I walk home with a happy spring in my step. Finally the time has come, my last exam is over, now I have two wonderful months of vacation waiting before I start my first year of university. I enjoy early summer as I pick my favorite path: Through the woods. I look up at the play of light through the dense treetops. The sun is already high, but it is still cool in the forest. I can smell the damp earth and fallen leaves. For a moment I have to deviate from my path along a tree stump covered with moss. I follow a stream, the sparkling water looks lovely and I decide to take off my shoes and wade into the creek. Refreshed, barefoot, I continue my path.
I go deeper and deeper into the woods, I don't have to rush to get home, my parents are away for at least another week. What a wonderful freedom. I've just turned 18 and soon the real freedom will start, then I'll live in a dorm and make my own rules.
I have to be careful where I put my feet, the banks are slippery with mud and stones covered with green algae. I hold on to the branch of an old tree for a moment and... 'crack' the rotten branch breaks off as my foot slips. I land right on my ass, let go of my backpack and slide a little further. My leg sinks up to my knee in a muddy hole between some tree roots. Large deep purple fungi grow on the baren tree trunk and its roots spread far over the stream. I grab myself tightly to a root and try to pull my leg out. With great effort I pull my body up, but the mud sucks my leg down powerfully like a vacuum. I put my free foot on the tree root and use it to push me off. Instead of breaking free, my foot slides off the slippery root, straight into the muddy hole. I sink deeper. Both my legs up to my thighs in the slimy sludge.
"Fucking mud", I wriggle my legs back and forth to pry myself free but just sink deeper and deeper into the gunk. Even my ass and hips go under and I can feel the warm mud coming through my panties.
"Ugh, disgusting", whatever I do I work myself deeper and deeper into the hole, frustrated I drum my fists on the tree root, "help!" I shout desperately, knowing that no one is around. Suddenly I drop down to my neck. I feel my body sink further down, I have nowhere to hold on to. I look up one more time at the light that shimmers peacefully between the leaves and the colorful purple fungi on the tree trunk before the mud completely swallows me up.
I gasp, a taste of wet earth and mold in my mouth. I sit in a dim hole, lit only by a small opening above me. More of the fleshy purple fungi grow on the walls, connected by fat pulsating veins. I sit up on my knees and sink into the soft, spongy surface, it feels warm... almost alive. Thick mucus drips down my shoulders, breasts and legs. I'm appalled by the smell, it seems to be a combination of the wet forest floor, a strong floral perfume and rotten flesh.