“Alice, what the hell are you wearing?”
Alice stood in her bedroom and trembled beneath the weight of her husband’s critical glare. The delicate black lace nightgown that had seemed so beautiful only minutes before now left her feeling naked and ashamed. She covered herself with her hands as she spoke.
“It’s lingerie. I thought maybe, since tonight was our anniversary…”
“Oh for god’s sake! Lingerie is for fashion models and skinny teenage girls. Not for flabby housewives like you!” Her husband, Hal, jabbed a derisive finger into her well-padded ribs. “You look like a whale caught in a tuna net.”
“How can you say that? I lost ten pounds last month—”
“You could lose a hundred pounds and I still wouldn’t know the difference. Face it Alice. You’re old and you’re fat. Those things aren’t going to change.”
“Well maybe they won’t,” Alice replied, drawing herself up even as the tears spilled down her face. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t feel pretty, does it?”
Hal sneered. “Actually, yeah it does. Now quit being stupid and take off that ridiculous outfit.”
He turned to go. Alice shrieked at him. “Is your girlfriend young and pretty? Is she a super model? Maybe you should give her this!” She tore off the nightgown and threw it at her husband. He caught it and held it up.
“It wouldn’t fit her,” he said, dropping the lacy garment to the floor. “It’s too big.”
He walked out and Alice crumpled onto the bed.
“I ha-ha-hate him! Why does he have to be such a m-m-monster?!” She curled into a ball on the mattress. Heavy sobs wracked her body. Tears blinded her eyes. She cried until she thought she would be sick and then she cried some more. The room grew dark as evening stretched into night. Eventually, Alice’s sobs slowed and she listened to the ragged sound of her own breathing until she drifted off. At least she thought she drifted off. She didn’t remember, but there was a weight settling in the bed beside her. Her husband must have come home.
“Hal?” Her voice cracked on his name. In the dark, someone stroked her hair and offered her a tissue. Alice took it and wiped at her face. Was this an apology? From Hal? She reached for the bedside lamp, but something (Hal’s hand?) wrapped around her wrist and gently pulled it back. The gentle touch continued stroking her hair, while yet another traced the curve of her neck. Then limbs, warm and strong, wrapped around her and Alice relaxed into their embrace with a sigh.
“Oh Hal, you love me after all…”
But then something very strange happened. “Hal” moved to cup her breasts. Alice froze. Her husband hadn’t touched her breasts in ages. In fact, he had never in all their years of marriage held her so tenderly. Nor did he have enough hands to fondle her breasts, stroke her hair and tickle her neck all at once. So it couldn’t be Hal in bed with her. But who…?
Alice bolted upright and hit the lamp. When the light flashed on, she saw several tentacles—long, green and furry—wrapped about her body.
“Oh my god!” Alice twisted around in the grip of a monster. With a shriek, she slapped at the limbs that held her. The five shaggy green tentacles released her and darted away. Screaming, Alice jumped off the bed and raced to the closet. She grabbed the baseball bat she kept hidden there and brandished it at the thing that writhed about her bed. The bulk of it appeared to be hiding beneath the mattress while a dozen wildly waving limbs poured out from either side. One of them reached for her and she took a swing at it and then another. The monster recoiled as she battered her way through the bedroom, still screaming. She knocked over the lamp and smashed a hole in the wall before she finally connected with her target. A high pitched squeal pierced the air and all the tentacles disappeared beneath the bed.
“Monster! MONSTER!” Alice retreated to the closet and grabbed her robe. She shouted at the bed. “I don’t know what you are, but I’m going to finish you off! How dare you sneak into my room!” Holding out the bat, she stalked toward the monster’s hiding place. When she reached it, she snatched the lamp from the floor and shined it beneath the bed. Something slithered to the farthest, darkest corner and whimpered.
“Come out, you coward!” Alice peered into the darkness beneath the bed. A trio of yellow, glowing eyes peered back. The eyes reminded her of a cat, a very frightened cat that nursed a wounded limb. Her heart softened at the sounds of whimpering coming from the dark corner. The whole bed shook with the creature’s trembling.
“Geez Louise, you’re more scared than I am.”
Alice set the bat aside and lay down on her stomach. She tried aiming the light of the lamp directly at the creature, but no matter where she pointed it, the thing slithered away. At last she gave up and crawled away from the bed.
“Just great,” she muttered as she settled onto the floor beside the bed. “First Hal and now this. Some anniversary this turned out to be.”
Alice sniffed and pushed at the tears that flowed once more down her face. She really shouldn’t cry over Hal. She’d known for years that he was a jerk, but she had thought… well, she had hoped that if she lost some weight and dressed up a bit, she might regain his heart. Now she wondered if she had ever had it in the first place.
Something skittered beneath the bed. Alice grabbed the bat again and watched as another furry green tentacle tentatively slipped out and felt around the floor. It found the tissue box it had dropped earlier when Alice had attacked it and pushed it toward her, waiting. The tentacle that proffered the box looked swollen and bruised. Probably the one she’d nailed, Alice thought. After several moments, she dared to snatch a tissue and blow her nose. When nothing bad happened, she grabbed a second tissue to dab at her eyes. Before she could reach for the third, the tentacle plucked it out and offered it to her. Alice accepted it, gasping as her fingers brushed the strange appendage. It was really quite warm.
“Thank you,” she murmured. The tentacle bobbed in response. A second twining limb slipped out and found the abandoned nightgown on the floor. It smoothed the garment with a delicate touch and held it toward her.
“Oh! I… I can’t wear that,” she said. “Hal’s right. I’m too fat.”
The tentacle placed the nightgown at her feet, urging her to put it on.
“No, really, I shouldn’t. I look ridiculous…”
More tentacles came out and reached for her. At first Alice thought maybe she was about to be grabbed and eaten, but the tentacles merely stroked her skin and hair. Their touch was warm and soothing. Once more, she felt herself relax. She released her grip on the bat. A pair of the fuzzy green limbs picked up the nightgown and held it over Alice’s head.
“Oh all right.”
She pulled off her robe and raised her arms. The tentacles slid the nightgown over her torso. More tentacles gently pulled her to her feet and guided her to the full-length mirror on the closet door.
“It’s from Veronica’s Boudoir,” she explained to the tentacles as she stared at her plump, silk clad figure. “It was so pretty, and I thought if I wore it, maybe I’d be pretty too.”
The tentacles bobbed in response. A distinct purring noise came from under the bed. Alice giggled.
“You like it?”
A tentacle caressed her face. Another slipped around her waist to give her a squeeze. A third slipped beneath the hem of her nightgown to stroke her leg.
“Oh! You’re so bad!”
Slowly, the tentacles steered Alice to the bed. She lay down on her belly and peered underneath to see the three glowing eyes again.
“I always knew there was something under there,” she whispered. “I tried to tell Hal, but he said I was being stupid. He says that a lot.”
The eyes glared at the mention of her husband’s name, then softened. Something impossibly long and wet and pink, a tongue perhaps, flickered out of the dark to tickle Alice’s ear. She laughed.
“I like you. I don’t know what you are, but you’re so much nicer than Hal.”
The tongue tickled Alice’s ear again then slid down to her neck. As the tentacles rolled her onto her back, the tongue slipped inside her gown. It found one of her nipples and flicked back and forth over it, causing the flesh to tighten into a knot. Alice groaned and shifted on the bed. The tentacles began caressing her again, stroking her arms and legs. They slid under her nightgown to brush the insides of her thighs. Meanwhile, the tongue slipped further and further down her belly, leaving a hot wet trail behind it. It licked at her navel then teased its way to her groin. A pair of tentacles spread Alice’s legs apart and the tongue slithered between her thighs to taste her cunt.
“Oh! Oh yes!” Alice writhed on the bed, enjoying the attentions of the strange creature beneath her bed. It touched her in ways Hal had never bothered to try, teasing her full breasts, lapping at her swollen clit. When a thick, rigid tentacle slipped between her legs to probe at her cunt, she didn’t resist. In fact, she welcomed it, spreading her legs as far apart as she could to accommodate the throbbing length of flesh.
The tentacle plunged into her, filling her and stretching her wide. Alice groaned. When it pulled back and plunged into her again, she cried out.
“Yes! More!”
The tentacle obliged. It pumped into her again and again. All the while the strange tongue feasted on her clit. Alice had never felt anything so wonderful, so amazing, so—
“What the hell is going on here?!”
“Hal!”
Alice sat up with a squeak. Her husband stood in the doorway gaping at her.
“I came home to let you apologize, and this is what I find?! You perverted little slut! You filthy whore! What is that thing crawling out from beneath our bed?”
Alice didn’t get to answer. A pair of furry green tentacles flew out and grabbed Hal by the throat. He let out a choked scream as he was yanked beneath the bed. Alice clung to the headboard as the mattress shuddered and rocked beneath her. More screams followed, accompanied by sounds of violent ripping and chomping. Then the screams stopped and the bed settled down. Alice heard a strange slurping noise and a long, low burp. She looked over the edge just in time to see something small, round and gold roll out.
“Hal?” She reached down and picked up her husband’s wedding ring, then looked beneath the bed. The three weird eyes looked bashful and apologetic.
“You ate him?” Alice asked.
The tentacles slowly came out and nodded.
“But that’s horrible!” Alice told the creature. “He was my husband!”
“And I bet he tasted awful.” She rolled back on the bed. The tentacles followed. “Here,” she said. “Let’s get that nasty taste out of your mouth and feed you something nicer.”
She pulled up the hem of her nightgown and the monster beneath the bed came out to eat its fill.
© 2008 Helen E. H. Madden. All rights reserved. Content may not be copied or used in whole or part without written permission from the author.