Into The Abyss

‘Here you are.’ Thing burbled as he – I was pretty sure Thing was a he – opened a door and pointed inside with a flourish of one of his tentacles. I approached the room nervously, expecting something scary like the rest of hell outside of the offices, or worse, more sterile offices…possibly with bespectacled office demons. But it wasn’t all fire and brimstone at all. It wasn’t just another office either.

It was a nice room. Normal. The kind of place someone – a human – might live.

I cautiously stepped inside and Thing followed me rubbing two of his tentacles together anxiously like a person subconsciously washing their hand together when they were anxious, while I look around a little confused. This room looked like a living room in a house. I felt as if I’d just walked in through someone’s front door and was standing in their living room waiting to be greeted.

There was a couch. Not like my grandmother’s overly ornate sofa with its heavy floral fabric. This one was kind of what my mom called a man-couch. Each seat was an individual recliner and there were arms between the seats that could be part of the back cushion or cold fold down into armrests with cupholders, USB ports, and electrical outlets built in for cell phones and laptops. It was the kind of couch I would sit in and try out to find all the little hidden compartments whenever we went shopping in one of the big stores that sold and displayed those kinds of things. Cost-something, I couldn’t remember the name. Costmart?

And the carpet? There was a carpet. Mom said we couldn’t have a carpet because they were unsanitary and hard to keep clean. Throw rugs only in my home even though I’d begged mom for a thick deep carpet like this one so many times.

I wanted to kick off my shoes and wiggle my toes in it. The material that the carpet was made of changed color depending on what direction the fibers were facing, I could tell by looking at it, it was expensive and super cool. I might have been abducted and in hell, but if I was left alone in this room for a second, I was going to make carpet angel.

It was a lot. So much was going on in this room. The entertainment system was off the chain. It was totally dope. A big flat screen crystal LCD TV, the newest one that mom couldn’t afford to get because it didn’t make sense to buy a new one when the one we owned worked perfectly well. The sound system was wireless and there were speakers positioned symmetrically around the room for surround sound.

Beneath the television was every single game system I was familiar with along with a combination VHS, DVD, and Blu-Ray player, one of those new stereos that played CD’s, cassette tapes, vinyl records, and stored MP3’s. Over in the corner was the sickest RBG gaming computer set up ever with its own large screen and a sleek futuristic looking desk chair. A library of discs, tapes, cassettes, and records lined the four walls.

“What the heck is this?”

A slow sigh of envy escaped my lips because, yeah, I would totally want to have this kind of fun stuff in my home. I would never be bored again.

‘Do you like it?’ Thing was still rubbing his tentacles nervously though I didn’t understand why? Was he still worried about Jerry?

“Yeah!” My enthusiastic exclamation calmed Thing and he visibly relaxed, his tentacles stopped fidgeting and he eased into himself again. Which I could tell because his fluidic movements became much more fluid. Did I get kidnapped by the stoner tentacle demon? Thing had that kind of laidback feel to him. “What is this place? Is this where the demons come to hang out?”

‘No.’ Shaking his tentacle side to side, thing burbled a giggle then straightened again. ‘This is your room.’ Thing squelched proudly. And I…my brain glitched.