Beware the man in the drain.

My sisters and I used to play in the woods behind our house when we were kids. We had a treehouse and a sandbox up there. My parents didn’t like us going further than the clearing because the terrain dropped off pretty quick and was a lot more rocky. <br><br>The first time I saw the man in the drain I was alone. I had found a big stick and I was practicing jousting with it, and by jousting I mean charging into the underbrush and stabbing leaves and branches. I moved down the embankment to do so, and when I looked back I saw a man peeking out of a drain. It was a storm drain with some metal bars on it, I don’t know what it was for. The man had a green looking face and a misshapen head. He didn’t wave at me or say anything, he was just peeking out. <br><br>I was terrified. I ran as fast as I could to the clearing and then I went inside and told my dad. He was skeptical, but he said he’d go take a look. It had started to rain so he grabbed his raincoat and went outside. I waited by the window, and after a while he looked up and signaled for me to come down. <br><br>When I went back outside he asked if I was *sure* I saw someone. He said he looked and couldn’t find anyone, and that I had probably just been imagining things. He had this tone in his voice that I’ll never forget, it was concern mixed with being annoyed at me for being a flighty kid. I tried telling him I saw something, but he thought I was making it up to get attention or to get out of a punishment or something. <br><br>For a long time I didn’t see the man in the drain again. And I never told my parents about the talking snake, either. The snake lived near the treehouse. I don’t know what happened to it, but one day it just wasn’t there anymore. <br><br>The snake…he never really did anything bad. He would just talk to my sisters and I and try to get us to come down. We never listened. We knew there was something a little off about what he was saying. We used to wonder what would happen if we went down where he wanted, but we never did. <br><br>Fast-forward a few years. My dad got a new job in a different part of the country, and we moved away. I didn’t think about the man in the drain or the snake for a long time. I had some hard teenage years. Doing drugs and having sex with my boyfriend. I was a mess. <br><br>But I straightened up and joined the army, and now I’m an MP. I haven’t touched a drug in years. I’m looking to get out soon, because honestly I’m not sure I believe in the mission as much as I used to. But I plan on being a cop when I get out. I don’t know what kind of cop, yet. I’m thinking maybe a forest ranger. <br><br>Anyway, I haven’t thought about that treehouse in decades. I’ve had a hard time thinking about it without feeling sick. My parents moved away not long after we did. They sold the house and I’m sure whoever bought it tore the treehouse down. <br><br>I was working at a bar last night when my sister called. She never calls me that late, and she was crying, so I stepped outside to hear her better. She was telling me she had just received some bad news, and that it was about our youngest sister. She had gone missing a couple of days ago, and the police had told their family that they thought she had probably come to some harm. <br><br>I tried to ask what had happened, but she was incoherent. She was wailing, saying she wished she could have protected her better, that she wished she could have done more. I told her she needed to calm down, and she did eventually. Once she was calm enough I asked her what happened. <br><br>She told me our sister had gone missing right after she moved into a new house. When she was unpacking she found a door in the floor. She’d never seen anything like it, but it was locked so she decided it must have been for an owner before her. <br><br>She decided to hire a handyman to open it up, and she found a ladder going down into a crawl space. She decided to look, and she found a hidden room with a dirt floor. It was almost like a bunker. <br><br>She told her husband about it and he said she shouldn’t have had it opened, and that they should just leave it alone. She decided to go dig around some more, and she found a tunnel that led outside. <br><br>My sister decided to hire some professional help, so she called a contractor. He came over and he ended up going into the tunnel. He hadn’t been in there for very long before we lost contact with him. <br><br>My sister decided to go in after him, but she wasn’t experienced in crawling around like that. After a while, my brother in law decided to go in after her. <br><br>They haven’t heard from either since. My parents hired a professional rescue team and they went in after them, but they couldn’t find anything. They’re giving up the search soon. <br><br>My sister is blaming herself for the whole thing. I told her she can’t, that it’s not her fault. I can’t believe she’s saying this. If I hadn’t told my dad about the man in the drain, maybe he would have been prepared. Maybe he would have known what was down there, and he could have protected them. <br><br>I’m going to go see my sister in the morning. I’ll probably stay with her for a while.