DRAIN by FRANK HINTON, Metazen’s oldest available post at May 11, 2009.

“I NEED TO SHOWER,” he said and sat up. Herbert could feel her eyes on him, he put a pillow behind him and covered his ass as he ran into the bathroom. He turned the water on, the shower was cold. Her bathroom was filthy and black hairs were twisted in neat little spirals all around the tiles of the bathroom. Herbert opened his mouth and let some of the cold water in, but spit it out. He thought faucets like these were the ones that carried the most germs.

Herbert couldn’t find any soap so he lathered himself up with shampoo. He felt immensely heavy inside of the shower stall. He got down on his hands and knees, the water splattered atop the fat of his back and ricochet onto the shower curtain. He looked into the rusted loop of the drain; he put his head very close. He listened to the sounds of the water falling down the drain.

“Help me,” he said, but the drain only gurgled.

Frank Hinton is the incredibly mysterious author of a new novel to come out in 2012 published by tiny hardcore press.