The sound of the bath filling up was almost as comforting to Gwen as sitting in it. She smiled listening to the hiss of the taps and the gentle hum of the bathroom fan as she pottered about her flat, waiting for the water to rise high enough so she could be fully submerged in it.
With a clean pair of pyjamas hanging over the door and a freshly tumble-dried towel next to the tub, Gwen turned off the taps and undressed.
A tingling sensation spread up through her cold toes as they met the hot water, but any discomfort she felt quickly disappeared once both feet were in. Gwen sank down and sighed as her body was enveloped in warmth. She closed her eyes.
As she was drifting into that space between wake and sleep, Gwen felt something gently touch the back of her left knee and trail down to her calf. Her eyes snapped open and she wrenched herself up, causing water to splash out over the side.
She looked, but she saw nothing in the clear water other than herself. She moved her left leg aside. Nothing underneath. Must have been a half-dream as she was drifting off to sleep, she reasoned. Or a stray hair that had tickled her as it floated by.
After scratching to rid herself of the phantom touch, Gwen settled back down in the bath.
The steam rose up and caressed her face, making her feel as though she was softly sinking. Her eyelids grew heavy, and she closed them again.
Gwen yelped as she felt a pinch on the flesh of her inner thigh. She batted at the water with her hands and kicked her legs out. The water sloshed from side to side. She felt around frantically, but there was nothing other than the smoothness of the bottom of the tub. She looked around the room, but there was no one. No one out in the hall, either.
That time the phantom touch had been painful, like pins being stabbed into her skin. Gwen examined her inner thigh but, aside from the scratch marks she had just made from clawing at herself, she was unharmed. She felt around at the bottom of the tub again and ran her hands all over her legs to see if she had missed something. She hadn’t.
Gwen considered getting out, but the bath was too full and the water too hot. It would have been such a waste. Despite feeling her heart fluttering in her chest, Gwen forced herself to settle back down in the water.
“Stop it,” she said out loud, although she wasn’t sure what she was telling herself to stop doing.
This time Gwen decided to keep her eyes open. Although she couldn’t fully relax, she could at least take the opportunity to feel gratitude for her day. She could think about the lovely walk she had taken that morning through the crunchy autumnal leaves, and the roast she had enjoyed with her friends, and the outfit she had picked out to wear to work the next day, and the pasta she had bought to have for lunch…
As the thoughts flowed in and out of her mind, the hot water became a soft, gently swaying cocoon. Gwen blinked slowly and took a deep breath in, and the white tiles surrounding her began to blur…
Something grabbed her foot, something with sharp nails and a strong grip. Gwen tried to open her eyes, but couldn’t see a thing. She splashed about, trying desperately to pull her foot loose. She slipped down the bath tub and spluttered as water spilled down her throat.
Gwen put her hands to her face to try and prise her eyelids open – but she found that they were open. In her panicked frenzy, she hadn’t realised the hum of the bathroom fan had stopped. Someone had switched off the light.
Pulling herself up using the edges of the bath, Gwen grabbed the hand that held on to her foot. It felt slimy and bumpy, and she couldn’t prise it off. It’s long nails dug into her sole, and one of the long fingers had curled in between her toes and pierced the top of her foot.
A noise escaped Gwen’s mouth, a guttural groan of disgust. She yanked her leg back and in doing so pulled the plug. A loud gurgle erupted as the bath water began to drain away.
The hand immediately let go of her foot. Gwen wasted no time in dragging herself up and out of the bath, and her naked body slapped against the tiles as she slipped out. She scrabbled across the room in the dark and felt her way up the doorframe. Her fingers pawed at the wall until she eventually found the switch.
Light flooded the room. Gwen looked over at the draining bath, but she couldn’t see anything in the tub from where she stood.
Shaking, Gwen slowly walked over to her towel. As she bent down to pick it up, she noticed something move in the corner of her eye.
A long, curved, yellowy brown nail tapped around the edge of the plug hole, searching for her. It hesitated, as if realising she was watching it. Gwen let out a horrified scream as it slipped back down into the darkness.
I hope you enjoyed my short story! If you’re desperate for more icky tales, I have a collection of shorts called FOREGROUND, available on ebook for just 99p.
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