how the girl had soiled the place so thoroughly . The kitchen door was open , and all the food inside had somehow gone so rotten that it was nearly compost , even though the grocery had delivered it just that morning .
Just then , Harold heard a strangled scream from the maid ’ s bathroom , and a hideous retching noise that made the hairs on his arm stand up . “ Lily ?” he asked . “ Lily , did you find the maid ?”
Hearing no answer except a soft , glottal gagging , he abandoned his drink and went to the bathroom to see for himself . The closer he got to the bathroom , the worse the smell got . It was so terrible it was making his head pound and his stomach gurgle . The sickly choking sounds from the bathroom were getting louder and louder . Something felt terribly wrong . “ Lily ?” he asked as he peeked through the open door .
Lily was seated on the toilet , naked except for strands of barbed wire wrapped all around her , binding her to the porcelain throne . There was a plastic dry cleaning bag full of dark yellow piss wrapped over her head , held in place by a wire garrote looped around her throat . Harold realized to his horror that she was drowning and suffocating simultaneously . She thrashed in agony trying to escape , and her throes caused the barbs to bite deeper and deeper into her flesh . Lily retched , and the plastic bag filled up with more liquid , and her gurgling and tortured thrashing redoubled . Now she was drowning in piss and the regurgitated remnants of a three star Michelin meal .
Harold stood transfixed , torn between a desperate desire to save his wife and a hideous fear of whoever had done this to her .
With a deep , earthy rumble from the pipes , the toilet that Lily was dying on vomited up a great intrusion of roaches , each the size of Harold ’ s hand . The insects swarmed out of the bowl like a living geyser , scurrying all over Lily ’ s legs and belly , and overflowing straight towards Harold . He turned and ran screaming , leaving his bride to her killing bag and her barbed wire bondage and the caresses of hundreds of hairy legs .
Harold had barely taken a few steps before the rotting floor caved in beneath the weight of his feet and he tumbled into darkness . He landed with a splash in a fetid sewer . The filth surged into his mouth and nose and eyes and every crevasse of his body . Its ghastly taste sunk deep into his teeth and tongue , contaminating them with oily foulness .
As Harold staggered through this poisonous swamp , retching and choking , it occurred to him that all of this was impossible . His apartment was on the top floor of the building , there was no way he could have fallen into a sewer . For just a moment , he had the hopeful thought that perhaps this was a dream . Then a swarm of fat black rats with matted fur and glistening eyes paddled in around him like hairy little sharks in a grotesque sea , attracted by his thrashing . They descended on him as one with their razor-sharp teeth and claws . There was no way that this was a dream . The pain was far too real .
The Lady of the Latrine rose up before Harold as he shrieked and slapped at the rats attacking him . At the sight of the goddess , he was overtaken by such terror that he froze in place , although the rats did not stop biting him for a second . Her ruined eyes stared deep into him , piercing him to his rotten heart .
“ At last we ’ re together again , my lover ,” the Lady said , although she spoke raspingly , since her lips had been cut off so long ago . She extended her arms for an embrace and stepped forward . Harold still could not react as she advanced on him , even though the rats were tearing his skin to rags . “ At last ,” the Lady said . “ You get to meet our son .”
The Lady wrapped her arms around