Claustrophobia

Sackcloth. Stinking, rancid, sacking, damp and mouldy. The taste is repulsive. Stuffed into my mouth, I can hardly swallow without wretching. Can barely breathe. Every intake seems to choke in minute hairs from the sackcloth, just enough to make you cough violently, stomach clenched.

Head seems free enough, can turn it, but something is strapped hard around my chest. Also restricting breathing. Some stray pin pricks of light shine through like divine torches from the heavens above, but not enough to make any recognisable forms. Just shadows. Angular vapid trails that pace up and down, occassionaly kicking me for fun.

Hands are numb. Tied to something behind my back. Something very strong. Something embedded and unmoveable. I move my fingers but it doesn't register. I feel amputated.

They wanted to know where the goods where.. they beat me hard.. soaked and choked me in blood, whose blood was that? Why soak me in blood? I thought it was my own at first, I held myself waiting for the pain to come. But it didn't, there was no wound on me, not that I could tell. Yet blood freely swam through the sacking and into my eyes, my mouth, congealing everywhere, I could feel lumps of it clinging soggily to my skin. My lashes fused for a while..

*another blow to the head*

The darkness opens up once more. Like a purse being unzipped. These fronds of light, heaven sent, twinkle in, and dance on my brain. Looks like I took it in the face that time. One of my eyes won't open any further.. so for now, the rays only come in from one side. What was I saying? I never talked. The goods location is still safe. They're not getting that stuff. I worked too hard for it. Its my ticket out of this sodden place. It's mine, for the Hosts sake! Sshhh! some chatting.. strain to hear, through the clothing...

Something about time wasting, something about no gold, no nothing, something barely audible about moving out.. or moving on...

Panic rising in me, I want to scream at them, perhaps I'll share the goods? perhaps we can make a deal? I was told there were some gems in the stash, they can take the gems, and any gold, I only wanted the pottery artifacts, they'd reach a fair price in Sharn. I wriggle as much as I can to get their attention.

*another blow to the head*

The familiar dull pulse of my own laboured breath rings around the inside of my darkened prison. The light is so pale. So distant. My eye is completely closed now, and I can feel blood trickling, warm and throbbing, it must be my own. One too many hits to the head. Funny though, I can't feel much pain. I guess my posture has numbed most of my limbs, and my sensory isolation has turned my bodies defenses inwards. Breathing is about the only thing I have left to concentrate on. That and my family... imagine their faces when they learn of my demise. How could I have done this to them? I thought myself so clever, agile and skillful, that I could escape all consequences, and look where its gotten me..

Somethings happening, movement, a strange curdling sound. My breath quickens, as I hear feet scatter away, they're running fast. Theres some sort of commotion. I twitch in place. Its silent. Perhaps they've left? If only I could feel my fingers, I could perhaps get one hooked into the cloth and loosen the binds? Perhaps if I edge down a little, this will free up enough room to squirm a hand free?

There seems to be some suction, cold yet burning surround my feet. Ahh! whats that? Its creeping over me. Burning. It feels as though my clothing is being removed, but not dragged off, more dissolved. The heat, followed by the cold. Oh my Host!, Lord of the Sovereign Host!, WHAT IS HAPPENING!!! Cold and cloying, yet intense heat travels up my body.. I can feel my binds shifting, sort of loosening, if only I could feel my toes, or my legs I could wiggle them free, my knees have come apart. I shift in the place I have been seated for this ordeal. And I can feel my arms coming free! The rolling motion of this suction seems to be encroaching like a scarf unfurling around my neck. I suddenly feel the intense heat of a scald settle on my cheek. White hot, then tacky cold. My arms are finally free! As the saturating mass envelopes my face first the sacking bag, then seeps through, my eyes fill up with bright flourescent gloop! The pain is precise, and acute. I reach forward to pull this off me, to wipe the burning quiensence from my face but it suspends me, rather than liberating me. I'm being lifted off the ground. Burned inside some suffocating coccoon. I can feel it seeping down my throat.. slowly, exploratory, carving a way into my lungs and stomach.

I feel the doors closing, darkness creeping in, I feel the radiant heat, but the light is fading fast. Perhaps its time to go, after all. The choking has stopped, I managed to drink the stuff down it seemed to lessen the trauma. My arms now feel heavy, my legs light, I was being turned in and around, possibly upside down, my eyes could see, the sacking had gone, but only the pitiful light seemed to dance blurry on my scorched lenses.

My greed, is my shame. My downfall. My last breath, shall rise and be expunged from this mass, shouting the name of my family, carrying the last tone of my love to them. My mother. My lost father. My sister, how sweet she is. And my close brother, Taerl.....

The ooze settled itself to feed. The little halflings body was but a small meal. But having had two fully grown human brigands already, it only needed a small meal to satiate itself. Budding season was upon the ooze, so nurishment was needed to nip off a dozen tiny fledgling oozes and keep them growing.