Tonight, I enter my catacombs and see the door to upstairs is open. It’s that time – time to clean the cells. The demon’s cells get overwhelmed with shit – and only I can clean it up.
I head upstairs to the room of shit and baggage. When I get to the top, I fire up the torches that expose the massive room – the largest in the entire catacombs – more extensive than the coliseum and much larger than the lounge. Bags of shit fill the whole space – from wall to wall – from floor to ceiling. When it gets nearly full, the room extends further back, allowing for more bags of shit – more baggage – to be deposited.
I grab my tools – a hand trowel, some soap, a water bottle, a few washcloths, and several empty canvas bags.
I head back downstairs and walk past Hate and head downstairs to the lounge. I fill up the water bottle and head back up to the demon cells.
I walk over to the cell of the Fear family. With only three members, the cleanup should be quicker, though they are fed well. Fear awakens as I approach. It sees me with my tools, walks over to the cell door, and unlocks the door to let me in. The doors are locked on the inside as the demons have free reign over the entire catacombs. Though it is my catacombs, I am restricted.
With my entry, Failure, and Inferiority awaken, stand up and move right next to Fear. They always enjoy watching me clean their cell.
Shit is absolutely everywhere. It isn’t in a single pile or in one part of the cell. Wherever it lands at that moment is where it stays – where it stays until I clean.
I get on my hands and knees, open a canvas bag, take the hand trowel in my right hand and start scooping the shit into the bag. The shit is extensive and massive. As I scoop, it seems the piles never get smaller. I keep scooping over and over, but the cell is not cleaner. I fill the first canvas bag – six feet by three feet and weighing 50 pounds – and it seems I have made little progress. I grab a second bag and start filling it up. All the while, all the demons watch and stare. They know their cell will also be cleaned tonight.
After what seems like forever, the second bag gets filled. At least now the cell is nearly clean. I grab the third bag and finish this cell. The last part is the hardest – the trowel doesn’t work anymore. I have to use my hands – I have to use my fingers – use my fingernails – to dig up the shit from the cracks in the floor. When that’s completed, I have one last step. I grab the washcloth, soap, and the bottle of water. I pour water onto the washcloth, rub some soap on it and look at Fear. The family leader always goes first. Fear walks over to me, turns around and bends over. I take the damp soapy washcloth and wipe Fear’s ass. Fear leans deeper into my hand and the washcloth and sighs of pleasure as I wipe Fear’s shit-stained ass. All of the demons watching give huge smiles. I even hear a chuckle coming from Ugliness. I look at what used to be a white washcloth – now it is stained forever in Fear’s shit.
After I finish wiping Fear’s ass, Failure and Inferiority are next. Each one takes tremendous pleasure in being cleaned. They are nourished – nourished by my submission.
I throw the filthy towels into the 3rd bag, place the water bottle and soap in my pocket, and hoist all three bags onto my shoulders. Combined, the bags weigh over 120 pounds. I walk out of the cell and head to the stairs. I turn to face the stairs feeling the weight on my shoulders. 45 stairs lay in front of me – one for each year of my existence. I start heading up the stairs. When I finally reach the top, I drop the bags from my shoulders and heave them onto the smallest stack. I take a deep breath, grab fresh washcloths, and head back down – all the way down to the lounge for more water and then head back up to the demon corridor.
I decide to take on the largest family – the Insecurity family and its six members – just to get it over with. The routine is the same – scoop and bag up the shit, clean out the cracks with my fingernails, wipe their asses, and haul the bags of shit to storage upstairs. Insecurity’s cell takes quite some time and fills 11 bags. I take six trips this time as my strength wanes from the weight of the shit – the weight on my shoulders.
I keep going from room to room. In the end, eight rooms cleaned, 30 bags of shit taken upstairs – enough for the room to expand – 810 stairs climbed upstairs to storage, 26 asses wiped – 26 demons nourished by my submission. Ugliness laughed the entire time I worked his cell – especially when I wiped its ass. I leave the trowel upstairs head back downstairs.
I finally get to Hate’s cell – always the last. Always when I am completely exhausted. Already when I want my humiliation to be over. The other demons are all still awake – waiting for the final cleaning. Hate unlocks its cell, and I enter. Hate towers over me, but no matter what, always faces me. Always looking – unblinking – with those damn staring eyes. Those eyes that show the purity of Hate inside.
Hate’s cell is completely clean. There is no shit laying around like the others. The floor is always pristine.
I lay down on the floor and open my mouth. Hate steps above me – and shits in my mouth – while staring at me into my eyes. There isn’t much – just a taste. I feel the warmth fill my mouth; the smell is more putrid than the others. A drip misses its mark and starts heading down my cheek. My hand – and then my tongue – stops the progress of that drip.
Hate steps back but keeps the stare. There is no joy, no satisfaction, no reaction at all from the final submission. I get to my feet slowly as my body, my mind, my soul aches from the cleaning. I depart Hate’s cell, and Hate locks the door behind me.
Utterly exhausted, I go to the lounge. The bar is closed as Dead Friends and Lost Loves are asleep. I could wash out my mouth – but why? The taste of shit reminds me of the task completed — the capitulation. I could take off my clothes, but for the same reasons, I don’t. I lay on the couch with the taste of shit in my mouth, the smell of shit on my clothes, the remnants of shit under my fingernails, and fall asleep while Hate and the other demons watch over me.