Conrad woke to the sound of a wheel spinning upstairs that made a tak-tak-tak sound before stopping. He slowly crawled out of bed with a slump and put on his jacket. It had been many days of this waking nightmare, the same apartment with a locked door. With his green canvas bedspread and green pillows, the nightmare had good taste. He heard the coffee maker stop.

“Guess someone made me a cup of coffee this nightmare…” he said to himself and went to have coffee. The television in the room was playing casino ads, weirdly. He didn’t care much for gambling away money, but then he saw a hoofed man talking into a mic on the television.

“To Conrad. I hope you’re enjoying your stay in this dimension. I’m inviting you to the casino in the city. You know, Blue Waves casino outside the city.” The hoof man finished speaking into the mic, and the television turned off.

“Was that a devil? Or a demon? Monster? Guess I’m off to the casino…” He finished his coffee, and when he heard the door unlock, he went outside to the street.

When he got to the street, it was dark, pitch black except for circles created by the street lamps. The fog was gone, which made him feel a bit uneasy. The walk to the casino was slow, and all he heard was the hum of electrical power lines along the street lamp lights, the crunch of his steps on concrete through the impenetrable darkness.

The walk up to the Casino was lit up like a beacon. Its lights flashed, and bubblegum pop music played over the speakers. Inside were slot machines, gambling tables, and gambling wheels of all kinds. A tarot card lay on the ground at the front entrance. He picked it up and revealed to him “The Wheel of Fortune” card. It had a picture of a horizontal roulette wheel with black and red cards cascading around the outside. There were bags of green money on the ground that looked dirty on the card.

He put the card in his back pocket and pushed through the doors. He walked around looking at the machines and tables. A lot of them had been played or were giving demos of how it’s played. The bubblegum pop music was drowned out by the sound of slot machine levers being pulled on their own.

In the far back, a man in a top hat played a slot machine behind glass.

Conrad ignored him and came up to this large slot machine with a sign attached that read “Pull me, Conrad.” So he did pull the lever. The lights in the casino started flickering as the reels spun on the large screen.

Suddenly, the bubblegum pop music started to slow and sound infernal. The lights began to burst while the slot machine bled red. The large slot machine reels started to stop revealing a red bloody eyeball on the first reel. With each spin of the reel, the sound of growling could be heard coming from the slot machine. It felt like an eternity for the second red eyeball to drop; blood was now dripping from the reels and pooling at Conrad’s feet. As Conrad watched the final red eyeball drop down, the machine let out a sinister laugh and flashed its lights. Suddenly, the slot machine started shooting bloody eyeballs out at Conrad, and the machine started to tip over. He jumped to the side, and the machine came down with a loud thud, shaking the building.

Conrad got back up and started fixing his jacket when he saw a small black-bodied, stick-armed, animal skull-wearing monster that shrieked at him. Then it said, mimicking a devilish voice, “Help me…” all raspy.

“Da fuck?!” Conrad yelled while looking at it. He turned to run, hearing the monster’s long nails scratch along the stone floor to chase him. He looked back while running, and the creature was scuttling along all wobbly after him while grating its teeth. He ran down the hall and saw “Show Lounge” doors. He ran into the room and shut the door behind him. The monster scratched at the door. Conrad was in pitch darkness, panting heavily from the chase. That’s when he heard… applause?