Beneath the Bathtub

Thomas enjoyed baths—the water, the bubbles, the toys! With his duck float around his waist there was nothing scary that could grab him, unlike in the deep water of an ocean, lake, or even the deep pool at school, which was said to be home to a great white shark. Thomas was safe. He thought that, at least… until it happened.

It was a school night and Thomas was taking a bath after finishing all of his homework. He was playing with his favorite toy pirate ship and a new rubber duck. In his imagination, Captain Bluebeard was exploring the bubble islands with his first mate, a rubber duck.

Thomas’s mother and father had gone out to do some grocery shopping, so he was all alone. He likely wouldn’t have been as frightened as he was if his parents had been home. He’d have probably thought it was his parents calling him from downstairs when he heard the muffled voice. But it wasn’t from downstairs. The voice that said, “I want to play,” came from the bathtub drain! A wet and longing voice—it was muffled by the plug and the water, but Thomas heard it again.

It said, “Please let me play.”

Thomas scooted to the far side of the tub, furthest from the drain plug and the voice.  He was too scared to do anything. The smart thing to do would have been to get out of the tub and hide under his bed covers, he thought, but he stayed in the fast cooling water, paralyzed with fear.

“I know you can hear me,” the voice said. “I want to play, too.”

Finally, Thomas worked up the courage to speak. He said, “Where are you?” It was the more important question at the moment; more important than asking who it was beneath the bathtub.

“Down here, silly,” said the muffled voice. “Shh! Don’t tell mommy.”

“Down where?” Thomas looked, searching madly for a speaker or some other explanation for the voice. Surely this voice was not in the drain. It was then that he heard scratching along the bottom of the tub.

“Come play,” said the voice and it sounded scary now, like a fountain of water came out of its mouth when it spoke instead of air.

“I’m done playing!” Thomas cried. “Who are you?”

“Why, I’m Tommy,” said the voice, thick with water. “Mommy didn’t like me playing in the tub.”

“But my name is Tom. Thomas. My mom calls me Tommy.”

“We’re both Tommy, silly,” the voice said and laughed.

The scratching at the bottom of the tub moved towards the drain plug. After a moment of quiet, the drain plug moved up. The thing under the tub was poking it! Poke. Poke. Poke.

Thomas wanted to rush over and push it back down, but he was still frozen in terror. Water suddenly started rushing down the drain. Captain Bluebeard steered his ship into the whirlpool and disappeared down the drain, and the new rubber duck followed. After the water had drained completely, Thomas stood up. It appeared the owner of the voice, Tommy, had disappeared just as quickly as he came. Thomas grabbed his towel to dry off.

Then he heard the squeak from the new rubber duck.

Squeak, squeak, squeak.

His heart dropped into the pit of his stomach.

“We haven’t finished playing yet,” said the voice and it was clearer now that the water was gone. “Mommy didn’t like me playing.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t play then,” Thomas said and since the voice cared very much what its mother thought, he added, “Mommy wouldn’t like it if we did.”

“No. Mommy doesn’t like playing,” the voice said, sadly. “Is mother there?”

“No.”

“Then we can play!”

Thomas moved closer to the drain and peeked down it. He saw blackness and the faint shine of light reflecting off of water, and an eye. Yes, an eye was looking up at him!

“What if she catches us?” Thomas said, very much not wanting to play with the thing beneath the tub. He thought if he scared the owner of the voice into thinking its mother would find out, it would just leave him alone.

“There’s no water left,” the voice said. “She can’t drown you if there’s no water and she can’t kill me twice. So we can play all night!”

“She drowned you?”

“She didn’t like me playing in the tub,” the voice sobbed.  “Wait—” The voice paused as if it heard something. Thomas too heard something. The front door. His father and mother were home. At least he hoped it was them… It could be the voice’s mother.

The voice said, “Mommy says to go to bed. I’ll give your toys back next time you take a bath.”

A knock at the bathroom door made Thomas jump. His mother’s voice called through the door, “Don’t be playing around in there, Tommy.”

Thomas never took a bath again despite his parents and friends pleading him to. His mother wanted him to bathe most of all.

“Better dirty than dead,” he’d always say until he got an infection from the filth and died.