Day 15

Jessica Wildness sat in the cave in front of the fire. She waited for the naked cat woman to return. The blizzard finally passed, and a little sun shone down onto the white world.

Jessica had no idea where she was. She looked around outside.

She was thirsty. As she walked, she could hear water. She went towards it and came to a stream. The sparkling water danced over the rocks. Jessica drank from it. It was cold but refreshing.

She made her way back to the cave and sat on the dusty floor. She added some more logs to the fire and watched the flamed leap and jump into the air.

There was only so much to keep Jessica’s mind occupied in the cave. Once she had explored it all. She poked the fire, scratched her name into a rock and made a seat for herself out of stones. But now there was nothing left for her to do. She fidgeted with everything.

Then finally she decided that she was going to find people on her own. So, she marched off through the wilderness. About an hour into her trip, she began to wonder if she had made the right choice.

“Stay calm. I know I am lost, but if I can get to high ground and see a town or the castle, I will know which way to go.” She told herself.

So, she marched towards the hill. Climbing it was even worse than she had imagined. Burrs and thorns stabbed her and stuck to her clothes.

“Jessica, this is why we don’t wear dresses.” She moaned at herself.

A thorn thicket gripped her dress and refused to let go. Jessica tugged on the dress tearing it free from the bush. She fell over onto an angry ant hill.

“Ahh!!!” she screamed.

Running and brushing her skin, trying to brush them off herself.

Her foot caught and she fell, tumbling down the hill. She fought with the thorny vines that wrapped around her and the ants that viciously attacked her. Finally, she got the last of the ants off her and then she battled to free herself from the spiky vine that had no safe place to touch.

“Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!!!”

Jessica wailed as she freed herself.

“I hate this place!” she moaned

“Nothing goes right here.” She stomped her foot.

“Grrrrrr” she let it out.

She stomped her feet in a little hissy fit.

The ground suddenly gave way, and she fell into a dark hole. Her body hit the floor, and her head followed.

“Oouuu” she groaned.

There was only a little light from above. She couldn’t even see her own hand it was so dark. The whole was deep. She had fallen a long way down.

She rubbed her eyes. Sand and grit irritated them from the fall.

“Hello” she called.

“Now you are really in a mess.” She told herself.

She reached for the side, but she found none. She had hoped she could climb out. But it seemed she was in a large caesium. She walked carefully into the dark. Waving her hand then her foot before taking a step.

Then she heard something in the darkness. She froze. She listened. But there was only a faint ringing in her ears from listening so hard and probably her blood pressure from the anxiety.

She continued moving forward. All her senses on high alert. She touched something. Her eyes strained to see what it was, but she could not see anything. She brushed it with her hand trying to make out what she had touched. It was cold and hard.

“Hello” she called into the darkness again.

‘This place has me freaked out.’

She reached for the cold hard thing she had touched hoping it was a wall she could follow. But it wasn’t there anymore.

Chills ran down her spine.

She looked up at the light from the whole in the roof. It was quite a bit behind her. Jessica stepped backwards into something.

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Sweating with fright she moved her hand to touch it. It was cold and hard. Her heart sank. She was not alone, and her company felt like stone.

She gulped.

“Hi” she whispered, “My name is Jessica. Please don’t eat me.”

The only breathing she could hear was her own. Her heart pounded. Her skin turned cold. But the stone in front of her didn’t move. She skittishly moved her hand along the cold hard object. It didn’t seem to have a face or arms. She breathed a sigh of relief.

Then something lit up in front of her. It blinded her and was then gone. Her eyes hurt from the light. Something was with her in the cave. It could see her, but she couldn’t see it.

She felt the panic trying to take hold of her. Her nerves were shot.

‘It hasn’t hurt me. Maybe it’s friendly. If it meant me harm, why wait?’ she told herself trying to keep it together.

Jessica closed her eyes and listened. She didn’t want to die but if this was it for her. She wanted to be at peace. She sat down and crossed her legs, then her arms over her chest. She breathed deeply and thought of home. Then she remembered her belief that Shane’s father was guilty of murder. It had stopped being a priority for her. She remembered coffee and ice cream and her family.

Her heart stopped pounding in her chest.

Then something touched her on the shoulder.

Jessica jumped and screamed. Then little people that where about three feet glowed around her.

It was like the center of the light moved up and down on them. Making their feet the brightest part of their glowing bodies then moving up to their heads then back down to their feet.

They had big shields bigger than what they were, that they hid behind.

Jessica realized that this was what she had touched. Their massive iron shields.

They looked like puppets, and they made squeaky noises to one another. They changed colors as they communicated. They had no nose and strange large mouths. Even their large eyes glowed.

She was surrounded by little people with unkempt long hair. It was not a cave she had fallen into but a great hall. Pillars of marble held up the roof. The roof was so high that these little people would never be able to reach it. It was about nine feet high. She wondered how many of them needed to stand on top of each other to clean the roof. She knew these little beings would never reach it.

Then the one picked up his shield and walked. The puppet was under one meter tall, yet his shield was two meters tall and one meter wide. He carried it with no effort at all, one handed.

They gestured for her to follow them. She got off her knees and followed them. Slowly walking. They did not walk very fast. Their little legs moved but very little happened. They took her into a room and pointed hiding behind their shields. A giant spider, red hair all over like little spines and about the size of a dinner plate, made itself at home on their dinner table.

“What do you want me to do about it?” Jessica asked.

That was a scary spider. Bigger than anything she had seen on earth.

They gestured for her to go to it and squeaked to one another.

“I cannot kill it with my hand.” She objected.

She took a shield. It was much heavier than she expected. At least twelve kilograms.

She edged towards the spider. Its hairy spines shot out at her.

“So that’s why they have shields.” She squeaked.

Hiding behind the shield.

‘How am I going to chase away a giant spider, or kill a giant spider?’ she asked herself

‘I am too scared to get close; they are too scared and slow to help.’ She reasoned.

She took another shield from the glowing little man and throw the shield she had at the spider. The heavy shield didn’t do far. It crashed to the ground. The spider jumped at it. Four legs raised as it leaped onto the shield. It made a hissing sound as it did.

“That’s it. I’m out.” Jessica said.

She turned to leave but they blocked her path. Putting their shields together creating an iron wall she couldn’t climb.

“Are you crazy!?” she yelled.

The spider looked at her as if it was intelligent.

“Err I hate this world” she grimmest.

The spider dashed towards her. She screamed and jumped over it running and climbing onto the table. Standing on the table. She began to thrown food at the spider. It shot spines at her and moved with incredible speed. She picked up a cup of ale and splashed it on the spider. It hissed at her.

“Made it angry Jessica.” She said out loud to herself, “Well done!”

The spider jumped onto the table in one leap.

“EEEEEK!” Jessica screamed.

The spider lifted its four legs and charged her.

“Help! Help!” Jessica jumped off the table and run into the shield wall. It was like hitting a real wall.

Stunned she stepped back into the wet slipper splash she had made, throwing ale at the creature.

She slipped and fell backwards onto the spider.

Jessica’s body felt cold, and she was as stiff as a log. Then she panicked.

Jumping up she could feel the spider on her back moving.

“Get it off! Get it off!” she yelled running.

The little ones watched as the squashed spider slowly peeled off her back. Its spines had held it onto Jessica’s back, and gravity was doing its thing as she ran around all crazy.

Then it fell off completely.

Jessica saw it was dead and held her face. She was so freaked out.

The little ones squeaked to one another and jumped up and down.

Jessica began to feel numb. Her legs caved in under her.

“What is happening?” she asked as the numbness spread.

She collapsed onto the floor. Face in the dirt. Even her tongue was numb.

“Err aaa in ing” she asked.

The puppet people made grunting noises like a pig and their torso moved up and down.

They were laughing at how she sounded with a numb tongue.

They pulled the spines out of her back. Some had stuck in after she had landed on the spider, squashing it.

Once they had finished standing on her back and messing with her dress. They grunted again.

“Eaz do eet ee” she said.

‘Why can’t I say please don’t eat me. My tongue would have to be numb now… of all times!’ she thought.

They began to roll her. Her numb, dead weight body. They were very strong but very slow. Round and round she went as they pushed her. Her head bumped against a stone. Then they rolled her back over another and they let her free roll down the stairs.

“Offff offff.” Sounds came from her chest as she thudded down the stairs.

‘I will feel this later.’ She thought.

Then they picked her up and dumped her in the darkness. They squeaked to one another. Then began rolling her again. After what felt like hours for Jessica. She saw the moon. They were taking her outside. Kinda.

They push her body out the door and let her roll down the hill.

Doof!

Doof!

Doof!

Her head and body hitting everything on his way down.

A thorn bush finally snagged her, stopping the nauseating rolling.

‘This is also going to hurt.’

If Jessica’s face wasn’t numb, she would have been pulling an unimpressed, unhappy expression.

She lay caught in the thorns. Grateful there were no ants to add to her trouble.

But then she realized she was being moved. She couldn’t see by what. But she was being dragged by a leg out of the thorn bush and more. Whatever was pulling her kept pulling her.

“Eeeerrrr” she managed.

The pulling sped up.

“E..e….e…e” she went as her head was pulled through stuff.

“AAaaauuuuuaaaa” she tried again.

The pulling continued. Then it stopped. She heard noises. Strange snorting and sniffing.

‘I don’t want to be eaten’ Jessica thought.

Her face was now able to move a little. She could half frown.

“EEEEEEEE!” she objected.

Then an animal sniffed her face. It sneezed because of all the dust and dirt on her face, spraying her with animal snot.

“EuEuEiUUU!” she tried.

Another sniff and sneeze followed her attempt to talk.

Sniff, sniff, grunt, grunt. Came from all around her.

Then she started moving again, being dragged along on her belly, face down. She was dragged through a stream and into a cave.

‘Thanks, I was thirsty.’ Her sarcastic thoughts went.

Jessica wasn’t feeling so good. She wasn’t sure if it was the blows to the head or something else.

The big bear like animal left her in the cave.

She was able to move her head. She looked at her legs…

All she could see was blood from the knees.

She tried to move to get a better look, but she couldn’t.

Jessica felt her heart pound and her breathing quickened.

‘My legs’ she kept repeating to herself, ‘I am being eaten alive’

Then she heard a fight. Grunting and scratching. Yelping and snarling.

Jessica’s vision blurred as she strained to see.

Then she passed out from loss of blood.