305. Water, Water, Everywhere...
Amy decides a quick peek couldn't hurt. She hops up onto the planter next to the strange plant, grabs the rim of the bell with both hands, and takes a look inside.
Amy is immediately hit with the scent she smelled earlier, much more powerful this time. As she breathes in the plant's heady perfume her throat starts to feel parched. Just as Amy licks her lips to restore moisture to her mouth, she notices that the inside of the bell is about half-filled with a pleasantly pink liquid. “That must be what's giving off that intoxicating aroma,” Amy thinks to herself, “I wonder if I can get some...
She tries bending the bell down to pour some liquid out, but it's stuck too firmly. Even pulling up her legs and hanging from the edge won't move the bell. The longer she goes without the liquid, the thirstier she gets and the more the thought of drinking some of it consumes her. She tries pulling herself up so that she's balanced by the waist on the rim and then leaning over to get a drink, but the liquid always seems to be just out of reach.
At last she can't take it any more. She decides that she's going to dive into the plant, get a drink, then climb back out. She has the presence of mind to realize that she'd rather not get her clothes wet, so she quickly strips off her boots, her socks, her t-shirt, her pink bra, and her jean shorts. She leaves on her heart-print panties, so that on the off chance that someone comes by she's won't be completely naked. Once undressed to her satisfaction, she grasps the rim of the bell once again, hoists herself up, swings her legs over and drops down into the plant.
As soon as her body hits the liquid, the plant's spell is broken. “YEEEEAAAGGH!” she shouts. The liquid burns her exposed skin, and the pain keeps growing worse. Amy instantly realizes what this thing is and starts to panic: It's a giant version of the pitcher plant, a carnivorous plant that catches insects by luring them into its pitcher with an intoxicating liquid, then drowning and digesting them.
Amy scrambles against the side of the plant, but to no avail; it's too high to reach the rim without anything to stand on and the sides are too smooth and slippery to climb up. As she struggles she notices that her skin below the liquid is taking on a pinkish hue as the acidic liquid burns through it. She also notices that the water level is rising. She tries jumping, she tries running, she tries scraping out handholds in the plant walls, but nothing works.
At last the liquid reaches mouth-level. She tries swimming in the acid, but by this point is so overcome by pain, exertion, and the fumes from the liquid that she can't get to the rim. As the liquid covers her and she begins to fade out, she sees through burning eyes that her skin is becoming translucent and she can see the outline of her muscles through it. Then she blacks out.
The next day, the plant tips over to let the waste inside fall out: A human skeleton completely devoid of all flesh, wearing a pair of heart-print panties on its hip bone. Apparently its acid doesn't have an effect on cotton.
Amy is in no condition to continue this adventure or her life.