The Sunday Morning Transport, January 2026
“Slake” is a haunting horror story set during an unprecedented two-week rainstorm that has flooded a city to catastrophic levels. The protagonist, Calix, is isolated in his fourth-floor studio apartment, his only connection to the outside world being his online relationship with Jericho, someone he desperately loves but has never met in person.
Calix’s existence revolves entirely around his video calls with Jericho. He’s unemployed, having quit his job a year ago, and spends his rationed electricity hours maintaining this digital connection. As the storm worsens and power rationing intensifies, Calix becomes increasingly desperate to preserve his access to Jericho, relying on borrowed power banks from his elderly neighbor, Mrs. Koutsoulidakis, who mistakes him for her deceased son, Nico.
As the story progresses, Calix’s physical condition deteriorates alarmingly. He develops an insatiable, pathological thirst that he cannot control. His body begins to transform horrifically—his stomach distends, his fingers and toes swell grotesquely, his skin turns pallid, and he suffers seizures. Despite consuming enormous quantities of water, he cannot satisfy his craving. He hoards water obsessively, filling every container in his apartment, even converting his bathtub into a cistern.
The narrative reveals the deeply unhealthy nature of Calix’s relationship with Jericho. Their conversations are repetitive and circular, with Jericho often simply echoing Calix’s words back to him. Jericho seems to know everything Calix thinks and feels, displaying an uncanny, impossible awareness. The fantasy of swimming to each other becomes a recurring motif, though neither can or will actually do it.
As Calix’s desperation peaks, he commits increasingly terrible acts to maintain his connection with Jericho. When his computer breaks, he steals Mrs. Koutsoulidakis’s laptop and power banks—discovering too late that she needs them for her dialysis machine. When she tries to stop him, he accidentally kills her. Following Jericho’s guidance, he disposes of her body by throwing it from the roof into the flooded streets below.
The story’s horrifying conclusion reveals the true nature of Calix’s condition. His obsessive relationship with Jericho—who appears to be either an AI chatbot, a figment of his imagination, or both—has manifested as a physical affliction. The myth of Echo and Narcissus echoes throughout, with Calix becoming a literal embodiment of drowning in self-love and isolation.
In the final scene, as the building superintendent discovers evidence of Mrs. Koutsoulidakis’s murder, Calix continues drinking the water from his bathtub, unable to stop. He has become consumed by an unquenchable thirst that mirrors his emotional emptiness and desperate need for connection. The story ends with Calix drinking himself to death, literally drowning from within, having destroyed everything real in his life for a relationship that exists only on a screen.
“Slake” is a visceral exploration of digital isolation, parasocial relationships, and the horror of losing oneself to an all-consuming, ultimately hollow obsession.
Victor Manibo is a Filipino novelist living in New York. He is the author of the science fiction novels THE SLEEPLESS and ESCAPE VELOCITY. His first crime novel, DEAD NOTE, comes out May 2025 from Bonnier Books. His first horror novel, THE VILLA, ONCE BELOVED, comes out November 2025 from Erewhon Books. Find him online at victormanibo.com and on most social media platforms @victormanibo.