 The two things everyone knows about me is I'm sort of dumb and I'm also a huge cat person. That combination nearly cost me my life when I was a child. My mother was allergic to cats and we couldn't have one. That was like the end of the world to me. We owned a dog and I did love him, but he wasn't a cat. Back then I didn't have internet or anything to keep my attention. Nearby my house was a gully, or at least that's what I think they're called. It was a sloped down area in the woods by a road. A low stream ran through the bottom and my mother warned me away from the place. Some homeless and other less civilized people camped out and spent time by the stream. When you're a child you think you're immortal and parents' warnings are nonsense. So I went into the gully to meet some friends to play. I was the first to arrive and alone. Finding a good stick, I started slashing and breaking branches for a lack of anything else to do. My friends never had a set time on meeting up. We just showed up at random and sometimes others would be there. I found myself bored and alone. Hitting things with my stick could only hold my attention for so long. Off in the low water, I saw something bright orange near the opening of the storm drain it came from. Kicking off my shoes and rolling up my pants, I went to check to see what it was. In my mind, it was a goldfish someone released, which was plausible, but it was just a candy wrapper. I kicked at it, causing it to float downstream. In the past few weeks of that summer, I'd heard my mother's warning about scary people taking over the gully and yet I haven't seen anyone. A few days ago, my group of friends found a tent that looked like it was abandoned. We dared each other to go inside to snoop, but in the end, we all chickened out. The sun was blazing hot and the water cooled down my feet. If no one showed up soon, I would just run back to my house and eat one of the popsicles I'd been saving or take my pocket change up to the store for a different snack. Being a child, I had very simple priorities. I was about to leave when I heard it. A sound coming from the open and dark storm drain. The city didn't put a grate over this one either because they didn't know a needed one or because a grate would cause damage from blocking trash from flowing out. I strained my ears trying to listen if I really heard what I thought. Very softly and barely audible above the running water was a sound I would know anywhere. A kitten meowing. My heart started to beat. A poor kitten was wet and trapped inside the storm drain. No matter how bored I was in the past, I made sure to never go inside that dark opening. Now I had a reason. I took a few steps forward and stopped myself trying to think this through. If I went inside, I might get lost or not find the kitten because of how dark it was. I needed a flashlight. I didn't want to go home and risk the kitten getting swept away by the water before I got back. Then, that tent just a short walk away came to mind. If it was still there and if no one had taken anything, then maybe there would be a flashlight. It didn't hurt to check. If there wasn't, I could run home and get one. I put my shoes back on my wet feet with some trouble and went running off in the direction of the tent. With a huge flood of relief, it was still there. I felt guilty going through someone's things, but it was to save a life. I would just borrow the flashlight. I'd return it when the kitten was safe. Going over to the tent, I opened the zipper with a shaking hand. This really felt like a major crime, even if I was doing it for the right reasons. Inside was an old musty smelling sleeping bag and someone's backpack. A flashlight was in a side pocket, so I grabbed it and closed the tent again without looking in anything else. Rushing back, I only hoped the poor little kitten was still safe by the time I found it. I stopped in front of the storm drain and flicked my new found flashlight on and off a few times. The batteries were loose and I didn't want to waste time trying to fix it. As long as I kept my hand still, the light would stay on. Too much movement and it would flicker. Without a second thought, I went inside a place my mother didn't need to warn me about. I felt a pit of cold fear in my stomach, but I was dumb with a head full of thoughts of kittens. My shoes got wet in seconds. I didn't want to think about where this water was coming from. I really hoped it was rainwater and not from the sewers. I would need to have a shower after I found the kitten. My flashlight flickered when I moved it around, so I kept it pointed straight in front of me. My footsteps splashing in the water echoed in the dank space. The further in I walked, the worse it smelled. I was expecting a trash smell, but not such an overpowering, rotting one. I blamed it on people tossing their garbage inside. I didn't see anything living. I always heard that rats loved places like this. There was enough of a ledge for them to walk on, but not enough space for my feet. Aside from the echoing meowing, I didn't hear any other living thing. I pulled my shirt over my nose, trying to block out the smell. It helped a little. Any other person would have given up way before then, but I kept walking along, scanning everywhere for a place a kitten or two might be hiding. When I saw an old half-rotted shoe float by, I started to worry if there was someone waiting in the dark to stab me like my mother feared. I shook the thought from my head and tried to stay positive. In my mind, I was sure that after my mother heard my daring kitten rescue, she would respect me so much she'd let me keep the kitten. Would I only find one? It only sounded like one, but there could be more. I wondered what my new friend would look like. I adored orange tabby cats, but any would do. Lost in my own thoughts, I'd walked pretty far along. The opening of the drain pipe was just a small dot of light and I needed to rely on my flashlight to see. It flickered and I heard the meowing stop, quickening my pace. I kept going until I tripped over something. I fell into the grimy water, getting some in my mouth. I coughed it up, feeling like I was going to puke. Distracted from getting soaked in the gross water, it took me a few minutes to find my flashlight to see what I just tripped over. The light flickered, giving me a few brief glances and my mind was slow to process it. It looked like a bundle of rags, but it was a person. I just tripped over a person on the ground in this disgusting water. My throat closed up and my blood felt like ice. I just wanted to save a kitten. I didn't want to literally stumble over a dead body. I heard a groan, proving the body wasn't yet dead, but he was going to be. Lifting his head up, he looked at me, my dim light shining on his face. His skin looked like wax and saggy off his bones, his eyes deep and sunken, making him look worse than dead. His face was half covered with a scraggly beard and his hair was almost as dirty as the water. Bile rose to the back of my throat. I was so scared, my hands shook, causing the flashlight to keep flickering. I crab-walked backwards from the man as he lifted a very weak hand towards me. I should have tried to help him, but I was just a scared kid way over my head. I just ran, trying to get away from the frightening sight with tears streaming down my face. I thought I heard his raspy voice trying to tell me something, but over the sounds of splashing water I couldn't make out the words. I kept running without thinking I was going the wrong way. I should be going out, not further in. I forced myself to stop, to let myself silently sob, shaking from fear and the cold. My mother was right about the homeless people. A guilty feeling started to creep through me. Once I calmed down and collected my thoughts, I'd leave. I could walk over him and outside to get help. I wasn't strong enough to get him out on my own and needed the police or something like that. Just when I was about to do the right thing, I hesitated because I heard the meowing again. This time, from right behind me, the sound still echoed against the stone walls, my teeth chattering. I slowly turned around, expecting to see a kitten. My hand shook, flickering my light. A few feet from me, further inside the dark tunnel, was a figure standing, staring at me. It was so tall, its head pressed against the ceiling, at a crooked angle. It was pale, with long, skinny arms dangling at its side. Cold black eyes looked at me, and I thought it was a trick of the light. Until it moved, raising one hand in front of its eyes to shield it from the light, I felt faint from the sight. Then, in a very soft voice, I heard it. The same meowing sound that lured me inside, coming from that creature. With a twisted smile, it looked at me. It took one step closer, and I ran for my life. I ran in the dark, more tears stung my eyes and my heart sank. When I heard that meowing sound above my splashing footsteps, the thing was chasing me. The man I tripped over could have been trying to warn me. My chest ached, but I still ran. And I felt something brushing against my back, something that felt like long, bony fingertips. In the dark and my mindless state, I didn't trip over the man again. I knew I was coming up to the spot where he was, with a monster chasing me. More guilt came bubbling up in my stomach when I realized I had to leave him behind. But his fate was much worse than just being left behind. I knew for certain what happened to that man, because I heard it. The creature chasing me stumbled, crashing into the water. I heard a small cry of shock then, and then the meowing of the creature stopped. The sounds of bones cracking and clothing being ripped reached my ears as I kept going. The man in his weakened state had enough energy to cry and beg to be saved. I was sobbing by the time I saw the light, and I pushed my small body to the limit to get back into the sun. I only stopped when my body gave up. I collapsed, sobbing outside the woods and in the side of the road, soaked and filthy. A neighbor saw me on his way home and picked me up to bring me back to my place. For a very long time, my mother couldn't get anything out of me besides ramblings. What she did get were bits and pieces of what happened, and she called the police. I don't know if they were having a slow day or what, but they came by my house to listen to what I could tell them. They didn't think the monster was real. They thought I'd seen a junkie or another homeless person get in a fight. They didn't scold me for going inside the drain pipe looking for a kitten because they could tell I learned my lesson. I didn't hear much about the aftermath, and my mother refused to tell me, thinking it would traumatize me even more. I only went back into those woods near the golly once more to return the flashlight where the tent once stood. My mother's allergies suddenly went away, or she took something for them because she adopted a cat for us. She must have figured if I had a cat at home, I wouldn't go out getting myself in trouble looking for one ever again. And she was right.