 25)
13) “Let’s keep going this way… if we leave the path, we might get lost…”
It sounded like a good excuse at the time… it was a hell of a lot better than, “I’d like to keep walking with you forever,” or something romantic. Yeah, it might sound better, but I’m not the romantic type. If I tried to say something earth shattering, it would more likely than not come off as lame. Trust me.
So, we walked down the path, as it became rocky, and wound around a small mountain, with spires of stone reaching for the sky. Caves lined the face of the hill, some as small as my fist, others large enough to hide a semi, and three six bull elephants. A few were littered with bones, the kind that came from small rodents to large animals. This made me nervous, and I grabbed TARA’s hand. I felt her flinch, and then squeeze my hand in return. Obviously, we were both feeling like we needed to go back.
In the event that it wasn’t plain enough, TARA felt the need to say, “ANDREW? I think we should go back…” I felt her tug on my hand, as I continued to look around, waiting and watching intently. Then she let go of my hand, and hurried back along the path.
At least, that’s what I thought, but a second later, I realized I hadn’t heard any footsteps. I turned back, and opened my mouth to say something, and got the shock of my life. TARA’s face had been plastered with some sort of web, up to the bridge of her nose, and down to her collarbone. A thin string of webbing led from someplace on her neck, to one of the cave entrances.
TARA’s wide eyes, or at least the one that could see, followed the line back to its origin and then spun to meet my gaze. Filing with terror, her eyes spoke in the place of her gagged mouth. It pled with me to do something, before the line went taught, and she was yanked off her feet. She grabbed the line as she fell, trying to keep her neck from breaking, as she was dragged across the ground.
I ran after her, thinking that I could probably latch onto her feet, or use one of the sharp rocks surrounding us to cut her loose. However, I couldn’t even get close to her. She was pulled inside the cave before I even got halfway. Once I reached the cave entrance, it was too late for me to try anything like that.
There it was; A huge black spider, with two red stripes running down the length of its body. And there she was; TARA, the picture of a damsel in distress, already, she had chords of webbing encircling her small frame, some of it pulling tight enough to crease her skin, and suit. Her muffled pleas even enthralled me. For a moment, I wished that I had brought a camera, or something to help me capture the moment. Of course, I also realized that I either had to do something, or just watch as I had one of my fantasies fulfilled itself.
I went to help her out of it: read 26)
I saved my own skin, and hung back: read 27)
14) “Let’s follow the stream. It’s a nice enough day, and we can get to the house later on…by the light of the moon maybe?” TARA smile, and put her arm around mine, as she walked with me.
To be honest, nothing ever made me feel as good as TARA’s arm…especially when it brought my arm close to her torso…warming it with her body… I didn’t even notice, when the stream broadened out, and the path became muddy... When I did notice, t wasn’t saturated, but it looked as if the stream usually flowed over the path, and had washed away and deposited a lot of dirt.
My foot got stuck for a second, and I kneeled down to free it. It was then that I noticed that it was more like white clay, with a crusted top, than a path. Of course, a little mud wouldn’t do much for or to our walk, so when I let go of TARA’s arm, and she turned and asked, “Are you alright?” I replied, almost immediately, “Sure. Go on ahead, and I’ll catch up.” I noticed that TARA’s feet were sinking a few inches into the clay as well, but it didn’t seem to bother her. I yanked my foot out of my shoe, and then had to pull the shoe out of the clay. I looked up to tell TARA to watch out, just in time to see her get stuck with her right foot.
“Careful,” was all I could say, before she took a large step with her left foot, and sank immediately to her knee.
TARA cried out in surprise, and tried to shift her weight to her right foot, but couldn’t, probably because she was still sinking. Her left knee was swallowed, and the clay worked its way halfway up her thigh. “Oh, my…It’s deep here…” She couldn’t help but put her hands on either side of her leg, on the surface of the clay, to try to stabilize herself. “What should I do?” TARA asked, throwing her head back and over her shoulder, to look at me. …the cutest thing about that, was the little strand of hair that hang down, right at the part, that was already tipped with the white mud.
After a false start, I shrugged, and said, “You can try to go on, or you can try to get back here. It doesn’t really matter. It’s not like that’s quicksand or anything…”
“….Qu..quicksand?” She laughed nervously, “Does that make me your damsel?”
“No, that’s not quicksand,” I sighed. “That’s more like pudding. Quicksand usually doesn’t have this kind of texture….Clay doesn’t make good death traps… because you can’t get water circulating through it well enough, and also because it’s usually too heavy…or you’re too light. Really, you’d have to have so much mass per square inch, or else you’d have to find someone really light, or else it wouldn’t work at all. In fact, I don’t think Quicksand exists, in that sense of the word. Sure, there are some sinkholes, but you have to worry about hypothermia a lot more then getting sucked under.” I grinned, and beamed at my own explanation.
All TARA did was narrow her eyes, and laugh sarcastically. “Ha, very funny…but if I do get stuck, or go under, then please get me out before I get hypothermia…”
“You’ve got it,” I laughed. I laughed again, when TARA’s next labored step made her sink up to her crotch.
“Urg!” She growled, trying to pull one leg out, then the other. However, she only succeeded in sinking up to her hips. “ANDREW, this is kind of getting scary…” She cried, over her shoulder, “…It feels good…but I can’t feel anything solid...could you get me out of this stuff?”
Sure: read 28
Exploit her situation: read 29
15) “Why don’t we follow the main path?” TARA asked, smiling up at me. “That way, we can get to the house, and then maybe have some free time.”
You know, half the time, I wasn’t sure if TARA was teasing or cheering me on…but this time…I think she might have been cheering for me. …maybe…
Anyway, we took the main path, hopping over the stream, and towards another part of the forest. I kind of hoped it would lead us to her house quickly, and yet I did like it, when she slipped her arm around mine, and held it close to her torso. Seriously, I could have died happily, right then.
Eventually, we came to a part of the forest, which was extremely sandy, and the path went into another dark forest. At the idea of another tramp in a dark place, I rolled my eyes. Still…if it made TARA scared enough to grab hold of me… But then again, we could always hike over the sand, and try to find TARA’s house from there.
As TARA looked up at me, as if to ask me where I wanted to go, so I said, “Let’s go this way,” as I pointed to the…
The main path: read 30
Over the sand: read 31
16) I began to climb the giant artichoke, to capture TARA’s last moments. I was able to get her last sobs, her eyes pleading with me, and even the last wisps of hair being pulled into the sap, when the plant moved, and the whole thing shot upwards. I wasn’t able to hold on, having the camera in one hand, so I fell off. When I was done massaging my bum, I looked up, and saw a beautiful sight.
The stomach of the plant was transparent, and so was the sap, allowing me to see TARA’s figure, almost perfectly. Suspended in the Sap, she was sluggish in movement, even as the vines released her. One vine still covered her mouth, and she struggled to grab it, but it took her five seconds to even do that. Of course, as she struggled, I continued to film. Because of the sap, though, she kept her eyes closed, and so she couldn’t see me.
Then the vine covering her mouth opened up, at one end, and grabbed hold of TARA’s face. It looked as if she were smelling a flower. When I looked again, her chest was moving, so somehow, that vine must have been giving her oxygen. As she settled into a sort of relaxed coma, I ended the movie, saved it, then shot one last picture. It was awesome, the image of a beauty like TARA, being eaten like that, alive, but so peaceful.
Read 32.
17) I sighed and dropped the camera. Sure, this was fun, but I didn’t want to loose a girl like TARA. I mean, how many shots did you get with a girl like that? How many girls like that were there? So setting my camera down as best as I could so that it would keep filming me as I rescued her, I went looking for a sharp stick. Finding none, I pulled out my pocket knife. Turning back to TARA, I saw a beautiful sight.
There she was, suspended in the sap, visible through the transparent wall of the plant’s stomach. She was still struggling, but in slow motion. The vine covering her mouth, now started to eat her face. That’s when I stopped staring, and moved.
I grabbed my pocket knife, and stabbed it into the plant’s stomach. I made a slit straight down the middle, and then cut right, and left, making a sort of arch across the plant. The sap slowly oozed out, like molasses, but it wasn’t fast enough, so I started to make a cut all the way around. A vine started moving towards me, but I just avoided it, cutting all the way around the plant, before it realized that something was killing it. Then, it was too late. I jumped in, and grabbed TARA, wrestling her from the grasp of the vines, before they got a firmer grip on TARA’s slime-soaked body. I hefted her limp body over my shoulders, like she was a deer carcass, and ran as fast as I could for her house, just remembering to grab the camera as I flew past.
Once we reached her house, things got better. I didn’t want to change her clothes, no matter how wet they were, so I found the bathtub, which was very dusty, and started washing her off. I didn’t know what the slime was, but I figured it was acid, and best removed right away. As the steam rose, and I washed away the last trace of slime from her face, TARA opened her eyes slowly, and smiled. “ANDREW…” She said weakly, as she put a fragile and shaking hand to my face, “…You saved me…Thanks…” Then she gave me her best glare, and grumbled, “…but don’t ever scare me like that again! I thought I was going to die…
I smiled and shrugged. “Well, thanks is good, but…could you maybe show your appreciation in a different way?”
TARA raised an eyebrow, then furrowed both. “What do you mean?”
“I mean…Will you be my girlfriend?”
TARA laughed, and slipped the hand that was on my cheek around behind my head. She brought me in close, and kissed me. It was awesome! It would have been perfect, but I think TARA had gotten some of the sap in her mouth, because I got this numb feeling in my mouth after I broke away. “Does that mean yes?”
“Of course!”
Read 33
18) I sighed, and knew that even though it might get me killed, I’d rather help her get out of this mess, than let her die and get away clean. So, while the spider thing kept winding the web tighter and tighter around TARA, I sneaked in closer. By the time it stopped and listened, it was too late. A piece of webbing that had shot out past TARA was lying on the ground, beckoning to be lit like a fuse.
Since I had played Zelda more than a few times, I knew what was supposed to happen, but it didn’t’ happen as quickly as I thought. The flame raced down and ignited everything alright, but then the web burned like a torch. I wrapped my Jacket around my hands then reached in to grab TARA.
Fortunately, the flames weren’t hot, just bright, and sizzling. I felt a few stings, as something popped, and pieces of webbing came undone, from the side of the hole. AS I pulled on TARA, the webbing gave her up, and fell, on whatever was cowering in the dark. Once I had set TARA down safely, and had put out the fire with my jacket, and then put out my jacket, I turned to the opening. Just to be safe, I rolled that huge rock, next to the opening, into the hole. I heard it fall for about two seconds, then a splat.
Turning back, I went over to TARA, to check on her. Fortunately, since she was covered in webbing, it hadn’t burned through to her skin. Peeling off the thin layers of cobwebs took me a while, especially since I had to slip my pocket knife under each individual strand and then cut them. Sometimes, I even had to split the strands, and cut each half separately. However, in the end, I was able to untie her head, at least. She had two bite marks on her neck, but that was about it. I was worried that she had been poisoned, but as she opened her eyes, it looked as though she was only partially sedated.
“ANDREW?” she mumbled, “Is that you?”
“Yeah, I’m right here, TARA.”
“Am I still alive?”
“Yeah…” I laughed, picking her up, still tied up and everything. “No damsel is going to die on my watch. …plus, you’re such a cute burrito, I couldn’t let you go that easily. I laughed.
Tara, on the other hand, glared at me. “You know…I really hate being a damsel…and you need to get me out of this…right now.”
“Okay…” I said, surprising another laugh, “…but maybe we should go inside first…”
TARA frowned, and looked away. “Okay…”
After following the path, I finally got to TARA’s house. Once there, I set her on the bed, and proceeded to cut her loose. While I worked on the webbing, I kept glancing to TARA’s peaceful face. She looked pretty calm, despite what happened. My eyes wandered down TARA’s bound body. Maybe I could…but no, I’d better not ask anything more of her than what I’d already put her through. I glanced back to TARA’s face, meeting her gaze.
“What is it?” She asked, blatantly, perhaps curiously.
“Well…” I blushed, “I was thinking…maybe…if you’re not too mad at me, then you’ll be my girlfriend?”
This time TARA blushed. “Well...I don’t think I would mind that…especially for what you’ve done…” She leaned up, to do something, but her hands and arms were still pinned to her sides, so she lay back down. “I…I suppose this is the time the damsel gives the hero a kiss…but…” TARA shrugged and gave a little laugh. “I seem to be tied up at the moment.”
“Please,” I smiled back, “Allow me.”
With that, I tossed the scissors aside, hugged her, kissed her, and lay on top of her, just feeling the warmth of her body, the beating of her heart, and the breeze from her breath.
Read 33
19) I just watched and took pictures, as the spider climbed on top of her, and began to wrap her even more thoroughly. Every last detail about her, except what little curves she had, was buried in layer after layer of snow white webbing. By the time it was done, the cocoon was just about impenetrable, and kept TARA’s struggling down to a mere wiggle. Her muffled screams kind of turned me on, and I was really tempted to go out there for her, but I knew that if I touched the web, I would be caught, and if I cut the web, TARA would fall into the hole. It was too late, and I had made my decision. But, at least this way, I could use the perils of the forest to my advantage.
After all, I could always find another woman, another girl…then lead her out here…have her beg me to save her…
I always wanted a concubine and slave…
Read 32
20) I heard TARA’s scream, in the same direction as the footprints. So, like anyone with half a brain, I followed them. The sand was very loosely packed, probably because we hadn’t seen rain in a while… In fact, I found myself sinking every step. Running in sand is always exhausting, and I had had to keep up with TARA for a while now, so I took a breather by a tree, and took a look around.
“Help! Can anyone hear me?”
“Hrm?” I looked up, to my right, into the eyes of TARA. She was about eight feet away, and was up to her thighs in the sand. That wasn’t the part that I noticed, so much as how fast she was sinking into the sand. As we stared at each other, for about ten seconds, the sand went from her mid thighs, where I could barely see her legs, to her crotch. When the sand brushed against her crotch, she gasped, and glanced down.
“ANDREW! Thank God you followed me...though I really didn’t expect it…” TARA shifted her weight, and began to sink faster because of it. She froze instantly, but she still sank to her abdomen before slowing to the original rate. “Please…get me out of this…Is this Quicksand?”
Before answering, I considered the options. I could make her panic, in which case, I could probably exploit her to no end, perhaps even watch her die…or maybe… I started recording at this point as I considered the consequences of both.
I exploited her situation: read 34
I watched her die: read 35