Gloam Fragment The Bathwater Every evening after her bath she pulls the plug and watches the tub drain to the last drop, because that is what her mother always did, without ever saying why. Since the first of October, every morning, the bath has been full again. Not to the brim, but to the height where a person's shoulders would be, if a person were lying in it. The water is always cold, there is a grey ring of river silt around the tub, and once there was a long dark hair in it, though she has worn her own hair short and fair since she was a child. The plumber found clean pipes and no fault, nothing that could fill a bath. Last night she sat on the bathroom floor with her back to the wall and the light on, and watched the empty bath until she fell asleep against the tiles. When she woke, the light was off and the room smelled of the river. The bath was full, and the surface was still moving, in the slow, small rings water makes when someone has only just sat up in it. Right beside her, very softly, something dripped onto the floor. The Gloam Ledger #Gothic #DarkArt #TheGloamLedger #GloamFragment