Stacey should have listened to the gnome when she had the chance. She could have avoided having to wade through shin-high water in her bathroom. Sponges and shampoo bottles bobbed on the surface, leaking rainbow bubbles into the makeshift ocean.
The water was murky, bubbling up from the depths of her bathroom’s plumbing in dark grey clouds. She could barely see the new tiling through the depths and was saddened by the knowledge that they were most likely worse for wear.
“I told you to let me help you with the ensuite bathroom renovations,” the gnome had said before she entered the room in a panic. The gnome in question had done little to help. A self-motivated smirk had been glued to his face. Stacey guessed that he was already in the kitchen stealing more of her food.
“It’s not a mermaid problem,” she whispered under her breath. Whilst it was one lesson to learn that gnomes existed, Stacey refused to believe that a mermaid not only existed, but was traversing the tiny pipes of her bathtub.
She kneeled at the base, pondering her next moves. The renovators must have made a mistake when installing the new bathtub. Perhaps the modification had not been installed properly?
There had to be a problem with the bathroom renovations. The best bathroom renovations business near Sandringham had done an excellent job, but there was no way this was truly home to a secret society of tiny pipe-dwelling mermaids. The gurgling from the plug continued. Stacey stuck her hand into the murky water, feeling around the bottom for the drainage hole. Her hand touched something slimy.
“Gross,” she said, retreating back. She inspected her hand but found nothing except dark droplets of water. The water began to shift more violently. Had she just made the problem much worse? She closed her eyes and held up her hand to protect herself as water began to spray from the tub.
When she wiped them dry, blinking away her hazy vision, she found two eyes blinking back at her. A scaly figure had emerged from the tub. “Who are you calling gross?”