The Bathtub

Once upon a time there was a boy called Kyle who was known throughout his village as a tiny terror. On an average day he would tease the local girls, bully the boys, grab cats by their tails, bombard postmen with rocks, set fire to rubbish bins, tip over cows and generally run riot. Perhaps his worst trait was his personal hygiene – or rather lack of it. Kyle refused to bathe. In fact, it was a standing joke amongst the villagers that they knew when trouble was coming, because they could smell it.

His mother was a gentle woman, who didn’t like to punish her son because he was her only child, but on one particular afternoon she decided that enough was enough. The shame of having a smelly boy was too great. She called Kyle down from his bedroom, where he had been building a small explosive device, and demanded that he wash.

Kyle folded his arms and shook his freckled face.

Ordinarily, his mother would let him win, but not today. She grabbed him by his collar and pulled him into the bathroom, where she had already run the water.

Kicking and screaming, Kyle fought against his mother as she took off his clothes. Eventually, he stood naked and red-faced. Tough as he was, he was no match for a grown woman.

Kyle’s mother nudged him towards the tub.

When he slipped into the water, he emitted a shriek so piercing that it made nearby bats drop out of the sky in shock. He really didn’t want to be clean. As his mother began to scrub him, his cunning little mind came up with a plan. Screaming wasn’t working, Kyle knew. So, he stopped screaming.

Worried about the sudden silence, his mother asked him what the matter was. He told her that he was enjoying the bath, in fact having a wonderful time. For the first time ever, he smiled.

His mother nearly fainted with surprise.

Kyle then went on to say he would like to scrub himself with soap, since it was such a pleasure. He also told his mother that, if she didn’t mind, he would also like to be alone in the bathroom, so that he could truly enjoy himself.

Sensing some kind of trick, Kyle’s mother made him promise that he wouldn’t leave the tub until she returned. She made him swear on his father’s life.

Kyle promised that he would not leave the tub, swearing it as she asked. And with that, his mother trundled out of the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

The smile on Kyle’s mouth quickly dried up. His plan to get rid of his mother had worked, but naughty as he was, he couldn’t break a sworn promise and leave the bath. That didn’t mean, Kyle thought, that the bath couldn’t leave him.

With his toes, Kyle pulled out the bath plug.

Water began swirling around him. Soon, Kyle was sitting in a whirlpool of soapsuds. He couldn’t help laughing at how clever he had been in tricking his mother, but there was something that Kyle had forgotten.

It was a thing that all good children know from listening to their parents, that you should never, ever, under any circumstances whatsoever, pull the bath plug out of the bath while you are still in it.

When the water reached the half-way mark on the tub, Kyle began to feel the pull. 

The drain hole was dragging him towards it. 

Kyle put his hands on the sides of the bath,  but he slipped. 
His toes, and then his entire right foot, were sucked into the drain.
        He screamed as his leg was sucked in. 

He cried out for his mother as his other leg was drawn in too.
The bathroom door was flung open, 

and his mother looked on in horror at what was happening.
There was a terrible clicking sound 
as the lower half of Kyle’s body 
was dragged into the tiny hole.
Kyle tried to hold on to the bath,
but the surface was too smooth.
He tried to reach out for his mother’s hand,
but she was too slow to save him.
Kyle was sucked down,
down, down, down,
never to be seen
again.

The End.