How long had it been since she started crying? In this forsaken place, time had lost all meaning to Phoebe. Minutes, hours, days... It was all the same to her. The tears had stopped flowing long ago, but the pain was remained, and so did the need to cry. Her eyes were red and swollen like never before; her cheeks were covered in a thin layer of salt.
A deafening silence surrounded her, as if she had died on the spot. Only her breathing betrayed the fact she was alive. She truly looked miserable. The puddle of white cum had long been absorbed by the black goo, but her crotch remained smeared with moist semen. The poor girl didn't even try to wash it off. What was the point? She would get raped again soon after cleaning it, why bother? From the outside, she looked utterly defeated. Had she ever hit rock bottom this deeply?
And yet, a fierce battle was being fought inside of her mind. After such a traumatizing experience, it would be expected of anyone to simply give up and let fate do the rest. How could a human being face this amount of despair and continue living? Only pain and misery were waiting outside this room. Countless traps and deviant creatures, ready to make her go through hell and back.
Phoebe did consider capitulating and letting this place have its ways with her. Strongly, even. The black slime was comfortable enough she could just fall asleep and never wake up. The easy way out. Gnawed by hopelessness, this sentiment quickly took over her. She closed her eyes and laid on the floor, comforted by the cozy warmth that enveloped her. Her mind was wandering away, slowly losing its grip with reality.
Voices... There were voices calling her, urging her to wake up. They were soon accompanied by small shakes on her shoulder. What was happening? She wanted to look, but her eyelids wouldn't budge. "Whatever" she thought, the young woman was too weak to persevere. Soon, it'll be all over.
Despite her resolve to let go, the disturbances continued. Shakes and voices... Voices that she knew? Children... What were they saying? It was now too much for her to ignore. Her eyelids stayed closed, as if someone had sewn them shut. However, this time, she couldn't play dead. It felt like lifting an unmovable object, but with her newfound determination and unrelenting effort, she finally saw who was calling her.
There weren't any blinding lights, nor visions of peace and happiness as many hoped to see. If this was heaven, it clearly wasn't what she was expecting. No. Instead, she found herself laying on a couch, a blanket over her and a welcoming warmth, emitted from a lit fireplace. This place... It felt familiar to her. In fact, she had seen it dozens of times. The girl looked around. A young boy and girl were standing next to Phoebe, shaking her.
"Finally! She's awake!" the boy cheered, rapidly followed by the young girl.
The blanket slid off her as she sat on the couch. Rubbing her eyes, she couldn't even gather her thoughts before the two kids jumped on the sofa and hugged her from both sides. This embrace, the crackling of the fire, the wooden floor and walls... Only one place combined all these elements.
"Alice, Daniel, leave her alone. She already had a grueling day." a woman sternly said while entering the room, followed by a younger, feminine voice, "Will this even be enough for dinner?"
Her hair stood up as she heard those voices; they were recognizable among thousands. There were no doubts left. It was... Home. Her cousins, her sister, her mom... As the realization dawned on her, this world started fading out. "Time to eat, Phoebe!" her mom declared. The blonde girl wanted to respond, but her voice wouldn't come out. Sounds became muffled, her surroundings vanished behind a white haze... She couldn't even tell them anything.
Back into this harsh reality, a spark had ignited inside her. It was all that was needed to pull her out of this delirium of despair. The poor girl wanted to see them again... The thought of her family acted as tinder, turning this spark into a roaring blaze, bathing her mind in a ferocious light casting out the gloomy thoughts. Without much effort she opened her eyes and was met with the dreadful vision of the room she was in.
Hundreds of small slime tendrils were growing on her, coming from the black goo; was it absorbing her? In no way would she let that happen. The blonde woman pushed against the ground with her hands, tearing the small tentacles and freeing her from their vicious grip. She crawled from under the table, grabbing her bottle on the way, and was greeted with the orange glow of the egg sacs. She drank profusely, using the remaining water in the container to wash her face.
Fueled by this fire raging inside of her, Phoebe was now overflowing with an unwavering determination to survive this hell and see once again her loved ones. She let go of her empty bottle. No more relying on the outside world; to survive here, becoming part of this ecosystem was vital, whatever this entailed. As she had this thought, her stomach made a loud growl. Well, before learning the ins and outs of this place, she first had to find food.
The young woman probed her memory; had she even seen anything resembling food down there? No fruits... Maybe the flowers were edible? Or the mushrooms? How many would she need to eat to satiate her hunger, though... She could try killing one of the slugs, but how? She had lost her knife to the octopus. And without fire to cook it too... She sighed. There wasn't any easily obtainable food here, at least that she could think of. Maybe the egg sacs, but she doubted the creatures would let her get near them. The naked girl looked down, ruminating.
