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Arms stretching out, they reached only further into the black abyss before them. It wasn’t to say that they simply couldn’t see—no, their eyes adjusted quite well down here, it was just this dark. Staring at their hands that seemed to shine against the velvety darkness, each finger stretched, one at a time. After a moment of staring like this, they brought their arms back to their body, letting them hang at their sides before stepping forward, walking further into the dark and listening to the gentle splashes their feet made in the water below them. Humming gently, they simply swing their arms at their sides, moving through the darkness with ease, turning corners when needed and avoiding anything that was floating by in the water they were wading through.
This was their home. Mother had raised them here, along with their siblings, and this was where they’d always been. Rays of light shone down on a patch of the water, showing to the naked eye the dirt and grime that it was made up of. Looking above, they stared at the grated cover that was kind enough to leak in the warm rays. Standing directly below it, they closed their eyes, basking in it for a moment. What would it feel like to stand in this all the time? To be shrouded in it? It must feel so nice. Like wrapped in the warmest embrace there was, but without feeling too suffocating. Trapped.
“Pothole! You can’t just stand there spacing out!”
Turning to the voice, they simply smiled, waving over at the other.
“Echo! I wasn’t spacing out—I was looking up at the grate.”
“That’s the same as spacing out,” Echo huffed, walking over with hands on her hips. She was only a bit taller than themself, but being far older and more menacing made them shrink back a bit when they got closer. “You’re not allowed to go up there and you know that.”
“Yeah but—“
“No buts. Now come on, Mother wanted to make sure everyone is doing alright and gets some lunch.”
Before they could respond again, their arm had been grabbed, pulling them toward the familiar section where Mother lived. Protesting slightly as they did their best to keep up with the strength and speed of which Echo was pulling them, they finally wriggled their arm free and simply jogged to catch up instead of being towed behind. Rubbing at where Echo had gripped, they sighed, knowing that she didn’t mean to grip so hard, she just wasn’t always aware of her strength. Walking beside her, they hummed a bit as they made their way to Mother’s section. It was unlike any other area down here. It was large and spacious, but also lit by little fireflies that flit about. How they got down here in the first place was a mystery, but that could be said for Mother and the rest of them as well.
Entering the space, Mother sat as they usually did in the center. They were easily ten feet in height, meaning the space they took up was necessary. In fact, due to their size, they never left where they ‘lived’. The rest of the space was too small for them to traverse easily. No one knew how Mother got to this section in the first place, but it meant that everyone else was in charge of gathering things like food and information. Grin spreading across their face, Pothole ran up to Mother, waving their arms energetically as Echo approached more casually.
“Mother! How are you doing today? Do you need me to go up and get something?”
“Pothole,” Mother turned to look back at them, gentle smile gracing their features as a large hand came down to allow them to step on, carefully bringing them closer to the hand’s owner. “You are as energetic as usual. How is my youngest dear doing?”
“I’m doing fine, I looked up through the grate again today! It’s sunny outside.”
“Sunny…” The words came out with disappointment, expression slowly changing to meet the tone. “It has been sunny all week, hasn’t it…”
“That’s right,” Echo’s voice called up at the two of them, causing Mother to look far down before offering a hand for her to come up as well. “If this keeps up we won’t be able to go up, and we’ll start running out of supplies.”
The words further dampened Mother’s expression, sadness washing over their features. Pothole watched as they fell completely silent. The summer was probably coming, which is why the sun was out so much. If they’d missed their chance to go out and get as much supplies as possible before then, they’d all be in big trouble.
“I’m sure the rain will come tomorrow!” they comforted, smiling as Mother turned back to look at them. “We can always have everyone go out tonight and wait! If it’s sunny again, Echo can call them back in! That’s her job anyway! Don’t worry Mother, things will work out!”
Their words seemed to brighten the mood in the room. Mother gave another gentle smile as they nodded.
“Yes… We’ll do that… Echo, would you be a dear and inform everyone?”
Echo gave a nod, and Mother let her down from where she was held up. From above, Pothole watched as she took a deep breath, before calling out the announcement. Her voice echoed from every corner of the darkness loud and clear. That was where she got her name. It was where she got her job, too. Maybe when they were older there would be a job to fit their name. Probably not. They liked being able to roam free in the dark anyway without having to do anything. It was relaxing. Looking back over at Mother, they smiled, motioning to be put down. Mother complied, giving them a soft kiss to the cheek before letting them free. Stepping from their hand, they waved goodbye, running off into the tunnels again.
And back over to the grate.
Echo was to be occupied and so was Mother now that everyone was waiting for the rain. No one would be out for sure in the day, and so long as they slipped back in before night, it would be fine! Nodding to themself, they gripped tightly onto the ladder leading up to the grate. Up to the sun. Carefully, they started to climb, making sure to grip tight and not slip. Excitement rose in them as they climbed higher up. This was their first time going out since they were so young, and Mother would probably not let them go out later to get supplies. That was strictly for the passing ones. That’s why Echo was stuck down here too.
Reaching the grate, they touched it gently. It was cold, despite the sunlight coming through. Taking a deep breath, they pushed, not too hard just in case. It was enough, as it easily propped up. Smiling at the success, they pushed it over to the side, hearing a ‘clunk’ as they did. Popping their head out of the hole they made, they had to squint at the sunlight reaching their eyes. It was much brighter than the fireflies and what leaked through the grate. It was overwhelming. Blinking a few times, their eyes adjusted, and they pulled themself out onto the ground before carefully moving the grate back over. Standing up, they looked proud of getting out here. Though it was colder than they thought it would be with the sun out. They ought to find one of the people that gave them supplies, get a coat. Turning, they stopped dead as before them was someone staring at them, mouth open and eyes wide.
It was a human.
———————
Sam had taken the usual shortcut home, bending through one of the back alleys in downtown Berkeley. Things got quieter as she left the main streets of Shattuck and Telegraph, sometimes even a little uncomfortably quiet, but it was still the quickest way home. Blasting music in her ear buds, she hummed along to the tune of Paris. Her eyes were cast on the road ahead of her, which is why when she saw the manhole cover move, she stopped dead in her tracks. Was it an animal of some sort? Were there any animals that even lived in sewers? Scratch that, were there animals that were strong enough to lift that cover? She wasn’t sure she could do it. Either way, she braced herself for whatever was going to come out of that sewer.
Man, did it have to be the alley she walked down?
When the cover was pushed aside, it was a minute of stillness before something popped up out of the sewer. Or rather, someone. They were squinting, clearly not used to the light, and frankly, why should they be? She’d read about these people in school. Supposedly below them in the sewers were a race of…well the books called them demons, and she could see why. What emerged was what at first glance looked like a human child, but with paper white skin. Not only that, their fingers were more claw like, with deep purple at the tips slowly fading out in a gradient along their fingers. There was one horn on their head, and on the other side there was a dip in their skull where it looked like a horn should be, they were missing hair around here as well. Their eyes were wide and red—underneath them were dark bags as if they hadn’t slept in a while.
Definitely not human.
They didn’t notice her at first, but she definitely noticed them shivering. Understandable. The Bay Area weather was colder than one would expect, and they were in a tank top and shorts. Regardless, she was unable to say anything, stunned into silence as they stood there, looking around and placing the manhole cover back on. And then, they turned. Looking directly at her. Now she was stuck there. There was absolutely no way out of this situation whatsoever. She began breaking into a cold sweat as they smiled and walked forward. Oh god. Oh no. What in the world was she supposed to do? They were so close and she was frozen with fear and—
“Hi! I’m Pothole! This is my first time on the surface, what’s your name?”
—and they were just like any other kid.
“I’m, uh, wh…” she stuttered out a response, clearing her throat and trying to compose herself before answering. “I’m uhm, Sam. Pothole isn’t really a…a name? Do you have like, a real name?”
They just looked at her in confusion when she said that. Guess not. Now she was the asshole.
“Uhhh Pothole is a great name actually! Really great!” she corrected, giving two thumbs as well. This elicited a smile. Nice. “Very unique.”
“Thanks! Mother gave it to me cause of the dip in my skull,” as they spoke, they pointed to their head, bowing it a bit so she could get a better look. “They give all of us our names.”
“Well, yeah, that’s kinda what a mom does.”
She responded without much thought, but had to pause even after she said it. They hadn’t exactly spoken in a way that implied that this ‘Mother’ person was their mom, but rather simply someone named Mother. But maybe it was their mom and they simply had a weird way of talking about them. This was her first time meeting a sewer demon she had absolutely no idea what their whole culture and what not was like. The books never told her anything like that! At least… She could ask now? Looking at Pothole again, she could see they got rather confused about what she’d said, but it got interrupted with a sneeze. Right. They should get out of this alley before more talk.
“Uhm—you can clarify later. Here, my apartment is nearby. We can get you a coat and warm you up, does that sound good?
Her offer granted a smile in return—oh man those were some really sharp teeth she hadn’t noticed before. Were they like, a shark? Was this a bad idea? Either way, she took the other’s hand and started to lead them back to her apartment. There was really only one way to find out what would happen next, and that was to go through with it.
———————
Humans were not something Pothole had ever seen. They knew that they were all different sizes and builds, just like the rest of them back home, but they had never seen one, not even in images. No one bothered to draw the humans or even carry down a picture from above of them; they were seemingly only interested in all the animals that lived above ground. But humans really were similar to themselves—they were just missing a few essentials. Like some of them that did supply runs. Humans eyes were white with a very dark circle in the middle of them, they had no horns adorned on their heads, their teeth were blunt and their hands didn’t have claws. Their ears however looked similar to their own—of course they had ‘passing ears’ as Echo had called them.
Now they understood why only specific people got to go up.
Holding onto Sam’s hand, they were amazed at how warm humans were as well. It’s not like they weren’t warm, but they never expected humans to be just as warm. They were so similar. But of course a human couldn’t live in the conditions below like they could, they doubted they could make their way around underground. It was so dark down there. They probably couldn’t warm themselves through the water the same way as well, but they did have such warm looking clothes, so maybe that wouldn’t be an issue! They sometimes got something called ‘blankets’ from above as well, maybe the humans could survive if they brought a bunch of them down with them.
Lost in thought, they hadn’t noticed that they’re apparently reached their destination before Sam had let go of their hand. Looking up at her, they looked back in front, tilting their head. She had said something about going to an ‘apartment’, but in reality, Pothole had no idea what that was. It had been made out to sound like some sort of living quarters, but this just looked like many doors on a square building. Was that what an apartment was? A bunch of doors? Did everyone get one door and that was theirs? It didn’t seem like it was a lot of space to live in. Doors were rather thin as far as they knew. Hearing a jingle, they looked back over at Sam, who had produced a ring of keys. So the door was hers. Interesting… Would two of them even fit in this door then? That couldn’t work out. Should they say something about this?
Before they were even given the chance however, Sam had already moved to unlock the door, opening it up. What lay beyond it was an even bigger surprise to Pothole. There seemed to be a whole living space in here. It was set up like a smaller house—something they’d learned human families live in. How convenient! Sam was one human and not three or four or more, so a smaller house was perfect! They never knew things like this existed as an option.
“Well, go on in,” Sam said, gesturing for them to go inside as she did herself. “It may be a little small but uhm… I don’t really know what you guys are used to? I assume the sewer, but I don’t really know what it’s like down there.”
“The sewer is really big,” they responded, coming in after her and closing the door so no one else could get in. That seemed appropriate. “I’d heard that humans live in houses, but I didn’t know apartments were like tiny ones!”
“Yeah, they sorta are mini houses. Except that there is a lot less in them… They do cost less though.”
“Oh! Humans have to pay for things, right? We can afford supplies because sometimes your currency gets washed into the sewer. Same with things we can trade for currency. Here, see.”
As they said this, they dug into their pockets, producing a crumpled twenty dollar bill and a dirty ring, that with some swiping away of dirt, was gold with a small diamond attached. It was a nice ring, so Pothole had decided to keep it to save for when they got to go up to the surface so they could be of use and afford some things. Of course, now looking at humans, they weren’t sure they’d be allowed to go up on supplies runs… They’d still try, of course. Maybe they could even see if Mother would let them live up here in one of these apartments. But that was for another time entirely.
Smiling proudly at their possessions, they noticed that Sam was simply staring in shocked awe. Gesturing the objects forward, they let her pick the ring up and examine it, shoving the bill back into their pocket.
“How in the world… This is going to be worth a lot of money,” she whispered out, handing the ring back so they could pocket it.
“That’s the goal! I don’t think I’ll be allowed to get supplies, but I’m keeping it in case.”
“Well why wouldn’t you be allowed to? You’re up here now, aren’t you?”
“Uhm…” Scratching at the back of their head sheepishly, they did a gesture to their body. “I don’t really look human enough to do chores. We don’t generally go out in the sun like today, we wait for the rain since it’ll keep us warm and less people are out to notice the small differences. I sort of snuck out on my own… But don’t worry! I plan to go back by the night! No one will even notice I’m gone!”
As they were speaking, they watched as Sam slowly sunk into a chair nearby. Was what they said so shocking? They didn’t feel like it was. Then again, they were the one with the plan. Had they inconvenienced her by running into her with all these plans? They hoped not. But it was Sam’s first time meeting one of them, wasn’t it?
“Oh but, you don’t have to worry about any of this,” the assured, smiling at her to try and help. “I know full well how to navigate the sewers and so long as a manhole is nearby I can get back to check in with Mother!”
“How old are you?”
Blinking, the question caught them off guard. It didn’t seem relevant to the conversation at the time, which led them to stare in silence for a bit, trying to formulate some kind of an answer. Sam just stared back at them and suddenly they felt a lot of pressure to be answering this sort of thing.
“How old are you,” she asked again, but this time it seemed gentler.
“1,357,” they responded with a smile.
“Hwha—“
“I’m kidding, I’m eight. Most humans expect us to look really young for our ages but I’m eight.”
“That’s what I was afraid of!” Her voice had become shrill for a second, causing them to flinch. “You’re a kid! You’re a kid and you’re up here by yourself but claim you can get around fine! Oh god what if someone thinks I kidnapped you? Oh my god why did I take you to my apartment I am going to get into so much trouble…”
“Actually the law enforcement up here doesn’t really—“
“I’m going to be sentenced to jail for like, ever. The rest of my life. Oh my god. What am I going to tell my family? What am I going to tell my girlfriend? Oh my god she is totally gonna hate me thinking I kidnapped a kid. My life is in ruiiiiiiinnnnnnnn…”
Watching as Sam simply fell to the floor as she spoke, Pothole simple stayed where they stood. Humans sure were awfully dramatic. They hadn’t even been able to get a single word in while she was speaking. The truth of the matter was that below, they didn’t have any sort of punishment system. And above, the law enforcement really only made sure that they didn’t steal anything and abided by normal human laws. But they didn’t really care much about whether they went missing or were killed themselves. They figured that was up to them to deal with. But Mother never really thought it was necessary. We all kept out of trouble, and humans were generally kind—no one had ever gone missing or were killed by their hand.
Stepping over to Sam, they crouched down to be eye level with her on the ground. She was sniffling a bit and clearly over thinking things. Reaching out a finger, they gently poked her cheek, smiling as she simply swatted at it.
“You’re not going to be arrested,” they reassured, grabbing Sam’s hand and pulling her up with them. “We have no justice system as it were down in the sewer, and up here you wouldn’t get in trouble for even killing me. Of course, nothing like that has ever really happened. In all honesty I think we could live on the surface fine—but Mother is sorta stuck down there by themself, so they’d get lonely if we all left to live up here! And you didn’t kidnap me, you offered me somewhere to warm up and I was accepting of it.”
“I’m really not going to jail?”
Giggling, they shook their head. This seemed to brighten her up a bit, as she smiled back at them and rubbed at her nose to keep from sniffling. It was so nice to meet a human finally. They were kinda funny in their own way, but they were genuinely kind as well. They’d heard about humans that were mean and ruthless, but it didn’t seem like they were common. Everyone was very kind to all of them. But maybe it was just because they were afraid of them.
Their thoughts were interrupted as they heard their stomach growl, hands moving quickly to wrap around it. That’s right, they were running low on supplies down in the sewers, so they’d skipped eating some meals so that they could save food for later. Sam noticed this and simply laughed, rolling up the sleeves on her shirt before moving past them in the apartment.
“Here, how about I make you some food huh? Then we can figure out what you want to do before going back underground.”
Smiling, Pothole nodded at the idea. Yeah, humans were really nice after all.
———————
After she’d made the two of them some lunch, Sam had listened to everything that Pothole wanted to do on the surface. Some of the things weren’t possible to do in the span of time they were given, but others were. She’d outfitted them in a large hoodie so they could look a little more like a human kid and not get in trouble with Mother, which really seemed to be their biggest fear on the matter. Once they were all hidden, and also warm given the chill of the Bay Area, she took them around to the places they wanted to see. First came the park, of which there was one thankfully close by. There were too many other kids around for them to do much other than try out the swings, but Pothole seemed to enjoy it nonetheless.
Next, she took them over to the library, where she had to warn them countless times beforehand that they needed to be as quiet as possible. They took this to heart and only spoke twice during the whole visit, reveling in all the books that the place had to offer. Afterward they said how back in the sewer, they had only a small amount of books. A lot of them were water damaged as well, so they weren’t readable They weren’t seen as necessary, so Mother never asked the supply teams to go and get them on runs to the surface. They really lived a different life than the humans, it was kind of disheartening to hear they were all stuck down there.
“Well, if Mother is reaaaally big. They can’t get out of the sewer! I fit in the palm of their hand pretty easily, and I’m one of the shorter ones of us all! Others that look just like humans save for their teeth can’t go up either because of size. I think Mother is worried people would be scared of us.”
Pothole had offered this as an explanation while the two of them sat at a café. They’d wanted to try tea and some sweets, so she walked them to the nearest Peet’s and warned them not to drink it until it cooled down. If someone was big enough to fit a whole child in their hand, people would be scared. They already called the sewer dwellers demons—this would just further cement that fact. But really, it was disappointing that they had to live in such conditions because of it. Pothole may seem happy, but they were willing to go risk their good standing to come up here just once.
Staring at her own cup of tea, she simply listened to Pothole exclaim how good it was. How they’d never get something so warm down in the sewer, there was no way to make it possible. Taking a sip of her tea, she started to zone out while thinking about all of this. Maybe if she could meet Mother she could strike a deal with them and let Pothole live on the surface with her. But could she really do that? She was only twenty-two, and her job barely paid her rent and her monthly expenses, not to mention the loans she was slowly but surely paying back. Sure her family was helping her where they could, but they’d look down on her taking in a kid from the sewer for sure.
“Hey—are you okay?”
Pothole’s words snapped her out of thought, almost choking on the tea she was drinking while doing so. Coughing a bit and making sure she didn’t die from the surprise, she calmed herself down and also managed to calm her heart beat. The other simply looked at her with confusion as well as concern, and it was well appreciated.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” she stated calmly, smiling at them to ease their mind. “Was just thinking about some stuff. So! Where to next?”
“Uhmm…” They thought for a bit, finger tapping at their chin before they looked outside. “Actually, I think I should get going back. It’s getting a little late.”
They were right. Looking out the window only showed that the sun was setting.
“Alright, then I’ll bring you over to a manhole,” she stated, getting up and grabbing a lid for her tea to keep for later. “You’re sure there isn’t anywhere else you want to go?”
“Yup! This was really fun though, thank you for treating me to everything and showing me around! I’ll try to come back and visit!”
They smiled at her and she couldn’t help but smile back. She’d already become endeared to them throughout the day, but she wasn’t going to become a real kidnapper by actually keeping them from going back home. Taking their hand, she led them out of the café and down the street, walking the path back to the alley where she found them. She figured that it would be best to have them go back in where they came out, even if they said otherwise.
When they reached the manhole, she let go of their hand and gestured. “There ya go, one manhole for you to go back into.”
“Thank you again,” they said, turning to smile at her. “Oh—I need to give you the hoodie back, here—“
“No, don’t worry about it,” she interjected. “You can keep it. It’ll be a memory of your time here today.”
Watching Pothole grin back at her, she gave a smile in return and opened her arms, offering a hug. They gladly accepted it and gave her a tight squeeze, staying there for a minute. Afterward, they pulled back and headed toward the grated cover. They seemed to lift it with ease, which once again made her question how strong they were. As she watched them start to climb down before grabbing the grate to pull back over, she remembered something rather important she needed to ask.
“Wait! What do you all call yourselves down there?”
The other stopped when she asked, about to cover the hole up completely. Moving it back a bit, they smiled at her from where they were in the ground.
“We’re demons of course!”
And with that, they covered the manhole and disappeared back into the sewer.