The Nightmare

It was a steamy hot, August night. Thunderstorms had rumbled all night and the heavy clouds obscured the moon and stars completely, rendering the scene very dark. There was a sense of foreboding everywhere and the silence of everything except Jana’s breathing was oppressive. Jana was alone in a swampy wilderness. She had no idea how she got there. Worse, she was naked, and she had a terrifying feeling she was being followed or stalked, yet she could see or hear no sign of anything indicating the presence of someone else.

Jana wandered about aimlessly, running into branches, vines, and even spider webs. She scraped herself on branches, cut herself on bushes with sharp thorns, and tripped over sprawling tree roots. She could barely see where she was going or even her own hand in front of her face, but, for some inexplicable reason, she felt she had to keep on blundering ahead. Her sense of someone or some thing stalking her was just too overwhelming.

After nearly an hour of stumbling through the thick undergrowth, Jana came to a bit of a clearing. Now, at least she could see a little. She waited a long time before entering the clearing to see if she could detect anyone moving anywhere around her, then she started across. She stopped and froze suddenly several times to listen, but detected nothing. Gradually her fear lessened slightly. Just before reaching the far side of the clearing, Jana froze once more. There was now just enough light to see the ground in front of her and, just a foot away, the ground trembled and quaked. Her eyes went wide with horror. It was quicksand! She had come within one step of walking into a quicksand bog.

Very, very carefully Jana began picking her way along a narrow band of dry ground between two obvious pits of muck. She picked up a small stick she found and used it as a probe to test the ground before every step. Finally she reached the far edge of the mire. She stopped just for a second to listen – that sense of foreboding was back and more intense than ever.

Suddenly there was a slapping noise and something was gripping her right ankle tightly. Jana lunged forward, away from the mire, in terror, but the grip on her ankle was tight and she fell to the ground. She shook her leg but it was still caught. She looked back at her foot and went bug-eyed with horror. Gripping her ankle was the mud-covered arm of a man otherwise submerged in the quicksand! She pulled and shook her leg, screaming with terror. The arm pulled back. The man was emerging slightly from the mire but she was being pulled toward it even more. Half a bicep emerged from the dark ooze. She was pulled toward the mire so that her knee was past the edge. The top of a head rose above the slime. Her foot was pulled down until her knee was in the mud. Another arm emerged and grabbed her thigh. The head emerged to the eyes although they were hidden behind heavily caked muck. The first hand grabbed her flesh near her waist. She was now waist deep in quicksand. The man was still neck deep. The hands climbed her body, clawing her breast and pulling her in to her ribs. She clawed and punched at the man. He blindly climbed on her. Both were helpless. In short order they were both neck deep and still thrashing at each other and at the mire. Then they were up to their ears. A heavy hand full of mud caught her flush in the face, blinding and choking her. Then all went black and silent.

Jane awoke drenched in perspiration. Thunderstorms were rumbling outside, as they had all night. She was tangled in a sheet and blanket. Still shaking from her nightmare Jana got up and went to her kitchen for a glass of water. On the counter, where she had left it just before going to bed, was a box of baking soda with a picture of an arm on the label. Jana began laugh almost hysterically.