the Elephant

“Well…this is different.”

I had woken up to an ash grey monolith in the middle of my bedroom. I hesitated before getting out of bed, unsure of what to do. I was tempted to stay put and cover my head with my sheets, but I also wanted to figure out what the hell was in front of my bed.

Breathing in, I got up and carefully walked a full circle around it. I eventually measured, poked and prodded at the unyielding pillar. It was 180 cm tall and 60 cm wide, made of what felt like a silky brushed marble, and looked like opaque frosted glass. It had a strange quality to it where its temperature depended on what was going on around it-or rather, what was going on around me. After a shower it fogged up and was covered in water droplets like it had washed off with me.

Most of the time I hated the monolith—its presence was stifling and I didn’t know why.

It never added to the ambiance, it never lit up or made noise or moved. It barely acknowledged when I interacted with it.

I had figured out it worked somewhat like a double sided mirror. How, I couldn’t say, but I just had this understanding…it was like, I woke up knowing.

Occasionally I spoke to it, I told it about my thoughts I while I dressed. Sometimes I tried to cater to its taste, but mostly didn’t because I knew it knew I looked good regardless.

I danced naked in front of the obelisk, on it. I sang to it. I read it Goosebumps in a forest green t-string.

I stripped for it and sobbed when it didn’t throw money. I ignored it altogether.

Once, it turned from its sullen ash grey to a deep, muted slate. I wasn’t sure if I had seen it happen or not. Did it happen when I blinked? Did I see it slowly transition from one shade to another? How long had it been slightly azure for? Would it change again?

It was the first time I had noticed I wasn’t able to see beyond my room clearly when I was behind the monolith. I lived on the edge of a cliff, and usually looked outside my bay window to monitor how much time I had before I had to drag my bedroom three more feet from the bluff.

It was draining me. Would it change again?

I stuck my diploma to it. I rubbed my clitoris on it. I licked it from base to top. I ignored it…I agonized over it. I leaned against it, I propped up my feet on it.

I was reading the monolith erotic poems while sitting on my bed, naked except for an open silk robe. Suddenly the room felt like it had shifted ever so slightly. Like it had creaked and I had just barely heard it. Was my room no longer level?

I put the book down and stepped around the monolith, looking out the window. I couldn’t see anything but the expanse leading down to the bottom of the cliff.

“This…is stupid.” I closed my robe and left my room.