"The Ladies Room"

The old phrase waiting on a woman becomes way too true when three men's wives spend over and hour in a mall's woman's restroom. Will the three men cross that line and dare enter the ladies room?

“The Ladies Room”

By Cody Williams

 

            Edgar Walters and his wife, Lillian, stood in the checkout line at Harvey’s Sporting goods that was located in the Betsy Town Mall. Edgar was in his late 40s and had grayish black hair. Lillian was too in her late 40ts and had brown hair that reached down to her shoulders.

Edgar just rolled his eyes and sighed with frustration he put the items from their two separate buggies onto the conveyor belt at the register. It annoyed the hell out of Edgar to take his wife shopping especially to the mall. Every time he takes her there she ends up buying the whole Goddamn store.

            The two of them waited for the checkout lady to slowly scan their items and place them into plastic bags. Edgar picked the twenty-five bags and placed them into the green plastic shopping cart. Lillian shoved her small leather purse to her husband’s chest.

            “Hold this honey. I’m got to go to the ladies’ room.” Lillian said to him. He grabbed it from her and she turned around and walked into the restroom with the green sign reading LAIDIES above it. Edgar carried the purse over too the benches that sat just outside the bathroom and sat down in it.

            Edgar sat there for several moments and he kept looking down at his watch. When he saw that his watch went from 5:04 to 5:16 he began to think that she might have fell in. Another couple walked by. The man was younger than Edgar. He looked like he was in his late twenties and she looked about the same.

            “I’ll be right back baby! I’m going to the ladies room!” The woman said handing him her purse. The younger man walked over to the bench that Edgar was in and set down.

            “I assume you’re waiting on a woman too?” The younger man said as he looked over to Edgar.

            “I’ve been waiting on a woman my entire life.” Edgar said with a chuckle while nodding. “The name is Edgar.” Edgar said as he extended his forearm for a handshake. He young man smiled and shook his hand.

            “I’m Joey.” Joey told him.

            “Nice to meet you Joe!” Edgar said. The two men just sat there for a few moments in silence before Joey looked down at his watch and saw that it read 5:37. He looked over to Edgar with concern.

            “What the hell did she do? Fall in?” Joey said trying to make some humor out of the situation. Edgar looked down at his watch now reading 5:38. “How long has your wife been in there?” Joey asked him.

            “She went in there about 5:04.” Edgar answered him. The two men exchanged looks of concern when another couple came up. They were in an older couple. They looked as if they were both in their early seventies. The old woman walked into the ladies room and the old man sat down on the bench beside them. He smiled at the two younger men. The two men smiled back and then continued to talk amongst themselves.

            “Somebody’s going to have to go in there and see what the hell is going on.” Joey said to Edgar. Joey stood to his feet and walked over to the door of the ladies’ room. He braced himself attempting to go in but couldn’t get the balls to do it. He sighed in disappointment and walked back over to the bench and sat down beside Edgar.

            “They’ll be out when they’re good and ready boys. Believe me, I’ve been waiting on a woman my whole life. And let me tell you, it’s always worth the wait.” The wise old man told them. “My name is Ralph.” The old man said shaking the hands of Edgar and Joey.

            “Nice to meet you Ralph! I’m Edgar!” Edgar told the old man.

            “And I’m Joey!” Joey told him.

            “Well it’s nice to meet the both of you.” Ralph said to them. They waited a few more moments until their watches read 6:00. “6:00? There’s something not right about this.” Ralph said to the two younger men.

            “You’re telling me! My wife was in there for nearly an hour!” Edgar told him. Then a woman employee walked by the three men.

            “Miss! Miss!” Ralph said to the young woman. She walked over towards him and smiled.

            “Can I help you sir?” The woman asked him.

            “Yes you can. I hate to bother you but would you mind to go into the ladies’ room and check on our wives? They have been in there for a really long time and we were starting to get worried.” The old man told her. The woman smiled at him again and nodded her head.

            “Sure! I’ll go in there and see what’s going on.” She told him, as she turned away and walking into the ladies’ room.

            “Now we’ll get to the bottom of this.” Ralph said to the other two satisfied. They three just sat there waiting for some sign. Waiting for the young woman to return. She never did. After about fifteen minutes of waiting Edgar stood up.

            “Okay guys, we have to go in there and check out the situation! We have no other choice!” Edgar told them. Ralph and Joey stood up and nodded in agreement. The three men lined up in front of the door to the ladies’ room. “Okay! We’re crossing a line here! But we simply have no choice! We’re in on the count of three okay?” Edgar told them. The other two men just nodded in agreement and braced themselves to go in. This bothered all of the guys. I mean it was the land of the forbidden. It’s the one place Super Man can’t go.

            “One! Two! Three!” The three men said together as they each busted through the big metal door. Nobody was in there. Nobody at the sinks washing their hands and nobody in the stalls. Joey got down on the tile floor and looked for feet. Nothing. However he did notice something interesting. It was a trail of a stomach turning dark red liquid at the handicap stall at the end of the row. It was blood. It looked like one of the ladies tried to escape but she was caught and something dragged her away.

            “Hey guys! There’s a trail of blood in the last stall!” Joey told them. He pushed himself off of the ground and the three men began making their way towards the last stall. Just knowing that was blood was enough to make their skin crawl. They each placed a hand on the restroom stall door and pushed it open forcing their way in. Their hearts began to race and the remains of the three women were scattered and splattered against the wall. Sitting on the toilet was only what could be described as a Tasmanian devil. Not the cute one from the Looney Tunes Show. This creature made the little dog like Tasmanian Devils look like your everyday household pup. The creature had fingernails that measured two inches long. They began to perpetrate heavily as their heartbeats grew faster and faster.

            The creature growled revealing razor sharp teeth that were about five inches long. The men, knowing that there wasn’t much more they could do but scream, just stood there as the creature reeled them in one by one and began to feast.

Copyright 2014 by Cody Williams

Courtesy of TRUE TERROR PUBLICATIONS

A division of TTP Entertainment

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Author's Note

The got this idea about two three years ago. I just now got around to writing it. Please leave comment's and reviews! Thanks for reading!

-CW

Reviews

[Dayran]

Its nice to see a a little more gravy with the meat in your stories. It helps to give a little space for some reaction on the part of the reader. If death is depicted simply as chop chop and gooey than it losses a little something in the translation. Nice.

[Cody Williams]

Thanks for reading Dayran!

-CW

[icelandicblue]

Didn't expect the guys to buy it. Why didn't the women scream at all I wonder since the men were screaming meemies. Good one Cody.

[Cody Williams]

Thanks for reading! The women did scream when the beast got just like anyone would. They just weren't heard just like nobody will come to the aid of the tree men...that is unless one of them made it out :)

-CW

[Lora King]

I enjoyed this, I was on edge, and being a chick, knowing we take a while, but an hour lol, but I really liked the plot, the blood and gore, and the description of the creature... razor teeth, awesome... :-) great job Cody...

[Cody Williams]

Thanks for reading Lora!

-CW

[Marie]

Good story; nice build up you gave it. I'm sure a lot of men can relate to this. But I have to make one suggestion. No woman ever goes to the ladis' room and leaves her ure behind.

[Cody Williams]

Thanks for reading Marie!

-CW

[Jackson H. Harley]

Another awesome story with a strangely unusual plot :p I'm in agreement with Terry a little, I too think more detail inside the bathroom would give more suspence and horror to the story, but no complaints, its a great and weird piece :)

[Cody Williams]

Thanks for reading Jackson!

-CW

[Odysseus Wanders]

hum... keep working it out. for me... its moves a little slowly... the lead up scene is overly done for me... an hour of dialogue, only then to go into the bathroom, and find nothing at first, and then the trail of blood... for me, and only for me, i want the opposite. i want all the time and detail spent at that moment, in the bathroom, NOT, outside... so i got bored... open up the the details of the trail of blood, then the stall, then the bodies... that where you can slow time down, become horrified with us, the details of the grizzly scene... its horror, and i want to feel it. and for me to feel it, or 'see' it... the writer needs to lead me to it... so, the elements are there... but i would say, take care where you spend time with you words... These are my thoughts and opinions.. the writing itself, flows well enough, so on a technical level, i have no issue.... Well done. Keep going. The Story IS there!!!

[Cody Williams]

Thanks for reading Terry!

-CW

[Odysseus Wanders]

ok, i said bored... that is unkind, and untrue... so forget that word. it reflects my sense of time, not yours... i got impatient... thats more accurate. it wasnt boring at all... just to be clear.

[Cody Williams]

Thanks for clearing that up Terry. Have a good one!

[Robert Tusitala O'Neill]

I totally know where Edgar is coming from with his annoyance. I always wound up moving everything when my various girlfriends went shopping. There was always a token "light bag" they would walk up the stairs and the rest was all me. I hate having to be the one to do all the work, just for the "fun" of shopping with a lady I am with. God, then there is the inevitable holding of the purse and the waiting at the ladies' room door!!! All captured perfectly here!! By the way, I think you meant perspire not perpetrate. This was quite and unexpected ending...Very Twilight Zone!!! I like it. I really do. It kind of reminds me of Stephen King in Night Shift. I think in the paragraph, "Okay guys..." fourth from the end, I would alter the sentences from, "This bothered all the guys..." Something says to me that this end of this paragraph is a really important transition and it seems like it could be slightly expanded on and another interesting point could be brought up...Something should happen here that distracts us one last time from any thoughts something horrible could befall the men. We should be reassured before the scene changes so dramatically at the end. I think it would add to the effect a little. Other than that, this is perfect to me, and I don't say that lightly. As a horror, I think it has a great twist and is very well worded and with just enough nuance at the beginning to really lead the reader astray (as it should) so the ending is completely unexpected!! Top marks!!!

[Cody Williams]

Thanks so much for reading Robby!

-CW