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Catalogue of Anxieties

The Boiler Room

The Boiler Room

Mar 27, 2024

Do you know what happens when the boiler room runs cold? 


[The machines are quiet.]


The whole building grows sluggish.


[The Plaza groans.]


Down in the boiler room gather all the things that were left behind.


[It's so dark.]


Shambling forward with the legs of something newly born.


[We've been waiting for you here.]


Do you feel the pounding in your head, the pounding in your ears?


[You're meant to be here.]


Down here with the lint and the dust and the grime. Among the sound of the pipes. 


[The throbbing in your temple pulls you to ours.]


Finally you've listened / finally you've come


After so much time beating the floor beneath your feet.


[We reached through the grout.]


You can use anything you like to remake yourself.


The rust flakes. The mold patches. The unscrubbed dirt and chipped tile. Just choose one. Or several. Or many.


[Embrace being forgotten.]


Keep the boiler going [keep the boiler going].


Make yourself better suited. Make yourself at home.


[Every machine needs someone to stoke the flame.]


A final use not everyone gets. A second career. [A perpetual life.]


[As long as the rot grows, we live.] As long as the building lives, we work. [As long as things are forgotten, we thrive.]


[Welcome home.]


Welcome home.


[Welcome home.]

allieverablog
Allie Vera

Creator

Long time no see! I was unfortunately waylaid by burnout toward the end of 2023, and after a long recovery I've been focusing on other commitments like Adonia AI and Lost in Limbo. I missed writing for myself, and I missed posting here, but sometimes life has other plans! Thank you for staying with me.

Thankfully I've come across some free time again, so here we are! This piece has been mostly finished for a while; it was slated for The Plaza*, but felt too much like a 'final boss' moment and not tied strongly enough to the office theme for me to follow through with it. Still, I like what came out of it, and I hope you do too.

I've got one other cut Plaza piece that is very close to being finished, and I'm hoping to have at least one other story loaded as well. Life is still busy, but I'm doing my best to make time for myself. Thanks for reading, and I hope to see you again soon!

*If you missed it, I published The Plaza as a collaborative anthology in October 2023. Check it out here: https://allievera.itch.io/the-plaza

#horror #surreal #Atmospheric #short_story

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The Boiler Room

The Boiler Room

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