Devils Den

93

"Do you hear that?" Felix silenced me.

The floorboards outside creaked, someone was walking past our room. "ROOM SERVICE!"

I jumped from the loud volume of the woman's voice.

"No, go away!" Felix yelled back. The woman retreated from the door, we could hear her faint footsteps walking up to the next level. "Damn, I thought it was Jude."

"As did I." We confessed. "Do you hear anything?" I asked Felix–who was now pressing his ear against the wall.

"No," He pressed off the wall. "you come try." He waved me over to his bed. There was a picture hanging over my bed, so I couldn't press my ear against the wall–hence why I am heading over to Felixs' bed to do it.

I hesitated but eventually pressed my left ear against the wall–Felix sitting on my bed now across from me. At first, there was nothing, the faint sound of the water pipes in the walls, until I heard footsteps.

'Nothing.' I mouthed to Felix. We hadn't heard anything from Jude's room all day.

"Now what?" He whispered.

I brought my finger to my lips shushing Felix silently, trying to listen for more, pressing my ear harder against the wall.

A crashing sound came from the other side of the wall causing me to back away in a hurry.

"What was that?" Felix asked curiously yet concerned.

"I don't know." I hurriedly pressed my ear against the wall again. Silent. "I don't hear anything anymore." I sat back down on Felixs' bed.

Felix sighed, "He probably left the room. The loud noise was probably the door slamming shut."

"Where would he be going?"

"I don't know, and I don't want to know." He looked at me with sympathy. "But he could possibly be reconnecting with some old friends."

"Maybe." I agreed even though some part of me thought differently.

"Turn the TV on." He pointed to the remote, leaning against the headboard.

I leaned up against Felixs' headboard, turning the TV on. The screen lit the room, Malorie's face popping up. It was an advertisement for the whorehouse she ran, her tail in her mouth as she spoke seductively, the tip of her tail–trailing her face.

"I forgot to ask but, why does Malorie have a tail, and none of you don't?" I asked Felix, my head turning to him yet my eyes stared at the TV.

"I think women have tails in Hell depending on the level they are on. She assumed you were on an upper level because you don't have one, so maybe that's the reason." Felix explained, confused himself.

"Men don't?"

"I haven't really explored the lower levels to know–besides Emrys house, of course." He shrugged. "But I've always assumed Satan has one, horns too." He nodded, confirming his thoughts.

"Is the house you five lived in at the very top?" I continued to ask him questions. It's not that I didn't want to ask Jude these questions, I just knew he wouldn't answer–he would rather spend his time silently with me and not dwell on his life in Hell.

"No?" Felix questioned his own answer. "I don't think so. I'm pretty sure we'd know if we were at the top. Besides, I think the elderly are on the top."

"Elderly? Shouldn't they be lower because of their intelligence level?"

"Intelligent or not, they're old." He pursed his lips. "Can't do much about age here."