The Sewer

It was morning. I had just woken up from a good night's sleep and was settling down in the kitchen, the kettle on the stove and the Saturday morning paper in my hands. I was in good humour, since Saturday was the start of the weekend. I read the headline, which said: ''Mysterious disappearances in Brighton.'' This slightly worried me, because I lived in Brighton back then. But, these disappearances had mostly been either little children or elderly people, so I, being in my prime at twenty-six years of age, felt reasonably safe. But of course I, and the rest of the Brighton community of course, was rather intrigued by the disappearances and of course I'd like to know what was behind it and all. Most people figured it was a serial killer, some said it was the government conducting secret experiments and a few people said it was ''those damn niggers'' by which they meant the Morrison's, the only black family in Brighton.

While I was pondering about possible culprits behind the disappearances, I did not notice two things:

1. The water in the kettle was boiling and was loudly exclaiming, telling me in a tortured voice to take it off the stove.

2. The doorbell was ringing at an annoying rate.

It took me a full minute to notice both of them. I stood up from my chair and put out the stove. Then, I rushed over to the door and opened up, revealing my good friend, and colleague, Dick Stephenson. He was, strangely enough, wearing his work uniform. On a Saturday morning! ''Dick.'' I said. ''What brings you here? And why are you wearing your work gear?'' I asked him. Dick looked at me solemnly and said: ''She's disappeared, Tom. Kathy is gone. W-we can't find her.'' Kathy, his daughter. Dick continued. ''They found one of her shoes at the entrance of the old sewers. We gonna look there.'' I said nothing, but nodded. ''Lemme get my uniform too. I'll meet you at the entrance, okay.'' Dick said nothing, but faintly smiled and turned around to warn the other people in the neighbourhood. I could see a tear trickle down one of his eyes as he turned around.

I swiftly changed into my work clothes, a beige jumpsuit and a pair of boots, and grabbed my flash light and my hard hat. Trotting around in the sewers wouldn't be very new for me. It was my, and Dick's, job. I left home without having drunk my coffee and left for the entrance of the old sewer system. The old sewers were not that old actually. They had been installed in the early '30's as part of the regional New Deal policy, but a new system had been installed about ten years ago, just after the big Double W. The old sewers were huge tunnels. Tunnels in which you could easily lose yourself. Especially as a little girl. To be walking around in the darkness, the stink of refuse and sewage in your nose and seeping in the rest of your body continuously. The sound of critters and other things, things that better stay in the dark. And to be a little lost girl in there. I hurried on a little bit more and saw the rest of the crew had already assembled at the entrance. About fifty men and a few women, among them Dick's wife, were wandering outside. Everybody was getting ready, putting on their boots, handing out or receiving flash light, checking or comparing maps, testing flash lights and lanterns. Everything mas made ready. In the midst of all this, Dick was standing in front of the large, dark tunnel leading into the sewers, shouting: ''Kathy! Kathy, you there! Please! Answer Kathy!'' He fell down on his knees, shouting hysterically. His wife was standing next to him and was saying things to him. An elderly man named Travis, Well-known and respected among the community, approached him and put his arm on Dick's shoulder. Dick nodded and stood up.

They both approached the crew, which had slowly become silent when witnessing the despair of two parents who had lost their child. Travis, scratching his grey beard, shouted: ''We're going in in groups of four to five. Everybody got a flash light or a lantern.'' An affirmative hum rose from the crowd. ''A few maps per group. These maps are all different, so everybody take a bunch and hope it helps.'' Travis continued. ''Okay?'' He asked. Another affirmative hum and Travis gestured at the tunnel entrance, saying: ''Let's get to work, folks.''

He put his hand on Dick's shoulder again and they walked towards me. ''You coming with us, Tom?''

''Sure.'' I said.

We went in with five, me, Travis, Dick, Vernon Phelps the fat accountant, and Adrian Mason who operated machinery in the only factory in Brighton. The other groups had already disappeared deep in the sewers when we entered. As we walked into the tunnels, all sound from outside, chattering birds and insects, the rushing of the wind and the talking of those waiting outside, seemed to fade away almost immediately. As well as the light. We already had to turn our lights after a few seconds. Later, somebody said that the dark had swallowed us almost immediately.

The tunnel was dark. The only sound came from our boots on the concrete, the rushing and dripping off water, and Dick crying the name of his daughter. ''Kathy!'' He kept on shouting, his voice was already becoming hoarse. I and Vernon held the maps and were checking them regularly. We gave the directions. Sometimes right, left, right ahead and left again. The tunnels were one big maze.

As we got deeper in the tunnels, everything started to seem being covered in a layer of green, slime or something? Moss, perhaps. The green stuff muffled our steps and the sounds of water faded away. Even Dick gave up screaming and grey silent. Total silence, only broken by directions, given by me or Vernon. We wandered about, through the sewers. As we progressed, I started to worry more about whether, we'd find our way back. I could see in Vernon's face that he thought the same. We shared our worries in silence as we progressed, deeper and deeper in the sewer. One glance on my watch told me that we had already been wandering for an hour. We kept on walking, until we reached the large room. I'm not sure how we reached. All of sudden it was there. A big, large, open room. I looked at the map and so did Vernon, but neither of us could find it anywhere. The green slime/moss had grown thicker steadily, until our boots sank a few millimetres in it when we walked.

The large room in which we found ourselves now, seemed to be dug out, with only rudimentary equipment, and differed a lot from the rest of the sewers. Also the fact that it didn't actually appear on any map and that, if I had read it correctly, we were supposed to be dropped off in another tunnel which would cross us like a crossroads, I and the others were surprised. We walked on a bit and spotted two exits out of the room, excluding the one we came from. We shined our flash lights in both and saw that one lead to a pair of crossroads, like the map said and that the other went off in another direction entirely. We were about to continue when a echo disturbed us. It was the voice of a little girl, shrieking.

Dick immediately sprang into action. ''Kathy!'' he shouted.

''Daddy!'' was the answer, followed by another shriek. The echo made it hard to determine from which exit the echo came, but after a while Dick simply rushed ahead into the unknown tunnel, the one not on the map. ''Daddy's coming!'' he screamed. Adrian and Travis followed him. I and Vernon remained a bit behind. Dick had appeared into the dark, followed by Adrian. Travis waited at the exit. I and Vernon were slowly walking towards Travis when we heard Dick and Kathy talk.

''Daddy!''

''Oh Kathy!''

''Watch out, daddy!''

At that moment, I heard the most terrible sound in my life. A shriek or roar, indescribable. Even now, years and years later, I wake up screaming almost every night. Others suggest it was an animal roaring, but I and the others knew no animal which could produce such a sound. The roar was later accompanied by Dick's and Kathy's screams. Then, Adrian's voice joined the trio, creating a quartet of horrible screams. Feet rushed towards the tunnel exit. We all took a step back and shone our lights at the exit. It was Adrian running towards us. He had seemingly lost his flash light. He running by us, shouting nothing but: ''God! Please! RUN! RUN!!!'' he kept on running. We rushed after him and caught up to him. There was no sign of either Dick or Kathy. When we caught Adrian, we all entered a state of feverish panic, trying to find our way out of the tunnel. The roaring, as well as the screams, had faded away and the only sound in the tunnels was now produced by our own grunting and heavy breathing as we, blindly, ran through the tunnels, looking for the way out. When we saw the light of the exit, we rushed that way. My ears were filled with tears as we ran and the backside of my uniform was filled with something else entirely. We ran outside, right into the the rest of the crew. The sun was already hanging low, colouring the sky orange. I slapped my hands on my knees and panted heavily. After a few moments of respite I looked at the others and was shocked. They all looked like me, crying and their pants filled. What shocked me the most was Adrian. His hair, which had been sparse but still of a dark blonde shade, was completely white now.

As of today, Adrian never even talked about that day in the sewers, nobody did. He never told anybody what he saw, taking that secret into his grave, two years from this day.

And nobody ever saw Dick or Kathy anymore. More expeditions into the sewers were organised, but no room like we had encountered was found and the animal roar, believed to be from a large wolf or hound or something, was never heard again. Neither, I nor Travis, Vernon or Adrian or anybody in Brighton ever spoke of the sewers again. The entrance was closed off with bricks and everybody avoided the place like it was cursed. As said before, Adrian died two years after the Sewer. He woke up screaming one night, and sank back in his bed again, stone dead.

Travis, already an elderly man, died not too long after that day too.

Vernon died of a heart attack, due to his obesity a couple years ago, leaving me as the only living member of the search for Kathy and I decided to write down this story, mostly hoping to console myself. I still have nightmares about the sewers even after the huge distance in time and space between me and the old sewers. I wake up screaming and crying, my pants filling again and again.

And every time that same feeling returns as back then outside the sewers. That feeling. When we just got out and recovered our senses a bit. I turned around and looked into the tunnel, looking into the darkness. That feeling, I felt. That feeling something was looking back at me.