Arachne

 

"Nngh!" (N)

 

I wake up again.
But when I open my eyes it's pitch black.
My senses are tingling, but I can figure out that I am in some kind of sac.
Did the men catch me back and put me in here?
It's so tight, I cannot move at all.
It even hurts a bit the way it forces me to curl together.

When I try to move, the sac begins to swing.
I'm hanging in the air!
And the material is extremely sturdy!
The surface is very smooth, yet somewhat wet.
Like this, I have no idea what is happening on the outside.

 

"Clik, clik, clik, clik"

 

I hear something.
Some kind of clicking sounds.

 

"H-hello? Is anybody there?" (N)

 

"Clik, clik, clik"

 

I can't pinpoint where this clicking sound comes from.
Seemingly from all sides, even above me.

 

"Slurp"

 

Suddenly I feel something.
From over me, the wet sac becomes even wetter.
It slowly flows downward till the whole sac is soaked.
And it lies so tight that I feel it everywhere on my body.
I am totally drenched!

 

"Zcchhh"

 

"Aaaahhhhgh!" (Neri)

 

It burns!
It burns on my skin!
This hurts!

 

"Please let me out of here! It hurts so much!" (N)

 

Yet instead of complying, more is released.

 

"Slurp, Zcchh"

 

"Aahhgghh!" (N)

 

The pain intensifies and I have problems staying conscious.
There is no new fluid added, but the stuff around me stays and burns all over my body.
Breathing it in hurts my throat.

 

"Clik, clik, clik"

"Please, whoever is there, let me go! I have never done something bad! Please let me out here!" (N)

 

I am now convinced that this clicking sound is due to some action and not just some background noise.
So whoever made it should hear me.

 

"Ssstk"

 

But then I get stung.
It stabbed my torso a bit above my stomach, but the sac is so tight, I can't see anything.
And it's all so wet, I can't say if I'm bleeding. Or how badly.

 

"Scscscscscscscscscscscscscscsc"

 

The next moment I hear some strange sound.
It's a bit like rinsing sand, but not quite the same.
A moment later I feel something on my still-burning skin.
The pain never stopped, but I was getting accustomed.
But now there's a new sensation.
My whole skin starts to itch and it's crawling beneath in addition to the pain.
This feeling is unbearable!!!

 

"Pl-please make it stop! Just stop!" (N)

 

It won't stop!
This crazy crawling itch gets even stronger the longer it lasts, while the burning of the liquid stays.

 

"Slurp"

"NO! No more! End it! No more! Sob!"

 

I begin to whine, but it doesn't help against the pain.
After I spent some time in agony, the pain not only remains, but I also develop something like a fever.
My innards feel as if they're getting cooked!
The crawling feeling is settling deeper inside my body but also remains around my skin.
Meanwhile, my breathing makes my throat hurt so badly.

 

"Sstk"

 

Another sting.
I barely notice it with all the other things happening to me.
But soon my insides feel even worse.
It feels like my innards are going to melt.
Who does something like this?

 

"P-p-please. Ssstop. I... cannot... endure more. Just end it!" (N)

 

I start again to sob and tears fill my eyes.

 

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!" (N)

 

My eyes!!!

They burn!

It's burning my eyes!

Worse than searing coals!

This is madness!

How have I deserved this?
What have I done?
Life is not fair!
I don't want to live anymore!

 

"KILL ME! LET ME DIE! Please. Please." (N)

 

"Sstk"

 

Instead of receiving any mercy, I get stung again.
But this time I become sleepy.
Even through all this pain, whatever happened makes me lose consciousness.

.

.

.

Everything is blurred.
I don't even know if I sleep or am awake.
Whenever I gain consciousness I get overwhelmed by the pain.
Shortly after this, I get stung again and directly fall back asleep.
But all this pain follows me there.
Even in my dreams it is present.

Am I having a nightmare?
Is this hell?
Why am I here?
I never had the chance to earn a place here.
But the pain is everywhere and I can't escape from it.
Yet I feel so dizzy.

I've lost track of time and even reality in this sac.
The occasional stings are an indicator, but not a safe one.
And they are so irrelevant in comparison to the rest.
The prickling itch around my body, the always renewed liquid burn, and my insides which I can barely feel anymore through all this searing pain.
I stopped trying to beg to end this, as all I get is this sleeping sting when I do so.
Yet I doubt I could do so anymore even if I'd want to since the burn settled in my throat and it hurts to use it.

 

"Sstk"

 

Oh, it seems I'm supposed to sleep again.
So was I awake?

.

.

.

 

I think I'm awake.
Yet, I don't know how to be sure about that.
It's just hard to concentrate on anything, but I think that the pain decreased
I've got quite numb to the agony which I constantly experienced.
My back hurts very much. Totally strained.
But the prickling feeling is only an afterimage and the burning stopped a while ago.
My insides are no longer in heat as well.
Maybe this release is a dream. I can't be sure, but even with the occasional renewing of this liquid it doesn't really worsen the feeling anymore.

After some time I notice something strange.
Below my feet the sac somehow shifts, gives in, and a hole opens up.

Wait!

Am I sliding down?!
My feet are gliding out of my sac!

Am I going to get free?
Do I want to be free?

Wait a moment!
How high above the ground does this sac hang?
I don't want to have gone through this hell only to fall to my death.
That would be unfair.
But life wasn't fair to me in general.
The surface of my sac is too smooth and greasy so I can't get any hold and slide down.
After a moment, I separate and drop to the ground.

 

"Bump"

"Akckh!" (N)

 

The fall wasn't too deep, but it still hurt.
Did it hurt?
I am not very good at recognizing pain anymore.

When I look up there is my sac.
It is a white thing somehow glued with a string to the ceiling.
It doesn't look very sturdy and is much smaller than I thought.

I was never on the tall side.
But slightly below average isn't small.
However, this thing is so tiny; I wouldn't know how I fit in there.

I can't pursue this trail of thought, as there are more pressing matters now.

Where am I?
What should I do?
Can I get anywhere now?

But before I can pursue these issues something different comes up.
My skin!

I was worried about my condition.
I think I am awake right now.
So I wanted to check how bad my burns are.
My skin was constantly burning, so it should be in a pretty bad state.
Yet the condition differs from my expectations.

I am pale!
Ghastly pale!

I had rosy, tanned skin and callouses from working outside.
But now it looks like I've never seen the sun in my life.
And what’s more, it's so soft and smooth to the touch.
Not a single irregularity.
I feel no freckles, no pores, just an even surface.

While I am gasping at this strange happenstance, I pull the hair away that got into my field of sight.
However, I notice something else disturbing.
My hair is white!
Silver-white!

I’ve heard that people's hair can turn white after they’ve experienced something terrible.
And I definitely think that would include me.
But silver?
Shouldn't it be more of a sickly, unhealthy color?
But it looks fine.

Do people know about this?
I think some women in the capital would go that far, just to get in such a state, but surely not me.
Also, the composition is so lithe.
I can perfectly glide a finger through it.
My hair was thick, wild, and a bit curly in a bad way.

This is entirely different.
Not a single knot, no stray strand.
Is this called silky?
I don’t know how silk feels, never came in contact with it, but this sensation makes me think so.

While I glide through it with my finger, I notice something else.
Were my nails always this long?
How long was I inside that sac?
I had the bad habit to nibble at them, so they never got very long.
But these are!
And why are they so pointy?
They look more as if they're made to gouge someone’s eyes!
And they also have this silverish color!

For a while, I kneel like this on the ground.
Fiddling with my hair, staring at my skin, looking for any irregularity.

As soon as I can spare a thought to anything else, I find that I'm in some kind of cave or rather a circular stone room.
It's quite bright in here and the stone is of a light grey color.
How couldn’t I notice such a bright environment through the sac?
I mean, regarding what I see from it, it’s quite thin.
So some light should have gone through.
By the way, my clothes apparently didn't survive the ordeal.

While I am thinking about all those weird things, I start to hear something.
I don’t think I can move very well right now and there's no hiding spot here in this room.
So I can just stare with growing anxiety at the opening where the sound comes from.
And then a woman enters.
I think she's beautiful.
Extremely long black hair, dark-grey, almost black eyes, some kind of black robe and she is tall with a well-defined face.
But she also makes the impression of someone you can’t talk back to.

 

“Oh, you’re awake. Good to see."