A Long Soak

“Ma, really, None of this stuff is necessary.”

“You have to protect yourself Vennie.”

“I don’t think that I can protect myself against a virus with a rock.” Vennie, shifting her hold on the phone to shake the box and listen to the rattling inside, walked back up the path from her mailbox.

“It’s not rocks, they’re crystals, and stop shaking them around. There’s bottles of those smell goods in there.”

“You got me some oils too?”

“Yeah, that’s the thing. Those oils that you kids are all going on about these days.”

“Great, so I slather them all over me and I’ll be too slick for the virus to hold on to.”

“Venetia Alba Santoro. Don’t you use that voice on me-“

“Sorry, Ma.”

“Don’t ‘sorry, ma’ me. Ok? Listen, Barbara’s girl lost her job, ok, and who knows when everybody is going to get back on their feet. She had been selling these things as a side job and now that’s all she’s got. Then when I heard that the cases were so high where you are, I thought that you could use all the protection from this thing that you can get, alright? I wanted to help her out, ok? Could you not give your mother grief for wanting to help?”

“You’re right, Mama. You’re right.” She paused at her door and shifted the box so that she could get her keys in the door, already hearing her dog begging for her attention. “How about I send you some pictures later tonight with some of this stuff in the bath. I’ll send it you and you can show Mrs. Barb. Yeah?”

“That sounds sweet, Vennie baby.”

She said her goodbyes to her mom as she pushed the door open, trying not to let Coco out at the same time. The dog had no boundaries and at over a hundred pounds and standing at half of Vennie’s height she almost couldn’t help it. She tested her limits now, batting her paws in the air and trying to get on her.

“Coco no. Coco down. Coco!” Her phone plummeted to the floor at the fault of anxious paws. “So help me, if you’ve broken my phone…”. She picked it up deciding to check it once she had this hound securely inside.

Although all was forgotten once she crossed the threshold. Her kitchen had a little bit of a fog lingering at her ceiling.

Vennie wasn’t much of a cook as it turned out.

She pushed past Coco, emptied her hands, and rushed to the new machine, also a gift from her mother.

“I knew any pot claiming to cook in an instant would be trouble.”

All things considered, her dinner came out pretty well. Vennie ate and later found herself sitting on her bathroom floor rummaging through a box of shiny things and bottles that smelled good, while her tub filled.

She found a note detailing each oil and their use along with each crystal. She didn’t know the crystals had uses. They were quite pretty though, she’d admit. Some were smooth while some were rough. Some large and others small, and all of them different colors. She didn’t retain much of the info from the note, but she did go ahead and pick out some of her favorites and place them on the edge of the tub beside her.

She turned the faucet off then and dripped a few of the best smelling oils in the water. The more that she took out of the box the more it seemed to be holding. Not only did she take out several bottles of oil and several of the stones, she also found a couple of homemade bath bombs and a couple of candles. She chose one each of them and as well, unwrapping the bomb and splashing it in. She watched it turn the water into a soft pastel color and make some fancy swirls with the oils. She was a little put off by the leaves that it left behind. Maybe she would have them in the picture and then pick them out.

She reached into a drawer and got a box of matches, awakening her dog. Coco pawed at the door open and slowly pushed it open. She’ll never understand how that dog can trip whenever she runs but she can figure out how to work the doorknob. Not to mention the only time that she was slow was when she was waking up from a nap. She could tell Coco was sleepy but she was ready to rev up once she saw Vennie on the floor.

“Don’t you dare. I’m about to have a peaceful bath. One that does not involve playing fetch to occupy a dog.”

Her tail went faster. She said fetch.

“No. We’ll play later ok?” She lit the candle and waved the match out. Coco tried to catch her hand.

“I’m not kidding. Go lay down. Come on. Get outta here.” She pushed her chest and the dog backed off but that tail was still going. She was laying down but Vennie could tell that she wasn’t unwound yet.

She got up from the floor and got her phone. Finding the perfect angle she snapped a shot, then several more, turning the flash on. The flash didn’t come on. She checked and checked again until she was sure that it was on. She flipped it over to face her and turned the flashlight on instead. Still no light.

“So help me, Coco. If you’ve broken anything else on this phone and I have to get a new one…”

The dog got excited when she heard her name but backed off when Vennie gave her a stern look and a point of her finger.

She figured that she would get better lighting if she could open the window. Normally she wouldn’t go through such lengths for a picture like this but she was on decent terms with the daughter of her mom’s friend. She intended to send it not only to her mother but also to the daughter’s business page on facebook too.

She had to say, the last bit of natural sunlight that filtered in just before sun set and cast a beam into the the water did wonders. The leaves swirled around, the crystal glinted, and the candles glowed. Vennie took a knee, bracing her arms just on the tubs edge to get just the right angle framed up on her screen and… then there was a dog paw in front of her face. When it was gone, so was the phone, vanishing with the sound of a splash.

Vennie stared at the tub. She batted the dog off when she vied for attention again, hitting her with her clumsy paws. “Out! Out! That’s it for you. No lunch meat treat for you tonight. Go.”

Closing the bathroom door behind her, Vennie reached into the tub in an attempt to snatch her phone out and hope that it wasn’t full of plants and oils already. She reached in.

She reached out.

She reached down.

And further down.

Vennie didn’t register that her arm was going further down than what was naturally possible. She was having one of those moments like missing a step on the staircase. She didn’t realize she was falling until her stomach dropped and her foot hit the floor.

She wasn’t aware enough to resist the pull she started to feel on her arm. She wasn’t quite conscious of the fact that she could go deeper but met resistance when she tried to come out. Soon, a strong tug pulled her completely into her tub.

She stumbled forward but she was surprisingly stable, landing on her feet in a dark, misty room. Though room might have been the wrong word. She couldn’t even tell if this place had walls. Colorful, foggy swirls spotted the area. She could hear whispering, murmuring.

“Hello? What is this, some kind of joke?” She paused, thinking about her bath. “Aw, Ma. What was in those oils? I’m having some sort of trip, aren’t I? I hope I’m not drowning…”

The question was, how was she going to get herself out of here? She had to wake herself up. She had never been in a coma or even passed out before. Are the whispers people trying to wake her up?

Vennie passed one of the brighter swirls. The voices seemed louder around the swirls. She decided, like she thought about many things, the shinier the better. Soon she found one that cast a bit of light of it’s own and she could actually understand a couple of the words.

….-you here…speak to…back to us…

That sounded like something that she would say to a person that she found passed out in her bath tub surrounded by gem stones and candles. She rolled her eyes. She was never going to hear the end of this from her roomie. And her mom was not going to hear the end of this from her. Never again was she putting herbs and spices in her bathtub.

So how was she suppose to wake up from this then? If the voices were coming from the colorful swirls then could she fall into it like her bathtub? It was worth a try. She took a running start and jumped in to the middle of the bright one. When she landed she tripped and fell into a kneeling position, bringing her to look in the eyes of a figure’s face darkened by a black hood.

It was impossible to tell who screamed first. Vennie was screaming. The hooded figure was screaming. The other black hooded figures screamed. Vennie screamed more at realizing there were other hooded figures.

“Oh my gosh!” One of them said. “What did you do??”

“I didn’t do anything!” Vennie said at the same time that another figure said “I don’t know! I don’t know!”

“Who are you? What do you want with me?”

“We don’t want nothing lady. Leave us alone!”

She spun around to the one that spoke and watched them back away. “Why did you bring me here?”

“It was Kelsey’s idea!” Another said pointing.

“It was not! Sadie invited us all over and said she had this whole prank set up.”

“Yeah, ok. But Taylor brought what I thought was just props. Taylor?!”

“Ok, stop, stop!” Vennie closed her eyes and steadied herself. “One person talks at a time or I swear I’m going to puke on your floor.”

There was a moment of silence before one figure brought their hood down. “Wait a second, demons can speak our language?”

“Excuse me? Watch who you’re calling—“ she looked at him closer. “Who calls a person a demon anyway? That’s excessive. You guys look young. What are you, twelve?”

“I’m 15, thank you very much.” The others nodded and mumbled, taking their hoods off too. “And what are you, 80?”

“You know what? I’ve decided I’m not going to be kidnapped by someone’s kindergarten class. I’ll find my way out.” Vennie headed toward what she hoped was the door that lead outside. Before she could get very far she met some resistance. She put out a hand and the same color of swirls that she had jumped into rippled out from her touch.

“Ok, this is messed—“

“BACK! You Demon!”

Something wet hit her from behind and splashed to the floor around her feet.

“Ah! Gees! That’s freezing!”

“Jared, seriously?” Someone said.

“What? What did I do?”

“Bottled water is not the same as holy water!”

“Well, it worked didn’t it!”

“No, it didn’t!” Vennie said. “Because I’m not a Demon!”

She was met with more silence.

“Ok, send me back.”

“What?”

“I don’t care what kind of trip I’m having or if I’m somewhere in a coma or that you keep calling me a demon. Which, let me guess, mom and dad aren’t home so you thought that you’d try a satanic ritual. Have you never seen a movie before? You’re literally asking for trouble. Never mind, just… reverse it. Do it over but backwards. I’m tired and I want to go home.”

“I don’t…. I don’t really know how.”

“Plus, aren’t you like suppose to give us something? Like three wishes or something?”

“You think you summoned a genie.” Her patience was wearing then really quickly. “Yeah, fine. Here’s your wishes granted. I won’t call the police, I won’t rat you out to your parents, and I will leave as immediately as possible.”

“….Can we have a selfie?”

Vennie waited for the punchline until she realized that the girl was serious.

“I mean, I know you don’t, like, look like a demon. Those are actually really cute shorts, not demonic. But like, we did bring you here and a selfie would be the only proof.”

“Ah, man. Alright.” She said, after a long pause, really glad to realize that she didn’t get undressed before her bath this time. “No one is going to believe you anyway. On one condition though, you post me as a spirit or something. Not a demon. I don’t look like a demon so it’ll be more believable anyway.”

She let them direct and pose her so to speak as they took picture after picture. She tried not to feel old when the phrase ‘kids these days’ crossed her mind.

“Great, so if we’re all satisfied I’ll be going home now.”

“Ok… Bye.” They chorused around the room, each kind of looking at each other.

Vennie looked around… and went nowhere.

“This is your cue to open this thing. Come on, fire this bad boy up.” Still no one moved. “Just try saying and doing all the same stuff you did to get me here but instead sending me home. Or do you want me in your basement when your folks get here?”

They all looked very confused and concerned but made themselves move about the room, lighting candles and putting some sort of lines back on the floor. Someone else started up some kind of incense burning and let it fog up the area.

The kids took a seat in a circle on the floor and started their murmuring except they had to correct themselves a couple times to make sure that they were sending her back and not inviting someone else.

“Show yourself the way here, ugh, home!”

“Oh! And send my phone too!”

“And your…” she got a look at that. “And your phone needs to go home too.”

“Thanks.” Vennie turned around as a light brightened. A new swirly light that she hoped would take her home. “Alright, then. I’m out of here.” And she jumped through.

What she was not expecting was to come splashing up from the bottom of her tub, trying to find air.

But she did.

Her dog was barking, she was gasping, and after a moment to compose herself she searched around and found her phone. She hoped it worked but she didn’t check. She set it down to dry on the bathmat as she heard Coco let herself in so she could snuff at Vennie’s face. Vennie let her and laid back to try to lower her heart rate. Once she calmed herself she tried her phone and, miracles upon miracles, it actually worked. 

“Hey, Ma. It’d be great if you could call me back so I can tell you how your care package almost killed me. Love you.”

She shut her phone back off. It should probably sit in some rice for the night still. She wouldn’t really need it until about a week from now anyway, when the kids remember they had set up a camera and passed the footage around.

Vennie was only sure of one thing. She wasn’t going to be adding stuff to her bath anymore. She may never take a long soak in the tub ever again at all.