-Well, there's worse places to be stranded-
-Damn typhoon season anyway-
-At least another day before I can get out of this place-
-Anyway, I can explore a little. Absorb some local color or something.-
-It's got to be better than sitting arounf this hotel room-
-I mean, what good is the air conditioning and the cable TV if I can't understand a word those people are saying-
-I'll just go out and see what's happening-
April sorts through the suitcase thrown on the sagging bed in the shabby hotel room.
-It's a cheap place anyway-
Finally she decides on a loose flowing dress. She has often referred to it as "My everything robe". It allows her freedom of motion, and the luxury of being able to dispense with underwear. The material and the cut of the dress effectively mute her curves and contours, attracting less attention in strange places. She ties her red hair up into a neutral bun, dons sunglasses, picks up her purse, steps into low-heeled sandals, and treads the three flights of stairs down to the hotel lobby.
The heat and humidity are worse on the street level. The typhoon, while effectively stopping air travel, has left the city in a steambath. Sweat beads on her brow. Her whole body feels moist. The loose dress tries to stick to her sweaty body.
-This won't do-
-Gotta find someplace cooler-
-I'll melt out here-
She picks a direction at random and goes in search of relief from the heat. Everywhere she sees the usual business of Singapore. People bustle about. Open market stalls offer anything and everything. But nothing that might help her relieve the heat.
Turning a corner, April sees before her the lighted marquee of one of the many tiny movie houses that dot the city. While April cannot read the characters on the marquee, words "COOL INSIDE" leap out.
-Cool. Good idea-
She knows that there are no showtimes for these movie houses. They run all day and all night, one film after another. She pays the girl in the ticket booth the few coins that grant her admission and pushes open the door into the dark rooms beyond. She does not see the sly glance and suddenly feral smile that crosses the lips of the ticket taker.
Arrows srawled on the walls of the interior corridor point the way to the movie rooms. She hears faint music and muffles noise from the current film. One arrow points ahead. The main floor. Another points up toward a narrow flight of wooden stairs.
-A balcony. Good-
She picks her careful way up the worn steps, carefully holding her skirt up above her ankles to avoid stepping on the hem in dark. At the top another swinging door admits her to a narrow gallery with just two shorts rows of folding theatre seats overlooking the lower level of the movie house and the screen that covers one wall. A flickering projector beam shines out from somewhere behind and under the narrow balcony, revealing only three or four shadowed heads in the lower seats. Her eye follows the beam to the screen.......and thought stops....
-Omigawd! What kind of a movie IS this?!?-
The flickering screen is filled with a closeup of massed shifting serpentine coils. For the first time April is aware of the sounds of groaning and gasping that fill the darkness. The camera pans slowly backward and she sees that the heaped coils contain a struggling oriental girl who cannot be more than 18. The girl's face strains and April can see the thick coils shifting, drawing tighter and tighter.
-It....it's CRUSHING her!-
Dazed by the subject of the film, April sinks into one of the seats. She sits transfixed by the sight and sounds of the struggle. Harsh gasps become groans of effort; groans become whimpers or pain. The girl gags and chokes, goes limp. The screen goes dark for a second, then springs back to life. A jungle scene. Dramatic soundtrack. To her surprise, April recognizes the girl on the screen. Bo Derek!
-Can this be Tarzan?-
-It LOOKS like Tarzan......but she's NAKED!-
April had heard rumors of the unreleased version of this movie. One with all the jungle scenes featuring full nudity. And now to see this part here in a seedy movie house in Singapore.... Sure enough, the huge python drops out of the tree and swiftly embraces the struggling actress. Huge coils envelop her heaving form, one, two, three. Soft shrieks echo through the gallery.
-This is so amazing!-
-To think that I'd actually find something like this HERE!-
April peers back and forth across the dark balcony. Alone. She reaches down and pulls the full dress to her knees, spreading her thighs in response to the growing heat she feels between her legs. Her hand strokes upward along her leg, finding her center of heat and wetness. She catches her lower lip between her teeth and her fingers skillfully manipulate. On screen, Bo rocks back and forth in the tightening coils, moaning softly. Clearly this is a different version of the snake fight. There is extra footage. More action. A longer struggle. At last the ball of coils is overbalanced and Bo and the python slide down in a heap into the sluggish river. The screen goes dark again for a second. And comes to life again.
-Ooooooooooooooooo mygawd!-
So intent is she on the screen that April does not detect the movement in the darkness, does not hear the soft sliding of a heavy body across the arms of the seats in the row behind her. She does not see the thick coils gathering in the seats behind her, or the wedge shaped head testing the air for her scent and heat. Finally all thirty feet of scaled muscle are piled into a loose heap. It tenses........reaches out..........strikes with the practiced experience of a predator that has taken prey in this space many times before.
The first coil laps April's head and face, covering her mouth, stifling her cry of panic, locking her head into place. Her hands grasp in desperation at the thick band of muscle. She still does not fully comprehend what is happening. And the snake uses her hesitation to its advantage. Loop after loop slides over the back of her seat, curling down over her shoulders. The first loops push aside the elastic neck of her loose dress, slide under the fabric. They press down her full breasts, rubbing the nipples into responsive erection. Each coil passing over them flattens, then releases them, readying them for the next wave of serpentine power. April tries to push upright, to rise from the seat. The snake uses the opportunity to complete coils completely around her chest and stomach and to push down around her hips. Its tail section insinuates itself between her sweat slick thighs before gripping one leg like a fist.
-NNNNNNNNGGGGHHHHHHHHHH-
-O mygooood.......it's a snaaaaaakeeeeeeee-
-MMMMMMMMMMGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH-
-can't screaaaammmmmmm-
She heaves and struggles, but nothing avails her the slightest advantage. The snake may weigh 200 pounds, and all of its weight bears down on her, exhausting her strength, forcing her back into the seat.
-HHHHNNNNFFFFFFFFFF-
-gotta get uuuppppppp-
-HNNGGHHHH-
-toooo heavyyyyyyy-
April's bound head is locked in place. She can feel the shifting of the embrace all about her, little settlings and adjustments, tensions and slidings as the coils settle into their optimal positions. All that she can see is the movie screen, listen to the soundtrack in a language she does not understand.
-mmmffffffff-
-nnnoooooooo-
-it's gonna squeeeeze meeeeeee-
The flickering screen is filled with the face of a man in agony. It is a face framed by the coil of a giant anaconda. His groans fill the movie house. His tongue protrudes. The screen flickers and goes dark. Another film begins. A young girl is swimming in a jungle pool. The camera pans to the bank where yards of sliding snakeskin flows smoothly into the water.
-hrrrffffffff-
-hrfffffff-
If there were anyone who happened to enter the dark gallery now, they would see what appeared to be a very fat lady bouncing around in a theatre seat. All of the snake's great girth is concealed under April's dress. Her hair has fallen over the coil that freezes her head and gags her.
-ogod-
-hmmmffffff-
And now she begins to feel pressure. The coils are beginning to draw closer. Tightening in subtle waves around her body. Each breath becomes a little harder to take. Skin tight. Tighter. She can't feel her leg below the coiled bands that wrap it. Her hips are compressed. Waist squeezed. Breasts pushed up painfully. On the screen, the swimming girl is thrashing helplessly in the coils of the huge constrictor. She gasps for air and the snake drage her below the surface. One hand seems to wave farewell before it disappears under the water.
-squeeezing meeeeeee-
-MMMMFFFFFFFF-
-hurrrrtsssssss-
-hard to breathhhhheeeee-
The screen darkens. The coils around her seem to increase in girth. The pressure is growing faster now. April whimpers. Tears streak her cheeks above the coil that gags her. The screen flickers. An anonymous hotel room. A young woman is sleeping. Over the foot of the bed, a great shovel-shaped head appears, sliding toward her quiet form.
-sob-
-crushing meeeeeee-
-hmmmmfffffff-
Squeeeeeeeze. Ripple. Squeeeze. The pressure is unrelenting. April can only get little sips of air. Each breath is an effort. Each, she fears, may be her last. Her eyes feel like they are bulging out of their sockets. The images on the screen seem to be tinged with red.
-hnnnghhhhhhh-
The woman in the film is no longer asleep. She struggles in a solid ball of heaving coils. Her legs kick uselessly. Her arms are trapped. A thick coil winds around her head, hiding her agonized expression and abruptly cutting off her agonized gasps and groans. She stops moving. The screen goes dark.
-hhhhhhhh-
-hhhh-
********************
And now April's breath is gone too. Her lungs are on fire. Her pulse pounds in her ears. The red rim of darkness begins to overtake her. A long slide seems to open before her and she plunges down into the grip of a huge scaled fist. And then she knows no more.
The cleaners find a cast aside sun dress the next day, and a pair of sandals. It's a strange movie house. They show no surprise. It will fit one of their wives or girfriends. The screen is dark.
It lights again........
By Summer