He could feel it there. Always present, always looming, always watching. Knowing it was there was the worst part, feeling it all around him. It didn’t have to lunge with teeth and claws bared to terrify. In fact, the anticipation was arguably the worst part. It paralyzed him, freezing his muscles rigid. His mouth was dried and though his mind was screaming for him to reach towards his safety line he couldn’t bring himself to do it. A cold sweat broke out across his skin as he heart thundered in his chest, the man not daring to make a sound.

Oh but it was fine with making sounds. A thud upon the floor, a tap along the wall, breathing that one might well mistake for his but that he knew well was not. It was out there in the inky blackness, grinning with teeth as sharp as needles. It was ready to tear into him the moment he started to doze off. His eyelids were heavy but he refused to close his eyes. He couldn’t, not with it in the room with him. He swallowed hard, not even daring to pull his blankets up closer around him for some small comfort in the cool October night.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

His heart felt like it was going to stop in his chest, eyes darting to where he knew the lamp was. An arm’s reach away. He just needed to reach out and tug the little chain.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Closer now, so very close. He didn’t turn around, didn’t dare make a single move. He didn’t want to look at it, didn’t want to see the terror in the dark.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

The sound of feet upon hard floor stopped. It was right behind him. It never made a noise but he knew it was there standing over him. He wanted to scream or run but he was paralyzed. The darkness was too oppressive; he couldn’t know what existed within. Were there others? He had always thought there had only been one but what if there were more in the shadows of the dark room? Half a dozen more, grinning at him as they anticipated a meal to come. He couldn’t even swallow his mouth was so very dry.

His breathing hitched as he felt something. Most would have dismissed it as the blanket settling along his back but he knew what it was. A poke, a prodding from the nameless terror’s claws. It teased him, toyed with him, daring him to move. He could hear the floor creak as the presence shifted its weight from one foot to the next. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end as he stared up where the lamp sat on the nearby shelf. He couldn’t see it in the darkness but he knew instinctively where it was.

He warred against his caution, screaming at his body to move but terror paralyzed him. Who knew what might be out there in the darkness? What if another was standing in front of the lamp? His teeth ground together as he finally managed to get his hand to twitch. He couldn’t stay paralyzed like this forever. The man swallowed hard, the dryness of his mouth making him feel ill as he did.

Immediately he lunged towards the light, sweating fingers fumbling with the chain on the lamp. He yanked it down with much more force than necessary, flooding the bedroom with light in an instant. Even with the light on he didn’t want to turn around, didn’t want to look behind him to see what was there. Slowly, inch by inch, he turned his head. He let out a rather undignified whimper as he turned fully around.

Nothing. There was nothing that stood anywhere in the room beyond the furniture. No formless terrors, no nightmarish demons, just empty air. The man settled down into his bed and let out a shuddering sigh, wiping his hand across his sweat stained brow. His shirt clung to his back uncomfortably, drenched in the cold sweat of fear. In the open light he looked rather thin, his plain face marred by dark circles around his eyes and an unkempt five o clock shadow. Sleep was something that long eluded him.

He rubbed the heels of his hands against his tired eyes before counting backwards from ten. The middle aged man took deep calming breaths, trying to slow the pounding of his heart and the flow of fear filled adrenaline through his body. A groan escaped him as he laid back down, staring up at the ceiling. He looked over to the ticking clock by his bed. 4:30 AM. Another night with next to no sleep. He turned back to the ceiling and closed his eyes, the orbs arching from lack of rest.

Reaching over to the side of the lamp he produced a flashlight and clicked it on, slowly getting out of bed. The slim and tall man padded his way to the door, pushing it open. Beyond was an arrangement of nightlights down the hall, looking a bit like a runway. He took comfort in the presence of the lights and from the flashlight in his hands. Light was good. It was safe. As long as he had the light with him he was perfectly safe. The thing never appeared in spots illuminated by light after all.

The man walked down the stairs and flicked on the light of the kitchen, heading over to the fridge. He took out a bottle of water and leaned against the counter, reaching for a pill bottle set out on the counter. He opened it up and upturned it over his hand. Nothing. He was out. The man grumbled and tossed it away, opening the pantry up. None there either, he was out for once. He sighed despondently, they were a crutch he knew that much but one he needed tonight more than ever. The man sat at the kitchen table uncapped his water bottle, guzzling down its contents in long greedy gulps.

He kept going until he needed to break for air, wiping his lips as he looked at the clock. 4:34. It was going to be a long time until morning. He checked his calendar and felt his shoulders sag just a little bit. It was that time of the week as well. With a sigh he leaned back in the chair and just stared up at the ceiling with a blank expression on his face. One thing was certain; work was going to suck tomorrow.

______________________________________________________________________

“Richard. Richard are you listening to me?”

The man known as Richard was broken out of his stupor and jolted in his seat, tearing his gaze from the clock. The suited woman behind the desk before him frowned. It was a poor expression on her face if he was being honest. He preferred it when she smiled a little more. Then again he supposed it wasn’t helping that he could barely stay coherent. He licked his lips and leaned forward.

“Yeah. Sorry. Just… just a little exhausted, Doctor.” He said, his voice cracking slightly.

She did smile though it was wan, that tired little smile one gave when they were frustrated but didn’t want to say it. “I understand. Let’s focus on last night’s little scare. You tried sleeping with the lights off again and it didn’t go well.”

If there was one thing about therapy he hated it was talking about it. Talking about it made it seem all the more real. Just thinking about it, the sensations and the emotions he felt a prickle in the back of his mind. Doctor Sira thought it was healthy though. Hey, she was the one with the medical degree. He was just the nut job she had to deal with on a now regular basis. The man started twiddling his thumbs and looked down away from her.

“Yeah. It started out fine, but then I started to hear… it. I could feel it standing right behind me, the thing even touched me! I felt its claws on my back, doc.” He said, forcing out the words. Words that no doubt made him seem insane.

Dr. Sira nodded in an understanding manner. She removed her glasses from her face and set them down on her desk. Richard found her drop dead gorgeous if he was honest. Thirty two and she still had a youth about her. Black glossy curls gently framed her dusky and angular features, not a wrinkle or sign of aging showing. She stood a few inches above average height and her form filled out her suit nicely. She was the kind of woman he’d stutter and stumble over his words when talking to normally.

“Nyctophobia is characterized by extreme over imagining of what might be hiding in the dark. Every sound becomes a thing to analyze and your mind immediately goes to the worst conclusion that it can come up with. In more severe cases I’ve heard of semi-hallucinations. You fear what could be hiding there, Richard, but there is nothing in the dark. You even told me yourself, when you turned the light on there was nothing there.” She said at length.

At his core, Richard knew she was right. There had been nothing there and there never was whenever the lights came back on. He hadn’t heard the terror retreat away when the lights turned on and it wasn’t like it could just disappear. It was irrational, like all phobias. Knowing that though, didn’t make what he’d felt any less real. He couldn’t entirely convince himself that there had been nothing there. Something had to have been there. It had been tormenting him for years, kept at bay by lights and only just returning with this exposure therapy crap.

He couldn’t say that though, he’d come off as more crazy than he already seemed. Instead he settled for a simple, noncommittal answer. “Yes, I know. You’re right.”

Sira frowned again, seeming to pick up on that. “Richard, I can’t force you out of this. You have to be the one to overcome this. I know you can. The exposure probably seems terrifying now that it’s on your own and not in here but you need to take this next step. If you don’t, this fear will continue to run your life. You know that.”

Richard started tapping his foot slightly, quirking his lips oddly. “I know, I get it. Listen doc, can’t you just give me something to sleep? Like the pills again?”

A sigh met that. “Medication isn’t the answer, Richard. The pills were there to help you through the initial steps; you can’t let it become a crutch. That won’t solve a thing here.”

Richard ran a hand through his short and messy black hair. It was greasy on account of the shower he’d skipped this morning. If there was ever a picture definition of ‘wreck’ he would fit it. Button up shirt wrinkled and seemingly thrown on haphazardly, khakis loose and unevenly fitted, skin pale and pasty and overall looking like he lacked any grooming at all. He noted as he looked down between his legs that his socks were two different colors.

“Doc, I’m begging you here, please. I haven’t slept in three days. My boss sent me home early because I was delirious through a big meeting. I just want to rest, just one night with the lights on and some pills before bed.” He pleaded.

Sira leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms under her breasts. Her lips were pursed as she regarded Richard at length. “Do you really, honestly, think you need them? If you do I’ll write the prescription. I don’t want you using them to help with the problem but I certainly don’t want you falling asleep behind the wheel either.”

The man managed a weak smile and nodded. “I really do. Thanks doc, I know it’s probably not helping but I just really want to get a good night’s sleep.”

The dark haired woman sighed. “Alright then. Listen though, I want you to come in tomorrow for an extra session since this one’s going to be a bit short. I want you well rested and ready to talk about this. We’ll try a bit more contained exposure. Maybe putting you on your own in this too early was a mistake. Still, you do need to work up to that.”

Again, Richard knew the doctor was right. She always was about these things really. The suited woman scribbled out on a pad with her pen, signing off with her signature. She tore off the slip of paper and handed it to Richard, not immediately letting go as she did. The doctor met the man’s eyes for a few moments, as though to stress that this would be the last one for a good long while. Richard sighed and stuffed the prescription into his pocket, scratching the back of his head as he leaned back in his chair.

“Right then. That’s all for today. I want you to head straight home and get some rest. Come in tomorrow well rested and ready to talk this through.” Dr. Sira said.

“Thanks again doc, I’ll be by tomorrow after work. Same time.” Richard affirmed with a nod.

Sira moved to hold the door open for the man and without another word he was gone. Part of him felt guilty for pushing Sira like that but damn it if he didn’t get at least one night’s sleep he was going to go crazy. Well, more crazy than he was already. He looked out the window near the entrance to Sira’s office. Dark clouds on the horizon as the sun was going down. Looked like it was going to be a stormy night.

______________________________________________________________________

Richard blinked groggily as he came to, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Sleep had managed to come at last earlier in the stormy night. The room was lit rather than not as he figured it was more important that he actually be able to sleep. A grumble came from outside and a quick glance to the clock had the time at 2:00 AM. The fact that getting around eight hours of sleep was something to celebrate was pretty pathetic.

There was something he found that was missing though as he woke up. At first he couldn’t put his finger on it properly then he realized it. The clock had stopped working. The man sucked in through his teeth and sat up in bed, the sheets rustling loudly against his bare skin. He reached over and shook it before checking the back and opening up the space for the batteries. Still there. Must have been out of juice or something. Which meant it might actually be way later than he was seeing.

Richard sighed wearily and grabbed his flashlight with his other hand, clicking it on as he got out of bed. His foot got a little piece of paper caught under it and ended up kicking an empty pill bottle across the room. He peeled off the piece of paper, not even bothering to look at its contents and padded his way out of the room and into the well-lit hall. If there was one good thing about his Nyctophobia it was that there were always plenty of batteries lying around. Couldn’t have a flashlight giving out could he?

Suddenly there was a flicker of darkness. It was the only warning he received as another thunderclap boomed from outside, taking out the power a moment later.

His heart felt like it was about to stop. Immediately a cold sweat broke out over his skin. No. No, no, no. Another thunderclap roared out in the night sky beyond though beyond that there was a sound. A sound far more horrifying and one that sent a thrill of terror down his spine. It seemed to sound out through the house, synched up with the thunder to such a degree that one might have dismissed it. A laugh, a horrible unearthly sound that echoed in his skull long after the thunder faded.

There was a creaking noise behind him, slow and ponderous. He forced his head to turn, just in time to shine his flashlight on the door to his room as it clicked shut. Richard rushed towards it, dropping the clock on the floor as he did and shattering the glass face. He tried the handle on the door, panicking as he did. He jiggled it right and left frantically, shoving against the hard and firm wood. No use, there was no going back for him now.

He tried other doors along the hall, the bathroom, the hall closet, and the spare bedroom. All were locked to him. He ran a hand through his hair as he swallowed hard, his mouth completely dry. Richard clutched his flashlight in a death grip, shining it here and there as though expecting a hidden specter to be illuminated. There was nowhere to go except downstairs. He was being herded along. If he stayed here he’d be trapped but if he could get to the front door he could get outside. Spending the night in his car was a fair better option than this.

Slowly, his light shining before him, Richard made his way down the rest of the hall. His path was halted for a few moments as he hissed in pain, his bare feet cut by the glass shards left behind from the clock face. They gleamed in the light of the flashlight like little crystals. He frowned and turned the light back up, freezing in place as he seemed to catch the very back of something as it turned the corner.

He closed his eyes and forced himself to start walking. He had to remember what Sira said, she’d had other cases that had possessed semi-hallucinations. His mind was making this up. It was all in his head. He must have accidently locked the doors when he’d closed them tonight. The door to his room closing had been the wind or something, yeah. No ghosts, no monsters, there were absolutely no such thing.

Slowly, very slowly he started making his way down the stairs. He looked behind him before shining his light back at the base of the steps. Nothing but hardwood floor and a side table. No monsters waiting to lunge at him. He had to harness every ounce of his courage to descend each step, his heart seeming to pound louder and louder in his skull with each step. His palms were sweaty and slick, compromising his grip on his flashlight. The light itself was held in a trembling hand. Another thunderclap caused him to jump slightly, which had him lose his footing between steps.

Richard cried out as he lost his grip on his flashlight and ended up tumbling down the remaining stairs, landing with a loud thud at the ground floor. He groaned, disoriented by the fall but soon enough he recovered. Richard shook his head, looking for the flashlight with a panicked look in his eyes. It had rolled towards the kitchen, shining towards him. Though it was away from the front door he couldn’t bring himself to leave it behind. He needed it; the thing was his safety line in this dark place. He crawled towards it and wrapped his hand around it, managing a relieved sigh.

As he turned the light around to point in front of him though, into the otherwise pitch black kitchen his relief died in his mouth.

Directly in front of his crawling position the light shined upon a pair of bare and pale legs. Shapely legs but as pale as bone. A pair of bare feet rested on the hardwood floor before him, ten wriggling toes each ending in long black claw-like nails. He could hear breathing from above and though he knew he would regret it he couldn’t stop his hand from tipping the light up. Up the legs the light traveled, revealing a slit between them shaved completely bare. Further up, a slim belly. At the sides were a pair of hands, fingers ending in sharp talon-like black nails as well. Further up, a pair of well-rounded breasts. Finally there was the face of the monster, a face that chilled his blood. Long black hair hung around her head in a messy mop, cruel yellow eyes dilated with the light shining into them and in reaction her full lips parted to bare her teeth in a snarl. Very sharp, almost shark like teeth.

Richard cried out and tried to scramble away towards the front door, only to find a strong grip seize his wrist. He found himself spun around to face that snarling, beautifully horrifying face. He was nose to nose with her. So close he could smell her breath. It smelled distinctly of rotting flesh. The flashlight fell to the ground, casting all but those yellow eyes into darkness. He could hear the cruel smile in her voice.

“Richard, Richard, you don’t like to play with me anymore? We were having so much fun last night but you always send me away. How rude.”

Her voice echoed in his skull, slithering around long after she had actually finished speaking. It was an erotic sound, teasing, tantalizing but terrifying in how unnatural it sounded. After the caress it made him feel like some dribbling was coming down his ears. A black ichor dripped onto the floor, illuminated by the light of the flashlight. He whimpered as he struggled, trying to get away from this monster.

She chuckled, a sound that rattled his ribcage. “Somewhere to be? No more time for your best and longest friend? Too busy for dear old me? That’s too bad because I want to…”

The creature’s breath was hot upon his ear, a long tongue licking at the black fluid that dribbled from within. “Play.”

At that word Richard felt his world start to spin around and around, his stomach roiling with nausea. He was going to throw up, he was certain of that. The man was only vaguely aware that the grip on him had been released. He fell on his back and curled in on himself, groaning as the pain grew. He shut his eyes and found the pain overriding the fear. He couldn’t move or run he was in so much pain. Even now she could very well be rounding up to slice him to ribbons with those talons of hers.

He heard her laugher come again, that horrible noise that shook him to his very core. It grew in pitch with each passing minute, getting louder and louder with each passing moment. Soon if felt like it was shaking the very ground itself. He couldn’t get the noise out of his skull. It was echoing out seemingly forever. He felt like it skull might very well crack or his eardrums might burst.

Finally, mercifully, it stopped. The noise came to an end almost abruptly, filling the space with complete silence in its place. He managed to open his eyes, the pain in his body having stopped as well, and managed to sit up. When he did he felt his breath catch in his throat.

All around him was the illuminated plain of hardwood that had once been the floor. It was vast, unbelievably so. It stretched for as long as far as his eyes could see. Indeed near him was a massive split in the ground that was just the little separation between floorboards. He whimpered as he looked upon the monolithic form of the flashlight nearby, the black structure bigger than most buildings to him at that moment.

He turned his gaze to where it was illuminating and he paled. In the distance he could see the blurry forms of ten toes and two pale feet. Looking up her couldn’t even see her through the darkness above but she was standing there. She was as big as any mountain while he, he was no bigger than the size of a crumb. Another chuckle came from above, rattling his bones and reverberating through his body.

“This is much better. Now what shall we play first… oh, I know. How about your favorite game? Hide and seek?” She said, her voice rumbling in his ears.

“I… I… wh-wh-wha-” He stuttered, his voice almost non-existent.

“Oh, but we can’t play if this light is still on. Will make hiding so much more difficult. Let’s fix that…” She said.

The creature lifted her foot, the movement of such a massive thing so suddenly almost too much for his mind to properly wrap around. She lowered her big toe over where the button on the flashlight was, a single long black nail glinting. The tip of the nail pressed onto the surface, slowly eliciting a click. She then, inch by inch, raised it. Richard’s eyes grew wide as once it was fully off all light in the area suddenly winked out of existence.

It was dark. He could barely even see his own hand in front of his face. The panic he felt before only grew more and more pronounced. Now he wouldn’t be able to see her. Her foot could have been poised right above him in the darkness, ready to come down and reduce him to a tiny red smudge and he’d never know. Richard nearly went into a full blown panic attack, his heartrate picking up to dangerous levels.

“There. Now we can play. I’ll hide and you’ll seek. You’ve got three minutes.” She said.

Richard could hear the whoosh of air over him followed by the sound of bare skin thudding upon hardwood floor somewhere behind him. He was supposed to find her? He wanted to get away from her more than anything else, much less find her. The man started groping around in the opposite direction from where he heard her foot come down, earning a loud a booming chuckle from above.

“Wrong way, getting cold, colder. Ice cold.” She said, her voice laced with cruel mirth.

As she spoke Richard indeed felt himself getting cold, as in physically. The further away from her he got the colder he became until the icy chill was enough to have his teeth clacking loudly. It got so bad his body ended up feeling numb and he fell to the floor. His breath came out in labored white puffs. He looked back in the direction he’d come from and tried to stumble back that way, hands groping blindly in the darkness.

“There we go. Now you’re getting warmer.” The monstrous woman remarked with a chuckle.

This was hell, it had to be. He couldn’t see and out there in the darkness was the monster herself. What guarantee did he have she wasn’t going to crush him for a chuckle? Or gore him through with one of those nails? There was none but it wasn’t like he had much choice. He had to search her out. If he didn’t do it in time he knew something far worse than his body heat being lowered would happen.

“Two minutes, little Richard.”

That voice, this run in was the first time she’d ever spoken to him. Now that she had he wished she’d never opened her mouth. It hurt listening to it for so long, like all of reality was crumbling around him. Each word stabbed at his brain, straining at his fraying psyche. Its loudness shook him to his bones. He could hear her so far above him in the darkness but that didn’t help him find her.

He crawled upon the floor, feeling out around him for some trace of her. She’s stopped talking and instead there was loud breaths coming from above. His imagination went wild as he thought of exactly how she was looking down upon him. Her mouth wide, razor sharp teeth just waiting to tear into him. Tongue running along her lips, a black stain upon the very tip. Golden eyes wide and alight with amusement.

He didn’t know if it was any closer now than he had been when he started moving towards her. There was no gauge for direction. She was out there and he was certain she was just waiting for him to fail. Claws poised to tear and rip, teeth ready to slice him to nothing, the scariest bit was that he couldn’t see her. Richard had no idea what was out there and it just left his imagination to pick up the slack. The imagination of a Nyctophobic man like him was more than capable of coming up with the worst of scenarios.

Suddenly he felt his hands touch something other than the floor. Something cold and soft, yielding in some ways. Another booming chuckle came from above as he touched the surface. Richard groped around to get a feel for it and understanding dawned upon him. This was one of her toes. Considering how much skin he could touch and how high he could reach without touching her nail it must have been much larger than his own body. More than he’d been able to imagine.

Suddenly the surface shifted, pushing back against him. Richard let out a grunt as he was thrown onto his back before the wall of flesh pressed up against him. All breath was crushed from his lungs as he was compressed between the floor and one of the monstrous woman’s toes. He pushed back weakly at the massive digit, unable to even scream from the pressure being placed upon him. He felt his ribs creaking and bending, threatening to splinter under the immense weight pressing down.

After a while the pressure faded only for Richard to find himself squeezed between two walls of flesh almost immediately after. She had him between her toes, wriggling them as they were clenched to grind against him. Suddenly he heard a grotesque wet pop and felt a flare of mind numbing pain in his left leg. He screamed in agony, the sound muffled in his prison of pale and soft flesh.

“Does it hurt, Richard? Well maybe you know how much it hurts to be pushed away for so long. Years and years of being shoved aside builds in one.” She said, her voice still as loud and clear as ever.

Pushed away? What did she expect? She’d terrorized him on every dark night, watching him while he slept. She ground at him with her toes, never letting up for a moment. It felt like he was moments away from bursting into a red splotch between her pale toes. His vision blurred with red and his lungs screamed for air. This couldn’t be just another delusion or hallucination could it? He was feeling this, he was seeing this, it wasn’t just all in his head! It wasn’t!

As if in answer to his questioning of reality the toes ground slightly harder against him, eliciting another sickening wet pop as bone and marrow were complete shattered in Richard’s other leg. If he still had the breath to do so he would have screamed, but it was all he could do to remain conscious. It went on and on, skin sliding against him and pressing up all around him and never letting up for a second.

Finally, mercifully the woman splayed her toes and released him, sending Richard tumbling down the hard and unyielding floor below. He groaned, wishing unconsciousness would come but there was no such mercy to be found. His whole world was pain and fear, fear not of the dark but this being that called the dark her home. Spurred she was by his rejection of her and it was clear she would have her due.

“Please… please… please God stop…” He managed to get out between gasping breaths, trying to crawl away pitifully with his legs at awkward angles.

Richard’s sides were pinched between two massive black nails, the sharp claws digging painfully into him. With just a bit more pressure she could gore him easily, impaling him against the black chitin. He ascended up through the darkness, his head vision swimming and his stomach doing flip flops. He wanted to die at this point, anything to stop the pain and the mind numbing terror this tormenter was inflicting upon him.

He stopped ascending and he felt warm air pass over him, the scent of rotting flesh enough to make him want to vomit. Her breathing was like thunder in his ears, never fading and as loud as could be. The thunder outside was nothing compared to this. He could hear the sound of a slimy tongue being drawn across moist lips, his fear spiking once more. Richard struggled against the grip holding him in place to no avail.

“Mmm… you don’t look like you are having any fun, Richard. That’s no good. Not to worry, I have the perfect place I know you’ll enjoy.” She said.

Her long tongue flicked out at him through the darkness, having approached unseen. The slimy and wet member licked at his shattered legs, the thin tip wrapping around his torso like a snake. His eyes widened as he knew well what was going to come next. He screamed and thrashed, trying to slip out of the slick bond. He couldn’t see the moist cavern ahead but he knew what was going to come next. Richard knew exactly what she had in mind.

The foul smell of her breath was overpowering and the air itself felt more thick and heavy with humidity. Saliva dripped down from above, landing on his shoulder with a wet splat. As her lips closed behind him, teeth clacking shut against each other he knew then he had been a fool. All his life he had thought he knew what darkness was. A room when it was lacking a light, the night with a cloudy sky. Neither of these came close to the absolute, soul rending darkness that was this monster’s mouth.

Richard couldn’t see anything, no color and no vague shapes; he might as well have been blind. He screamed and yelled until his throat was cracked and raw, the humidity of her mouth unbearable. Then there was the smell. The horrible awful smell of rotting meat that permeated her mouth. It was omnipresent; it felt as though his nose was being stabbed over and over. The air itself felt acidic, like just being here was eating away at his skin.

The slimy binding around his body slackened before loosening entirely, instead forming a little slide beneath him. It tipped up, her tongue shaping up to lead him to the back of her mouth towards that most dreaded of places. This was merely the gates of hell; the true pit lay at the end of the tongue. The true darkness from which there was no escaping was there, waiting and yearning for him.

“No! No, God, please God no!” He shouted, hands scrabbling desperately to find a handhold on the monstrous woman’s tongue.

Her taste buds were bumpy enough and rough enough to otherwise provide some grip, but not at this point. They were too slick and slimy with her saliva. His fingers slipped from each purchase he nearly had along the way, delaying his fall but not halting it. A chuckle bubbled up from within her, shaking the ground beneath him and ruining his attempts further. Richard’s eyes were wild and primal as he tried to keep himself from that place. Anywhere but there.

In the end there was no point to the struggle as his last handhold was ripped from his grasp as the monstrous woman’s mouth sucked him back with a single gulp. He screamed as he was pulled down, sticking the side of her throat with a stream of sticky saliva. He was caught along with the current, any attempts to slow his descend down her throat ruined by her throat muscles. He was too tiny to be pulled down around all sides but the saliva was slick enough to make it so that boon didn’t matter anyway.

He fell and fell deeper into the fleshy hell. He could hear everything. The flow of air through her distant lungs, the drumbeat of her heart, the passage of fluids through her body. The sounds were maddening, enhanced by his lack of ability to see anything. He wasn’t supposed to hear any of these things, no one should have had to hear these sounds like this and so acutely. The humidity and the smell only got worse and worse the farther he fell.

Eventually he felt himself squeezed through something tight and slick. Then there was a freefall into the foulest place he had ever been in.

He landed in a sea of gastric juices, the substance irritating and burning at his flesh immediately. Here the scent of rotting flesh was so more prevalent. Past victims? He couldn’t form coherent thoughts through the pain. The worse part was however, no matter the pain, no matter how bad it hurt, he never passed out. He never lost consciousness. He felt every single sensation every second that it happened. The pain was never too much for his body, the man forced to experience every horrific detail.

The darkness was inescapable. He tried to scream in agony and only got a mouthful of the burning substance for his troubles. It got in his hair, in his mouth, in his ears, and in his eyes. It stung and burned and drove him completely mad. It never did end though; it went on without ever seeming close to ending. This was indeed hell.