Cindy loved long, hot baths. They were the best part of her day. There was nothing better than to soak your body in steaming hot water after a long, tough day at work.
She considered the bathtub her happy place. It was here that she could calm down, take a step back, and spend the early evening hours with a good book.
Today had been especially bad. With Christmas around the corner, online sales were skyrocketing. To say Cindy’s department was buried in work was an understatement.
It was already early evening when she finally made it home.
After a quick meal, she decided to soak her tired body for an hour or two. After picking out one of her many bath bombs, she undressed and watched as the water was transformed into a swirling, bubbling mess. When the hot water came to a rest, it had been transformed into a deep, starry blue.
Descending into the bath was heaven. At first, the heat stabbed at her skin, but after a little while, it changed into a soothing, pleasant feeling.
Cindy leaned back, closed her eyes and for a while she just lay there, enjoying the heat and sweating away all the workday’s worries.
She’d half drifted off when she heard running water. She instinctively thought of the drain. Had she accidentally opened it?
Her hand reached out for the drain stopper and turned, but it didn’t move at all. For all she knew, it was still closed.
Maybe it was something in the pipes? Or maybe her next-door neighbor had let in an evening bath of their own.
She laughed a little and wondered what kind of person her ‘bath friend’ might be.
“Well, hope you’re having fun,” she mused on.
It was right at this point that bath water started bubbling and Cindy noticed hair in the water. Not her own, she thought in disgust. At first, it was only a few here and there, but soon, thick strands came up. Right at that time, the strange sound from the drain started again.
The pipes, there’s something wrong with the pipes. All these disgusting hairs, it had to come up from down the drain! In disgust, she cringed back from the drain, tore off strands that clung to her, and finally decided to abandon the bath.
With her hands on the side of the tub, she suddenly heard another disturbingly long gurgle.
Then something emerged from the water in front of her, right where the drain was. At first, it was only hair, a giant, wet ball of hair, but then she saw something in-between. It was a disgusting, wrinkled thing, much too thin to be a human being.
“Oh, yes, I’m having fun,” the thing cackled in a high-pitched voice.
Still in shock, Cindy felt a bony hand close around her ankle and a moment later she was pulled underwater and eventually yanked down the drain.
