Well anyway, I decided I felt like contributing again so I made this story.Constructive criticism is welcomed, enjoy....
Quicksand Quarrel
By DemonXchaos
We had been hiking through the depths of the Amazonian Jungle for three days now. My friend Opal and I were searching for a lost Aztec temple rumored to contain vast fortunes in gold and jewels. It was my idea, I invited Opal because I thought I might need her help and she jumped at the opportunity.
Me and Opal had been friends for a while, I first met her in Sociology, when she needed help with a book report, and we have been friends ever since. So here we were, out in the middle of the jungle wearing those cliché jungle explorer outfits wandering around like lost dogs looking for their master.
My friend, Opal was a bit inexperienced when it came to jungles or even outdoor hiking for that matter. She had had long brown hair tied up in a ponytail and was a regular city girl who didn’t even know how to pitch a tent. Not only did she not know anything about the jungle but she has not stopped complaining since we left the plane!
Honestly, as we continued to venture further and further into the jungle, the more I began to think that there is no ancient tomb of vast riches. We had seen no signs of any sort of monuments or any of the cliché statues that are in the many jungle movies.
The sun had almost sunk below the ridge; it was time to set up camp. We stopped at a clearing in the jungle. I set down my pack and leaned my machete against it, and began to unpack the camping gear. “Go get some wood” I told Opal, she stuck her tongue out at me and rolled her eyes. Then she disappeared into the foliage to do pretty much the only thing she had done the entire journey except complain.
I sighed and finished pitching the tent, I used to live on a ranch and I loved to go camping in the mountains every weekend with my family. I loved nature and being outdoors as well. The main reason of coming on this trip was not the fame and fortune, but the sheer peril of the jungle, which I had seen in some comic books. Nothing exciting had happened in our little adventure so far. The only thing we had seen was a giant snake, which had almost caused Opal to have a heart-attack.
A little over 2 hours after I finished the tent, Opal came back with a bundle of sticks and dumped them in front of me. She the plopped down on her butt and look at me “whats for dinner Janet?” She asked. I smiled and replied “Whatever you find that’s edible, we are out of food.” Then I opened my backpack to prove what I said. Opal began to panic, her eyes widened and she started looking around, as if she were about to starve to death. “Oh my god oh my god what are we going to do!?!?!?” She yelled all at once. I shook my head and spoke calmly “Opal, there is a creek right next to us. We’ll just go fish.” This calmed Opal down; she took a deep breath and fell backwards, looking up at the sky “That’s a relief!”
So I headed through the jungle to the stream, I had not seen it but I could hear it from the camp. When I got there, I noticed that there was a small trail that led to the bank of the stream where no jungle foliage grew. This raised my attention as I had heard the many rumors of quicksand in the jungle, not that I believe them. I stepped onto the bank and my boots sank up to their ankles in the mud. I froze in place looking down at the stream; all I could see was my reflection in the murky brown water “oh crap” I thought “I can’t even see if there are any fish.” I turned and began to make my way back to the camp.
When I returned to the camp, Opal saw I had nothing and was disappointed “wheres the fish?” She asked. “Well I could not see anything, and we don’t have a fishing rod either!” I said in response. When I said this, got up and walked over to me “what are we going to do now?” She exclaimed. I sat for a moment to think to myself “what ARE we going to do?” “We have no food, and were deep in the jungle.” I got up, grabbed my machete and said “well lets just keep going, maybe we will find something we can eat!” “Okay Janet” said Opal as she followed me deeper into the jungle.
We ventured through the jungle for a while. After we had traveled a great distance, Opal stopped and called after me “do you even know where we are?” I couldn’t think of an answer, “uhhhhh sorta…” I replied sheepishly. Opal was starting to get angry “you mean we’re LOST!” She yelled at me. “I can’t believe that you got us lost!” She cried out, “how can this get any worse?”
I ignored her ranting and look around; I noticed the trees were starting to rise, which gave me a sinking feeling. I looked down at our feet, and we were both standing in quicksand. I looked back up at Opal, who was still angry at me, and told her “we are sinking!” She looked down and noticed that she was standing in quicksand too. “Ah! We’re sinking!” She cried out. “I just said that….” I responded. Opal began to panic again, “what are we gonna do what are gonna do?” She chanted franticly. I tried to pull my legs free of the muck, but I only succeeded in sinking deeper, we had already sunk up to our knees in the quicksand, and things weren’t looking good.
“This is YOUR entire fault!” She pointed at me as if putting me on trial. “It was YOUR idea to come to this stupid jungle in the first place!” Opal then pushed me, but since I was stuck in the quicksand I didn’t move. “Me?” I responded, “I didn’t make you come, you came on your own!” I pushed her back. Our fighting was causing us to sink deeper into the mire; we hadn’t noticed that we were almost waist deep. Opal pushed me again, then I pushed her back, she pushed me again and then I finally snapped. In a fit of rage I tackled her into the quicksand, forcing her onto her back “what the-“was all she had time to say before I wrapped my hands around her neck and began to choke her.
Opal did her best to fight back but I had the upper hand. Opal tried to push me off of her but my weight was causing her to sink faster into the quicksand. Since she couldn’t get me off her, she tried to choke me back, but she miss-calculated, and ended up groping my breasts. This ended the fight immediately, I rose off of her, sinking up to my stomach in the mud and she got off her back and had sank up to her breasts. We were both blushing, I looked around the edge of the pit to try and hide it, and Opal looked down at the quicksand. “Ummmm…” Opal’s voice trailed off.
While I was looking around I noticed a low-lying branch, I could feel quicksand was rising up my body, just as it was about to reach my bosom I grabbed the branch and Pulled myself out of the quicksand. “Janet, help!” Opal called out as she sank up to her shoulders. “Please don’t leave me here!” She cried out, struggling against the quicksand and sinking past her shoulders. She was looking up at me and holding up her hand for me to grab. “Please, I’m sinking!” The quicksand was just under her chin and tears began to flow down her cheeks. I stood next to the edge of the pit and watched has the quicksand pulled her head under, now only her arm was sticking out. This is when I began to decide whether or not I should rescue her, I thought to myself “just leave her; you’ll be better off without her.” But I knew that I wouldn’t be able to live with letting her drown there, no matter how annoying she was. “I’m going to hate myself for this” I thought as I reached down and grabbed her hand just before the quicksand sucked it down.
After I had pulled Opal free, she was laying next to the edge of the quicksand, recovering her breath. Once she had recovered from the traumatic near-death experience, she got up and hugged me, “I owe you my life!” She squealed in joy. “It was nothing, really.” I told her. Both or our explorer’s outfits were covered in mud, I tried to brush mine off, but Opal got me even dirtier when she had hugged me.
Opal looked over my shoulder and noticed a small stone post sticking out of the ground. “Whats that?” She asked me. I bent down and looked at it, it was Aztec, and it was right next to a trail that led deeper into the jungle. “This way!” I shouted. We ventured down the trail until we came to a clearing; I was stricken with awe at what I saw. Right in front of us was the tomb that we had set out for! I pulled my machete out to clear the entrance of some spider webs and set it down.
Leaving my machete behind, I continued down the hallway. Opal had fallen behind a little bit and was just entering when I came into the main room, which was filled to the brim with gold, silver, and precious gems. I stood there and stared open-jawed at the vast riches that lay before me. “We found it! We’re RICH!!!” I screamed out in joy.
Behind me I heard the sound of metal scraping against rock, and footsteps approaching me from behind. But I payed them no attention, I was far too busy drooling over what the future held for me. As the footsteps grew closer I turned to face the person who was behind me. “Op-“was all I was able to mutter before I felt the stinging pain of my own machete stabbing me in the stomach.
Opal had picked my machete up off the floor and stabbed me with it. She looked me in the eyes and with a smile, told me “nothing personal, but I would much rather have it all then try to share it with you.” She pulled my machete out from my stomach and I fell to my knees. Opal walked right by me, dropping my bloody machete on the ground as if she didn't even mind what she had just done. I looked down at my wound, my hands were covered in blood and I felt light headed. I fell back against the wall of the tomb, lying in a pool of my own blood. The last thing I felt before I blacked out was my hate at myself for being such a fool and not just walking away……….
