After-Life

Chapter 7. Lilith

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that many will encounter a moment in their living years, which will inspire them to consider what sounds will accompany them down to the lower echelons of Hell. Some like to believe it is a song that they loathe, being played on a loop. Others like to consider the prospect of torturous scenes, screams of agony, the groans and moaning of the maimed haunting their every move deeper down.
Few realise that the sound is universal. It is the sound of a steady and constant clicking, like that of someone tap-tap-tapping on a typewriter. For you see, as one descends to the abyss, the walls of its entrance are lined with drab and dull offices, filled with hosts of grey-faced dictators forced into a life of administrative servitude; no longer able to rise above their ranks and speak out loud enough to rally the masses. Their punishment is to remain mute and serve no other purpose but to fill in the same questions on a questionnaire over, and over until their fingers start to shrink and blister into minuscule stumps.

It was a subtle form of torture, but one that Lilith enjoyed watching; not least because most of the dictators surrounding her, reminded her of the same men that had once scrutinized and ostracized her. If the dictators served as the administrative team, Lilith was their taskmaster; sat quite comfortably on a plush cushioned swivel, office chair.
Times had changed since she'd been cast out of Eden for not abiding by Adam's rule. Once upon a time, she'd had a throne. Thrones were grand, extravagant pieces of furniture that symbolised power and dominion. Lilith had hated her throne. How can one illustrate their power as their arse goes numb on a harsh slab of carved alabaster? She'd argued the point with Lucifer on multiple occasions.

It had cropped up in a staff meeting several months before Mabel's untimely passing, as to whether the managerial staff of Hell would like to make any changes to their office suites. Lilith's first and only request had been for the best office chair Hell could provide – and boy did they provide.
Memory foam seating that molded around her perfectly sculpted derriere. Controlled recline that ensured one could lean back languidly and not feel as though they were likely to be catapulted to the next dimension. One supportive, yet cushy headrest that ensured her meticulous posture would never run the risk of hunching. In short, the chair was just shy of perfection. There was only one flaw with the design, in Lilith's eyes. The seat would occasionally creak as she sat on it, causing a momentary lapse of self-confidence in her weight.

As Lilith surveyed her team of disheveled, diminished, and overall depressed dictators, Lilith sighed and leaned back languidly in her office chair throne. In the grand scheme of things, her life in this other realm wasn't too bad. It was on very rare occasions she felt compelled to intervene with the lives of humans in the world above, but, watching the misery play out on the faces of the men who had spent much of their lives using and abusing their power; was all the tonic she needed to ensure a happy and content life, ruling the entrance to Hell.
"How are you, this evening, my Queen?" The deep and harmonious voice of Samael, her partner, caressed Lilith's ears.

Lilith did not look like the rest of the demonic presence. In fact, many of the mortals entering Hell regularly overlooked her and considered her to be another human, like them; until she cracked a whip and they found themselves chastised for such thoughts. Lilith prided herself on looking every bit as human as she could, with raven black hair, and silken skin that shimmered and rippled in the dim light of Hellfire. Admittedly, she did like to flaunt her assets, but as far as she was concerned, she demanded such respect in her realm, that she could do so with the safety of knowing that if anyone so much as glanced at her with a salacious thought in mind, they would soon find themselves in a fate worse than that which they were already bound to, courtesy of Samael.
Lilith twitched the corner of her mouth in response to her lover, "I am well, my love. Must you test me with such trivial questions?" She sighed, already bored of the niceties.