Date:          November 2003
Title:         Quicksand
Author:        Jeroen Verbeek, Copyright (C) 2003. All rights reserved.

Summary:       In search for the Amazon legend, I got trapped in a pool of 
               loose, moist sand.

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Quicksand


I had better watched out when I passed the sign that said `Nature Reserve. 
No cars allowed beyond this point`. I also had better listened to that park 
ranger at the moment I bought a map of the local area. Now I was in big 
trouble on my trip in search for the Amazon legend. It just sat there, 
waiting, knowing that sooner or later someone would came along. And it was 
me who got caught in its trap.
     It happened a couple of minutes ago when I stepped towards the river. 
The ground seemed to bounce a little, and suddenly the sand under my feet 
began to rock like a raft on a calm lake. I pulled my left foot out with a 
reluctant slurp, and as my legs strained to pull out my right foot, my left 
foot sank in nearly to my knee. Immediately I had a sense of fear come over 
me.
     "This is quicksand!" I cried.
     I was quickly convinced of this as the thick mire around me liquefied 
more with each movement I made. I tried to turn around and get back out of 
the soft, yielding sand. It sucked greedily at my legs, pulling them even 
deeper inside, making every attempt to turn back harder and slower than the 
last. The key was not to panic. Most people who drown in quicksand, were 
usually those who panicked and began flailing their arms and legs. Because 
with quicksand, the more you struggled in it the faster you would sink. If 
you just relaxed, your body would float in it because a human body is less 
dense than the mushy mixture of sand and water.  This is the nice theory I 
had learned during survival classes.  But not to panic in a real-life 
situation was easier said than done!
     Frantic, I looked for something to grab onto, but there was nothing 
within my reach but more loose, moist sand. I also realized that I was in 
the middle of the pit, so that any attempt to lean in any direction would 
only get me deeper. To my horror and surprise I found my legs already 
buried to mid-thigh. I wasn't sinking fast, but I couldn't suppress the 
wave of panic that suddenly hit me. I wriggled my toes and scissored my 
legs in an attempt to free myself. But instead of floating to a save level 
I forced myself farther down into the liquid sandpit. 
     I was sunk in up to my stomach now. Watching the quicksand fill my 
sinking navel, I slowly slid down further into the sandy mass. The thick 
weight of the sand squeezed in on my chest from all sides. It was getting 
difficult to breathe. As the sand covered my ribs, and reached my armpits, 
I made a final, valiant attempt to free myself. It was hopeless however, I 
was simply too deep, and even worse I could barely move at all. As I 
realized my last attempt had failed, I began to wonder how it would feel to 
be swallowed by Mother Nature's soft deathtrap.
     The quicksand now engulfed my shoulders. Silent and wide-eyed, I was 
unable to scream or make a sound as the sea of sand almost drowned me. I 
tried to stretch my neck to stay above the surface. All I could see were my 
upstretched arms. I clamped my mouth shut, as I felt the sand cover it. I 
didn't want to die, and tried to hold my breath as long as possible. Once 
under, the sticky sand weighed me down even more, and my mind drifted into 
a bottomless spin of darkness.

Then I saw a beautiful woman. She was dressed in bits of leather and fur 
that were used more to carry her weapons and tools than to conceal her 
rather impressive features. I don't know if she was there the whole time, 
or if she just `appeared`, or if she just came in.
     "We are a family, united in sisterhood." Came a soft voice just above 
my head.
     I awoke to the touch of a warm hand. The hand pulled hard and slowly 
dragged me out of the quicksand. When I was eventually on safe ground, 
gasping for breath, all I could see was the vague shape of a scantily clad 
woman rapidly disappearing in the Amazon forest.



The End




----- This work is copyright (C) Jeroen Verbeek, 2003, all rights reserved -----