Room Monster Boyfriend: Toulouse (special preview)

In the last few months, fed up with your job and needing a break, you started offering computer services from your home. You recently got to do a pretty big job for a local accounting firm, so you had a few extra bucks to get some necessary things for your new home office.

It was lucky you and a friend came across an estate sale one afternoon. Whoever owned the place was never there and had recently died, so everything was being sold for a reasonable price. You were looking for furniture and office supplies, and you weren’t really picky if the price was right. You found a desk in the back office, it was huge, shiny, beautiful wood, engraved and embellished with flowers, animal heads, and a glittering marble desktop. It was more than you had budgeted, but you could write it off when taxes were due. You simply had to have it.

When you finally got the desk home and set up in your office, all you could do was stare at it in awe. You had always wanted something fancy like this. All the greatest villains seemed to have some sort of fancy desk like this. You had the cat, and the desk, now all you needed was the fancy rolling chair to make the set complete. For now, you were using an old dining chair you found in your folks’ garage. 

You got your office set up, getting big plastic drawers for all your supplies. The big drawers in the desk were locked, much to your shock. You had called the estate sell, but the person in charge said they could never find a key. You figured, eventually, you could call a locksmith, but for now, you were just happy to have something pretty and worthwhile all your own. 

One day while you were working, you kept feeling something at your feet, but you just figured it was your cat. You kept working, feeling something occasionally swipe or paw at your feet. You kicked and it stopped for a moment. You then heard your cat yowling from the kitchen.

You look up, confused. The cat was just under the desk, wasn’t it? You dip down, looking under the desk. Nothing. Maybe your fat cat is quicker than you give it credit for. You get up and go to the kitchen to see what it wants.

That evening you go back to working, finishing up a few things with a repair job and piecing the covering together. You feel something at your feet again, and because you’re busy and not thinking, you dismiss it as the cat again. You kick, and it grabs you. You then see the cat outside in the hallway, licking itself complacently. 

A cold sweat forms on your brow. There is something under your desk and it has you by the ankle. You don’t move, you barely breathe, you just sit there waiting. All sorts of worst case scenarios flow through your mind. What if the desk was haunted? What if there was a serial killer living in the desk? What if the desk was a mimic and it was going to eat you?

Ever so slowly, you try to pull your leg back. Whatever is holding you keeps their grip. You reluctantly peer down, and beyond your chubby legs you see maroon eyes glowing in the shadows. You scream and kick back, trying to scramble from your chair you fall with a thud onto the floor. 

“Easy. Easy!” A voice comes from the shadows.

You kick the hand away and try to get up, but you trip over a cord and hit the floor again. Looking back, you see something coming out from under the desk. The way it comes out, it almost looks like a fuzzy caterpillar. It twists slightly, and you see legs from under a very wide tail. 

“I just want you to stop kicking me!” The creature rises, turning it’s head towards you. The face is long with angular contours. The bottom lip juts out with tusks rising from the mouth. Long ears twitch, perking up as it looks at you. Those maroon eyes narrow then widen before long, grey blue hair falls into its face.

You sit there frozen, unable to move or breathe. “Puh-please, don’t e-eat me!” You manage to squeak out in fright. You cover your head with your arms and begin to cry,

“I don’t eat humans,” the monster grumps. “If I wanted to eat garbage I would.” It moves closer to you, squatting down in front of you. It’s feet are absolutely hug, the dark toes spread out wide from it’s heavy weight. Each toe is capped by a sharp claw. The dark fur is midnight blue with a shimmer that swirls. It fades into dusky beige, then pale sand at the belly. 

“Hey,” it says gently. “I ain’t gonna hurt you.” A massive paw sits at the top of your head. “My kind don’t do that.”