[Make a list of the first 5 adjectives that pop into your head. Use these 5 words in your story, poem, or journal entry.]

For this, the adjectives I chose are:

Scary, Dark, Lonely, Mysterious, and Something Short Because My Head Hurts A Lot For Some Reason And I Want To Get This Post Up Quickly.

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I locked the bathroom door on my way in, dimmed the lights, and stripped. My skin, now exposed to the air, was bitten by the cold. Though, I only shivered upon feeling the icy touch of the stone floor against my bare feet.

“There better be enough how water.” I muttered as my hand turned the faucet dial all the way to the left and closed the drain. Near boiling water soon poured into the bathtub in a steady stream, ever so slowly filling it. Then, I set my phone on the sink, playing soft piano.

“Ugghhh…”

A grunt escaped my lips as my naked skin lied against the freezing ceramic of the tub, but the material soon absorbed enough of my body heat to make the experience less uncomfortable.

“Mrow”

An animal’s cry sounded from behind the locked door, causing me to curse.

“Damn it; forgot to feed the cats.”

I groaned as my two cats—cute as they may be—began their cacophony of mewls, begging me to drop everything so that I could feed them. Those furry bastards were always hungry!

Exasperated, I stood from the tub, pulled back the curtain, and reached for the sink. I planned to text my little brother to ask if he would feed the cats in my stead because I planned to relax for at least an hour in the bath. Yet, I could not spot the phone despite still hearing the piano playing.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

I sighed, figuring that I mistakenly left my phone within the mirror cupboard, for whatever reason, which hung on the wall just outside of my reach. Oh well. Even if the kitties berated me the entire hour, I didn’t want to have to dry myself off just to reenter the tub a minute after. Plus, I remembered that my parents had taken my brother to his friend’s house. They wouldn’t be back for at least half the day.

I closed my eyes and leaned back into my bath, allowing the rising waters to smother me with soothing heat. I allowed my consciousness to wander, then eventually fade. Oops.

When I came to and checked my watch, I discovered that ten minutes had passed, and the bathtub had overfilled. Cursing, I rushed to shut the faucet off before I raised the water bill any higher. I facepalmed, then allowed gravity to take me back into the tub, where I held my breath as my world flooded and I was wholly submerged. I figured that whatever damage the overflowing did to the flooring couldn’t be undone and that I should relax while I could.

Suddenly, an inkling feeling persuaded me to rise again and look around the bathroom.

Everything was wrong.

The shower curtain, for some reason, was gone, and the lights were not just dimmed, but completely out. And most mysteriously…the cats weren’t screaming at me.

I panicked, shooting to my feet, only able to see anything at all because my phone’s bright screen shone from within the…toilet… Strange, but given that it was waterproof, like my watch, I ignored the device’s peculiar location. What most preoccupied my mind was still the lack of meowing, because that meant something had occurred. Their endless cries were as constant as the sun rising and setting each day.

I reached for my towel, which usually hung from a metal bar that protruded from the wall, but both were also gone—presumably to the same place the shower curtain disappeared to.

“No matter.” I told myself. “This might all be a prank, but I should still be hearing the cats! Where be their meows?!”

I lifted a leg out of the now cooling water, intent on stepping out of the bath regardless of the amount of water on my body since the tub already overflowed, yet…

A hand gripped my shoulder, pulling me backwards slightly.

There was only supposed to be a wall behind me, but the force and feel of the digits wrapped around my arm were so convincing that I knew… My sister had to have been behind the whole thing! Although this prank was in particularly bad taste, what with my phone in the toilet, and I had no idea of how she could have gotten behind me and into the tub with how small the bathroom was, she was the only explanation I could think of. She also must have fed the cats!

I turned to admonish my older sibling for her shit taste in pranks, but was met with the sight of…nothing. I stared at a blank wall, despite still feeling the five fingers on my shoulder. Then, I remembered that my sister was in a different state. If not her, then wh—

The invisible hand pulled me back down into the tub, and I went under.