Please consider the Preamble for Day 1 as an integral part of this episode.
Words: 13,010
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Title: Lust on the High Seas: Day 5 -- Cadiz.
For reasons that I didn't manage to figure out immediately, I had a very restless night. I didn't sleep at all well. I kept waking up in a cold sweat, after the most vivid recurring dream.
It started as I found myself in a dank, dark tunnel and I think I must have been exploring or something - it didn't make sense at all, but then dreams often don't, do they. I remember I was pointing a torch to see where I was going, struggling to walk along, as if my feet were clinging to the floor, stuck with some treacle like substance, and I tried to stand up straight but I kept falling to one side and bumping into the tunnel wall as I tried to walk.
Each time I came to a fork in the tunnel I seemed to instinctively know which way to go, but as I progressed along, I had a churning feeling in my stomach that I was becoming more and more lost. I would turn and look behind me and I couldn't see the turn I had just made, as if the choices I had made along the way were all closing behind me.
I found myself in an opening and as I stepped out into the centre of a massive cavern I could see in the half light there were small lights, like tiny white stars. I called out in the hope that someone would answer, but all was silent apart from a low growling sound. As I looked around, the small lights gradually changed in colour, from white through pale green and blue, to purple, then red. Tiny red lights appearing, slowly becoming more and more distinct from the distant darkness, and as I strained to see I could tell they were in pairs. They were eyes, piercing red eyes watching me.
I looked down and I was horrified to see I was wearing nothing but a flimsy cotton nightdress that only just came down to my legs and hardly covered my bum and -- well, you know. I pulled it down to protect my dignity and as my eyes became accustomed to the low light, I looked around in fear. The creatures that were watching me seemed to come closer, moving toward me and I began to see their faces; large hideous looking heads, like dogs or maybe dragons, with horns and knurled noses, and forked tongues that seemed to slip out repeatedly to 'taste' the air the way a snake does.
I backed away from the first one I saw, checking behind me only to see others. I looked around in fear and realised I was surrounded by eight or ten of them, slowly approaching on clawed feet, and reaching for me with large, clawed hands. They seemed to be watching me, with large, lust filled eyes, and as I pulled my nightdress down to cover my bare crotch, the low front would pull down to reveal my small, plump little breasts, exciting the evil creatures even more.
I looked around in panic as they came closer and closer; I could see no conceivable escape route. One big creature confronted me and as I backed away I felt another pressed against my back. I put my arms up to cover my face as it raised a vicious looking clawed hand and I cried out, believing it would strike me, ripping through my flesh to tear me apart and eat me. But the claw missed my body, just catching the front of my nightdress, splitting it down the front like a razor through tissue paper.
They stared at me for several seconds, eyes wide and excited, like a group of lustful, lawless men who have just captured a sweet little toy to have some fun with. They licked their drooling mouths and I was terrified, not sure if they intended to use me as food, or perhaps something that might turn out far worse.
In a flash the creatures had converged upon me, their clawed hands grasping me and lifting me, pulling me this way and that, the tongues lapping at me, tasting every inch of my bare flesh as they raised me into the air and sharing me, yet each one seeming eager to take me for itself, reaching into all the most intimate of places as I struggled and writhed - and that's when I awoke, terrified and panting, soaked in sweat but relieved as I realised that thankfully I was safe in my bunk-bed.
The room was rocking and I could still hear the low growling in my ears. It was my dad snoring, at least I think it was dad; it could have been mam, and my dream had translated the ship's rocking into my being pulled around by those hideous creatures. It had all seemed so vivid and real.
I peered over to check the clock on my dad's bedside table. It was about 3am. I lay still for a few moments, trying to decide whether to stay in my comfy bed or get up for a pee. Decisions, decisions (sigh).
I decided I should probably get up and 'get myself comfortable'. At least I should be able to get back to sleep more easily then. While I was in the loo I got to thinking about what might have caused me to have that horrible dream. Then I realised, if Petra had drugged me, maybe it was still in my system. I wondered what might have happened if I had been given a stronger dose. I was almost afraid to imagine it. The hallucinations that I experienced at the time were bad enough - with the possible exception of when Seiko was taking me. That had felt so good, and I could hardly wait to see her for real.
I climbed back up into my bunk and snuggled up, tucking my hand between my thighs and my other hand just idly playing anywhere else that felt good, wondering about what the coming afternoon might have in store for me.
The dream floated back a couple of times, but subconsciously I realised what it was this time. Now that I knew it wasn't reality, but simply my imagination treating me to a glimpse of something terrifyingly erotic, I wondered if I might dare to let it go a little further. I have always been inclined to try something new and exciting, but only if I could be sure I wouldn't suffer any physical harm. I was excited to learn just where those inquisitive tongues might have gone. Deep down I already knew, but even though it was patently obvious what was coming, I still found it scary, so I managed to wake myself before it all got too horrendous.
You see, I remember from years ago when I was very small, my real dad told me about a way to wake myself from a nightmare. He would say - "You need to have something in your mind that only you know about, like a doll or a toy, or something that you imagine you would like to own. We call it a 'token'. The important thing is, this thing can't be real. It has to be something in your imagination, and you must never tell anyone what it is. When you think you're dreaming and you get scared, you reach for your 'token', and if you can find it, you know you're dreaming. Then you know you have to try and wake yourself." The trick is, of course, to know when to look for it.
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I awoke in the morning to be greeted by the most unholy din from the TV. My dad had already been in the bathroom, and was showered and shaved, and now my mam was in there. "Hello sleepy head," he greeted me. "You were out like a light. What were you getting up to yesterday to make you so tired?"
"Oh, nothing much," I lied. "Maybe I had a couple of drinks too many?" I told him, not really thinking before I said it.
"In the afternoon?" he questioned. "A bit early to be drinking, isn't it?"
"Early... Late... It's all relative isn't it? We are on holiday, after all."
"Hmmm..." he mused. "Well, I know what I like to do on holiday," he told me, a wicked look in his eye.
"If it's what I think you mean, I think you were doing that a couple of nights ago, weren't you?"
"You saw that?"
"Dad, a blind man could have seen it," I told him.
"Hmmm..." he replied again, looking embarrassed this time. "Well," he added, lowering his voice, "I'd enjoy it much better with you..." he told me, reaching under the blanket for my leg, "and if I catch you..."
"Well I'll just have to make sure you don't catch me then,"
I interrupted him, pulling away, and backing up to the wall away from his reach, but still smiling.
At that moment, my mam opened the bathroom door. Seeing him beside my bed she asked, "Is everything alright?" She sounded more than just a little curious, and I began to wonder if she might have had suspicions about he and I.
"Yes Mam," I replied, getting him off the hook. "I was just telling Dad about this really weird dream I had last night."
"Oh really honey? What was that?"
"Oh, it was so scary. I was being chased by a dozen monsters that all wanted to eat me." I didn't want to tell her quite 'how' I thought they wanted to eat me.
"Oh dear!" she said, sympathetically. "Well I hope you escaped," she told me.
"I'm still here," I laughed.
