Backfire

                                  by Longshot
                                   (f/m, qs)


I was amazed when she actually showed up. I'd been stuck here in this swamp for
hours  barely  managing  to keep my head above the surface of the quicksand. My
arms  were  long  since  trapped,  and  my  new skirt was ruined. I didn't care
anymore  though,  I  just  wanted out of this trap. The whole thrill of feeling
helpless  had  long  sense  worn  of  and my control freak side was about to go
spastic. "Tammy, please help. I'm stuck!" I cried. I sounded pathetic and I can
imagine  how  I looked. My hair matted down with mud and sweat, mud and dirt on
my  face and just a head and shoulders suspended above a rippling pool of slimy
ooze.

Tammy looked down at me. "I told you not to do it."

I  could  only  look  down sheepishly as she lectured me on why I shouldn't use
magic that way.

What  did  I  do  to  get  in this situation you ask? Well, while I worry about
whether  or not she'll save me before I drown and even if she'll save me let me
relay the story ...

I'm  a teenager and well like most teenagers until I do something stupid I know
everything  that  there  ever  was  to know about it, except that one important
detail that doesn't become important until after you ignored it. Well like most
girls my age, I'm eighteen for the record,  and hoping to live to see nineteen,
anyway like most girls my age boys is my main concern. Unlike most girls my age
however,  I've  learned to tap into the powers of the universe. The fabric that
holds  everything  together  and  can  manipulate it to my will. People call it
magic,  witchcraft, you can use any name you like. I'm a witch, if you feel the
need to apply labels.

I  suppose  you'd like to know a little about me first. My name is Wendy Myers.
I'm  eighteen and a senior in high school. I'm about 5'2" in height weigh about
112  pounds.  I have long light brown hair, well when it's not matted down with
mud  and  sweat.  My  eyes  are  blue  and my friends all say I'm cute. I don't
believe  them,  I think I'm pudgy, short and ugly. But they say that we are our
own worst critic. Guys ask me out on occasion so I guess I'm not too repulsive.
Well  except for one guy, Steven Underwood. He's cute, he's sweet, and he's shy
beyond belief. He transferred into our school at the beginning of the year, and
he still sits alone at lunch. He's not weird or anything, well not that I could
tell then, now I'm not so sure, but then, some of this is my fault.

Anyway,  I've  wanted to go out with him for the longest, and well me and Tammy
thought that since he was so shy he'd need a little encouragement to say yes to
my  offer  of a date. Tammy's my best friend, and she's a little old fashioned.
She  still thinks that guys should ask women out, and well I suppose it is more
romantic and traditional that way, but well magick drains the romance out of it
completely. Live and learn I suppose, though living through this would be nice.
Anyway, Tammy and I concocted an idiotic plan which seemed perfect at the time.
Okay let  me rephrase that, I concocted the plan, and she reluctantly helped me
with it. She warned me to be careful, but I knew what I was doing.

So  I carried out my plan, I decided the best way to make him fall in love with
me  was  a  love potion. Perfume was no good or else I'd have the entire school
chasing me, but a few drops in his coke at lunch. Of course being the brilliant
mind I am, standard strength wasn't good enough. I wanted him to like me enough
to  go  out  with me. What I created was a monster. The plan went off without a
hitch.  I  managed  to distract him and slip a few drops of the potion into his
drink.  It  was  supposed  to be three drops, I think it was closer to seven or
eight.  Insurance  that  it  would work of course. Insurance ... Geez! I was so
stupid!

Anyway  well  the  potion worked, a little too well. I saw it in his eyes then,
but I didn't care. I was thrilled it worked. I'm stupid that way sometimes, and
it  cost  me,  like  now.  He  immediately  asked me out, saying how he'd never
noticed  how  lovely  I  was  and  all.  Me being a sucker for a complement and
enthralled  with  how  well  my plan was working agreed. It was a Friday and he
insisted  that  we  should  go  that  night. The rest of the day he followed me
around  carried  my  books,  did anything just to be around me. I almost had to
peel  him  off  to  drive home. It should have been my first clue something was
wrong.  The old saying bigger is better, well in magic is should read bigger is
nastier,  because that's usually the case. Exactness is a required science, and
if I live through this I swear that I won't do anything this stupid again.

Anyway  I  went  home and got dressed. A nice midnight blue blouse, put my hair
up,  my  brand  new black skirt, loose and flowing that fell to my knees, black
hose  and  blue  heels  that  matched my blouse. I've always been one for solid
colors,  the  flowered  mess  looks  tacky  and stripes make me look shorter or
fatter depending on direction. Anyway I looked great, better than I usually do.
Dinner  was  wonderful,  he  took me  to an expensive restaurant, and acted the
perfect  gentleman.  He  took  me to a nice nightclub after, and we sat around,
listened  to  the  band play and generally enjoyed ourselves. After we left the
club  was  when  the trouble started. He started to drive in a direction I knew
wasn't  home,  but  I  was too high on the evening, and the thrill of my dreams
coming true to care.

We  parked on the edge of a forest, not too far from where I am now. He got out
of  the  car, walked around, opened the door for me, and told me to follow him.
Well curiosity got the better of me, and I followed. He led me into the forest,
to a clearing near a small pond.  What looked like a beautiful spot,  a hint of
moonlight  shown  through  the trees,  something out of  a painting almost.  He
smiled and pushed  me  gently forward.  I giggled as he put his hand on my butt
and took a  few steps.  Heels are hideous  for balance,  and I don't  wear them
often.  That combined with my tiredness and  probably a few  more excuses  I'll
think up later,  caused me to stumble forward.  My heels began to sink into the
muddy bank of the lake.  "Steve!" I cried. "It's muddy down here! My heels will
be ruined!"

Steve  just  smiled at me and nodded, he had a weird look on his face, I think,
well  I  know he was enjoying it. I had to step out of my heels to turn around,
they  were  stuck,  and  as I did so, I felt soft squishy mud under my stocking
feet, then I felt it over my stocking feet. I looked down to see that my ankles
had started to slowly disappear in the bank. "Steve! What did you do that for?"
I  cried.  I turned around, slowly. I don't think walking was ever harder in my
life,  except  that  one  time I got drunk. The mud kept pulling at my feet, my
hose  were  ruined,  and  the mud kept trying to pull them off for me. "Damn it
Steve,  this  isn't  funny!" I yelled at him. "My heels and my hose are ruined!
Look  just  take  me home okay?" He shook his head, still with that look on his
face. I tried to walk towards him once I got turned around, but I couldn't. The
mud had me and it wasn't letting go.

Apparently, I'm not a geologist or anything, but when I was stomping around and
fighting with it to turn around, I softened up the mud. By the time I was ready
to go forward my calves were sinking into the mud. I pulled at my legs, pumping
them up and down in frustration as I tried to pull them free.  With each failed
step my legs disappeared more and more, until my knees slipped into the mire. I
started getting desperate,  and it was in my  voice when I called  to him next.
"Steve, please, I'm stuck! I need help, pull me out!"

I  stretched  my hands out to him, but he cooed, "But I find you so much sexier
this way."

I  blinked  and  wondered  what  kid of weirdo I had gone out with. While I was
still  I  didn't  seem  to  sink as much, but right then it wasn't an important
point. "Steve!" I cried. "Please!" I leaned forward a little, I guess because I
thought  if  I  got  closer  he  would reach out to me. What I accomplished was
throwing  off  my balance. Instead of falling though, I managed to step forward
through the soft mud, and deeper into it.

My  skirt  was  starting  to  fan  out on the surface, and I was getting really
scared.  I  couldn't  feel  a  bottom  to  the  mud,  and my thighs were slowly
disappearing.  Tears  started  to  form  in my eyes, and roll down my cheeks. I
don't cry often, but then I don't fear for my life often either. "Steve, please
help  me!"  I begged. Normally begging is beneath me, but for then I would have
had sex with Tammy if it would have saved my life.

"Take off your skirt," he said.

I  looked at him funny. "What? Steve this isn't a time for that ... Please, I'm
sinking. Help me!"

Steve shook his head. "First your skirt, love. Then I'll save you."

Well  shoot  me for being naive and scared, but the skirt was a wraparound, and
it  was  already  muddy  so I complied. I tried to toss it to solid ground, but
skirt  tossing  isn't  a  major sport for me, and I was shaking like a leaf. It
landed in the mud a few feet from my heels.

He  smiled  as he watched me. I could see my own legs now, and saw that the mud
was halfway up my stocking clad thighs. "Steve, take my skirt, pull me out! Use
it like a rope, please!"

He  sat down at the edge of the mire, like he was watching some sort of a show.
He was in love alright,  and apparently having me play out some dark fantasy. I
don't  think  he  would  have let me die, now that I look back, he was the type
that  would  have  wanted  to  save  me, but I wasn't quite distressed enough I
guess.  Panic  set  in  and I began to struggle again. I tried to walk forward,
like  I had when I lost my balance. Add that to the list of stupid things I did
tonight.

The mud had settled and solidified around my legs when I'd settled down, but my
struggling  was  stirring  it  up  nicely. It went from a thick oatmeal to that
soupy  mess  you  see  in  the Hollywood quicksand scenes in what seemed like a
matter  of  minutes.  As  it's thickness left it decided it needed something to
replace it, apparently I was that something.  My legs disappeared into the mire
with  ever  growing  speed.  I could hear  it slurping,  feel it's wet,  sticky
embrace through my hose. I reached down to pull my legs out, I thought maybe if
I could pull  my legs up I could get out. It was another of my brilliant ideas.
The mud happily  accepted  my  arms,  but it didn't want to give them back. The
harder I seemed to  pull the harder it pulled back,  and when it pulled it took
more of me with it.

There  I  was,  waist  deep, my arms up to their elbows in mire, and this whole
melodramatic  part  of my life being watched by some horny teenage boy, like it
was  a  play.  "Steve,  help!  I  can't  get out!" Tears were streaming from my
cheeks, and my words were starting to become choked by my sobs.

Steve  seemed  to  decide that was the moment to act. He stood and smiled at me
"Shh  now,  I'll  get  you  out, love." He spoke softly as if trying to keep me
calm, and he hadn't put me in this situation in the first place.

I didn't care then I was just happy to be rescued then. I tried to remain calm,
but with the muddy ooze creeping up my rib cage, it was extremely hard. "Please
hurry, Steve," I begged again.

Now  one  might  ask  why I didn't use my powers to escape. Well for starters I
didn't  think  of  it. By the time I had it was far beyond too late. My magick,
well  for  novices  like me requires gestures and movement to shape the flow of
the  energy.  One can't gesture very much when one's arms are stuck in mud. Not
to  mentioned  using  magick while panicked ... well let's just say the results
are disastrous. Magick is something to be invoked when one is calm and clear of
mind,  not panicked and scared out of your mind. I was in the latter of the two
states.

Steve  began  a  bold  step  forward to save me, then paused, and looked at me.
"What  ...  Where?" The potion was wearing off, talk about bad timing. "Wendy?"
He looked at me like I was insane. "What? Are ... you ..."

"Please  Steve  ...  help  me! I don't want to die!" I begged again. I squirmed
again,  and  the  mud  belched  in  protest, and claimed more of my body. Steve
turned  a  bright  shade of red, turned and ran. "Steve!" I cried in vain after
him "Please ... Help me!" I called out for him for several minutes but he never
came  back.  I  felt the sticky wet mud encasing my breasts then, and I did the
only  thing  I  knew to do. We "witches" have something of an emergency beacon,
mainly  from  way  back  when,  when  our kind was more well known and not well
liked. We could only depend on one another, so we developed a way to send out a
magickal pulse that would act as a SOS beacon. Most of us didn't use it anymore
but we all knew what it was. Tammy responded to mine, which brings us to now.

Tammy looked down at me and sighed. "I told you not to do this, Wendy. I should
leave you here."

I blinked in disbelief. "Tammy ... you ... you ..."

Tammy looked at me sternly. "I can. But I won't."

I  sighed  in relief, until she put a foot on my shoulder. "Now I will kill you
unless  you  swear  something to me." She put a little pressure on my shoulders
pushing them under the mire.

I craned my head back. "Please ... Tammy ... don't."

Tammy  smiled  a hint of a dark glimmer in her eyes. "Wendy, you will listen to
me next time I tell you when not to do some thing relating to magick. I am your
mentor and you will treat me as such."

I  would have nodded except I couldn't. "Yes," I squeaked. My head was about to
be under the mire, yet she wouldn't stop pushing. "Tammy?" I started to say but
the mire began to fill my mouth. It covered my eyes, and I blacked out.

I  awoke  on  a  couch,  wrapped in blankets the next morning. I recognized the
house as Tammy's. She smiled at me as I woke. "Glad to see you awake, you slept
most of the day."

I nodded slowly. "Why, Tammy?"

Tammy smirked that devilish grin of hers. "Because you were tired?"

I narrowed my eyes and sat up in my blanket cocoon.  "Tammy ... you know what I
mean."

Tammy blinked her eyes lazily, she was so catlike sometimes in her attitude. "I
do?"

I was starting to get mad. "Stop playing coy with me! You tried to kill me!"

She  yawned  lazily. "If I had tried you'd be dead. It's not like it would have
been hard."

I  wanted to beat the crap out of her. I hated it when she acted like this, the
superiority trip and all. "Look just because you are ..."

She glared at me. "It's every reason. If you won't listen I have to teach you a
lesson.  That  potion  you  concocted won't do much more than give Steve a mild
stomach ache."

I blinked in shock. "But ..."

She rubbed her stomach. "Tastes nasty too, you didn't follow my instructions."

My jaw hit the ground. "You did ..."

She  smiled  her  coy  smile again. "Fun wasn't it? What? You actually believed
that  old  wives'  tale  about  the homing beacon?" She made a phhhbt noise and
laughed.  "I  was  there the whole time. And I must admit you kiss well, dear."
She winked.

I wanted to run, to disappear, anything. I focused my energy, and willed myself
home.  It  must  have  surprised  her when I did it, too. When I opened my eyes
again I was sitting in my bed, I was mostly clean, she probably used her powers
to  separate  the mud. I sighed well I was out a skirt and some heels. I'd live
with  it,  she could have done worse. As I went to my bathroom to change out of
my  dirty  clothes  and get a shower, I almost tripped over something. I looked
back  to  see my skirt and heels sitting there. With a note. I smirked and read
the note.

   Wendy,

   Very good dear, you're doing much better. Hopefully soon you can end that
   foolish gesture nonsense. I thought you might like these back, but if you
   disobey  me  again, then  I'll  leave you down there.  You don't win love
   through a potion, but I think you  know that now. Hard lessons, dear, but
   you'll learn.

   Tammy

I  crumpled up the note and sighed. 'I'll get you for that Tammy. One day ... I
swear.'