Drain.

In this cold undistinctive winter, I had grown unsettled inside the solace of my home. Boredom had become a monotonous dredge of daily life. The cold was I knew of my environment. I carry an illness that prohibits my ventures into the cold. So when the claws of frigid air released their grasp on this town, I could only urge for one thing: adventure. I decided to hike into the nearby woods. Despite the setting sun, I decided that my chance to walk was too great for me to repel.

There was a small set of woods, followed by an open field that ran along a drainage ditch. The moonlight made the woods easily visible by the radiant, clear sky above. The trees were barren; the ground was devoid of color. Typical of winter. The field was devoid of live grass and visibility was well in the silver light. I could see above the ditch and across as though it was day. The brisk air was comforting on my senses, causing a state of euphoria throughout my mind and body. I rested along the incline dipping into the drainage ditch, allowing myself a few moments of clarity to exalt the solitude of the shimmering radiance through the darkness encompassing me.

I heard a sloshing sound at the ditch that snapped my thoughts back to focus. I assumed it was simply a rat, or possibly a beaver, splashing in the water. I looked down into the ditch to see the crevice to be completely dry. I could see the fractured concrete with dead foliage seeping through from underneath. I was puzzled from the sound that I swore I heard. Then I heard it again, a splash of something wet, but with an echo. I was able to locate the sound to a storm drain nearby. But the entrance to the drain was dry, not even the slightest amount of moisture was seen in the light of the moon.

My adventurous nature got the better of me; I hiked closer to the drain pipe. The was another splashing sound echoing within the pipe's great depth. It was a good three foot in diameter pipe. The moonlight barely lit the entrance and first few feet in. I pulled out an LED flashlight from my jacket and pointed it into the cavernous pipe. The white light filled a great distance, showing nothing but dry concrete as far as the eye can see. "Just my imagination" I whispered into the void. That's when I received a reply.

"Help me please", it was a little girl's reply. "I crawled in here and now I'm stuck." I was stunned. "Stay calm, Kid", I shouted. "Can you see my light?" I kept it on, waiting for a response. "I'm stuck, Please!" The girl cried. I could not refuse her cries.

The pipe was too small to walk in; on my elbows and knees I crawled into the drain. The cold concrete chilled my hands as I wriggled deeper into the pipe. The small flashlight bobbed the light in a natural sway. My breath carried an echo, my boots caused a boom as I crept. The air was stagnant, but moving like a breeze. The air was an assault to my nose, making each breath a struggle. The girl's whimpers sounded near. I looked back only to see a small circle that seemed miniature. I must have been writhing forward in this pipe for well over an hour. Distracted by my heroics and fueled by adrenaline, I found the end of the pipe.

The pipe opened up into a cavernous walkway underground. It was a large concrete hallway of sorts. The whimpering was still audible. "I'm coming, kiddo, just don't stay quiet okay?" I spoke onto the darkness calmly. "Help me please", the whimpers continued.  As I walked along to see a small drainage pipe at my feet, concrete started to transform to mud. It was boarded up, about two feet in diameter. The cries and whimper came from the other end. I quickly started to pull apart the boards. "I'm coming!" I shouted.

My stomach was on the cold mud as my arms pulled me into the chamber. I noticed I could stand in this chamber; I staggered up covered in filth and lit the chamber with my flashlight. My eyes scanned every inch of the mud crusted walls with vines and stalactites drooping overhead.

There was no whimpering. No sound outside of a dripping sound echoing and my own heavy breathing. My eyes tried to find a figure of the little girl. "HEY!" I shouted, "where are you!?" Panic rose as my fears of the little girl being harmed, or worse, filled my thoughts. "Here..." was barely audible, but recognizable. I stepped a little closer to the sound and pointed my flashlight in the direction I heard it. I never should have come.

There was no girl, no girl at all. My flashlight shone onto a creature of horrible features. A tangled face of tentacles and teeth in an unrecognizable, grotesque fashion. It wore something like leather, oily black, in a gown form. Two long arms with fingers like talons reached out. It smelled of sewage and something sickly sweet, with something like copper hanging in the air. It's skin was not of a flesh tone I had ever seen. I began to panic. I made a mad scramble for the drain at the floor.

My torso was already into the pipe, clawing the earth to quickly pull myself out of that chamber. My leg pushed me forward. The panic refused to leave me, my body pushed me further to just survive this nefarious trap set by that thing. I felt that my other leg was being grabbed, followed by a sharp pain, then released. I kicked out and scrambled for the drain leading to the ditch. On all fours I dragged myself through that pipe at a pace I could never even attempt to replicate. I saw the moonlit exit and barreled out, landing on my side. My eyes were heavy and I was exhausted. Pain was coursing through my leg and my horror and frenzy had not left me. I was too weak, blackness overcame my senses.

I awoke in the field; it was daylight. I felt sore but decided to walk home. It all seemed like a dream, with the only evidence being the odor I needed to wash off and this odd wound on my left calf proving anything happened. I took a bath, and nursed the perfectly circular wound. I found myself tired, so I curled into bed. It felt safe to sleep. and my body needed it.

I awoke in my room that night to hearing something outside. "Help me", a little girl cried.