Takes place near Halloween. It would be a series if I continue it.
Sewer Beasts
P A R T___I
P A R T___I
There were a few things he could remember when he was here: the darkness was number one; a color that bled out everywhere, covering his eyes, engulfing his whole being. It was the first thing he saw, the first thing that made him long for his room, its familiarity, and the night light that kept away the darkened monsters. The first thing he could never forget.
_____The second — the smell and its sickly tartness; the fishy bitter of formaldehyde. It made him cough and spit in that tiny hallway, pulling a face through the thick walls of black. It was in his eyes, his mouth, his hair and shirt. Inside of him, growing.
_____The third was that sucking sound that filled the room, a subtle breathing in of that dry, wheezy breath. It made him ache for water, the water that ran all around him, gushing out from the walls, drowning out the little boy’s cries....
_____“Get up you big baby.”
_____A young boy of not even ten towered over his victim curled up at his feet and wheezing. The victim was much younger than him, but his wheezing grew, forcing the bully to kick him, to punch, to make his breathing longer, harder —
_____“Stop it!”
_____“That you, too, Ian? A big fat baby?”
_____Ian floundered out his hands but stopped, holding them to his back while his heart hammered against his chest, pressed for compassion for the little boy: his glasses crushed; his nose bleeding and broken. Ian should have done something, anything, but instead he looked away — looked away until he heard that high piggy laugh. He turned his head slowly with his final memory a filtered ream of images: the girl falling down a hole, the splash, the deep reverberating growl growing louder in the pit ... all around him ... inside of him....
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Ian woke up in a cold sweat, shivering, with his blue comforter hugging tightly to his body. He rubbed his temple and checked the clock: 5:15 a.m. Friday. Rufus slumbered in the thick dresser drawer, curled between Ian’s socks and underwear, purring. Ian tried to go back to sleep, timing his breathing with Rufus’s soft purrs, but his mind moved, restless, so afraid of his haunting nightmare that he found himself raiding his fridge, drinking milk, reading a dictionary. He made so much noise that Rufus finally awoke to yell, “Go back to sleep! It’s almost seven!”
_____Ian leaned on his windowsill, watching the sun rise over the city, stretching out over the fountains in towns: its gardens and fields. Rising over the shops and department stores, and above all of this was Gaia’s newest creation: the monorail system, snaking its way throughout the islands, connecting Gaians everywhere. Ian rubbed his eyes and blinked at the long steel beam, the train’s silver and red lines, its employees greasing it up for the morning run. Ian smiled.
_____“Let’s close up shop for today, yeah, Rufus?”
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_____“That you, too, Ian ... a big fat baby?”
Ian steadied himself against the silver pole he hung to, the monorail coming to a stop, with the speaker overhead announcing the Isle de Gambino. Rufus purred on a passenger seat in front of him, his ears pricking up at the speaker and yawning.
_____“Already? Already we’re here?” Rufus said, pawing himself into a sitting position. “Less than half an hour! Enough time for you to explain to me why we’re here.”
_____“Come on, Rufus, it’s a two for one special,” Ian answered him as they entered the monorail station and out into the island itself. Ian waved his hand. “Look! Beach! Shops! A Farmers’ Market!”
_____“Things we have at home.” Rufus rolled his eyes, sitting down to scratch his left ear. “And I hate the water! Why did you bring me here? Is this punishment? Wait, are you going to —”
_____ Rufus jumped back, watching Ian pass under a sign with a syringe and a pair of glasses with the letters VETERINARIAN scrawled on it. Ian looked behind him, but Rufus had disappeared, climbing the lamppost and alighting to the roof. Ian shook his head.
_____“I just wanted to — leave!” Ian answered, wincing with the remembrance of the dream — the nightmare. “Hey, let’s go visit Sasha! I need a new suit. I didn’t even bring—”
_____ Ian stopped in front of a man with a massive bulky frame, stretched in blue and yellow spandex. His arms were crossed as he bore down at Ian with his long, thin mustache twitching. Ian realized how strange he sounded now, talking to himself — or to him.
_____“Ohhh, I see where this is going.” Rufus shrugged from the rooftop. “You just want to see Sasha. I wonder what Sasha’s doing, you think —”
_____Rufus bounded off the roof and onto the bulky fighter’s bald head, moving to Ian’s shoulder and onto the boardwalk. Ian sidled past the man and sprinted to his cat, winding through the Farmers’ Market setup in the middle of the island.
_____“Since when have you ever been into Sasha?” Ian heard his cat around the ankles of a vegetable seller. “She’s not into you, dude. Plus, she’s kind of a flake if you know what I —”
_____“Ruffy!”
_____ Rufus stopped, scared at the veil of silk descending upon him, gathering him up into Sasha’s tan arms. He poked his head out with her smiling face looking at him, cupping his head in her hand and scratching the soft part behind his ear. He purred.
_____“Ian!” Sasha said as Ian surveyed her in a red Hawaiian bikini, wrapped in a sarong and holding a basket. Her hair patted down with a black stretchy band. “Are you heading to the beach, too?”
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_____“How are you, Ian? You seem well.”
_____Sasha buried her feet into the cold part of the sand, sitting side by side with Ian. Ian took his hat off, watching as the slow tide crept to his toes. The subtle beach air pulled through Ian’s sandy hair, through Sasha’s thin sarong, and he shrugged.
_____“This and that. Mostly the same —”
_____“What’s in this thing?”
_____Ian and Sasha turned to Rufus, poking his nose in Sasha’s basket, filled with the red silk folded in on itself. Ian waved him away.
_____“Rufus!”
_____But Rufus jumped back, heart hammering against his chest, watching a pair of green eyes, wide and confused, with a tuft of white hair surrounding its face.
_____“A … cat?” Rufus said, tilting his head.
_____“Snowy!”
_____The cat blinked at Sasha and bounded for her, purring at Sasha’s subtle flow of her hand on its back. Ian leaned over to see the fluffy white cat while Rufus stayed silently behind the two.
_____“I just got her ... to keep away the rats — eep! Forget I said that!” Sasha flushed, putting her hands over her cheeks.
_____“You have ... rats in your store?” Ian sniggered with Sasha’s playful swipe.
_____“No! Just the one! I think ... I think it’s from that water treatment plant thing....”
_____“Excuses, excuses.”
_____“Ian!”
_____“Wanna play?”
_____Sasha and Ian turned to Rufus who pointed at a patch of sand a few yards away, looking at Snowy. The white cat tilted its head, shaking her head with the collar tinkling at her neck. They made tiny paw-prints in their wake as Ian snickered.
_____“What?” Sasha asked, leaning forward to peer into his face.
_____“Nothing,” Ian said, lying on his back to look at the clear, blue sky. “So, your rats....”
_____“Shh, not so loud!” Sasha waved her hands at him. “And I don’t even know where they came from — where it came from.... I don’t even care anymore! So, how’s your life? Do you have anyone — special? I mean ... a mom or a dad or your kind-of-brother ... person?”
_____Ian put his hands behind his head, smiling. “Actually ... now that you mention it. I was going to visit my parents soon....”
_____“Can I come?”
_____“Sure — wait, what did you ask me?”
_____“Great!” Sasha said, scrambling up for her basket, shadowing Ian’s face. “Is it too early? Can we go now before my lunch break is up? Oh, forget it, I’ll call in sick today!”
_____“Well — it’s not that kind of — of thing,” Ian said, his body seizing up; pressing his fingers together and looking to the side. “I really didn’t mean —”
_____“We can take the monorail there!” Sasha said, implying what he meant as she looked to where her cat was chasing Rufus around a surf board. “Let’s go, Snowy! Rufus! I want to get there before it gets dark!”
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_____“Daddy! Dad — Mom!”
_____“Don’t worry, don’t worry son....”
_____“Where is she? I can’t — I can’t —”
_____(A horrible, retching sound)
_____“Don’t worry ... the monsters won’t bother you anymore....”
Ian’s eyes snapped open, his stomach that churned for food a second ago vanished into disgust as Rufus gnawed on a chicken bone next to him. He watched Sasha swing her leg absently, tapping her fingers on her basket as Snowy batted her paws at her. When the monorail stopped, Rufus was the first one off, all four exiting the station. Sasha covered her eyes against the sun, gazing at the field that surrounded the reclamation facility, smelling like rotting fish in the sunny air. Sasha swung her arms by her side with Snowy bobbing behind her with her tinkling collar. Ian followed behind slowly, his hands in his shorts, staring at the ground while Rufus edged behind, whispering harshly to his owner.
_____“You mean she doesn’t know?”
_____“I didn’t ... I couldn’t tell her.”
_____“Well, she’s gonna find out now!”
_____ Sasha walked briskly up the pathway, passing by the enormous water treatment facility with its massive pipes and long, bubbling stench. Sasha turned her head, wrinkled her nose up at it and then collided into a large, solid object. Sasha rubbed her grass stained knees and stared at the shadowy figure of a statue — a young girl in a bronze dress contemplating the sky.
_____“Hello?”
_____ Sasha’s face flushed as she looked everywhere for the voice, watching as a face materialized near the statue’s elbow. The man scratched his slick black hair, with thick square glasses and a long white lab coat.
_____“Are you ... suppose to be here?”
_____“Um ...”
_____“Jimmy!”
_____ Both Sasha and the man stared at Ian’s pointed finger and hanging mouth, looking from Sasha to the stranger. Snowy flicked her nose under Sasha’s hand.
_____“Yes, that’s my name,” Jimmy confirmed, wiping off the smudge from his glasses and placing them back on. “And you’re ... Ian? Is that really —”
_____“Yeah!” Ian said, striding forward to give him a hearty handshake. “You remember the sewe — I mean —”
_____“Is this your friend, Ian?” Sasha switched glances from Ian to Jimmy, curling Snowy under her arm as she stood up. Ian stole a glance at Jimmy who smiled at Sasha and waved behind him.
_____“Why don’t we take a tour .... catch up on old times?”
T O___B E___C O N T I N U E D ....
