Flush

by Rich Young

Once upon a time, there was a smell. It emanated from an apartment on the first floor of the complex. The tenants that lived in the rundown apartment complex simply accepted its rottenness as a part of their lives, but no one ever really got used to it being there. Mr. Alex tried to stay away from the apartment, but the mystery of what could be inside kept him returning to the door of the abandoned first floor apartment that would never be rented out.

The door to the apartment did not lock, and did not need to–there was nothing of value in there for anyone to take.

Being the resident gossiper, Mrs. Giovanni loved to tell the story that the apartment had belonged to an unusual traveler many years ago. When the man suddenly disappeared, the Super received a note stating that he would continue to receive the rent, plus any required increase in rent, forever. The Super went into the apartment to find it empty and, although it did not make any sense, decided not to rent it out to anyone else. The apartment remained empty, but there was something that captivated people to gather outside the door. Mrs. Giovanni was often seen standing around the downstairs hallway near the apartment, but she had never ventured inside.

Mr. Alex was minding his own business one minute, and the next he was standing in the bathroom, staring down at the disgusting toilet. He did not even realize that he had gone inside. He had passed by the door to the empty apartment and then was pulled inside by an unseen force–a beautiful voice singing to him.

The next thing he noticed was the smell, like vinegar and swiss cheese, and that there was something inside the bowl of the dirty toilet–a fetus covered in slime and blood. He reached his hand down into the thick, red-brown water and touched it.

He instantly felt like a hole in his world was filled. As he held the tiny, misshapen body close to him, the creature’s eye holes lit up with joy. Mr. Alex heard the being sing its perfect song inside of his head. The words were foreign, but the message was of love. This was to be the only god that Mr. Alex would worship from now on. On that first day, he set the god back down in its water, murmured a short prayer, and left the apartment. And the god was happy.

He could not stay away; he visited his god to pray and receive the blessing of its presence. When he was not in the bathroom, he felt empty and alone. Mr. Alex could never get the acrid smell off of his hands. People started noticing the smell and staying away from him, thinking that he had lost his mind. He started staying for longer periods of time.

Mr. Alex was not the only tenant that visited the toilet in the abandoned apartment on the first floor. The being that lived in that toilet called others to it. It gathered a following of worshipers that started visiting daily to hold it. They were special, chosen followers. Some would hold the body close to their face and shower kisses on its wet, undulating skin. Their lips would carry the smell on them out into the world and spread the feeling of completeness to chosen people outside of the apartment complex.

Slowly, there began a buzzing world circulating around the empty apartment and the entity that lived in the toilet inside. The people were peaceful but jealous as they wanted the god to only favor them. They vied for more time with it, and as their jealousy grew, people became more passionate in their expressions of love for their god.
They began to remove their clothes and rub the holy secretions from the being on more parts of their exposed skin. The people became aroused, and while they waited for their next turn with their god, they would congregate in the other areas of the crowded apartment, writhing around, over and under one another, like mad snakes in a dirty pit. And the god was happy.

Mrs. Giovanni was not happy with the traffic in and out of the apartment complex. Not being a chosen one, she thought that the followers were mindless and sick. She decided to wait until all was quiet and pay the toilet a visit. With her crucifix held tightly in the palm of her hand, she walked up to the door of the abandoned apartment and pushed it open.

Inside, hundreds of naked, fowl-smelling, emaciated people were piled up everywhere. They were sleeping, and their chests were rising and falling in unison. There was a low murmur among them–a hollow, vibrating excitement just under the surface of their skin–where Mrs. Giovanni could see glowing orbs pulsating. There was no way for her to get through to the bathroom of the apartment without stepping on bodies, but she was determined to see the toilet and end this circus.
She steadied herself and started stepping on the sick bodies. Her feet found solid ground in torsos and thighs. She took one careful step after another from one body to the next. Some of the bodies that she stepped on moved slightly, but none awoke. She took another step and looked down to see the face of her friend, Mr. Alex, on a frail body next to the one she was standing on. This caused her to gasp and lose focus on her steps.

She slipped, put her foot down without looking, and heard a grisly pop.

From underneath her shoe, she saw a gray-green substance ooze. She fell onto the pile of pulsing, stinking bodies. The vibration in the apartment became faster, louder. She picked up her foot and a tiny body was crawling from one of the glowing orbs underneath the skin of the person below her.

She now realized what they were. The eggs started hatching all around the room. The smell was unbearable, as small grotesque bodies, covered in blood and fluids started ripping through flesh and crawling towards her. She held the cross in her hand but knew that her god wouldn’t be able to help her.

Rich Young is a writer, guitar-player, business analyst, father, and husband from Michigan. He has completed one novel, Letters From Tomorrow, and several short stories ranging from horror to science fiction. He is currently working on a new novel that sums up all the experiences of his life in some odd fashion or another.