Treasure of Demon Isle Part 3:
                                Rachel's Story

                                  by Longshot
                                 (f, qs, mud)


Rachel  watched the twins enter the cave from her open area prison. She knew it
would  happen  one  day,  that the demon would get what he wanted, her sister's
kids. She'd never met them, but reasoned that would be what he was after, since
her  mother  never reappeared, nor did her sister. She wondered why it kept her
alive,  maybe  it  had  once enjoyed the torment, but that was long since over.
She'd shut herself off to the fear, the pain, and everything else the demon had
inflicted on her. She listened to the twins screams in silence. She'd known who
they were since they first arrived. She might have felt sorry for them, that is
if  she  could  still feel. She'd been trapped here so long now that, what they
were  going through was short and sweet compared to her. She looked down at the
black stockinged foot that kept her trapped. She had many times considered just
yanking  her foot out of the trap. It was deviously ingenious, and even now she
had  to  admire that. Granted yanking her foot out would probably cost her half
her  leg. No ... It was better to wait. She'd waited this long, a little longer
wouldn't  hurt.  She  laid back down, half naked now as most of her clothes had
long  since  been shredded to pieces. and she'd taken off that horrid bra. What
would  it  matter? Who would see her out here? If she could have she would have
stripped  off  those  damned  hose a long time ago. But then what did it really
matter  now?  It  would  soon be over, once the twins were dead the demon would
kill  her,  too. There was no reason to keep her alive. She brushed more of the
tiny remaining bits of dried mud from her hair as she thought back to how she'd
gotten here in the first place.

It  had  been  a  long time ago, back in her younger years. Maybe thirty, forty
years ... after this long, who keeps track anymore? But it had been a long time
ago, nevertheless. She was a young woman then, not only in body which the demon
has  so  thoughtfully  preserved, but in mind and age as well. She'd managed to
follow  in  her  mother's  footsteps  as  an  explorer,  but  she  was  also  a
businesswoman,  too.  She'd made a small fortune for herself, of course now she
knew  the  demon had created her success, and she would have gotten angry again
if  it  really  mattered,  but to invite anger would break down the walls she'd
built  against  the  agony so many years ago. Nevertheless she was a successful
businesswoman.  He'd  snatched  her from work, she had to give the demon credit
there,  it  was  a  crafty and resourceful little bastard. She never would have
suspected  her  secretary to be the one. She knew the whole story of her mother
and  unlike  her  fool  sister  she'd  been  prepared.  She  had  the maps, the
knowledge,  of  course  it  all  did  her absolutely no good. Her secretary had
walked in, told her it was time to go. Thinking she had forgotten a meeting she
walked  right  into the trap. In a business suit no less, she couldn't come out
here  wearing  normal  clothing, no it had to be a grey jacket, black blouse, a
knee-length  skirt  that  matched  the  jacket,  black pantyhose, and grey high
heels.  She  almost  laughed at herself now. The only things that remained even
partially intact from that were the skirt and pantyhose.

She  just  walked right into it then though, right through the door it had cast
its  spell  on  without  even  a  backwards glance. Well that's what not paying
attention got you and she was still paying for it, but as they say hindsight is
always 20/20. That was when the trouble began. The demon had been clever, using
her  overconfidence  against her. She hadn't arrived on a beach, or even in the
middle of a swamp. Rather a dark forest, with ground about as solid as it came.
She landed face first on this rock hard ground. Not at all like she's heard and
read  about. Her first thoughts were confusion and curiosity. That had cost her
dearly  as  she remembered. She picked herself up slowly ... looking around. It
was  like  some  sorta  weird  fairy tale, complete with dark spooky woods. She
shook  her  head as if that would make the landscape change. When it didn't she
decided  that  it must be some sort of strange dream, and well the only way out
of  a  dream  was to let it run its course, or wake up. Since the latter didn't
seem  like  an  option  she  began walking through the strange, dark woods. The
trees  seemed  to  stare  back at her as she walked, and many times she got the
feeling  of  something  brushing  up against her, only to look and see nothing.
Rachel  quickened  her pace in the false hope that it would somehow get her out
of  these  woods  any  faster.  She  found  herself to be wrong again, as these
strange  trees  seemed  to  stretch  on  forever  in  all  directions. She felt
something  brush  against her leg. She looked down and saw nothing but the leaf
covered  ground  around  her  and the trunks of many hideous looking trees. She
stopped  a  moment  to  get  a better look at one of the trees. It in most ways
resembled a normal forest tree. Brown bark, limbs, green leaves, but it was the
shape  it seemed to take. It was tree shaped in that it grew upwards and from a
distance  it  would look like a normal tree, but the bark, and knotholes seemed
to  make  grotesque faces, and the limbs, some of them almost resembled groping
hands. She looked at it again as she could have sworn it was looking back, same
twisted  looking  face, but certainly nothing to look with. She shook it off as
just  a  feeling.  How  foolish  she had been, but how was she to know? Ah yes,
instinct,  but we men are far too civilized for something so primitive. Somehow
it  almost  seemed  funny  now,  that entire concept, of course that is almost.
Rachel  started  running  blindly  now, pure terror had taken over. She ran for
what seemed like forever until she was stopped, quite abruptly and painfully.

Rachel  opened her eyes after a moment with a headache, and found herself lying
flat  on  her  back. She felt something warm and wet trickling down the side of
her  face  and  reached up and touched it. She almost screamed when she saw the
blood, but after a moment of feeling around her face she quickly discovered the
small cut. Then looking up she saw what had caused it. In her panic she had run
into  a  low  hanging tree limb. Applying a bit of pressure she quickly stopped
the  bleeding,  but discovered a new problem. Somehow one of the tree roots had
wrapped itself around her ankle, and was holding her quite firmly in place. She
tugged  at  her ankle only to discover that she couldn't get it loose. She felt
that  brushing  sensation  again on her other leg and looked to see around this
ankle as well a tree root had wrapped itself. She looked up at the nearby trees
and  they  seemed  to  smirk back at her, menacingly. She struggled futilely to
pull  her  ankles  free  and fell back exhausted. She felt the sensation, once,
twice more in rapid succession on each arm. She tried to jerk them back quickly
only  to discover it was far too late. She was held down firmly. Rachel twisted
and  turned  as hard as she could and found in response more of the restraining
roots appearing, around her upper legs, lower arms, waist and finally her neck.
She discovered quickly that she couldn't move and could hardly breathe as tight
as the one was around her neck. It was then the dream theory was shattered. She
knew  dreams  didn't hurt and this was definitely painful. It was then that her
tormentor appeared before her.

Rachel  looked  up  at  the  dark sky, and noticed there were no stars, or even
clouds,  just  a  yellowish moon. Then a strange purple smoke began to fill the
area,  and  just  as quickly disappeared. A strange being floated above her. It
looked  like  her  mother  but  different, darker, more menacing. It spoke in a
twisted  version  of  her  mother's  voice  as well. "Well, well. It seems I've
caught  myself  a rabbit in woman's clothing." Rachel looked at the thing above
her  dumbfounded.  It  laughed. "And here I thought that cartoon rabbit was the
only one allowed to dress up like a woman."

Rachel blinked. "What ... what are you ... what do you want with me?"

The  demon  laughed.  "Oh  I want you to die! And can't you tell, I'm your dear
mother!  And  I  told  you to stay away from this place. Of course you wouldn't
listen, and it just made my job easier. So, well, there should be some pleasure
in it. I'll kill you slowly, how about that?"

Rachel blinked. "No! You can't kill me! What sort of sadistic thing are you?"

The  demon  laughed again. "You'll find out ... in time. Bye now! Enjoy all the
fun  I  have  planned  for you. I know I will!" With that the thing disappeared
with a slight pop.

Rachel  was temporarily relieved at its departure, until she felt herself being
pulled  down.  She started to scream but it was cut short as the ground covered
her face. Then ... darkness.

Rachel  awoke  later.  She  didn't know how long it has been, only that she was
somewhere  else  now.  It looked like a jungle and was about as hot. The ground
was  soggy, and she found walking in her heels to be a chore as they would sink
into  the  soft earth. The air was humid and the temperature sweltering. Rachel
wished  she had a cool drink and something more appropriate to wear. She sighed
as she walked out of her heels again for what must have been the twentieth time
in  as many minutes. She decided it was futile to fool with them any more as if
that  thing  got its wish she'd be dead anyway. She walked on finding the soggy
earth  no  more  comfort  than the humid air. The only good thing she could say
about  it  was  that it didn't hurt her feet like harder ground might have, and
any  wetness on her stocking feet was welcome, even if it was hot water. As she
got  deeper into this maze of vines and assorted plant life that seemed to pass
for  a jungle she didn't find the going any easier, but she also remembered how
the  creature had trapped her mother in a similar situation, by tiring her out,
making  her  stop,  and then almost killing her in a soft quicksand bog. Rachel
was  determined not to meet the same fate. Every time she felt the ground begin
to even remotely suck at her feet she changed directions heading for more solid
ground. The demon watched her as she wandered through the jungle and foiled his
every  attempt  to trap her in quicksand. It smiled as it formed a most devious
plan.

Rachel  saw  what  looked  to  be  the  end  of the jungle a little ways ahead.
However,  she  was  expecting  a trap and thought she was being clever when she
changed  direction  again at encountering the sucking earth. She turned towards
the  more stable ground and began to walk, or try to at any rate. She tugged at
her  feet  which  for some odd reason refused to budge. She looked down just in
time  to  see  the  creamy  black ooze roll over the tops of her stocking feet.
Rachel  screamed  out in protest, although no one was around to hear her, or at
least  anyone  who would listen. She began to frantically try and pull her feet
from  the sticky black ooze to no avail. However this action caused her to sink
further  into  the  trap  up to her knees. Rachel shook her head ... she wasn't
going  to  die  like  this. She refused to and looked around frantically as the
mire  crept  up  her  legs. She saw nothing that would help her. The vegetation
around  her was all rooted in the soft ground and would easily pull out, unless
she  was  very careful. She knew she had to try, or else die here in this trap.
She  reached out, sweat pouring down her face and gently grabbed a nearby vine.
She  slowly  began to tug and try and pull herself free. She was waist deep now
and  could  see  her  skirt  fan  out on the surface of the mire, and in places
starting to submerge. She began to pull gently, but hard enough to try and pull
herself  out  of  the  mire. She felt her body begin to slowly slide out of the
quicksand.  She  was  making  slow, tedious progress never giving up a precious
centimeter  of  her  reclaimed  body  to  the  sticky bog, but at the same time
overworking  herself in the tremendous heat. She felt her body weaken and cried
out in protest again as muscles began to fail, and her body began to slide into
the quicksand even faster now. She felt her rib cage then her breast slide into
the  mud  before  fatigue  and  dehydration  finally caught up with her and the
blackness took over once more.

Rachel awoke covered in sticky black mud, but alive. The mud was just beginning
to  dry  and  flake  off  as she tried to get it off of her face and hands. She
reached  out  half-blindly to grab what she thought was a bunch of leaves off a
tree.  At  least  that  what  the blur of green appeared to be. She jerked back
quite  startled  and  in a bit of pain with a cry of pain as the green blur bit
her. Deciding that attempting that again until she could see was a stupid move,
she did her best to get the drying mud out of her eyes. After a few moments and
a lot of blinking, and watering of her eyes to get out stray flakes of dirt she
looked around. Once again she was on soft ground, just soft enough to be muddy,
but  firm  enough  to support her weight with little difficulty to walking. She
also seemed to be in a closet sized clearing in a field of thick tangled vines.
She  quickly  determined that it was the inch long red thorns on the vines that
had bit her. Again she cursed the clothes she had been brought here wearing. In
jeans  and  some  hiking boots she could have navigated her way though the mess
with just a few scratches to her legs. However with mud covered pantyhose and a
think  black  skirt, both of which were beginning to show the signs of her time
here  on  the  island taking its toll on them. Her blouse wasn't in much better
shape  but the vines only seemed to come up to her knees, so it wasn't anywhere
near  the top of her list of worries. She knew that with no shoes and the light
clothing  she was wearing her legs would be shredded like cheese in a matter of
minutes  if  she  attempted to cross that mess. However something else happened
that  made  her  begin  to  rethink  her  position. She began to feel a strange
tickling  sensation  under  her  feet.  She  looked  down to see that water was
seeping up out of the ground near her feet, while it did manage to wash some of
the  mud  off  it  also  had another, less pleasing effect. She felt the ground
beginning  to  get  softer  under  her  feet  and knew that she had to take her
chances  with  the  vines or have a repeat performance of her earlier struggle,
and  she  had  the  feeling  she wouldn't make it out a second time. She looked
around  a  moment  longer  trying to find a less thorny place to move to before
slowly  stepping  out  into  the vines. It took a great amount of effort on her
part  to  keep from screaming in pain with each torturous step. The thorns tore
her  pantyhose  and  skirt to shreds as it seemed every thorn anywhere near her
leg  got  its  own  scratch  in. Her legs were red and sore, criss-crossed with
scratches,  a  few oozing a little blood, which just mixed with the mud already
covering her legs, making a huge mess.

Somehow  she  endured the short torturous walk through the thorns and collapsed
on  the  other  side.  The  heat here was still unbearable, but somehow knowing
she'd  gotten  across  that  patch of pure hell seemed to make her ignore that,
either that or she was just delusional from dehydration and pain. She collapsed
again  letting  the darkness overtake her and hoping that this time it might be
merciful  and  kill her. She laughed at her folly then. She knew now that mercy
wasn't  even  a word by the demon's dictionary. No,it could have put her out of
this  suffering  long  ago.  But  it  was  cruel,  and  probably  read too much
mythology,  or  one too many books on torture for fun and profit. She felt like
one  of the titans right now, chained down, well she wasn't chained but she may
as  well  have been, and waiting for the giant bird to come tear out her liver.
Of course there was no bird, just this blasted trap she had so foolishly walked
into.  Ah,  but  now  she  remembered  she  came  to the best part. How she had
actually gotten into her current predicament.

Rachel  awoke  again,  and was totally confused. Her clothes were spotless, and
looked  almost  brand new, and she was clean the mud was gone like it had never
been  there. The ground below her soft, but solid, but it wasn't mud, more like
...  carpet?  She  opened  her eyes and looked around. It was her office, or at
least  it looked like it. She was laying face first on the floor of her office,
confused.  She  stood  up and almost fell on her face again as she realized why
she  had fallen in the first place. It seemed one of the heels on her shoes had
broken  off,  causing  her to trip, and judging by the fact that she was laying
sprawled  out  by  her  desk, she must have hit her head on it on the way down.
Rachel  wondered why she hadn't remembered this, and what she was doing back at
her  office.  Well  no  time  for stupid questions now. She had work to do. She
kicked  off  the  worthless  shoes and decided since she was going to be in her
office  all  day  anyway  walking  around in stocking feet would be no big deal
anyway.  She  walked  back  behind  her desk and sat down, and then punched the
intercom button to her secretary. "Alice have I had any calls?"

The  reply  came  quickly ... and in an oddly familiar voice, that sounded like
Alice's but didn't, maybe she had a cold. "No ma'am your phones have been quiet
all  day.  Is there anything I can get you? I was about to head out to lunch if
you won't be needing me."

Rachel hit the com button to reply. "No, go ahead Alice. I don't need anything,
but  thanks!"  She  turned back to the paperwork on her desk and began work, or
tried  to.  Strangely, her pen refused to write. Figuring it must be out of ink
she  tossed  it  in  the  garbage  and  opened her desk to get another one. She
rummaged  around  in her desk for a good five minutes without locating a single
pen. Rachel sighed. "It just isn't my day is it?" she muttered to herself.

Rachel  stood  and  walked to the door to go steal a pen from Alice's desk. She
did  it  all the time, and Alice had often told her that if she ever needed any
supplies  to feel free to swipe then. Rachel turned the knob to her office door
only  to  discovered  it  refused  to open. "Oh, good lord, it's stuck again? I
thought  they  fixed that!" she complained to herself. She began to pull on the
door  as hard as she could then fell back as the doorknob came off in her hand.
Rachel  blinked.  "What the ..." she started to mutter, when it occurred to her
what  was  going on. Just then she heard a god-awful sound and noticed that the
room seemed to be a bit smaller. At first she thought it was just her, but then
she  heard the sound again. As she looked she noticed that her office chair was
now  pushed  in,  under  the  desk, and was directly in front of the back wall.
Rachel  shook  her  head.  "Oh  no!  He's  gonna kill me with one of the oldest
cliched  deathtraps  ...  the  moving  wall?"  Rachel  looked  around as if she
expected  to  find  something  to  brace the wall with as it began its slow but
steady approach. Rachel then got the sensation she was being gently pushed, and
then  again. She looked behind her to see that the wall she was leaning against
was starting to move, too. She screamed and ran towards the center of the room.
"What  next?  Is  the room going to fill with acid?" she whispered in a scared,
but  half sarcastic tone as if she were trying to somehow add a bit of humor to
what  she  thought  was  going  to  be her death. She tried to move again to go
futilely  push  against  the  walls  when  she  found  that for some reason she
couldn't  move  her feet. She looked down to the the carpet more or less alive,
or  it looked that way as each of the thick white fibers seemed to have its own
mind, and some of them had taken the notion to wrap around her feet and ankles.
Rachel  was overwhelmed and fell to her knees crying. She didn't know what else
to  do.  She knew she was going to die, and it didn't help her mindset when she
felt  the  carpet  strands  wrap  themselves around her legs, trapping her even
more.  Rachel  shook her head, she'd had enough and was ready to die. She threw
herself face first on the writhing mass of carpet strands in the hope that they
would  suffocate  her  before  the walls slowly and painfully squished her. She
felt  the  strands  wrap  themselves  quickly  about her body, but when she was
covered, instead of suffocating she felt the blackness overcome her again.

Rachel  awoke  on  a  beach this time. She stood and felt disgusting again. She
looked  at  herself  and  realized  that  the cleanness was just another of the
demon's  illusions,  but  for some odd reason her clothes looked just the same.
She  shook  her  head, not even wanting to ask what idiotic game it was playing
now.  Nearby  she  saw  a  small  clear pond, which after throwing sand in, and
poking  with a finger to make sure that it wouldn't jump up and try and eat her
or  have some sort of contact poison in it, she began to wash her face and arms
as  best  she  could. When she finished most of the mud was off of her, however
her  hair still had some dried mud in it, and there was the occasional brownish
splotch on her arms. Deciding this was good enough she turned and looked to see
what  tortures  the  demon  had  for her now. She saw only a book, sitting on a
crate,  with  a  pencil  next  to  it.  Expecting  it to explode, or cause some
sinkhole to appear and suck her down into the sand she stood in she examined it
cautiously  and was almost surprised when it turned out to be a diary, with her
name on it. She was confused by this, and the map which had been under it. Both
the  diary,  and  the  map  had  been  written  in her handwriting, although it
contained  bogus  information. She looked at the final entry, and was surprised
to  see  that  the date was almost forty years into the future, and appeared to
what she would have guessed today's date was. She blinked and shook her head in
confusion.  It talked about some twins coming today, and how they were going to
be the final sacrifice,and the start of a new generation. Rachel blinked again.
'But  there aren't any twins in the family unless ... Oh no!' she thought as it
suddenly  occurred  to  her.  Her sister's children they were the final ones to
come.  As  if  her  though  had  somehow triggered it, two young girls of about
seventeen,  and  unconscious  wearing  prom dresses of all things fell onto the
beach beside her.

Rachel  panicked  and  ran  blindly  across  the beach and into some woods. The
branches  tore  at  her blouse eventually stripping it from her body as she ran
blindly  right  into  the  spot where she was now as she watched the twins walk
like  fools  into  the cave. She had felt a sharp pain in her ankle, and as she
fell  she  twisted  and  felt another pain in her ankle. She looked down to see
that she had stepped into a small pit, however around the edges of the pit were
silvery spikes, pointed downwards as if it was a trap for some small animal. It
allowed  for whatever to fall into the trap, but not to escape without impaling
itself  on  the  spikes.  Rachel twisted and turned, and time seemed to pass in
years  rather than in hours or minutes. She lay there finally totally unable to
escape.  She had taken off her bra, as it had been annoying her anyway and laid
it  beside  her.  Her  leg has finally stopped bleeding from where she'd nearly
ripped  off  her foot just testing the idea that she could somehow twist out of
the  trap. It had seemed like a long time since the twins had entered the cave,
and somewhere deep down she hoped they would fare a little better than she did,
however the screams she heard didn't do much to raise her hopes. Then something
strange happened, the whole world around her began to whirl and spin, the trees
melted  into the sky, and the ground began to spin, one final time she felt the
blackness come and take her out of the world.

Rachel  awoke to a gentle shaking. She felt a sharp pain in her ankle and cried
out  suddenly. Then she heard a woman's voice. "Carol, she's alive! Quick! Call
an  ambulance!" Rachel awoke to what looked to be one of her co-workers, no ...
her secretary, Alice standing over her. "Rachel, hon! Are you alright?"

Rachel groaned. "My ankle ... hurts ... so bad." A few moments later Carol came
back,  she  seemed  to  remember her now, she was one of the people that worked
under her.

Alice  shook  her  again. "Come on, Rachel! You have to stay with us. You had a
nasty accident."

Rachel  blinked slowly. "Accident? But I was laying on the ground, and my ankle
was in a trap ... and ..."

Alice  cut her off. "Shh ... shh ... You're delusional hon, don't you remember?
You  got  grabbed  by  that  street  kid  and he tried to rape you? Carol and I
happened  to  be coming back from lunch and we heard you screaming. When we ran
back  her  you  were  half naked and had some kid on top of you. He ran off but
knocked a pile of trash onto your ankle. We were afraid he'd killed you."

Rachel  shook  her  head. "No ... a demon kidnapped me ... from the office, and
... tortures, and the twins ... my sister's kids ... he killed them!"

Alice  looked  at her oddly. "Rachel, honey, you're imaging things. Your sister
doesn't  have  any  kids. She and your mother died in a car accident last year.
Don't you remember?"

Rachel  shook  her head. "No ... everything's so fuzzy, Alice ..." and then she
passed out.

Alice  sighed  softly,  standing  outside  of  Rachel's hospital room. "Doctor,
she'll be okay, won't she? She was babbling about all kinds of crazy things."

The  doctor nodded. "Yes Ma'am, don't worry. These false memories are common in
cases like this. The mind tries anything it can to cover up the trauma. However
in  most  cases  it doesn't last long. Your boss should be back to her good old
self in a matter of days."

Rachel  lay  in her hospital bed, writing in the diary she had Alice bring her.
"Dear  diary.  As  impossible  as  it may seem it seems the demon got its final
trick  in.  It  left  me all the gifts it had given me, but took away my family
instead.  I  guess  the twins managed to somehow outsmart it. It's just a shame
that  they'll  never  be born now. I would have liked to have gotten to know my
sister's  children. I'm sure they must have been very clever if they could beat
the demon at its own game ..."