Prompt 249-Bathroom

Name three things you have in your bathroom right now.

Kali was strange in many ways, the least of which was her friendship with Gwen. She rarely spoke in school, and when she did her voice held a chill that frightened the other students. Teachers never called on her if it could be helped, and she was never keen to offer answers when they put questions to the class.

She was also athletic, running cross-country and leading their school to the state championships in consecutive years for the first time in a decade. They called her the Flying Shadow because of her dark hair and speed. It was through the team she met Gwen.

Gwen was her opposite in almost every way. Outgoing and loud where Kali was introverted and silent, fair of hair and skin to contrast Kali’s dark hair and eyes. She made friends wherever she went. Kali was content in her solitude. Still, somehow, the two became an unlikely pair. Paulina, a teammate, joked that their friendship was “an aesthetic” she admired.

Gwen laughed it off. Kali had been a transfer student in middle school and seemed to have few, if any, friends. When she joined the cross-country team, Gwen was the first to welcome her to the team.

Kali had been confused. “Why are you talking to me?”

Gwen held her hand out, still waiting for Kali to take it. “Because we’re teammates now! We’re going to be spending a lot of time together so I wanted to start off on the right foot.”

“The only opponent that matters in a race is the person you were yesterday.” Kali turned away from Gwen’s hand as she got changed for practice.

Despite the team’s protests that she was wasting her time, Gwen still tried to become her friend by talking to her every day. After a week, Kali confronted her. “Why would you want to be my friend? Aren’t you scared of me?”

“No.” Her answer was honest and immediate. Then she took on a playful tone. “Should I be?”

Kali simply shook her head in disbelief, but she stopped trying to push Gwen away after that. They had lunch together, walked home together, did homework together. More often than not, they went to Gwen’s house. Kali’s house was further from the school and usually empty. Gwen alternated between pity and jealousy of Kali’s absentee parents.

She liked the quiet there though. When they had particularly tough assignments due that required concentration, she preferred Kali’s mostly vacant house to the one full of her younger siblings.

They were at Kali’s now. Practice had run late and they had jogged the route home as their cool-down instead of finishing up with the rest of the team. They ordered a vegetarian pizza for their study session and Kali excused herself to the bathroom to rinse off while they waited. She offered the same courtesy to Gwen, should she want it, once she finished.

The shower running in the next room reminded Gwen she had meant to pee before Kali tied up the bathroom. She got up and paced in the kitchen. They had been friends for almost two years. It might have been ok to go in while Kali was behind the shower curtain. Gwen shook her head. It wasn’t like Kali was going to be that long. It was just a rinse.

She glanced at the door to the basement. There was another bathroom down there; she was pretty sure of that. But it was not for guests. Kali had said her parents were strict about certain things, and the lower level was one of them. Gwen chewed her lip for half a heartbeat. Kali’s parents were out of town. Surely it wouldn’t be a problem to use the downstairs bathroom just this once.

The door creaked open and she found a light switch on the wall. A faint smell of incense wafted up the stairs as the door created a draft. It was a different incense than the one Kali often burned in her room, somehow mustier. Or maybe that was just the basement. How often did they go down there themselves?

She was careful going down the narrow steps. Her heart raced as if she was doing something illegal and she laughed at her own anxiousness. She was just going to use the bathroom and return to Kali’s room to study and eat pizza.

The lower level was carpeted and furnished with old couches and tables. The walls were covered in faux wood paneling. It looked to have fallen right out of an ad for a den in the 70s. At the bottom of the stairs, there was a door to her right. That would have to be the bathroom.

When she opened the door, the toilet that greeted her confirmed her suspicions. The medicine cabinet on the vanity was just as expected. What she hadn’t been prepared for were the bloodless corpses in the shower.

She clapped her hand over her mouth too late to stop the bile from fleeing her stomach. She fell to her knees and caught herself with her free hand before retching again. She smelled urine and discovered she no longer needed the bathroom.

Gwen’s body froze as she felt eyes on her. The water had stopped running upstairs. Tears blurred the contents of her stomach on the tile floor.

Kali’s voice, cold and sad, behind her said, “I told you to never come down here.”

Notes: Whee! A fun little horror story for your Wednesday night! I wanted to have one of the three things be something unexpected or odd, so of course I went with a dead body (or two). This one could have worked for the snooping prompt I wrote a few weeks ago. I had fun writing it though. I might try to make it longer in the future, but for an hour and a half of writing I’m happy with it. What things might we find in your bathroom? I promise I keep no corpses in mine!

That’s all for tonight. I have social plans tomorrow night so the next post will be on Friday! Have a great rest of your week and I’ll see you then!

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