Voretober 2022 - GUEST

“Oh, Peri, I’m so glad you came!” Hilda clasped her hands together happily, looking down at her visitor. It was someone she’d met in class, a sweet little rabbit girl. Hilda, being a hippo, dwarfed her in size, but they hadn’t let that stop them from becoming fast friends. “Come in, come in! I started cooking some fettuccine and preparing some stuff for salads. There should be enough for all three of us.”

Peri piped up as she followed Hilda inside. “Three of us?”

“Oh, I should have let you know, but my brother lives here too. Don’t worry, he knows you’re here.” Hilda walked back into the kitchen and said, “You can take a seat on the couch. Should be ready in ten or so minutes.”

Peri glanced over at the couch and walked up to it. Just the height to the seat was about her own. Fortunately, she had strong legs and could hop up there without any trouble. She pulled out her phone and started killing the time by scrolling through social media, as she tended to. Hilda was humming away to music playing in the kitchen in the background. As the time went on, the smell of dinner grew more attractive too.

So attractive, it must’ve got her brother to head over. She could hear his footsteps pounding down the hallway. Peri didn’t particularly want to get up and chat with him, so she kept her head buried in her phone. Her ears were of the floppy kind, so it wasn’t difficult to stay hidden on the large couch. That said, she seemed to be discovered anyway considering he stopped right behind her.

She finally looked up from her phone just in time to feel the couch jerk momentarily. Then, above her, she saw the large, gray, and completely naked bottom of a hippo. She should’ve made any sound at all, but she was too stunned by the sight. The fact he vaulted over the couch like that. After that seemingly eternal moment, he began to fall. The cheeks parted as they came down and shortly thereafter there was a SQUELCH as they landed around her.

Hilda’s brother, Norton, landed with the oddest feeling in his rear. He stood back up for a moment, but he didn’t see anything on the couch. And nothing was hanging out of his butt. He shrugged and sat back down. Unknown to him, Peri found herself trapped in a much worse space. The pleasant smell of dinner was gone, replaced by a much more putrid one. She was fortunate it seemed relatively clean in spite of that smell, but not so with how it began pulling her deeper.

Peri knew there was a little risk in going over to the home of someone so much bigger, but she didn’t expect this. She couldn’t have. She wanted to squirm, but the hippo’s large intestine held her too tightly. She didn’t even know when she would stop, if she would exit the way she came in. She even realized she dropped her phone. She hoped it was in a spot someone would notice. The only other thing she could do was hold her breath and wait for something to change.

Meanwhile, Norton had started lazily watching TV while waiting for his sister to finish making dinner. He didn’t take note of the slight feelings of pressure in his lower intestines. They didn’t feel much different at all from normal body function. Nor did he notice the small phone that had sunk into the couch behind him. The only things he really paid attention to were the show on TV and when Hilda called out, “Dinner’s ready!”

Norton responded, “You don’t gotta yell sis, it’s just me.”

She popped out of the kitchen with some urgency and said, “What? Where’s Peri?”

“Who?”

“Our guest tonight, dummy!” She walked out of the kitchen, over to the couch and saw her brother just sitting in the middle, wearing only a shirt. It was fortunate he was fat enough to cover his lower half, but still she scolded, “NORTON! I told you to wear something! You probably scared her away, walking around naked.”

“I’m telling you, I didn’t see anyone.” He scratched his gut idly as part of it made a low gurgling noise.

“You’re probably sitting on her or something. Stand up!”

He sighed and rolled his eyes, standing up from the couch. While his heavy ass had created two round imprints, there was nothing in them. “See? How small is this guest anyway?”

Hilda frowned as she said, “She’s a little rabbit. I hope she’s alright... I’ll call her tomorrow. She probably just got spooked.”

“Sounds good, can we eat now?”

It was impossible for either of them to know, but Peri was still very close indeed. She could tell that they were talking, but it was impossible for her to actually make out anything. Similarly she could feel Norton trod around, but there was no way to know where he was going. She just continued to snake through twisting, seemingly infinite guts. While nothing life-threatening seemed to happen, her breath felt constantly short and her skin dry.

Eventually she made her way into slightly different guts, tighter, but softer. Small intestine. It was the only way she had any semblance of time inside him, besides the feeling of him walking. Her body was pulled deeper, around bends, up, down, left, right. It must’ve been hours, but eventually she reached a landmark of sorts. A ball of chyme ahead of her. She squeezed her eyes tight and faced the intestine’s walls, letting the digested food run against her head and try to slide by her back. At least this meant she was nearing a more open space...

With a gasp, she surfaced above a sludgy pool of half-digested pasta and veggies. The hippo’s stomach was more open than what she just passed through, but it still was no relief for her other senses. At least now she could move, hopefully get someone’s attention. She pushed on the outer walls and called out, “Hello?! Sir? Hilda? Can anyone hear me?!” The only response was gurgling and the soft bubbling from around her legs.

She realized then that his stomach was on its side. Deep, heavy breaths could be heard from outside too, and then a loud SNRRRRK. Peri shook her head, in denial at what was going to happen. She didn’t come all this way just to end up like all the food around her! She could still get out. She tried the way she just came in, but it refused to budge. Finding the sphincter to go further up proved an impossible challenge. His stomach’s walls started to shift and grind around her, even as she fought back. Just like before, all she could do was wait for something to change.

Norton slept peacefully through the night. His stomach felt a little upset in his dreams, but it wasn’t bad enough to get him up. In the morning, he overheard Hilda trying to call her friend’s phone as he walked to the bathroom. It seemed to be going straight to voicemail. Her business hardly mattered to him. Although his own business wasn’t worth any attention either. He played on his phone while getting rid of last night’s dinner. He didn’t even notice as Peri left the way she came in, albeit in smaller parts. And he didn’t notice as he flushed her remains away.