Bath Time

• Natsuki Rogers, Grade 10
• Short Story
• 2022

Fine ripples disturbed the surface of the water. The soap suds rising and falling gracefully with each coming wave. The sun glinted off the plastic of the Titanic, the wind-up engine chugging along leaving a trail of bubbles behind it. One could imagine the great views of the bathroom from the first-class cabins, perhaps while enjoying a glass of champagne marvelling at such sights as the sink and the glass shower cubical with bottles of shampoo placed precariously on a shelf inside. It was then a deep rumbling disturbed the would-be passengers. An earth splitting vibration from somewhere below.
The sound, no the sensation, was that of an earthquake as if it had come from the mouth of a beast. Malice was in its tune and violence in its melody. With great speed a great clawing mountain of flesh erupted from the sea, ripping apart the surface of the water as a bullet would through skin and bone. It towered above the titanic, water raining from the tentacle. A fine mist parted to reveal its pulsating suckers, readying themselves for the demonic act to come. Eager as a rabid dog to kill, the octopus brought its limb crashing down. If there was a god, the Titanic and its passengers were now hidden from his grace as the monster filled the sky blotting out the sun casting it into a world of bitter darkness. What remained of the ship now sinking ever deeper into the sea. Small bubbles rolling off the once great voyager, gathering on the surface of the water along with the soap suds outlying where the craft had been. The octopus sheathed its weapon back into the deep confines of the ocean. Its mission had been completed, its bloodlust satisfied. The once magnificent Titanic lay to rest at the bottom of the bath, the lost souls buried in now what was a calm sea. That is until bath time was over, when the water was drained away and a hand reached in to grab the ship, carefully placing it back into its box where it would remain until next Sunday when it would be bath time once again.