There’s a sewer drain in town on Peck's Corner. At half past five each evening, the street lamp flickers on, close to where gentlemen routinely take a leak after leaving the Raven's Wing Pub across the street.
It’s become a ritual, something they’ve done for years. No one seems to notice, except for the smell of piss when you step outside to the sidewalk. It's rank, but the rats don’t mind and believe me, there are plenty of rats near the sewer drain in town on Peck's Corner. That's where whatever happened ... happened.
Oh, you haven't heard? Well, I almost missed it myself at first, until I got closer. I saw the body in the sewer drain I was walking past on the corner near the Raven’s Wing. This was half past five on Monday. I’m sure of the time. The chimes from the clock in the courthouse tower told me it was so. When I called, that’s what I told the authorities.
There was no mistake —-the body was dead alright. He was sitting propped up, near the drain where the sewer smell was the worst. His head was in his lap, resting between his legs which were bent at impossible angles.
The arms hung down, elbows bent facing out. What added to the strange sight were the hands. They were resting on top of the head in his lap, posed right there in the flaming red hair with both middle fingers broken and pointing up at the sky.
He was sitting in a pool of his own blood, his mouth frozen in a scream that no one will ever hear. But it was the eyes, the eyes! I will never forget his eyes. They were gone! The rats had eaten both eyes.
Will anyone ever know the horror they saw on Peck's Corner near the Raven's Wing Pub, just before half past five?