It had been almost two months since I moved into my new apartment. It was located in the middle of town in an old apartment building. It was small, but beautiful, and I was in love with the high ceilings and big windows. I knew I had to have it the minute I had walked inside. To my surprise the rent was rather cheap, ridiculously cheap for the area, in fact. I was delighted when I signed the lease. However, there was one tiny flaw.

Every night I heard dripping.

At first, I thought it might be a faucet or pipe in within my walls, but I never saw any wet spots or leaks. So, it continued.

Drip, drip, drip.

Then I thought it might be the roof, as my apartment was right beneath the attic it seemed a plausible conclusion at that time. So, I called the landlord and informed him about the dripping I heard. He immediately had it checked, but, alas, there was also no leak. The dripping persisted.

Drip, drip, drip.

Next, I asked my immediate neighbors, but they also did not know of any leaks in their apartments. So, it remained dripping, night after night.

Drip, drip, drip.

Days and weeks passed, but I could not figure out where the dripping noise came from. I had exhausted all options I could think of. Eventually, I would ask some neighbors if they heard the ominous dripping sound, to my surprise they all confirmed that they also heard the dripping at night. However, they would shrug it off and say they just learned to live with it. It was an old house after all.

However, I could not live with it.  I would lie awake in bed at night, listening to the constant, drip, drip, drip, of a leak I just could not locate. It was slowly driving me insane.

One night, I was lying in my bed again, listening to the drip, drip, drip, beyond my walls. I eyed the clock on my nightstand. It showed 02:48 am. I sighed, grunted, and eventually sprang out of bed. I've had enough! I would find this damn dripping and make it stop, once and for all!

A moment later, dressed and armed with my phone as flashlight I stepped into the hallway. Here, the dripping noise was louder than it had been in my apartment. So, the dripping must come from somewhere inside the house, I thought and started walking down the dimly lit corridor. I passed door after door of my neighbors, but the dripping sound never grew any louder. Eventually, I reached the stairs and descended down to the third floor. As I reached the bottom of the stairs I stopped and listened. I could swear the dripping was louder down here. I continued.

Second floor.

Drip, Drip, Drip.

First floor.

DRIP, DRIP, DRIP.

I was on the right track.

Basement.

Drip, drip, drip.

With a creak I swung the old basement door open. In front of me was nothing but darkness, and the continuous dripping noise. I fumbled for the light switch on the wall, but found none. Apparently the basement was too old to have electricity. I sighed and turned on the flashlight on my phone.

"Damn," I cursed as I saw that it only had 6% left of battery. I had forgotten to charge it once again. I just hoped it would last long enough to find the noise and make it back as I stepped into the darkness. The air was thick and dusty. I figured that nobody had stepped in here for years.

Drip, drip, drip.

With every step the air seemed to grow denser. As best as I could, I tried to ignore the crushing sensation of, what I believed to be, slow suffocation. I needed to find the dripping and make it stop.

Drip, Drip, Drip.

As the noise grew louder, the more prominent a strange smell became, which I hadn't noticed at the door before. It smelled foul, almost rotten. It almost made me gag. Covering my nose did only little to protect me. 

DRIP, DRIP, DRIP.

I had reached a ruined wooden door, barely hanging on by its hinges. The stench here was almost unbearable and stung in my eyes. I pushed the door open, which required barely a touch, and coughed. A cloud of foul odor filled the corridor. My head started spinning. I had never felt this sick in my entire life. I thought I was dying, the stench robbing the air from my lungs.

I tried to steady myself against the corridor wall and with shaking handsI managed to point the flashlight into the room. I never had made this sound before, a shriek of disgust and terror. Before me lay a picture of pure horror. The room was filled with bodies hanging from the ceiling by metal hooks. Many of them were old, almost ancient, disfigured from decay and rotten beyond recognition. Some in the front, however, were some which appeared to be ... fresher. Bodily fluids ran down their legs, dripping into small puddles beneath them. 

Suddenly the light flickered, and I stood alone in the darkness.

"I wish you had just learned to live with the noise," whispered a deep voice behind me .