'Bathroom' by Lois Maughan

 Wake up Sweetie” the voice gently urged; the pipes hummed. The girl stirred.

The voice sighed; the pipes grumbled.

“Hey Sweetie, time to get up” the voice coaxed, the pipes rattled, the girl moved and settled.

She had staggered in from the street in the early hours, separated from her friends, a good night gone bad, she desperately needed a pee after the excesses of the evening. Now passed out clutching the toilet, sat in piss and vomit this was not a good place to be, her head still spinning and the noise from the pipes was making the spinning worse.

”HEY!” the voice roared, “THIS is the Plaza public toilets NOT a doss house, time to move on SWEETIE!” The cacophony of sound from the whole of the basement bathroom made the girl stir.

The girl opened her eyes but wished she hadn’t, it felt the like walls were closing in on her. She shakily managed to stand up in the cubicle, it was difficult, the floor was so slippy, she wrinkled her nose in disgust as the smell hit her like a juggernaut making her gag. She closed her eyes just for a moment, she just needed a moment. But in that moment the walls were now touching every part of her, her body being pressed and mauled, she was being squashed, the life was being squeezed out of her, she tried to scream but the pipes were banging and crashing like a child‘s exuberant orchestra, too loud for the girl to be heard, the soapy water silenced and cleansed.

The voice purred with pride ”the Plaza public toilets, now open for business again. The pipes hummed.