User:Black-Fumes-22

It was a hot summer evening in the urban city of Cincinnati, Ohio. The sun was golden and vivid, the clouds were in various areas as they slowly moved through the sky, and the horizon was perfect. A little girl around the age of six years old named Aziza Thompson was in the back seat of a silver Volvo v40 car with her mother Marley Thompson driving to a dentist appointment. “Mommy, are we there yet?” She whined impatiently and stuck her nose to the window.

As Aziza breathed, her breath left mist on the glass and slowly disappeared each time. “Yes Aziza. Now stop complaining and take your face away from that window.” She sighed and stopped as a red light flickered on the stoplight of a common intersection.

The car itself was smoothly running and purring like a kitten, and it was quiet between the two relatives. Most of the time, Aziza was a bright and social little girl for her age but around her mother, she was taught to obey and never to say too much.

After a well spent of another hour in the hot car, Marley pulled into a parking lot and removed the car keys form the ignition. She turned and faced her daughter with a small smile as Aziza smiled back properly. “Come on.” She nodded and opened the car door.

She shut the door and opened Aziza’s door, helping her daughter out and locked the car shut. “Mommy,” Aziza said in a bubbly tone, skipping across the pavement as she held onto her mother’s hand.

“Yes sweetheart?” She asked and stepped over the curb of the sidewalk.

“Can I get a toy at the toy store on the way home?” She looked up at her mother with a puppy dog’s eyes and pouted in plead.

Sighing, Marley glanced at the begging girl from the corner of her eye as the two waltzed side-by-side up the ramp to the door. “If you behave yourself in the waiting room, I guess I could scratch up a few extra dollars.” She made an exception with a smile of assurance fading in.

Giggling, Aziza entered the room with her mother and looked around at the minimum amount of patients in the waiting room. Some ladies were reading magazines and some of the men were on their cell phones. Aziza looked up but saw that her mother was busy talking with a woman behind the office desk and decided to use what she learned and calmly take a seat.

A man to her left of the chair she chose, had no teeth at all and looked like he couldn’t shut his mouth. She stared momentarily but remembered about the constant lectures her mother told her about not staring at those who seem different, it’s disrespectful. Not able to help herself, she leaned over the uncomfortable chair’s armrest and asked, “Sir, where did all your teeth go?”

He grunted and looked at Aziza. “Huh?” He said and wiped his chin with the back of his left hand and put down the hunting magazine into his lap.

“Did the tooth fairy take them all? You must be rich with the money she left you. How did-” Before Aziza could finish with her run-on questions, she felt the lingering presence of her mother looming over her.

Gulping, she slowly turned and saw that sure enough was her lingering mother with a glare on her face. “I’m sorry sir. Aziza, manners. Or no toy.” She reminded her and the man just shrugged and looked back down at the magazine.

It was a solid hour before Aziza’s mom returned from her dentist appointment and they could finally leave to get her toy. “Mommy, do you have the money?” She smiled and buckled herself into the backseat.

Marley nodded and fixed the mirror before putting the car in reverse and rolled out of the parking lot. “Yes Aziza.” She said and pulled out of the parking lot.

Aziza watched the world go by quickly out her window, hands at side and sitting up straight. She looked at all the tall buildings and small homes that sat beside each other. She liked to think of the big houses as humans, and the tiny ones as ants. “Mommy,” She looked at the front of the car. “what are those big houses called?” She pointed out the mirror to another large building they passed.

“Those?” She glanced out the window and took her eyes back on the road. “Those are skyscrapers. They aren’t really anyone’s house but usually for big companies or businesses.” She explained and turned right. The car stopped and Marley slid out of her seat and helped Aziza out of the car.

Before she could tell Aziza the limit of money she’d be spending, the little girl lunged past her mother and made a beeline to the front window of “Toys-R-Us”. Her eyes wandered the shelves and shelves of stuffed animals, action figures, and all sorts of other little gadgets for children.

Walking behind Aziza, her mother yanked her back from the window but quickly she landed face-against-window again and stared at one certain item placed in the far back of the shelf and smiled “That one, that one!” She laughed and jumped up and down frantically.

Embarrassed, Marley looked to see a few families staring at Aziza and muttering things. “Aziza,” She growled through clenched teeth but the energetic girl just ignored her mother’s orders and dashed inside the store.

She chased after Aziza. “How much for that cute dolly in the back with black hair and pretty dress?” She smiled and pulled the man behind the counter over to the doll that was inside the display case.

The man turned to face Aziza’s mother who stood behind them watching. “I’m going to tell you straight forward, that the doll your child is requesting has been returned over ten times and many customers file complaints about it. We will not accept Itsy-bitsy back if you buy her.” He explained and looked back as Aziza cradled the doll in her arms like a baby.

Marley widened her eyes and leaned back. “’Itsy-Bitsy’?” She repeated.

The man nodded. “That’s her name.” He explained. “On the back of her dress, there’s a tag with the lyrics to the song ‘Itsy-Bitsy Spider’ and the rumor goes saying that if you try to cut or remove it any way, that it just come back. Of course, I don’t believe it.” The look in his eyes was obvious to read he was just as scared of that doll as all the other previous owners of Itsy-Bitsy.

She took a moment to think about the risky purchase but looked over his shoulder to see the instant connection between Aziza and Itsy-Bitsy and nodded with a faint smile. “How much?” She asked and fished out her wallet from her purse.

He shook his hands and stepped back as Marley stopped opening her wallet. “For free, you can have it. After all the complaints that thing has been through, it’s not worth anything more but accusation.”

Marley gave him a strange look and passed him, holding Aziza’s shoulder and guiding her out of the store and to the car. Sitting down, Aziza placed Itsy-Bitsy next to her and buckled the small doll into her own seat.

Another good two hours were spent driving home. As soon as Marley pulled into the driveway, she smiled in relief that the day was finally over and she could get Aziza into bed and get some rest.

Jumping out of the car, she jingled the keys around her index finger and grabbed Aziza’s hand, helping her out of the car. “Mommy, wait!” She called as Marley stopped and turned to see Aziza slamming the car door shut with Isty-Bisty in her hand.

She raced to her mother’s side and giggled as she cooed mutters to Itsy-Bitsy. Marley unlocked the front door and let her daughter in first. Sighing, she shuffled to the fridge and pulled out a saved half of a turkey and cheese sandwich. “Ready for your bath?” She asked Aziza and thoroughly swallowed the sandwich. Aziza sat there in silence, caressing Itsy-Bitsy’s cheek and petting her soft, long, lushes black hair. She jumped a little and flinched, looking at her shoulder as Marley set her hand on her shoulder. “Aziza, did you hear me? Time for a bath.” She repeated and walked down the hall and into the bathroom. “Put Itsy-Bitsy in your room, she’ll be there when you finish cleaning up.” Marley repeated as Aziza smiled and skipped into her bedroom.

She sat Itsy-Bitsy up against the wall and gave her hair a final brush before running into the bathroom as her mother filled up the bathtub with tropical scented bubbles. “Mommy, get out!” She giggled and pushed her mother away from the tub.

She raised an eyebrow and laughed a little. “Why? I’m a girl too. And you’re my daughter.” She said and put the soap back in the cabinet for another time. She stared at Aziza, and Aziza just stared back as the water continued to run until the bathtub was filled with warm water. “Okay, okay.” Marley gave in and shut off the water and left the bathroom all to Aziza.

Smiling, she undressed herself and put away the dirty clothes into the hamper and climbed into the warm water. She splashed around, pretending to be a fish fish and putting the bubbles on her head.

After a few minutes of playing, Aziza finally settled down and relaxed in the bathtub, laying down with her head propped up on the back of the tub. She slowly began to shut her eyes, but just as everything dimmed, the lights immediately shut off.

Startled, Aziza flung up to sit and gasped. “Mommy?” She said quietly and panicked as she looked around in utter darkness. The bathroom door’s lock clicked shut and the small candle that was on the sink counter flickered on.

“The itsy-bitsy spider went up the water spout.” A loud crash hit the water sending waves to pull Aziza under the water. Her eyes widened as she blinked and held her breathe under the water. The girl wriggled and struggled to sit back up but no there was no success.

Although everything else was muffled, the sweet little girl voice continued to sing the song. “Down came the rain and washed the spider out...” The voice faded out again, and everything began to get blurry as Aziza shut her eyes and blew a few air bubbles from her mouth.

She opened her eyes but squinted this time. An instinct inside her was telling her to look at the drain. And so she did. As Aziza began to observe the tub’s drain, little black legs shot up from the drain and up came a small black and brown spider. And another, and another. It was almost as if there were infinite spiders! “Out came the sun and dried up all the rain...” Quickly, Aziza pulled up enough courage and quickly flung up from under the water.

Crying, Aziza climbed over the rim of the tub and rolled onto the floor with her eyes tightly shut. “Mommy!” She called and opened her eyes to find a way out from the darkness. But before she stood up, she saw Itsy-Bitsy laying next to her on the floor, staring back at her. Aziza screamed on the top of her lungs, “Mommy! Mommy! Help!”

Rushing down the hall, Marley stood behind the bathroom door and gave the wooden door a few hard kicks before it busted open. “Aziza?” She answered and looked around. She slid her hand on the wall until she found the light switch and put the lights back on in a rush.

As the lights brightened the room, the water was splashing and creating small waves as if it was a ocean, and Itsy-Bitsy sat on the floor entirely still. Her heart thudded in her throat and her eyes looked all over the room. “Aziza? Aziza!” She continued to call, waiting for an answer.

She sat in the bathroom for hours, crying and crying as she called her daughter’s name multiple times with no answer but silence. She looked up from her hands, her eyes were pink and puffy from all the tears she shed.

Standing up and inhaling a deep breath, she walked to the counter with a perplexed look on her face as she saw Itsy-Bitsy sitting on the counter staring at the spot she sat. “How did you get up here?” She whispered and looked at the doll. Picking Itsy-Bitsy up, she almost instantly dropped the doll to see a large spider on it’s back.

Marley slid back, wobbling to stay steady on her feet until she slipped on a slippery part of the wet floor and fell backwards into the tub.

Many rumors say that she was eaten by spiders, or that the doll was some kind of voodoo and killed her.

But the truth is,

''The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout. Down came the rain and washed the spider out. Out came the sun and dried out all the rain. And the itsy bitsy spider climbed up the spout again...''