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October 19th, 2013
10:16 AM
Dear Diary,
Today's the day I hit the mud! Gonna take a couple of vacation days to unwind with a little walk in the wilderness. The stress's really getting to me, you know? Cramped up in an office with all the stick-in-the-muds isn't good for the mind. Need to get out with nature and enjoy some serious me-time! I'll be backpacking for two days along the Lost Days Trail between Lizard Point and Tal Coat, super fun! Bringing along more than enough provisions to last me till I reach Tal Coat, of course. I'm no supertramp. Having my life depend on how many berries and squirrels I can shove down my throat is not my idea of unwinding! Can't wait to see what the day has in store for me!
-Stan Boggs
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October 19th, 2013
7:02 PM
Dear Diary,
What a day, what a day! Never seen so many animals in one sitting before! The going was good from Lizard Point to the Green River crossing. I lost count of how many little deer families I startled along the way. Ran in to some hikers here and there too, just gave them a friendly nod and moved on. I came here to take a break from people after all. Oh, but they were nice people, very friendly smiles. Nothing like the slog I have to deal with back at the office. Look at me, rambling again. So! Before crossing the river, I decided to try my hand at water sterilization, just for kicks. Got it boiling and cooled and everything. Took a swig without filtering it, boy was that a mistake! I was spitting out bits of sand and dirt for at least half an hour afterwards! Great learning experience at least. After that it was pretty slow going from the river to the campsite. Still very pretty, of course, it wouldn't be the Sofftan Wetlands without the breathtaking scenery. Anyways! I got some hotdogs and baked beans to finish, so I'll leave on that note!
-Stan Boggs
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October 20th, 2013
6:55 PM
Dear Diary,
Looks like I'm a born natural at this backpacking thing! Not a single hitch from last night to now! Okay well I did have a fox wake me up in the morning thanks to me forgetting to burn some of my food scraps from last night, but other than that, not a single hitch! I gotta say, the Lost Days Trail probably got its name from Damn, I really shouldn't be writing this in pen, I really thought I was going somewhere with that. Moving on! The weather was terrific, lots of blue sky but plenty of pretty fluffy white clouds to spice it up. Oh! And the view of the night sky last night was just breathtaking! I don't think I've ever seen the Milky Way so clearly before! I just feel so alive out here! I should definitely do this again, maybe bring some friends along too. Except Dick. He'd never want to set foot in a place with so many spiders. Had to brush off so many of the little bugs all along the way. Oh, and good news, I must be making good time cuz I can already see the beacon for Tal Coat! I'll be back in a cozy rocky-ground-free bed by tomorrow night! Though, I could've sworn the ranger had said that the beacon was green, not blue...
-Stan Boggs
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October 21st, 2013
Evening
Dear Diary,
I miiight be in a bit of trouble. I spent the entire day hiking in the direction that I saw the beacon, but here I am setting up camp for the night, and it still looks like it's just as far away as when I started. Really weird. I doubled checked the map to make sure I hadn't made any mistakes, but as far as I can tell the landmarks check out. Guess I was just going a lot slower than I thought. Wetlands are pretty tough to get through quickly without getting your socks wet after all. I made sure to pack an extra two days worth of provisions just in case something like this happened, so I should be fine as long as I keep following that blue light. Guess I got a little too cocky last night!
-Stan Boggs
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October 22nd, 2013
Evening?
I think I should start rationing my food. Another day full of hiking and it still feels like I'm not making any progress. Worse than that is that it looks like I've wandered into a swamp. It's becoming difficult to find firewood, and the canopy of this place seems to hog all the sunlight for itself. My watch says 3 o'clock, but it's already dark enough that I can clearly see the beacon in the distance. I was thinking about turning around but by now I think it'd be smarter to go in the direction that has a marker rather than going back and risking getting even more lost. Hopefully I'll have some good news to share tomorrow.
-Stan Boggs
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October 23rd, 2013
Growling stomachs are really annoying. Thanks to these trees daylight seems to last about 6 hours out here. My watch's battery died too somehow, so I'm completely lost for the time. At least it's starting to look like I'm making some headway. The beacon is definitely getting bigger. It's kind of comforting to see that blue light with how dark and dreary this place is. Gives me hope. I'll be fine.
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October 24th
Ran out of water. Now I'm scared. I decided to set up camp and wait it out. I found a tiny gap in the canopy and popped a signal flare, just like the ranger showed me. I thought about seeing if I could eat any of the plants here, but I can't find a single entry for them in my field guide. It's like they're from another planet. I'll see if I can do anything with the water around here later. Right now it's time for sleep.
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October
Pointless. I tried stomaching that murky bullshit but I just ended up vomiting it back up. now I'm even more dehydrated than I was before. It's getting hard to move, everything's aching. Sleeping it off.
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October
Says something about my sanity when it takes me this long to realize it's been nighttime for over 2 days. I just popped the last flare I had. Still no sign of rescue. I can't make a fire, but the beacon gives enough light that seeing isn't a problem. Just heat. Really cold. Really sad. Really lonely. Especially lonely. Guess I should have been careful what I wished for. Don't know why I'm still writing. Anything to distract me from the hunger pangs I guess. Sleeping again.
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October
Hunger pangs are getting unbearable. Mouth really dry. Getting really hard to swallow. Sucking on fingers for moisture, sometimes there's sweat. No sign of rescue. Getting hard to sleep.
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Oct.
Tried gnawing on a stick to stop the hunger pangs. Didn't work. Blue light still there. Trying to sleep.
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I will be fine. I am not going to die. Help will come.
♦ ♦ ♦
Stan was lost. He couldn't remember his name, his age, where he came from, where he was, where he was going, or what he wanted. Since he knew nothing, he filled in the gaps for himself.
Stan looked down at his body. He decided that his name was 'White' because that was what he was. White skin, clothes, hair, and eyes. It was like someone had upended a sack of flour on top of him. Stan guessed that he was about twenty seconds old, as that was as far back as he could remember. He also guessed that he must have come from the ground, because it was white too. He looked up and took in the world around him. It was completely silent. He was surrounded by hundreds of willow trees, all of them varying shades of white. Some of them emerged from the many pools of black water that lied about the land, along with white reeds and rotting white logs. A black fog hung in the distance. Stan still didn't know where he was, but at least now he knew what this place looked like. When he found someone who did know what this place was called, he would be able to describe it to them and they would be able to tell him what its name was.
Noticing a white tent nearby, Stan floated over to it and looked through the flap. A man was on the floor, lying in the fetal position. Unlike the world around him, he was colorful. Shaggy brown hair, sunken gray cheeks that were covered with stubble, a red plaid button-up shirt, all wrapped up in a bright blue sleeping bag. His eyes were closed and his mouth was inched open. One of his hands was clutched to his stomach, and the other was splayed out, laying on top of an open journal; a blue pen rested between his hand and the pages.
As soon as Stan saw the body, he knew where he was going and what he wanted. He was going to a place that did not have corpses lying around, and he wanted to be as far away from the tent as possible. He floated away as fast as his ethereal legs could propel him, leaving the campsite behind and moving deeper into the swamp. Though he moved with urgency, the world was still as silent as the dead.
That made it all the more surprising to Stan when he started to hear humming. It was gentle and matronly, like a lullaby; a sweet sound that stopped him right in his trackless tracks. He turned his head about, trying to pinpoint the direction the sound was coming from. Stan saw a light in the distance. It was pale blue and shining through the fog, and unlike the only other colored entity he had seen, it was beckoning him closer rather than frightening him away. He moved towards it, entranced by the pleasant hue and the soothing hum.
After moving through several groves of willows, Stan came to a clearing. In its center was a flickering ball of blue fire. Stan hesitated at the tree line, but in time, the draw of the flames overpowered his sense of caution. He drifted into the clearing. As he came near, the flames began to change. The tongues of the blaze started to meld and contort, and in the next instant a woman hovered where the fire once was, with skin as blue as the flames themselves. Though she was still surrounded by flames, she was composed of fire, rather than being ablaze herself. A skirt of flame hid her legs from view. Her hair was as white as the surrounding swamp; it cascaded down to her waist, shining and straight, with bangs covering half of her face. Her single uncovered eye was closed and she was smiling. A black tiara was perched on her head, constructed like a miniature wrought-iron fence. There was no clothing upon her body, but there was nothing to hide; her skin was featureless like a doll's. Her hands were clasped over her chest, as if she was in prayer.
Stan stared at the woman. Between her beauty and the hum she emanated, it was becoming harder and harder to keep a sense of caution. He floated closer. When he was within arm's reach, her eyes flew open. The humming stopped. As her smile curled into a leer, there was a tremendous clang. Stan spun around. A large cage, like the claws of some mechanical monstrosity, had fallen on top of them, trapping them in a prison of black iron. The sound of its impact was still echoing about the interior, and the reverberations seemed to be intensifying instead of dissipating.
Disorientated by the cacophony, Stan drifted around, trying to find a way out. He clutched the bars in his pale hands, shaking them in an attempt to break free. The iron held fast. While he struggled, he noticed that world outside the cage was changing. Color was bleeding into the unending expanse of swamp. All of the surroundings were bathed in the blue light of the caged flames, resulting in a sight just as ethereal as its colorless predecessor.
Suddenly, the roaring ceased, replaced by the hum from before. Stan felt a gentle touch on his shoulder. He turned around. The woman, like the world beyond the cage, was starting to change as well. Her flames were becoming more subdued, giving her curves definition and allowing a pair of slender legs to take shape. The air shimmered around her as clothes started to materialize on her body. A dress, black as soot, appeared. It's skirt started at the waist rather than the hips; the hem billowed out like the petals of an inverted flower, leaving her legs and nether-regions naked. What Stan noticed most, however, was her stare. Her blue iris seemed to meld into her pupil, rather than circling it, making it look as if an endless tunnel occupied the center of her eye. Stan was so mesmerized that he hadn't noticed her hand until it was already pressed against the side of his face.
"Yes, yes," she whispered, stroking his cheek as she cradled her own leering face, "finally, someone for me, only me." Stan tried to draw away, but he couldn't. He glanced down at his body. It was burning. His clothes were fading to ash as flames snaked about his form, turning him into a creature of fire. As their flames grew together, the woman placed her hands on Stan's shoulders, drawing the two of them closer.
By now, all of his body was afire, both with the blaze, and with a feeling of longing. It was an aching pain in his chest, a residue from the feelings of loneliness he felt in the last few days of his life. The woman's touch had reminded him of those feelings, that horrendous pain. He wanted it to go away and never come back. Tears started to form in his eyes, but before they could start falling, the woman leaned in, locking their lips together. Tongues of flame and tongues of flesh entwined as the two kissed; the half-minute they spent interlocked was enough to calm every ache in Stan's heart. Every lick and suckle was another pain relieved and regret fulfilled. Once their lips parted, the woman moved her hands from his shoulders to his waist, squeezing him closer. As the two embraced, she moved her lips next to his ear, and whispered.
"We'll never be alone again."
The woman squeezed him even closer. Though Stan had been cured of his pain, the woman had suffered centuries without someone to call her own. She would need much more than a kiss to satisfy her desire. Giggling, she locked her slender legs around his hips. Stan threw his head back in a silent moan as she began forcing herself against him, filling the cage with the sliding, wet sounds of penetration. She did not care whether or not he was ready to accept her love. The only thing she wanted was to violate him until he was as obsessed with her as she was with him.
Nuzzling her head against Stan's chest, the woman cooed as he trembled in her vice of an embrace. Her hair flowed across him; its strands were cool in contrast to her body's warmth. Stan was in a daze. Having sex with a non-corporeal lover was like having his cock massaged by a field of electricity. It was as if the ether itself was directly stimulating every receptor in his glans, simultaneously firing them off in bursts. Already, precum was leaking out and swirling about the insides of his partner's flames.
The subtle feeling of the strands sent the woman into a frenzy. She began bucking her hips, huffing and panting as she clung to her lover, her eyes wild with lust. Stan himself was still at the mercy of her whims, silent and unmoving save for the trembling caused by her ferocity. He felt the pressure of an orgasm building. The fire that made up his body was stoked in time with his approaching climax, and his partner noticed. She lifted herself up, brought her hands to Stan's head, and cradled his face as she stared into his eyes with the bottomless pits that were her own.
"Give it to me. All of it."
Stan didn't have a choice. He went over the edge with one last thrust of his hips. The woman threw her head back, wailing to the heavens as he emptied shot after shot into the flames of her body. Both of their bodies erupted, combining into a bonfire that turned their cage into a giant lantern. The clearing and the swamp beyond was momentarily a world of solid blue, interrupted only by the stark shadows created by the caged inferno. In time, the light dimmed, but the flames continued to leap about as the pair of lovers continued to slide against each other.
The woman was not satisfied. Even as Stan lied limp beneath her, she continued grinding into him, her eyes closed and her face twisted in orgasmic glee. Their flames grew into bonfire after bonfire as their passions hit a peak, then settled back down to begin anew. The intensity of the blue glow that filled the swamp fluctuated in time with their love, rhythmic and unstoppable. As Stan began to feel himself reaching his physical limits, the woman started to laugh. Her cackling spread throughout the willows, reverberating and echoing until the entire swamp was laughing with her, filling Stan's head until he could hear nothing but her voice and the crackling of fire. Finally, he fell unconscious, his eyes closing and his flames becoming subdued until he was nothing more than a glowing blue mannequin.
Without stopping her laughter, the woman continued forcing herself on her lover, far into the unending night. After all, She had more than 100 years of lost time to make up for.
