Ladies

Supernatural Stories | May 30, 2012 | 8 min read
80 Votes, average: 4 out of 5
She was up for promotion, and had just finished running the corporate gauntlet of interview-presentation-interview, and had to go to the bathroom. It never failed; any time her nerves get ramped up, her bladder revolted as soon as the situation is handled, and that morning was indeed stressful.

 

She went into the blissfully empty bathroom- she had always hated being next to someone in a public restroom; as the French would say, elle n'aime pas pisser a cote de quel'q'un; but for now that wasn't a concern. Every stall door was closed, and she chose the one closest to the door. Out of habit, she knocked lightly, and began to push the door open.

 

A small, sinister thought whipped through her mind. What if there was something in there?  Puzzled at the fact that she thought something  rather than someone, she shook her head, chuckled, and opened the door.

 

The stall was covered in gore. Blood streaked and ran down the walls, pooling on the floor, dripping from the handrail and the "treasure chest". A high heel lay in a puddle of blood in front of the toilet, and perched there on the seat was a creature that looked a lot  like Gollum, aside from the claws and fangs. It was chewing on what had been a woman's foot with apparent relish. She couldn't scream; all she could muster was a small, helpless, "Oh."

 

Its head snapped up, and its black eyes narrowed. It dropped the foot, letting it thump to the floor. The thing hissed, and tensed as if to pounce. She stumbled back, the heel of her shoe catching in the grout between the tiles and she went down, hard.

She raised up onto her elbows to try and scramble back onto her feet, but when she looked up, it was gone.

 

She lay there, staring into the pristine stall, terrified and confused, when Shannon walked in.

 

She stopped when she Michelle on the floor, and stared for a moment.

 

"Are you alright?"

 

She looked from her to the stall and back; everything was normal. There was no blood, no horrible foot, and no creature. The only things out of the ordinary were the stall door hanging open, and her lying on the gritty floor. Michelle  thought fast, put on a big grin and said, "Yeah, I'm fine. Damn these high heels!"

 

She cocked an eyebrow, and Michelle got her feet and brushed herself  off. "Really, I'm fine."

 

"You sure?"

 

Another dazzling smile. "Absolutely."

 

She gave her a once-over and nodded. She went into a stall, leaving Michelle standing at the sinks.

 

Michelle stood there and stared at the stall door for a moment, then realized she was about to wet her pants. She stepped inside, putting aside her usual distaste for using an adjoining stall, locked the door, and pulled her pants down.

 

She sat on the commode, listening to the sounds of the bathroom; shoes scraping on the floor, clothes rustling, the toilet paper roll spinning, and sighed. Despite an almost desperate urge, she couldn't relieve herself with someone else so close. Thankfully, Shannon's shadow shifted, and she stood up.

 

The toilet flushed, then Shannon screamed as something slammed her into the side of the stall. She watched the shadows play along the floor as Shannon's feet scrabbled and tried to find purchase, but something was lifting her so that only her toes scraped along, drumming a tattoo as drops of blood started to splash onto the tiles. Horrible snarls and grunts joined Shannon's screams, which were beginning to sound choked, as if they were coming from underwater. Whatever it was lifted Shannon so that her feet disappeared from the limited view afforded by the stall, and there was a

hideous crunch, and a gout of blood shot up, splashing the ceiling, and by benefit of gravity, dripping onto Michelle's upturned face. It dropped Shannon, and her body hit the floor.

 

Michelle picked her feet up and braced them on the wall as Shannon's lifeless body began to twitch and jerk, blood flowing along the tile as the sounds of ripping cloth and wet smacking got stronger. Michelle's bladder let go, and the sounds and motion stopped instantly.

 

Time stood still as it will in moments of extreme terror; 'It knows I'm here, and it knows I'm vulnerable,' she thought. Her breath shallow and panicked, she realized she was literally caught with her pants down. She thanked God for what little yoga she practiced that allowed her to get her legs up and keep them braced, and tried to come up with a plan.

 

Unfortunately, there isn't much to work with in a public bathroom stall. Three walls, the toilet paper dispenser, the little metal "treasure chest," and a handrail if you're lucky. Michelle was lucky today; it was even on the opposite wall from the carnage. She sat there, motionless, watching the blood follow the tiny lines in the floor. Her mind whirled; she was almost frozen with confusion and terror. Then, a cramp struck her calf. She inhaled sharply, and a clawed hand reached under the stall, grasping and searching for her. She screamed, losing her footing for a moment. Her left shoe fell off and the hand clenched around it instantly, pulling it back under the stall. Shannon's body resumed it's posthumous herky-jerk, and Michelle thought she was going mad.

 

She reseated her footing on the walls as best she could; having one stocking foot wasn't going to help at all, it kept sliding. She shifted so both legs rested on the handrail, and took off her other shoe. She threw it over the stall and heard it clatter against the mirror. The thing hissed, and she heard the stall door burst open as it left to investigate. She took the short opportunity to quickly put her feet down and climb onto the toilet. She realized her pants were still down, and quickly pulled up her panties and kicked off the pants and hose. They whispered to the floor, and she crouched down on the seat. She could hear the thing looking for the source of the sound, then it slammed back into the stall to get back to snacking on her former coworker.

 

The smacking, wet, chewing sounds were too much for her. She stood, but wasn't tall enough to look over the stall. She looked at the handrail, and put a tentative foot on it. It wasn't wide, but she thought it could hold her weight. She would have to get up onto it and brace against the opposite wall, but she thought she could to it; inch across and get to the door, then jump down and make a run for it. She decided to try; She stepped onto the handrail and as she started to fall, turned quickly and slapped both hands flat onto the stall. The creature slammed against the wall, but she was firmly wedged and only shook. It only did it once, thankfully; if it had kept up she would have lost her balance for sure, and fallen. She slid towards the door, moving painfully slow, cautious; trying not to think about how sweaty her palms were getting, how tired her ankles were getting; when she heard the outside door open, and footsteps enter the bathroom.

 

She clung there as the footsteps clicked over to the sink, and she slid herself up hand-over-hand to cling to the top of the stall. She raised her shoulders up to try and see the unsuspecting woman who was undoubtedly checking her makeup before choosing a stall, and barely managed. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror as well, hair destroyed, sweat streaming down her face, mixing with her makeup, eyes wide, knuckles white on the edge of the stall. She opened her mouth to tell the woman to run, and saw the woman's eyes stutter upwards and lock on hers. She turned slowly around, staring up at the horror of a woman clinging to the stall, and got only, "What the-" past her lips before the creature was upon her.

 

It ripped and tore through the woman's throat, sending geysers of blood all over the room. Michelle screamed as it splashed her face and one sad thought, Her name, I didn't know her name, whipped through her mind before she realized she might have a chance to make it. While the creature and the woman continued their crazy, blood-soaked polka in front of the sink, Michelle took her feet from the handrail, and hung on the side of the stall. She dropped to the floor and used her shoulder to ram the door open, breaking the lock. She slid through the blood pooling on the floor and hit the wall, and glanced back. The creature hissed as the woman slid to the floor, bracing itself to pounce on Michelle, but she let loose a blood-curdling shriek and ran for the door to the hallway.

 

She reached it as the creature slammed into the wall, only five feet behind her, and she ripped the door open and leaped through. She slammed it closed behind her, thanking whatever powers look over blood soaked, half-naked women that it wasn't on a pneumatic hinge. She staggered backwards and almost fell when she hit the water fountain. She looked wildly around, thinking that the thing may have doubled back on her, coming out through the men's room, but no; there was nothing there.

 

She heard the comforting sounds of the call center at work; hums of copiers and fax machines, low murmurs of operators assisting customers with their various issues, the thud of sodas landing in the vending machines. She took a shaky breath and ran a hand through her hair. It didn't accomplish much, but there was a strange comfort in the normality of the gesture. She shook violently for a moment, then took inventory of herself.

 

Fingers and toes? Check. No apparent injury? Check. No pants, no shoes. Problem.

 

She couldn't go back in there to get them, that's for sure. Now she had to navigate across the floor to get to her desk, get her purse, and get out without being stopped and questioned. She didn't want that; she didn't want to have to explain to her boss and paramedics and whoever else that there was some awful thing in the bathroom that killed Shannon and had her trapped hanging in the stall, and she only got away by running while it chomped on some other lady. She'd be run to the nuthouse, if not jail!  She couldn't crawl, that would be noticed in an instant. She decided to just go for it. She squared her shoulders, and walked as if she owned the world back to her desk.

 

Luckily, it was busy, so people were paying more attention to their computer screens than to what was going on around them, and she actually made it without being stopped.

 

She sat down quickly and hunched over so nobody would see her standing there in her underwear, and they wouldn't see her blood-streaked face over her monitor. She didn't bother logging off of the system, she just hit the power button on the computer. She grabbed her bag and fished out her keys, then slid from her cubicle.

She kept close to the wall, and made it to the lobby door. She walked quickly, almost running, tossing a quick, "See you later!" over her shoulder at the receptionist, who got a good look at her, and gasped.

 

Michelle sprinted to her car and got inside. She tore out of the parking lot, slowing down only because the lunch hour traffic demanded it. She sat in traffic, watching as police cars and ambulances passed her, turning into the office complex. Her lane finally began moving, and she raced home.

 

She pulled into the driveway, and sat in her car. She began shaking and crying, the adrenaline finally wearing off of her. She could smell herself; blood, sweat, the metallic stink of panic; and she wanted nothing more but to stand in the shower and pretend that nothing happened.

 

She got out of the car and went inside the house. The cat rubbed against her legs as she locked the door behind her. She stripped off her remaining clothes, and tossed them in the garbage. She  got a fresh towel out of the linen closet, and went into the bathroom. She looked in the mirror, and was horrified at her appearance. It was a wonder that she didn't get pulled over and checked for an injury, but it would have been awkward explaining that the blood wasn't hers.

 

She sat the towel on the rack, and pulled back the shower curtain. The creature made no sound as it jumped at her. She screamed for an instant, the sound cut off as the thing's horrible teeth dug into her throat. She felt it's horrible warmth as it clung to her, slurping and chewing as she slipped away, falling backwards; her last ridiculous thought spiraling through her head.

 

I didn't want to die naked.

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Reviews

ItsSomeGuy420 Jun 10, 2012

Good story I liked it

T.M. Sanchez Jun 5, 2012

this was awesome! i got chills!now i don'twant to go to the bathroom anymore.....

Angelique Jun 5, 2012

Thank all of you very much! I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Seven L. Cooper Jun 5, 2012

very interesting and sick! I liked it very much!

Fukusan Jun 4, 2012

good one

Robert May 31, 2012

At least the thing wasn'thiding IN the toilet...*shivers*. At first I thought the creature only attacked the bathroom shy lol.

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