The office was as barren as ever
Four underwhelming walls with
Little to no room
And the clock
Keeps ticking when the
Hand doesn’t move.
Piles of perforated paper
Scattered across the rickety desk
I drop my box
Filled with trinkets and toys and painted picture frames
As the glass particles slowly consume
The dead space.
Crimson sky permeates
Powerful, persisting.
Like the devil himself brought
His full fit of rage and
Directed it to me
In this corporate hellfire.
Lilith, the local secretary, makes her presence known
Her cheery demeanor a stark contrast
She works the floor below
Taking phone calls, directing clients
The task is simple enough
A 9 to 5 in hell
Before she saunters away she reminds me
Even Lucifer gets recompensed
For good behavior
And licking Satan’s boots
Sucking up the boss
As all employees do.
Not living enough to have any potential
Not dead enough to tell no tales
It’s everlasting purgatory
Where folks banter around our communal printer
Nirvana forever out of reach
And the infernal regions just around the corner
Trudging towards that repulsive desk
Stocked to the brim with revolting papers
Of names and faces that I will never know
Of names and faces that I will come to know
Of names and faces that will despise me
For the actions the man above puppeteers
Look over the page
View the description
Checkmark the box
X marks the spot
Watch as the life leaves their eyes
For I’m the one in charge
Feeling ever so powerless
Yet it’s in my hands
Why should I be responsible?
Who lives, who dies
Who becomes like me
All for eleven eighty an hour