Sounds from the bathroom

The space was tiny, painfully small. So much so the creature's sides touched the filthy circumference of the pipe. It crawled along, blind among the filthy sludge, unable to see in the tiny world without light.
But it could smell. Over the foul stenches and odours that clogged the pipe to the brim, it could seek out the weak aromas of their still living bodies. The whole pipe stank of them: albeit a bastardised, mutilated smell that would make anyone vomit uncontrollably from the sheer foulness. But the smell it followed was one of breathing, living beings. Still it inched forwards, slowly contracting and expanding to propel itself up the shaft. It needed food, it needed sustainace.
The tantalising smell drew ever closer.

The sliding door shut smoothly as the young man stepped inside. Sebastian glanced back at his garden before settling down in an armchair. Beside it, a small paperback and empty mug of tea sat on a small table. The novel was picked up and he found the page he had marked. He made himself comfortable and began reading.

Drip...drip....drip.

Sebastian paused. His fingers were around the page corner, ready to turn the page of his thriller. The quiet breeze was the only sound his ears hear as they strained to hear the noise he had hear moments ago.
Nothing.
Cautiously he resumed, turning the pages to begin reading anew. The story took hold of his concentration and he returned to his trance.
Drip....drip...drip

Sebastian paused again. The sound had echoed through his empty house a second time. He strained to hear it....and there it was again. The dripping of a liquid onto a hard surface. The page of the novel was turned down to mark his position as he stood up and closed the book.
Something was leaking within the house. He sighed as he shook the cramp from his extended reading session. Outside, the weak midday sun illuminated his tiny garden and shone through the open windows into the living room. Being disturbed from a good novel was never a pleasant thing, he reflected.

His slippers squealed as he stepped onto the hard flooring. A quick cursory glance across the laminated work tops and gleaming sinks revealed that none of the taps were leaking.

"Okaaaay" he groaned, slumping his shoulders and turning back about.Creaking sounded out as the stairs took his weight with a groan and shudder of protest.

Drip....drip...drip
Climbing onto his first floor, Sebastian headed first into his room. Again he glanced around the doorway, checking that his bedroom sink wasn't dripping from the taps. Once again they proved to be dry.

However, as Seb turned to head back into his hallway, his nostrils flared at the faint traces of a horrible stench. It consolidated and increased in power as it forced its way up his nostrils.
"Shiiiiiiiit that's bad" the man coughed, bringing a hand up to protect his nose. It smelt.....foul, purely disgusting. Like an open sewer left to rot in the sun.
"What the fuck is that?" Gagged Sebastian, heading towards the source of the foul odour. Down the hallway, past the stairs.
Drip......drip....drip
The sound grew louder as Seb got closer. He pulled his shirt collar over his nose and mouth in and effort to shield then from the stench. With each step, the dripping grew louder and the smell intensified, now obscenely powerful.
Finally he arrived at the slightly-ajar toilet door. He paused outside and listened carefully. No sound answered him aside from the dripping of the water. He hardly noticed the hairs on his neck standing bolt upright with fear and apprehension. Slowly he reached outwards and took hold of the handle. With his pulse quickening, he gently eased the bathroom door open. Slowly exposing the room behind.

The foul smell intensified to such a degree that it made Sebastian's eyes water. It's choking fumes filled his throat and nose, making his stomach lurch and threaten to vomit.
The toilet bowl had split apart, exposing the pipe beneath. A huge splatter of filthy water and human waste spread across the white flooring, coating the floor in the foul muck.
Drip....drip..drip went the filthy water that fell from the broken bowl onto the brown slush.
His hand went to cover his mouth as his throat threatened to send his lunch spraying across the now ruined bathroom. Bile surged upwards but he fought to keep it down.
"God" he cursed, retching and heaving. Moving backwards he shit the door behind him, trying to barricade the stench away from himself. Momentarily clear of the cloying odour, he took deep lungful's of untainted air.
"Dear god" he gasped "that's vile". The tears forming in his eyes were quickly wiped away and he could usher to try and force the last of the rancid air from his lungs. In doing so he spotted something. Beside him, the carpet was marred with a stain: a brown blemish that the door of which was starting to spread outwards. A couple of feet away was another, soaking the carpet.
The ghastly stench was already starting to reach his nostrils.
Slowly, trying to make as little noise as possible, Sebastian backed away, eyes fixed on the blemish. He saw another, leading down the hallway... then another...and another. He took steady breaths to quell the heart that was staring to race into overdrive inside his chest. He had to be rational.... he had to stay calm. Sweat was starting to form around his armpits and forehead.
Slowly, bit by bit, he started to creep down the hall. Each foot was lifted carefully off the ground and placed with the utmost care in front of him. Step by step, inch by inch.
His ears were pricked for any sound, straining for any noise that echoed through his deserted house. Nothing. The scrape and rustle of the tree's branches on the windows were the only thing that answered him. But he was still deathly sure of it. He was no longer alone in the house.

As his foot made contact with the floor, the boards beneath creaked and groaned as they took his weight. He instinctively winced.
The creak sounded throughout the empty house, echoing through the empty rooms.
The seconds of silence were deafening. Sweat slid down Sebastian's forehead in rivers as the blood roared in his ears.
What followed was a low, tortured rasp. A guttural hiss that slithered into every nook and cranny and made root deep within his skull.
In the agonising seconds after, the wet shifting of something unknown within the confines of the house could be heard.
"Fuck" Sebastian whispered, trembling with fright. His muscles clenched hard with terror. He felt like he was going to be sick. The shuffling continued, somewhere within the house.

"Come on" he urged himself. His knees felt weak but the stairs was only a few paces away.
The foul stench of the burst toilet still hung heavily in the air, making Sebastian feel dizzy. He clutched at the wall to try and steady his spinning head and took a few more steps, edging his way to the top of the stairs.
As his foot touched the first step, it creaked in protest; eliciting another unnatural rasp. He couldn't tell wether it came from the top floor or the floor below him. The noise and smell seemed to surround him. It was now. He could dash either way.

The echoing rasp bounced off the walls, surrounding him like the net around the catch. He knew he had to choose. He strained to locate the source as hard as he could. Begging and pleading for a way out.

He broke. Downstairs Sebastian ran, taking the steps three at a time. His pulse raced harder, arms pumping to give him the extra burst of speed.

Arriving at the bottom of the stairs, a discarded shoebox was enough to stumble on and send Sebastian sprawling to the ground. His head smashed against the wall as he tired to stop his descent. The impact made his vision spin and fade, making him stagger and sway as he scrambled back onto his feet. Hisses wormed into his ringing ears compelling him onto his feet. Stumbling and cursing, Sebastian limped onwards, trying to steady himself against the wall. Fighting back nausea, the foul smell still contaminating his nostrils and throat. He wanted to vomit the disgusting odour right out his lungs and stomach. To curl and and hide. To just faint right on the spot. Bit by bit, he struggled onwards.

The hiss returned.

It was over his shoulder.

He staggered around.

It was contorted and twisted. A tall thin body of pale pinkish flesh. The long rubbery arms that sprouted from its shoulders curled up against its chest, each with two long digits. Every inch of the thick smooth skin was smeared and pasted with foul human waste, dripping and falling onto the carpet creating a trail of filth that led back into the living room. Sebastian's eyes trailed up the creature's neck, one that was long and baggy with great folds of loose skin. He scanned over its flat toad-like face with wide slimy nostrils and sunken black eyes. It's wide foamy mouth opened in a mocking rasp: displaying lines of broken triangular teeth and two protruding fangs. It was smiling.

He was disoriented. Tired. Drained. But he still tried to run. But his limping gait was easily outmatched by the long emaciated stride of his pursuer. The filthy arms wrapped around his neck, it's body dragging him to the floor. The choking smell of sewers and fecal matter was overpowering.
Disgusting fingers gripped his mouth to silence his scream. Two needles of fire pierced his neck and burning liquid spread throughout his shoulder.
Gradually his squirming ceased, his clawing fingers going limp.

All that was left was his flickering eyes, wide with terror.


Judith shut her car door and shouldered the bags of shopping. The distance from her car to the from door was crossed in a few strides before she opened the door.
"Seb?" She called, stepping inside. "I'm back?".
No answer greeted her. As she walked into the living room to check the garden, passing a discarded novel, a unpalatable door began to fill her nostrils. There was no sign of her boyfriend in the garden so she headed back. The smell intensified as she did, making her cough and cover her nose.

"Christ" she gagged before shouting "Seb? You there? What's this god-awful smell?". Again there was no reply so she started to head upstairs. Patches of dark liquid stained the steps, reeking of open sewers. Heading upstairs, the smell continued to concentrate until it formed a blanket of foulness over the landing.
"Seb?" Judith shouted again, hoping her lover would answer "where are you?"
Following a trail of filth and slime that led from the top of the stairs she arrived at the bathroom door and looked inside.

The floor was coated in a splatter of human waste and filthy water coating the white tiling. The toilet had smashed apart leaving the exposed pipe, the bowel shattered into several sections. What was more disturbing was how among the shit were large vivid pools of human blood. Splatters of gore dotted the walls and the shower curtain. Collected around the pipe was a formless pile of ruined meat. Splinters of bone and filthy scraps of clothing mixed in amount the pulped muscle. Scraps of clothing she recognised as her lovers. Judith fought to breath. the smell, the sight, the implications were all too much for her. She collapsed in the hallway, breathing raggedly, clutching at her hair. More gore soaked the pipe and littered its insides. There was very little left of Sebastian.


Inside the pipe, it flexed and squeezed. Once more it crawled along blindly in the filthy sludge. It's journey slowed by the digesting remains of its victim. It had been short work to hack the paralysed human into manageable chunks. The torso and head had been dragged into the darkness with it, where its victim had finally suffocated. It emerged into a larger pipe, hauling the torso behind it. It would feed now slaking its hunger. And then it would continue onwards, crawling and squeezing through a world of darkness. It would follow the scent, and when it was strongest it would travel up the pipe and feast on the hot supple flesh its prey bought.