“Charming, and after everything I did for yer, girly.”
“Did for me?! You could have gotten me fired!” I bellowed once it was safe to do so, as thankfully, the elevator was empty.
“Oh, please, that bitchy little harpy got what she deserved,” he said, waving it off as if it was nothing.
“No, what she deserved was a slap in the face, but that’s beside the point.”
“Which is?” he asked in a bored tone.
“To not do shit like that in the middle of a meeting I had worked my ass off for,” I scolded.
“Then yer a fool,” he replied with a snorted laugh.
“Excuse me!?” I snapped, just as the doors opened and let someone else in. An older woman, no less, and one who looked quite taken aback by my reaction.
“I’m sorry?” she asked, making me glance at the floor number, realizing she must have come from the accounting firm on level six.
“Oh no, no… that wasn’t aimed at you,” I said, causing her to frown as she took in the rest of the empty lift. Then she gave me a skeptical look, making the goblin chuckle.
“I was, erm… singing.”
“Singing?” she questioned, making me wish she would just drop it already!
“Well… more, erh… rehearsing, for a play… anyway, this is my floor, bye now and have a nice day… and you can shut up!” Isnapped down at whatever his name was as he laughed his little lumpy ass off. As for the old lady, she saw this as she, too, got off the elevator. Of course she did, considering it was the ground floor…duh, Eliza!
I quickly exited the building and got myself in a cab, and just before I slammed the door, I told the goblin,
“Yeah, you think that’s funny, then you can make your own way there, chuckles!”
He frowned and gave me the finger as the cab drove off, making me lean back against the seat and close my eyes, hoping that was it. That I was finally rid of him.
“That wasn’t very nice, yer know.” His voice made me jump, and I looked in astonishment toward the seat next to me… where he was now sitting.
“Ah! Goddess! How is it you keep doing that!?”
“Excuse me?” the cabbie asked, which wasn’t surprising, seeing as I was now talking to myself.
I fumbled for my cell out of my bag and shook it at him, telling him,
“Sorry, I was on a call.”
And just like the old lady in the elevator, he gave me a dubious look, as clearly, this was going to be my day for them. I decided that if I didn’t want to look crazy by having this conversation, so I held it to my ear and spoke without looking at the goblin.
“Oh yeah, because that is way more convincing,” he said dryly.
“Yes, well, at this point I don’t really care, now start talking,” I snapped. However, what I received in return was not what I expected, when he started to chant,
“The voice of the damned rose in a bestial moan.
There Minos sits, grinning, grotesque, and hale.
He examines each lost soul as it arrives
And delivers his verdict with his coiling tail.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked after he started with his strange poem, one he merely continued with,
“That is to say, when the ill-fated soul
