Leech As Sapphire Lunch

For Bright's monthly art challenge! The theme this month was "rodent".

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Leech was running through the woods, panting and screaming.  The Norway rat was currently being chased—and he knew exactly what would happen if his pursuer caught up with him.
Sapphire, meanwhile, was having the time of her life.  Chasing delicious prey wasn’t something she got to do all that often, and she was catching up.  The giant skull monster licked her lips in anticipation.  Yes, she would catch him soon.  And then, it was dinner time.
Leech dashed between the trees, and ducked behind some bushes.  He didn’t hear anyone behind him anymore—was he safe?  Anxiously turning around, he saw that the skull monster wasn’t there anymore.  He breathed a sigh of relief—but then, a massive hand came out of nowhere and grabbed him, bringing him high into the air.
“No!” Leech screamed, struggling and writhing in Sapphire’s grip.  But the skull monster just laughed—his struggles were futile.
“Mmm, a tasty rodent lunch,” Sapphire teased her prey.  “You look tasty.”
“Please, just let me go,” Leech begged.  “Please!”
“Not a chance!” Sapphire replied.  “I’m hungry.”
She brought him up to her maw, and opened wide, revealing the interior.  Inside her jaws, drool dripped everywhere, from her gray teeth to her blue tongue, and behind it all loomed her throat.  Leech struggled harder, trying his darndest to escape, but nothing worked.
Sapphire tossed the tiny rodent into her mouth.  And thus, the feasting began.
Leech was helplessly lapped up by her hungry tongue, covered completely in spit and drool until he was dripping wet.  He tried to crawl to the front of her mouth to get out, but every time he got close, Sapphire’s tongue would just throw him backwards.  Again and again he tried, and again and again he was tossed back where he belonged.
Finally, Sapphire tired of this little game, and she threw him further back—towards her throat.  “No, no, please!” Leech yelled.  “Don’t swallow!”  She did the opposite, and he was sent into her esophagus.
The helpless rat was squeezed on all sides by her tight, constricting throat, so that he could barely move inside of his space.  Outside, Sapphire licked her lips and admired the bulge going down her esophagus—it could be clearly seen from the outside.  And soon, her prey would reach its destination. . .
Leech traveled helplessly down the throat until, finally, he reached where he belonged.  He popped out of the esophagus and fell into a wide, open space, one full of growls and grunts.  He landed on a wet, slimy ground, and looked around to see red walls that were dripping with fluid.  The rat’s heart sunk.  He was inside her stomach!
Sapphire felt her prey land inside of her belly and grinned.  “Enjoy your life while you can,” she teased him.  “Because you won’t be alive for very long.”
Leech cringed.  Soon, the digestive enzymes would do their work, and he would be digested.
But could he escape before that happened?