This is my first post to reddit so I’m not sure about posting etiquette, but there’s a weird thing going on in my town in Iowa. I do some volunteer work at the local soup kitchen sometimes, occasionally with my church but more often on my own, its nice to talk to people and give them food, which is pretty good by the way, there’s a certain mother’s love that cant be replaced that is present in the meals and I know it helps these people out when times are tough, being largely homeless most of the times are tough for these folks. That’s not the point I’m trying to make however, just some background as to why I know what’s happening, these guys love to talk as most people don’t listen to the ramblings heard on a street corner, and there’s something really unnerving going on.
It started when I stopped seeing one of my regulars, we called him old Benny, he was divorced, had a small drinking problem and was hardy as hell, having seen his fair share of weird things and a few major moments for our city. I guessed that he was out making money somewhere or was busy with something so I didn’t think about him until later on in the evening, but his usual friend group wasn’t there either. I finished up my shift, and made my war to my car, eyes and ears open, as some of the local druggies we kicked out had tried robbing me before, even succeeded once. That’s when I saw him, old Benny, curled up next to the dumpster, muttering to himself.
Cautiously I walked over to my friend, and looked him up and down before calling his name. he wasn’t looking good, puke on his clothes, blood on his shoes, dried up and almost to the laces of his old sneakers. As I said his name his eyes shot up and he had the look of a wild animal in a trap and though his eyes were locked on mine I could make out the shape of a knife in his hand. “Benny talk to me, what’s wrong man?” After a few seconds of heavy breathing he allowed his eyes to break from mine and looked around quickly, then spoke back to me. “Phil’s dead” Phil was one of his old pals he roamed and bedded down with, I realized in that moment I didn’t see him at supper either. “What? Where? Are you alright?” My flurry of questions wasn’t doing much, and Benny was beathing hard again, looking through me practically. “Benny! Hey, talk to me! I need to know if you’re ok.” “I’m-I’m fine” “Tell me what happened Ben.”
“Phil was looking to score earlier,” I had suspected as much, Phil wasn’t a bad guy, but we had suspected he was using for a couple of months. “I-he wanted me to come, said there was drinks, so I went. We went under the bridge downtown with all the construction, cause there was a drain pipe and the dealers were there.” I nodded along, all the while his eyes never left mine. “So were there and its dark, so we’re using his phone light and then he says we gotta go deeper, and I’m like ‘alright’ so we go.” Benny was shaking a bit by this point so I gave him the rest of the bottle of water I had in my coat pocket, and he drank it all in one go, like he hadn’t drank in days. “I-we went further and there was a stink in the tunnel, not like sewage but like death, there was a dripping noise too. Phil calls out to his dealer, I think his name was Tony, so he turns off the light and tries to call him. We didn’t go further when I get a cigarette out and light it.” A pause. “What happened then?” “You know how a dog’s eyes shine light back at you?” I nod. “It was like that, but bigger. Like a dog’s eyes. Bigger. In the dark.”
“Was it a dog? or a racoon or something?” “No! I know what them look like! These eyes were far apart, and they were high up, chest height I think.” “What did you do next?” “I fucking ran, tried to push Phil along but he just was frozen, and I heard a splash that made my heart sink. I think he snapped out of it after cause I was trying to feel the way out and I saw the light behind me like he was running and then his phone fell so I kept running. I get out of there and I hear this tearing fabric noise and I ran. that son of a bitch killed him I know it!” Benny was freaking out so I grabbed his shoulders and tried to stop him but he freaked out even more and shoved me back and ran.
I called the police and told them roughly what benny told me, but I never said anything about Benny or being homeless or drugs, and kept it down to “there’s been a murder in the drainage tunnel below one of the bridges downtown,” but I haven’t seen anything on the news. I know you can’t do much to help but I feel like nobody cares here, and I haven’t seen Benny in over a week now. Any advice would help, because Phil and Benny aren’t the only ones gone.