《The Seven Helpful Sins》


 Prologue: The Mysterious Book

    It was another day dragging along the streets of New York, every day I live as the loser who¡¯s accepted his fate, working a dead-end night-shift job with slews of colorful characters. After my shift ends I drag myself home for a rest before I begin my barrista-boy day job, constantly getting scolded by middle-aged white women. Why do I continue when I¡¯ve given up hope? The letters in my mailbox always give a grim reminder. Bills upon bills needing monthly payments just to keep one person alive, my father. Call after call, hangup after hangup, no relatives ever give a damn dime for his coma. Bastards, the whole lot of ''em.


    It was another night-shift at the 7-11 and a curious customer comes in cloaked with an ancient-looking dark hood. I thought to myself that this might be another robbery, and I had my finger hovering over the alarm button under the desk. The cloaked man stalked the aisles looking at the goods. Upon further inspection it looked like he was wearing some sort of stone-looking mask. He noticed the pastry display case and curiously opened the case. Believing it was only sleep deprivation, I thought I saw some sort of mist flow from his sleeve. He came to the counter with his chosen doughnut and to my surprise, it appeared that the eye slits in his mask were covered. ¡°Perhaps he¡¯s blind?¡± I thought to myself. Regardless, he placed the doughnut onto the counter. Silence. Nervously, I told him ¡°The price for that is 75 cents¡­ sir?¡± Saying nothing he stuck his right hand into his cloak, rummaging for something. Concerningly, I held my finger just above the alarm, but soon relaxed when he took out a book and placed it on the counter. I stared at the rotting cover with the number 7 etched into it with a golden backing. As I went to look back at the customer he was gone, surprisingly along with the doughnut.


    Following the end of my shift, I carried the book and checked the first page. Inside I saw that there was a list written in black ink. It read like so:


    <ol>


    <li style="font-weight: 400">Upon flipping to the following page of this book, the reader shall be subjected to the curse of the seven deadly sins.</li>


    <li style="font-weight: 400">The curse plagues the afflicted with visions and voices of human manifestations of lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride.</li>


    <li style="font-weight: 400">This curse is not entirely without virtue, as the reader will be able to demand one wish within the powers of the sins.</li>


    </ol>


    Beware: As the sins will grant the wish as they see fit, twisting your wish into yet another curse of their own design.


    Closing the book after the last warning, I wondered to myself whether or not this book could even be real. I left it upon the desk in my small apartment and fell asleep. After finishing another dreadful day at the coffee shop, I flopped unto my bed, when I heard my phone buzz on my desk. Answering it I heard the caller tell me that my father¡¯s coma was worsening and that without payments by the next morning, he would be forcefully discharged. I didn¡¯t have enough money, and wondering how I would pay the bills, my eyes fell upon the weathered book.


    Disregarding the warning and the curse, I turned to the second page, and upon doing so, a whirlwind of smoke and lights flooded my room (luckily I had the blinds shut). Desperately trying to close the book, upon reaching it the storm had already subsided. As I tried to grasp exactly what happened, I realized that every page in the book was empty. Worrying that the storm may happen again, I tossed the book into my closet and suddenly fell unconscious.


    Upon waking back up, I noticed three figures floating in the air above me, talking amongst themselves. The slim one in a black suit coat told the other two ¡°Well what should we do when he wakes up? Surely he has something he needs to do.¡±This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    The one with the rugged body and gangster like clothes snapped back at him, sneering ¡°the rest of his life can fuck off for now, right he¡¯s gotta deal with us.¡±


    Finally, the curvy one clinging to the suited one noticed my eavesdropping ¡°looks like the little puppy is awake boys, let¡¯s introduce ourselves. Wrath, go get the others.¡± The gangster one stormed off around the corner, grabbed an overweight figure attached to my fridge and tossed it back at the two. ¡°One of you two wake up sloth while I get greed and envy.¡±


    Looking upon my bed I see a bulky man with pajamas on, my jaw agape at the scene unfolding before me, I ask ¡°Who are you people?¡±


    The suited man responded ¡°We are the seven deadly sins, I assume you¡¯ve read the interior cover of the book yes?¡± Glancing at my closet I gulp and nod. ¡°Wonderful, when the other sins arrive we will discuss the matter of your wish.¡± he continued. Amazing, what work of wonder is this? ¡°I assume you are wondering about the limits of your wishes yes? Well let me clarify our restrictions. Initially, we were able to create and destroy large quantities of matter and take control over the minds of nearly the entire world, but as you can tell by the wear on the book, we have been circulating about humanity for quite some time. Consequently, we are unable to perform as well as we have been able to as before. Say if you were to ask for money, the most we could do is $100. For popularity, maybe a million views on a Viewtube video. Do you understand?¡± I nod again. ¡°Good. Ah, here comes the remaining sins.¡±


    I look back at the hallway and see the gangster-like man barge down the hallway dragging two figures, one bespectacled and with a business outfit on, another one with his face staring angrily at his phone. The gangster-like man tossed the other two into the corner of my apartment as he scowled at the other two, ¡°I thought I told you fucks to wake up sloth before I get back didn¡¯t I, and why the hell is the fat fuck asleep?¡±


    The suited man chuckled, ¡°Worry not Wrath, Lust can arouse those two from slumber easily. Lust, if you may.¡± The curvacious woman released herself from the suited man and a strange pink mist smoothly pooled out of her fingertips and wafted over to the sleeping figures. The bulky man groaned, turned, and slowly got up, I was concerned that he would break my ceiling but thankfully he hunched over. Regarding the obese man on the floor, he rose immediately at the smell, looked around, and frowned at the sight of the curvacious woman. They all stared at the suited man, who nodded towards me, making me the center of attention.


    ¡°Well boy, what is your wish?¡± asked the suited man.


    Before I could even say anything, the gangster like figure demanded ¡°If you don¡¯t make up your mind in 15 fucking seconds you ain¡¯t getting shit.¡± I frantically racked my brain. Popularity would get me nothing, the amount of money they could provide wouldn¡¯t do nearly anything, what I need is help.


    Jolting at the thought, I exclaimed ¡°Please, help me!¡±


    Bewildered by the request, the suited man fixed his tie, calmly inquiring ¡°Young lad, you must be more specific, just about any wish could be seen as help.¡±


    Alright, I guess I would need to be a bit more specific, ¡°Please, give me advice in my life, help me with jobs, relationships, everything!¡±


    Continuing his confusion, the suited man glanced at the other figures, ¡°Well, what say the rest of you?¡±


    ¡°This scrawny wimp seems like he could use a lesson or two in fighting¡±


    ¡°I checked his browser history, I can tell that this boy needs my help with his love life.¡±


    ¡°Ah, I was checking his portfolio, this kid sucks with money and his job is shit, I¡¯m up for lending a helping hand.¡±


    ¡°His fridge was entirely empty save for some energy drinks, I was sobbing at the door, this boy needs me.¡±


    ¡°That bed felt like it was hardly used, such an uncomfortable resting place was painful, I¡¯m in.¡±


    ¡°Browsing this facebook, just about everybody is more well off than him, I¡¯m up to change that.¡±


    ¡°Well boy, it looks like all of us are in agreement. We look forward to helping you as the seven deadly sins.¡±

 Chapter 1: The Name of the Sin

    Shortly after the decision from the group began introductions. ¡°Come now boy, let us introduce ourselves to you. My name is Pride, and I¡¯m often the guiding force of the group¡±


    ¡°Guiding force my ass, you¡¯re just the one who comes up with the plans¡±


    ¡°Ah yes, this here man¡¯s name is wrath, the loose cannon of the group, pardon him if he causes a nuisance.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯d you say motherfu-¡±


    ¡°Moving on, the alluring woman before you is known as lust, she always has a way to calm down the group with her pheromones.¡± That explains the pink mist.


    ¡°Well darling, feel free to ask if you ever want to be a man for the night.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t even think about it fucker¡± Interjected Wrath.


    ¡°The large man you see resting on your bed is Sloth, him and Wrath make up a large force of the manpower in our group.¡±


    ¡°Hello, my name¡¯s Gluttony, I¡¯m the steward and every meal I make is absolutely delicious, so much so that I often eat what I make as I prepare it.¡±


    ¡°Hehe, my name¡¯s Greed, call me sly but if there¡¯s a way to earn a quick buck you can bet on my wallet that I¡¯ll get it.¡±


    "And I''m envy, I''ll be sure to make your life tower over the others"


    ¡°Well that is all for our introductions, now tell us, what do you seek to gain from our cooperation?¡±


    I came up with the wish in the moment, how should I explain to them my situation? Well, I might as well just go for it, ¡°My name is Joseph, and I guess I should start from the beginning. I was born and raised in Albany, at the northern edge of New York. I lived a normal farming life there with my mother and father, however my mother passed away while I was 6 years old due to a kick to the chest while she was tending the cows. From that day onward I began to hate the farmlife.¡±If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    ¡°For the next 8 years I continued to attend the local grade school with my friends. But when we moved on to middle school we slowly drifted apart. I couldn¡¯t manage to find any new friends during my years there and this continued into my first year of high school as well. My father saw this and decided to sell the property as he managed to find an office job in New York. While I was trying to get acclimated to city life with just my dad, it seemed like he was wasting away due to his overworked position at the office. He couldn¡¯t afford to quit and find a new job because otherwise the high school fees would¡¯ve been too much for him to manage. Meanwhile I just continued my days being a loner. On graduation day I was the only one in my class whose family couldn¡¯t show up, my dad was a slave to his work. Waiting to start college until I could manage to earn enough money with my dad and doing part-time jobs, I received a call from the hospital, saying my father passed out and is currently in a coma. Dropping my shift and informing my boss, I ran as fast as I could to the emergency room and gazed upon a horrific sight. There upon the bed with a respirator attached to his face lay my father. I sobbed at his side, blaming myself to be the cause of his stress, and having nothing to prove for it.¡±


    ¡°The bad news came one after another that day, as shortly after I left the room, a nurse approached me and asked how I would pay this as neither of us had health insurance. Frantically I asked for a moment and started calling dad¡¯s brothers and sisters, begging for them to help with the hospital fees. One after another I heard the patronizing ¡®Oh that¡¯s horrible, but I can¡¯t help, we agreed to live our own lives, he is the only one responsible for himself.¡± I was in disbelief, none of them would even help when his life was on the life? I almost laughed to myself at how horrible this situation was. There was only one solution left, my college funds. Now I¡¯m taking on both a day job and a night job to take care of my unconscious dad while my future is draining away.¡± Almost tearing up myself I looked up at the reactions of the sins. Pride clasped his hands behind his back and stared down at the floor, wrath absently kicked at some lint on the ground, lust stared at me with sorrowful eyes and I could hear gluttony sobbing behind me, sloth was sitting up on the bed and stared at me blankly, and greed was staring at me with an almost upset frown set upon his face.


    ¡°It seems you have lived a hard life, boy¡± began pride ¡°It seems as though your situation is worse than we have all thought. Are you certain that all you merely wish for is for us to provide support?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯ve lived this past year only standing on my own two feet, and frankly I need help.¡±


    ¡°Well boy, starting tomorrow we will all look for ways to which we can help you live your life.¡± I glanced out the window and saw the sun was setting and frantically started to get dressed, ¡°hold it boy, I¡¯ve already contacted your manager and you are not to go in today. This was a decision made by sloth, and I hope you will understand that he is the most knowledgeable about rest.¡± I begrudgingly accepted the advice and laid back in my bed after the towering sloth slowly left it. I suppose that this is best for me, maybe my life can get better with the help of these sins.

 Chapter 2: Pride and a New Perspective

    Upon waking up, I began to think that last night¡¯s events were just a dream, but upon seeing Pride sitting cross-legged beside my bed made me painfully aware that this was my new reality. ¡°Good to see you awake boy, now it¡¯s time to get ready.¡±


    Walking over to my closet, I look for my barista outfit, but notice that everything was neat and organized. ¡°Where¡¯s my uniform?¡±


    ¡°Oh the green one? I put it up near the top, your closet was in shambles so I took the liberty of reorganizing everything. You should really be more organized with your items.¡± Taking my outfit out of the neat closet I got my wallet, keys, phone, and headed out the door.


    ¡°Did my shoes really need organization?¡±


    ¡°Boy, as I said before, you need to take pride in where you live, otherwise it shows you have no respect for it in the first place.¡± Sighing I walked out the door and began my walk to the starbucks.


    Glancing behind me I notice that Pride took to following me. It seems that nobody else can notice him seeing as how he¡¯s floating over the crowd without attracting any onlookers. Arriving at the starbucks I check in with the absent-minded manager Chelsea, sitting in the employee room with her legs stretched onto the table, eyes glued to her phone. I jump as I turn around and see Pride hovering around Chelsea, seemingly inspecting her. ¡°This, is your manager? She¡¯s so unkempt, does she even bother how her employees see her?¡±


    ¡°No, she doesn¡¯t since she can fire us on a moments notice and all of us need the job.¡± I whisper so that she doesn¡¯t notice. Glancing back I notice Pride crossing his arms with a disapproving glare at Chelsea, I chuckle at the sight. Chelsea glances up at me and I hurry back to the counter.


    ¡°So what is it exactly is it that you do here? I don¡¯t see any alcohol behind you so what do you serve?¡±


    ¡°Wait what was the last year you guys helped someone out?¡±


    ¡°I think the year was 1942.¡±


    I guess they didn¡¯t really have cafes like this back then. Curious about their past life, I asked ¡°So what was your last contractor like?"


    It seemed difficult for Pride to remember, but then he straightened his tie, ¡°Well he was a young lad under the name of John Eckert. A talented man he was. It took him a fair amount of time to make up his mind over his wish. Eventually he settled upon: ¡®I want to begin a technological revolution.¡¯ As we still had some power left, we granted his wish, and then back into the book we went.¡± A quick check on my phone left me with a sense of awe. These sins brought upon the world¡¯s first computer.


    Just then I heard the door-bell jingle and put on my service-face ¡°Hello welcome to starbucks, what would you like?¡± It was your standard overly hipster college student, with the stereotypical beard and beanie that he thinks makes him look cool, and not like a homeless person.


    Then began the standard chorus of hmmms and ummms I hear nearly every day. ¡°Can I get the venti pumpkin spice latte, but with soy milk instead of regular milk?¡±


    ¡°Yes sir, that will be a sixty cent upcharge."


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, here¡¯s my card¡±


    I swipe his card and hand it back to him, when I hear Pride question ¡°What is this thing called soy milk?¡±


    ¡°Well it¡¯s a recent health-craze where people use milk made from beans instead of regular milk as it¡¯s marginally healthier.¡±


    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be simpler to just exercise instead of paying more money for something that¡¯s slightly healthier?¡±


    ¡°Well not everybody has the time to exercise to so most people just have healthier diets.¡± Pride began to object but then sat in the air in a thinking position.


    Just then my co-worker John came in a sweat, late again. ¡°Sorry man, there was this wild party last night and you would not believe how fucking hungover I am.¡± I could as his breath still reeked of alcohol.


    ¡°My goodness, just what is it with the people around you? Both of your coworkers seem to have no manners or respect for their public appearance.¡±


    I shrug as I reply ¡°They each live their own lives, I don¡¯t really have a say in what they do.¡±Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    This just seemed to upset Pride even more, mumbling to himself ¡°You should not be living around such bad influences.¡± I chuckle remembering that I¡¯m the one living according to the seven deadly sins. The day went on as Pride continued his disapproving glare whenever a dishevelled customer walked through the doors. While me and John finished up our 8 hour shifts it seemed that Pride left at some point.


    As I left the store and began my walk home, it seemed almost a little lonely with Pride not nearby. Shrugging it off as some psychological phooey I continued my walk to my apartment. It was then that I saw Pride floating in the air with a laptop. ¡°Wait how do you guys know how to use technology? I thought your last contract was in 1942.¡±


    ¡°Boy, just because we lived inside the book did not mean we didn¡¯t adapt to the times.¡±


    ¡°But didn¡¯t you say that you didn¡¯t know what soy-milk was¡±


    ¡°Just because we could adapt to the times doesn¡¯t mean we¡¯re aware of every minute detail.¡± Not knowing how to respond I changed into my night uniform, set my alarm for my next shift and got into bed.


    Upon waking up I was mortified to see the sun had risen up. ¡°Good morning boy, it seems you¡¯re quite confused, but I discussed with Sloth and came to the decision that you would quit your night job, meanwhile I also had you quit your job at that star bucks.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t believe it, these people who just came into my life two days ago had already ruined it. ¡°You did WHAT? My future depended on those jobs, how could you do this?¡±


    ¡°Now you listen here boy, we¡¯ve lived longer than you imagine and you best believe that we know how society works. Do you know who we are? We live throughout every human being, we know how they operate. Regardless you shouldn¡¯t even worry, you have a big day today and should eat first, Gluttony has prepared breakfast and is out getting some more ingredients.¡±


    I begrudgingly get out of bed and see a wide spread of delicious looking food upon the table. My hunger won over my anger and I begin to eat, it was all delicious. ¡°Wait, how did Gluttony get these ingredients? I don¡¯t remember having nearly any of this in the fridge, and it didn¡¯t seem like you guys could be seen.¡±


    ¡°Boy, what you see before you is our incorporeal forms, you see us as human-like creatures that generally represent our sin yes? We don¡¯t really have an actual appearance, and our forms differ from person to person. Right now Gluttony is out shopping in a corporeal form appears as a normal human being for this era, clothes and all.¡±


    ¡°Wait so who¡¯s paying for the food?¡±


    ¡°That would be you boy, but I suppose you would get mad over this. In response, I¡¯ve worked out with Greed several interviews to get you a more proper job¡± I freeze up as I remember the horrible office job that forced my dad into his coma. ¡°Boy? You seem tense¡­ Oh, pardon, you must have thought of your father¡¯s job. Well worry not, I took that into account with Sloth so it won¡¯t ruin your mental wellbeing.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a relief, so when do the interviews start?"


    ¡°About half an hour from now. I¡¯ve already picked out a suit, pants, and shoes for you and I worked over with Envy a good resume for you. Now since you¡¯re finished eating let¡¯s get you dressed and well groomed for your first interview.¡± Lust helped me get a new hairstyle and it seemed she had a new cologne for me, I really hope I still have some money left after their spending spree, hopefully Greed kept my wallet in check.


    As I walked down the city streets I couldn¡¯t help but notice that I was attracting the glances of some people as I walked past. It felt amazing to be a center of attention, even though I didn¡¯t really deserve it. The first interview was at a software analyst firm. I was asked about how I worked in a team environment, how I worked with or without a deadline, whether I would work at home or at an office, and so many other questions that it nearly made my head spin. Thankfully during the interview I was given my answers through Pride, who seemed to know exactly how to boost my reputation. ¡°Thank you Joseph, we¡¯ll be sure to contact you on whether or not you will get the position.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, have a good day¡± says Pride as I repeat it. I walk out with an odd sense of pride, somewhat that I managed to get through the interview, but somehow not since I merely repeated what Pride had told me to say. The next interview was for a mail and file clerk with the same interview routine as before. Next was for a data entry position, the next for a lobby ambassador, and lastly as a stockbroker trainee.


    Mentally drained from the pressure during the interviews, it was finally time to head home. Upon the table laid another splendid meal and my stomach growled in anticipation. After the meal I was concerned and asked Pride ¡°When do you think I will get a response?¡±


    ¡°Who knows, you might not even get one, we still have two more days of interviews ahead of us.¡± I stared at him blankly, I don¡¯t know if I could handle two more days completely like this one. ¡°I see the concern written on your face boy, but there is no time like the present, we have to get your name out there so you can get a proper job as soon as possible.¡±


    ¡°What was wrong with the jobs I had before? I was living just fine before you sins came into it!¡± I shouted


    ¡°Boy are you aware that you would have died from overwork the way you were living?¡±


    ¡°what?¡± I said under my breath.


    ¡°Boy you were living each day struggling with sleep and stress over the medical bills of your father. You can ask Sloth himself, he knows best about stress and proper rest.¡± I look over to my bed and see Sloth sitting up, giving me a lulling nod. ¡°Boy you have asked us to help with your life and that is exactly what we are doing, and we will not finish until your wish is fulfilled. So stick out your chest and bear with it until you yourself understand that your life is fulfilled.¡± I begin to try and argue but realize that he was right, my funds were already decreasing over time and perhaps I was becoming more stressed. ¡°All you need to be aware of boy is that you need to suffer before you can succeed, now go and sleep so you are well rested for tomorrow and the day after.¡± I slouched to my bed and stared at the ceiling thinking about what a turning point today was as I slowly drifted into sleep.

 Chapter 3: Greed and the New Job

    Finally after getting through my interviews, I lounged about on my couch recuperating from the three straight days of interviews. It was nice not to have to cook with gluttony making my meals but I felt a little uneasy with so little control over my life. While I was contemplating my own usefulness, I received a call from the software firm, I landed the job! Kicking my feet in the air with a slight grin on my face, I scrolled through the email and wrote down the address and my working hours, thankfully this place seemed to have a business casual dress code with casual allowed on weekends. From over my phone I noticed Greed sitting beside the couch with a calculator and a piece of paper in his hands, mumbling something about Gluttony and Lust going over their spending limits. I¡¯m glad that he¡¯s doing his best to keep my bank account in check.


    On my way to work I noticed that Greed was now the one floating above the crowd, although he still had that calculator and paper in hand, still mumbling. I found it peculiar everytime someone in a fancy outfit passed by I noticed Greed look up from his paper and would either frown or almost drool at each one before going back to his work. Upon opening the doors it was quite a feeling to see such decor just for a lobby. While I was gawking at the display the receptionist called me over, ¡°Good afternoon sir, are you the new-hire Joseph.¡± I nodded in response. ¡°Good, your cubicle is on the fifth floor and there should be your name tag attached to it. While you get acclimated with your cubicle and location, your mentor will come by and show you the ropes. You¡¯re in a group of six new-hires so I hope you all get along.¡± He smiled upon finishing and waved me towards the elevator. On the second floor I witnessed what could be best described as a beehive. Several employees were making calls towards clients and trying to explain the software, even more were almost furiously typing away at their computers, some were rushing back and forth between printers, but most employees were silently going over the lines of code on their screens. It seems that this will be my new life.


    While I was observing the office space it seemed that greed was as well, the amount of working people seemed to awaken something almost carnal within him. ¡°Look at this place kid, everyone here doing their work to make some bucks, it¡¯s a wonder of the capitalist regime and I love every bit of it.¡±


    ¡°Oh yeah, what was with those faces you made at those expensively dressed people in the streets?¡±


    ¡°Listen here kid, my ability is that I can see the flow of money in every person, past, current, but not future. I see all these people who have scraped through their lives for the money they¡¯ve earned and all the spoiled brats who¡¯ve earned their fortunes through overly doting parents or criminal means.¡± I glance accusingly at the sin who hates criminals. ¡°Don¡¯t you start kid, just because I¡¯m a sin doesn¡¯t mean I don¡¯t have a sense of justice. Anyways seeing a work environment with money flowing around like honey, it¡¯s such a work of art it brings tears to my eyes.¡± He explained as he wiped off his glasses.


    When I stumbled upon my cubicle among the sea of others I was greeted with a desktop computer, my own personal landline, an overhead cabinet, and several filing cabinet drawers. I better keep this place tidy as well lest Pride begin nagging my workplace as well. Shortly after I started up my computer I heard a short knock on my cubicle wall and turned around to see a skinny, bald, bespectacled, and slightly hunched man at my cubicle introducing himself, ¡°Hello, you¡¯re Joseph right? My name¡¯s Brad Clayson and I¡¯m going to be your mentor for the next two weeks.¡± He stuck his hand out and I as well for a formal handshake. ¡°Well Joseph lets get you started on your new job, as you saw in the job description what we do here is analyze software from various software developers around the country. While you likely aren¡¯t ready to handle that just yet, I¡¯ll be here to help you get ready for that position.¡± He seemed like a really nice guy and Greed seemed to nod at him and his finances. ¡°So for your first day I¡¯m just going have you go over our company manuals and guidelines, you¡¯ll find them in the rule folder in your documents folder.¡± I spin around in my chair to face my screen and go to where he directed, and my eyes widened at how many files were there. ¡°There¡¯s no need to worry, all of these files are rather short and easy to read. Lunch is at 12:30, where you¡¯ll get to meet all of the other interns.¡± As he finished speaking he gave a slight wave and left. Time flew by as I read the manuals, generally encompassing client management etiquette, finding bugs in code, time management, company guidelines, and lots of guides on reading and managing the code from the client. While I was reading through the documents it seemed as though greed was out and about hovering over my coworkers and analyzing their financial histories, I shrugged and went back to reading.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    At 12:25 Brad came to pick me up and we left with the six other new-hires, 2 female and 4 male. The restaurant we went to was a little sushi bar on the streets. Once we all sat down and figured out our orders we began introductions. The four male workers were Chase, Jim, Alex, and Shawn. Chase seemed almost like a chihuahua with how energetic, small, and excited he was, I was surprised at how such an energetic guy accepted a job stuck in a cubicle. Jim seemed like a tall mellow fellow with a slight southern accent in his voice, he reminded me of my father and it almost saddened me a bit thinking about him. Alex seemed to be permanently tired, I¡¯m sure sloth would have a field day with him. Shawn seemed somewhat shy as he introduced himself, almost whispering when he spoke. The two female workers were Tiffany and Taylor. Taylor seemed slightly arrogant but overall was nice and a tad nerdy, while Tiffany seemed somewhat motherly yet also nerdy, and it was almost a surprise to hear that they were twins seeing how different their personalities were.


    After we all had our meals we did some light chatting on the way home. Chase was bounding amongst the group and asked everyone why they decided to work here; Tiffany, Taylor, and Shawn were fascinated with computer software, Jim worked here because his dad did as well, Shawn was here because his father recommended he work here, and Alex was here because he couldn¡¯t find work anywhere else. Not wanting to ruin the mood by bringing up my father¡¯s coma I told the others my reason was also because I was fascinated with software. It seemed like Greed had a slight fascination with the twins, disliked Jim, and didn¡¯t really bother with the other new-hires. I could understand Jim, but I was curious about the twins.


    Upon returning to the office I turned around to ask Greed about the twins, but it seemed he was already hovering around looking at the other coworkers again. Throughout the rest of the day I spent looking back over the manuals and our software analyzing guidelines. Near the end Brad stopped by my cubicle again with his slight knock on the wall. ¡°So what do you think of our work so far?¡±


    ¡°It seems somewhat difficult, but I think I¡¯ll be able to manage after a bit.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s great! I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be able to get the hang of it.¡± Giving me a smile and a slightly awkward pat on the back he walked me out of the office chatting about workplace etiquette. I was quite glad that Pride went about teaching me those manners while I was on my interview marathon.


    On my way back I asked Greed about the other new-hires. ¡°Well you could probably tell but I was only interested in the twins and Jim, the others were pretty average. Jim had an easy life and was doted upon by his father and easily received the job through recommendation, however the twins seemed to have been¡­ abandoned.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Yeah they had absolutely no money when they were born, even less than orphans. It seemed like they were raised on the streets by other homeless people. They got dirty money as they grew up, pickpocketing bypassers just to survive. It seemed like they were regulars at the library as they always spent a lot of their money on books. My guess is that that¡¯s where they found their first computers and from then on it seemed like they took on part-time jobs just like you to earn some money. It¡¯s good to see people earn money the proper way instead of thievery, clean money looks the best.¡±


    I was shocked at the revelation, the girls seemed so cheery compared to their dreary past, and I almost cried out of sympathy. I suppose life dispenses hardships without mercy, and everyone has to surmount them. At the end of the day I ate my dinner, checked my email and declined the other positions, paid off the hospital bills online, and drifted off to sleep thinking about the twins.

 Chapter 4: Wrath in the Workplace

    It¡¯s been several days since I¡¯ve started work, and I¡¯ve finally gotten my first paycheck. I fell to my knees. The other sins hovered around me while Greed sat with a knowing grin near my bed. I finally got my future back, the pay from this job would cover my father¡¯s hospital fees, I didn¡¯t have to rely on my college funds anymore. I strolled to work with a grin on my face, knowing that my finances were finally safe and completely oblivious of the gangster-like figure hovering through the crowd.


    Arriving at work I greeted the receptionist, his name was Tom and he was a father of two daughters. We chatted about how his and his daughters lives were going. His younger daughter Sam was going through her first year of elementary school and she was the first in her class to count to 100, his other daughter was going through 3rd grade and was a big fan of writing poems, he joked about how he might need to get another fridge for all the poems she writes. His wife is actually a nurse at the hospital my dad is staying at, curious I asked if he knew any of her patients, he shook his head in response saying that she isn¡¯t the best at remembering names. Slightly disappointed after the conversation ended I gave a slight wave and made my way to the elevator.


    ¡°I would¡¯ve punched him in the face if he kept on blabberin¡¯ ¡± I jolted hearing the rough voice from behind me, the owner being none other than Wrath.


    ¡°What? He was just telling me how his life was going, we normally do this every few days.¡±


    ¡°You put up with that weak-ass shit more than once a week?¡±


    ¡°Wrath I feel as though you don¡¯t really get the aspect of kindness¡±


    ¡°Well why the hell should I? Kid my name is W R A T H, if you think I¡¯m gonna be all nicey-nice because you want me to be moral you have another fucking thing coming.¡± Before I could argue the elevator doors opened and I left towards my cubicle amidst the other employees.


    At my desk I was confused, ¡°Hey Wrath, what could you even help me with? What good is anger in an office setting?¡±


    ¡°Maybe if you took that stick out of your ass I could fill you in.¡±


    ¡°Listen I don¡¯t know why you¡¯re being so uppity, I¡¯m just doing my best to live a better life, I came here to work, not to fight.¡±


    ¡°If you can say that every day isn¡¯t a fight then you¡¯re either a pampered brat or delusional. You have to fight to get up, fight to keep up appearances, fight to do your best, fight to fucking live. You see now smartass? Not every fight is physical, most of the times it¡¯s mental.¡± Completely dumbfounded by how he sounded so wise given his personality, I thought over what he said.


    While I was pondering Wrath''s words, the phone began to ring. ¡°Hello, this is the customer service for the Long Reach Analyst Firm, my name is Joseph, what seems to be the issue?¡± Another caller who had overly simple questions. ¡°Sir are you sure you compiled the program properly and all of the class paths were written properly?¡± And they¡¯re also over-confident. ¡°Ah so the issue was that some of the variables weren¡¯t capitalized? I¡¯m glad I could help you through it.¡± Annnd he hung up saying I didn¡¯t help,


    ¡°You deal with these jackasses with such a pleasant voice but I can tell how pissed you are.¡±Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°Do you really think anyone wouldn¡¯t be upset dealing with a jerk? Thanks captain obvious.¡± Visibly upset, he seemed to phase through the floors into the next level, good riddance.


    After the call I went back to my current project with an airline service program, but then came Jim. ¡°So what¡¯s it like being stuck handling the customers?¡±


    ¡°Oh just dealing with angry clients who refuse help, I¡¯m absolutely peachy.¡±


    ¡°Ha, it¡¯s pretty nice being a supervisor, all I need to do is just check in on you guys and my job is done, I may as well get paid to breathe.¡± Just wait until somebody asks you for help, I thought to myself. Almost as if sensing my annoyance Wrath poked his head through the ceiling, flashing a wicked grin.


    Shrugging it off I went back to my conversation with Jim, ¡°Yeah, but at least I have my lunch, so I guess dealing with the clients isn¡¯t all bad.¡±


    I thought I saw an annoyed look flash across his face but replied ¡°Well I guess every position has it perks, keep up the good work.¡± As he walked away.


    Shortly after he left I turned back to my screen only to see Wrath poking his face through it. ¡°So who was that you were talking too ya doormat?"


    ¡°He¡¯s one of the company supervisors Jim, he got this job through his father.¡±


    ¡°Aw now isn¡¯t that a shame, I¡¯m sure you¡¯re so glad you get to work with such a hard-working person.¡± The sarcasm was practically dripping from his words.


    As I went back to work I decided to respond ¡°Listen Wrath, I¡¯m not sure you know how society works, just because we don¡¯t like someone does not give us a right to be upset with them. As he¡¯s my superior and the son of a manager if I get on bad terms with him then my job is put on the line.¡±


    ¡°So what you¡¯re saying is that you¡¯re a doormat?¡±


    ¡°Did you even listen to what I said? I don¡¯t have a choice in this matter¡±


    ¡°So you¡¯re taking your anger out on me instead of the source?¡±


    ¡°What the hell else am I supposed to do?¡±


    ¡°Are you an idiot, get mad, use your anger in a way that counts, haven¡¯t you thought of, I don¡¯t know, letting the boss know?¡±


    ¡°How is one peon like me going to convince a father that his son isn¡¯t doing his job right?¡±


    ¡°Who said you were the only one? Kid I¡¯m the sin of Wrath, I know everyone slight annoyances and you are far from the only one annoyed with that stuck-up punk.¡± Gah, why does he have to be right.


    ¡°Alright so who else is against him?¡±


    ¡°Well while you were pushing buttons I was scoping up the other floors and found about 5 other people annoyed enough with him that they would consider going up to the boss.¡± After he told me the names during my break I decided to pay them all a visit and worked out a date when we would all convince the boss that Jim wasn¡¯t doing such a good job.


    The plan went quite smoothly and we seemed to convince the boss, some of the other employees even had video evidence of his behavior. I was quite surprised and a little bit worried that I might be recorded one day, but shrugging that off I was glad that it seemed like my days could get a bit better. Just then Wrath bumped up against me in the air, ¡°See kid what¡¯d I tell ya? You don¡¯t really need to hold in your anger that much dontcha?¡±


    ¡°Yeah just like how I was really pissed with your attitude earlier this day.¡± I retorted jokingly


    ¡°Aw looks like the doormat has stood up, just because you don¡¯t like it doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯ll change but it¡¯s good to know you can say that kinda stuff now.¡± It seemed like maybe Wrath wasn¡¯t all as bad as I made him out to be, despite his personality.


    As I returned to my apartment I was once again greeted with a pleasant dinner from gluttony. I¡¯m quite surprised at how he can almost always tell just what I¡¯m in the mood for the day, but perhaps that¡¯s the effect of his sin. After finishing off my plate I did my nightly routine, took a shower and went to sleep. I wonder what tomorrow may hold now that Jim¡¯s actions are out.

 Chapter 5: Lust and Relationships

    Thankfully after the whole issue over Jim¡¯s actions, a decisions was made. He would be demoted down into our position and would not receive any special favors from his father. While it was great that he got his just desserts, it was a pain that he was now one of my colleagues. He didn¡¯t really seem to want to talk to us and whenever we tried to start one with him he would start to scowl and walk away. On a good note though I was having quite a bit of fun with the other new-hires; sometimes going out bowling, sometimes karaoke (turns out I have a decent voice), and one time we even went to laser-tag. We almost always went out for lunch together on Tuesdays and Thursdays and it was pretty fun getting to gripe with each other about our work and clients.


    On one occasion though everyone else was stuck doing work except for me and Tiffany, albeit a tad awkward. We talked about our work like we normally did but without the rowdiness of the group the atmosphere was stagnant at best. I wasn¡¯t really looking my best and I forgot to shower the night before so I couldn¡¯t say I was confident in my appearance, and I also had a little bit of a stomach that I was procrastinating on getting rid of. To be completely honest, I was incredibly embarrassed. We finished up lunch and walked back to work, thankfully in a sea of people that reminded us of the group. We both laughed at how awkward that whole thing was and it seemed like we actually got closer through the whole thing.


    Returning back to my office I noticed a lovely woman sitting in my chair, as soon as she floated off of it I realized it was actually Lust. ¡°Looks like the little puppy found a love-interest¡±


    Blushing, I blurt out ¡°What, no, we¡¯re only friends.¡± I bite my cheek at how oblivious that sounds, what am I, five. ¡°Okay so we had a good mood going on there, but what of it? Neither of us made a move and we just had fun.¡±


    ¡°Darling, before we get started on your puppy love, what we need to fix first is your appearance, both of what it is and what you think of it.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°I guess you don¡¯t need to worry about it here, I¡¯ll be waiting for you back at home.¡± Confused and slightly concerned with her parting words I continued through my work. On my way back home I checked up with my father at the hospital, he was still stuck in this damned coma. I know that there¡¯s nothing I can do, but I still can¡¯t shake off the guilt for forcing him into such a stressful job to help me get ready for college. I can only hope that I can make him proud when he comes to.


    As I open the door to my apartment I am greeted by a cross-armed Lust, ¡°What took you so long?¡±


    ¡°I was checking up on my father.¡± She drops her arms and her pout,


    ¡°Oh¡­ Well as I said earlier I think I can help you out with your love life.¡±


    ¡°I told you there¡¯s nothing between us.¡±


    ¡°Darling, this isn¡¯t about your awkward puppy love, I¡¯m talking about your appearance, and also how you see yourself.¡±


    Pride poked his head around the corner ¡°I got him slightly started so don¡¯t drop the ball Lust.¡±


    ¡°Oh be quiet Pride, I¡¯m getting to it. Anyways I worked it out with Gluttony and we¡¯re going to start you on a diet, and I¡¯m going to help you with your fashion and exercise.¡± Well I suppose I was thinking about how I could boost my appearance. ¡°Listen darling I know every sort of passion and slight affection in people, I guess you¡¯ve probably gone through this spiel with Greed and Wrath, and just about all of us are the same in that regard.¡± Just about? ¡°I know you have a little spark for that Tiffany girl but as you are, you aren¡¯t going to make a move, and that girl is even oblivious to her own feelings so you¡¯re the one who needs to make the first move.¡±


    ¡°Wait, yes I¡¯ve had those feelings for her but I don¡¯t know how she feels, what if I get rejected?¡±


    ¡°Darling, you can call it a sin¡¯s intuition but I know she has a thing for you, even if she herself doesn¡¯t know it, all we need to do is get your self-confidence up and you¡¯ll be able to do it yourself.¡±


    ¡°Wait why can¡¯t you just, help me through the lines?¡±


    ¡°Your wish was that we would help you live a better life right? Now what good would it do for me to just hold your hand through it all? We¡¯re not going to be here forever. Anyways I¡¯ve worked with pride and you know have a gym membership, so this weekend we¡¯re going to get you in shape.¡±


    When the weekend came around I woke up a little groggy; while Gluttony¡¯s meals are certainly healthier, they also seem to have become less tasty. ¡°C¡¯mon sleepyhead, it¡¯s time to start your exercise regime.¡± As I walked to the gym I noticed that I wasn¡¯t feeling as tired as I would normally at this time, thinking to myself that it was an effect of the diet. ¡°We¡¯re going to start you off on some light cardio¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it normally better to start with stretches¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s actually a common misconception, stretching your muscles prior to exercise can actually make them more likely to tire early into the workout. Now then, you¡¯re going to start with jogging for 20 minutes.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s only a warm-up?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, tomorrow we¡¯ll start with 30 minutes.¡± My jaw almost dropped with how crazy that sounded to me, but the list continued. ¡°Next you¡¯re going to do 20 minutes of curls, then 10 minutes of pullups, 15 minutes of leg-lifts, 20 minutes of light aerobics, then a short break for 10 minutes.¡± 10 minutes after that much exercise¡­ ¡°After that we¡¯ll do 30 minutes of heavy aerobics, then 15 minutes of push-ups, 10 minutes of rowing exercises, and finish off with a 20 minute jog.¡±


    ¡°How do you expect me to all of that on my first day?¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you I worked through a good diet for you with Gluttony? Well what I didn¡¯t tell you was that Gluttony used a little bit of her power to make it so that it would be a great boost to your stamina.¡±


    ¡°So I should be able to just get through this no problem then right?¡±


    ¡°Darling, stamina is not the same as strength, this will still feel as grueling as it normally would, but now you can do it with hardly any wait!¡± She¡¯s truly living up to her duty as a sin, this is going to be a living hell.


    And indeed it was, the floor where I would exercise was almost visibly wet with sweat as I would gasp for air between exercises. My muscles were incredibly sore but somehow I was always able to bear through it, damn this stamina, a curse disguised as a blessing. I counted down the seconds on my last minute of my jog, and at the end I felt like I should¡¯ve collapsed but there I was, standing tall. ¡°It was pretty amusing to watch you go through all that, little did you know that all of that pain was just mental, what you expected what you should have felt.¡± She was right, I felt completely fine, if anything I felt better than before. ¡°Well now that you¡¯ve realized that, we can go even further tomorrow, I¡¯ll head back first.¡± Leaving before I even had a chance to complain she flew through the air back towards the direction of the apartment, maybe she just doesn¡¯t like going through the busy crowds?


    Walking home feeling much better than before I noticed I was attracting quite a lot of passer-bys attention when I noticed something rather embarrassing, my entire workout uniform was drenched and I reeked of sweat. Passing through the crowd quite sheepishly, I hustled my way back to my apartment before flinging my attire onto the floor. ¡°Boy what did I tell you about having pride towards your living space?¡± shouted Pride from the living room. Begrudgingly picking up the soggy clothes I placed them into my hamper and took a nice cold shower.


    Draping a towel around my waist I let out a slight shriek as I saw Lust floating near the door. I could feel my face blush, ¡°Could you please leave, or at least knock before phasing through the door?¡±This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry darling, just because I¡¯m the sin of Lust doesn¡¯t mean I embody it, unlike that boneheaded Wrath.¡± She scowled off to the side. ¡°Anyways I just wanted to see your face when you looked into the mirror.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± I turn to the sink mirror and witness a glorious sight, I lost a lot of my annoying fat and I could see that my stomach was almost flat as a washboard.


    Almost squealing with glee I turned to face Lust ¡°Yup, that¡¯s the face. I hope you enjoy your figure, it¡¯s going to get better tomorrow. And don¡¯t worry, we¡¯re going for slim not bulky, so you won¡¯t look too out of character.¡± Nodding at her I turned back to the mirror and poked around my healthier body. Surprisingly, I could hardly wait to do more exercise tomorrow.


    Upon waking up my entire body felt numb, almost panicking I saw Lust floating above me, smirking. ¡°Looks like you¡¯re feeling the muscle aches, sadly you¡¯re just going to have to push through it.¡± Managing to get my body up it felt like I was getting struck by lightning every time I moved my arms and legs. Just walking to the kitchen almost made me bend over and cry, but I didn¡¯t, thinking that the act of bending over and back up would be even more painful. My only reprise was when I sat down in the chair motionless, pain coursing through my body. ¡°Yes it¡¯s a slight drawback, that¡¯s why we¡¯re doing this on the weekend. I recommend not speaking either as moving your mouth will likely also hurt.¡± I became aware of this as I ate breakfast, each bite feeling like pins and needles on my gums, The meal made me feel marginally better but I couldn¡¯t help but wince occasionally as I made my way down to the gym. As I went through my workout the pain felt better and as I could regain proper feeling in my body I smirked at Lust, floating nearby. She still had her knowing grin on as I went through an even more grueling workout. Changing out of my drenched outfit before I left the gym now, I walked home in confidence with how much I worked out. The true pain came the following morning, where I saw Lust floating above my paralyzed body, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I worked this out with the other sins, Gluttony will feed you at proper times and today you¡¯ll just rest in bed, blink once for ok, blink twice for sure.¡± She chuckled to herself as she went back to the living room.


    The entire day I felt nothing in my body except an occasional twinge of pain. During meal times Gluttony came to my bedside and slowly fed me spoonfuls of porridge. ¡°Don¡¯t worry Joseph, after eating this, you¡¯ll wake up as good as new the next day.¡± I gave a sigh as Gluttony happil spoon-fed me porridge while I was stuck in bed. Once he left I had a short-lived moment of peace until wrath barged in, whipped around my desk chair, and sat in it backwards, hoowwww gangster.


    ¡° ¡®sup kid, heard from Lust you got a little lady in mind huh.¡± I nod. ¡°Well you better chase after her as soon as you can, lest somebody else gets her before you do, trust me, I¡¯ve been through it.¡± He began to frown almost wistfully. He seemed to notice I was about to ask about what he just said as he continued, ¡°Sorry, forget ¡®bout what I said. Anyways, just make sure you put up a good fight for your girl, alright?¡± I nod, confused as to what happened to make Wrath look so, regretful. He walked out and no one else came into my room for the rest of the day. While I waited to drift off to sleep I thought about what I could say to try and talk to Tiffany, I came up with a few scenarios but most of the time the conversation just turned sour. I went off to sleep going over my project as I had given up overthinking a conversation.


    When I woke up I tried moving my arms, to my amazement they felt as light as a feather, but still quite strong. I looked at my muscles and noticed that while they weren¡¯t over exaggerated, they were still lean and powerful looking. The same went for my legs, and as I carefully lifted up my shirt, my heart almost jumped out of my chest, I finally had the beginnings of a six pack! I felt so great that I hardly noticed any of the pain I felt getting out of bed. I went down to the dining table and laid out was a mix of my healthy diet as well as my old meals. It was great to have some of the old flavors back, and Gluttony chimed in ¡°I¡¯m going to have to change your menu slightly to keep up with your new figure, I hope this isn¡¯t too bothersome.¡±


    ¡°Thank you for your concern Gluttony, but just about every meal you make is a great meal to me.¡± He happily smiled as I ate the meal with relish.


    Heading off to work I aimlessly looked up into the sky and glanced upon a blur of violet streak across the sky towards my office, shocked at first, noticing that there was no impact I guessed it was Lust. Entering my cubicle my guess was proven correct as I saw her sit cross legged above my chair. ¡°Well today¡¯s the day darling, muster up your-newfound confidence and go give it a shot, just make sure to choose the right time. I¡¯ll sit off on the side and watch how this unfolds.¡±


    After finishing she sank through the floor, likely following me or Tiffany and keeping watch. Working through my project and one short meeting came lunch-time, all of us new-hires had fun chatting about their day and we headed back chatting amongst each other. I feared that asking Tiffany out on a date would ruin this friendship we all had but nonetheless I knew that I had to go through this lest I regret it. After work ended I left and went up to Tiffany as she was leaving. ¡°Hey Tiffany, so how was work today?¡±


    ¡°Oh just the same old same old, a little meeting here, a tight deadline there, and a hefty sprinkling of annoying clients.¡± We both chuckle but as it subsided I mustered up my courage.


    ¡°So Tiffany, are you free this Friday?¡±


    ¡°Sure what¡¯s up?¡±


    ¡°Well¡­ I was wondering if you would want to... go out on a date?¡±


    Her eyes slightly widened in surprise. ¡°Wait, me, just us two?¡±


    ¡°Yes. I¡¯m¡­ in love with you. You would stick up for the other employees when you could and would help them if they were in trouble. You were always the first to offer up to get office copies and would always do it with a smile. You love your job and take pride in it, and you¡¯ve proven to be the best among us new-hires. Whenever I had an issue you would help out in a heartbeat. I adore you and your kindness, I know I might just be misinterpreting it for love but I love you nonetheless. I¡¯ve been working up the courage to tell you this for several days now and I¡¯ve thought what I would say several times. I hope the feeling is mutual. So would you go on a date with me?¡±


    ¡°Are you sure you would want to go out with someone with me? I mean, both of our lives are still just getting started.¡±


    ¡°I know, we don¡¯t have to go far immediately, but would you give me the chance?¡±


    ¡°Well, I guess it wouldn¡¯t hurt, you seem pretty genuine about all of this, and I would be lying if I said I didn¡¯t have any feelings for you as well.¡± Well I suppose it was a bit direct and¡­ wait, she said yes. My mind fizzled for a moment at the contradiction.


    ¡°That¡­ That¡¯s great, I¡¯ll set up reservations as soon as I get home. It¡¯ll be a great time, I promise!¡± I run to the streets waving goodbye with the most genuine smile I¡¯ve had in a while.


    She said yes, she said yes, she said yes! Almost knocking down the door I jumped on the couch and started kicking my legs in the air while hugging my pillow. ¡°It looks like it went swimmingly hmm?¡± Said a confident Lust from across the room.


    ¡°Yeah, she even said she had feelings for me too. Ah it felt so great to hear that. Oh right, I need to make reservations, where¡¯s my phone?¡± I scramble to find it and make a call to a local italian restaurant. The menu was a bit pricey but Greed said it was okay this once.


    ¡°So what¡¯s your plan for the date?¡± My mind blanked, I didn¡¯t think I¡¯d get this far. ¡°Looks like you haven¡¯t thought that out yet. I guess I can lend you a hand with this.¡± She whisked out a cloth from my drawer and gracefully set it on the dining table, and lit a few floating flames above the table in place of candles. It seems like it¡¯s going to be even more training.


    After I learned proper dining etiquette and some good conversation starters over the next few days, I felt as though I was ready. During work me and Tiffany didn¡¯t really talk outside of the group lunches and both of us acted like nothing happened, it would all depend on how well the date goes. As I strolled up to the Restaurant I checked in my reservation and was seated at the table. Almost chuckling I noted that all the placement on the table was similar to what Lust put up, flowers and all. It seemed like she put in more effort than I thought. Shortly after the thought passed through my mind I noticed Tiffany stroll through the entrance, she wore an elegant and slim black dress with a slightly revealing front. I didn¡¯t really notice before that she had such a figure. ¡°So I was curious, I told you so many reasons I loved you, but you also said that you had some slight feelings for me as well.¡±


    ¡°Ah, I suppose you would want to know my reasons as well. Well I guess it¡¯s largely due to your courage. It started when you stuck up for Chase when he accidentally broke his chair. Even though you knew that it would probably get you fired you covered for him and told that you were the one who did it. Hmm, what next¡­ Oh yeah. The next was one you helped all of the other coworkers when they were getting harassed by, Jim. I mean he was the boss¡¯s son, if he had even the slightest suspicion you were lying you would¡¯ve been out of a job, but still you went through with it and despite the odds you managed to pull it off. There are also the times when you¡¯re not afraid to put your foot down with a client and still manage to solve their issues. If that were me I would¡¯ve just been stuck on the receiving end and going through with it.¡± I didn¡¯t know that she paid attention to me that much. Maybe I¡¯m more noticed than I think.


    The rest of the date we generally talked about our childhoods, I skirted about the more painful bits and it seemed like she did the same since she said nothing about her times as a pickpocketer. The meal was delicious, I got a plate of fresh salmon with a side of shredded brussel sprouts with a mango-like cream drizzled on top of it all. Tiffany got a light chicken salad with a balsamic vinaigrette. It seemed like neither of us had a fancy palette. After we finished eating we both offered to cover the bill, but I convinced her that since I was the one who offered I would also be the one to pay. She agreed and we both left. Our hands swung open side by side and deciding to seize the chance I took her hand in mind, and she grasped mine in response. Both of us nervously smiling we walk to the intersection. It was a shame to let go but as we did she gave me a parting squeeze. Walking away she gave a wave and continued on her way. That awkward smile stayed upon my face as I arrived back at the apartment, did my nightly routine, and drifted off to pleasant sleep.

 Chapter 6: Daily Lives of the Sins

    While the boy Joseph is away, I¡¯m left managing the household along with the other sins. Thankfully Greed is rather seclusive, always mumbling to himself about finances and working away. Wrath often sleeps during the day and roams the more dangerous parts of the city during the night. Sloth, well he hardly ever moves, but due to his ability, he creates a rather soothing environment in the home by calming the nerves of anyone nearby, be it human or sin. Lust often just floats around, looking at her phone browsing dating sites, our relationship is sturdy enough that I trust her while doing such. She tells me she enjoys seeing conversations between lovers and how the introduction of image sharing makes conversations much more scandalous. Gluttony is often out shopping and collecting. His ability allows him to collect sin essence from other people for us less mobile members to consume. He also gets ingredients for the lad in his corporeal form. Sloth and Gluttony are really the only ones left of us who have a majority of their power left. Just about all of our other summoners either wished for power, violence, popularity, love, or money. Almost nobody would wish for food or some form of a lack of need for rest. Due to that the powers of Gluttony and Sloth were rarely tapped into. I heard recently that the young lad went to the gym to work on his figure, while Gluttony was preparing his new diet I noticed him putting some other body enhancement enchantments into his meals. Curious I asked him later in the day and he told me it was a muscle growth enchantment.


    It¡¯s good to see the other sins playing their roles, although I rarely see envy around, my best assumption is that she¡¯s either holed up in the book browsing the internet or browsing the streets and feeding off the jealousy of others. I¡¯d rather hope she does not become a bad influence on Joseph, her and Wrath are my main concerns, although it seems Wrath has become less wonton with his rage. Well while the other sins are out and about, I stay back at the apartment and handle the upkeep. Joseph isn¡¯t really much of the untidy type, but he still makes some messes, as well does occasionally Gluttony. He says that the feeling of food in his corporeal body is incredible compared to his incorporeal one. However that only seems to apply to him, as none of the rest of us can say the same.


    In all honesty, this has been our longest time lingering in the corporeal realm, since after our other users made their wishes, they were one-time only and we would go back into our book. It seems standard that most humans would desire only momentary gain, they believe it will last them a lifetime, yet it mostly lasts for a fleeting moment. Those with money often grew corrupt and became lost in their wealth, often leading to arrest or murder. Those with power often did not know how to wield it, and lost it shortly after. Those who sought love abused it and would lose it. Those who desired fame, they hardly thought of its demands and became swallowed whole by their own admirers. Those who sought revenge either died by revenge or grieved over their actions for the rest of their lives. We wrote the warnings ourselves into the book, but it seems that hardly any users full take it into account.


    After a random amount of time passes following our return to the book, we often grow bored of confinement and create a figure to deliver ourselves to a new contractor. We aren¡¯t entirely certain what the appearance will be, but our book has never been denied before so we have yet to question it. On the topic of our book, it has existed since the beginning of humanity. Once intelligence was developed beyond instinct, so were we. What our purpose is? None of us know, we merely exist and perpetuate ourselves throughout time, feasting on the desires of humans. Without feasting on desires, we grow weak, so to counter that we remain in our book until we sense a proper amount of sin to satiate ourselves. Our book as a medium to the world and allows us to monitor its inhabitants. Wrath always loves to monitor wars and battles, while Lust often monitors brothels and strip clubs. Gluttony is a fan of farms, kitchens, seaports, and most marketplaces, which shares a tie with Greed, who had to wait quite a while for enough development to occur for proper currency. Envy is rather seclusive and often shares enjoys opposers to my interests. Where I would admire kings and rulers, Envy would admire the revolutionaries and the peasants. Sloth didn¡¯t really have a specific place of interest, but it did not really matter to him as he¡¯d rather be sleeping.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    As I thought back on our past I came across a little object under Joseph¡¯s bed. It seemed to resemble the city inside a glass dome full of liquid. Upon placing it down I noticed some disruptions on its bottom service. Curious about it I tilted it back and forth, seeing a white material flow back and forth. I shook the container and the white particles began to float aimlessly amongst the dome before settling on the base. It looked as if a snowstorm had fell upon the town, I wonder why something like this was created. Placing it back under the bed I continued cleaning the apartment. While I was in the process of finishing up Gluttony returned back, immediately returning back to his incorporeal form after closing the door. ¡°Ah it¡¯s rather embarrassing going about in the public, people seem to always be staring at me and I hardly ever feel any hunger in any of them. I was at least able to feed off some at the supermarket.¡± ¡°Welcome back Gluttony, are you making a similar meal for Joseph to help him continue his diet?¡± ¡°Ah well I decided he should get a little reward for his confession and first date, so I decided I would make tonight¡¯s meal even more wonderful.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure he¡¯d enjoy that. By the way, did you catch Wrath by chance, he¡¯s normally back at this hour.¡± ¡°Oh no, I never go around those parts of town, the people there are so rude and mean.¡± Fair enough, I wonder what could be keeping Wrath for so long.


    ¡°Sorry I¡¯m late everybody, seems like a little gang war broke out, hell there were even explosives, you guys should¡¯ve seen it.¡± With Wrath back I could already feel my annoyance rising, whenever he returns from a fight he seems to carry that anger around with him and it tends to rub off on people. Just as soon as he returned, he went back into the book. Lust was still in her same spot, viewing conversations of other humans. Greed seemed to have finished the finances as he was now oggling the stock market. Sloth hasn¡¯t seemed to have left the book for an entire week now, but that¡¯s no cause for alarm. Envy hasn¡¯t really left the book since her introduction, and Gluttony was busy preparing the meal. It seemed I finished cleaning up the apartment, so I returned to the book, shortly after so did Gluttony. We don¡¯t really leave the book when Joseph returns since often times we have no need to converse with him, we leave it up to him to contact us. Thus, another day passes as the Seven Deadly Sins.

 Chapter 7: Gluttony and Flavors around the World

    Finally it seemed like my workout routine was normalized, as long as I head to the gym three times a week for about 4 hours of a good workout, I should be fine. At least, that¡¯s what gluttony told me. It¡¯s almost somewhat bothersome at this point that I can¡¯t really return the favor to the sins, I¡¯ve tried getting perfume for Lust, some souvenirs for Pride, some snacks for Gluttony, and even a voodoo doll for Envy, but in the end I would always get scolded, primarily by Greed for wasting money. They would always accept the gifts, but it was in a way a parent would accept a poor drawing from their child. With Gluttony it was more so because I bought low quality ingredients it seems. Since it was the weekend I was quite curious as to how he prepares all of my meals.


    ¡°Oh hello Joseph, are you staying home today?¡±


    ¡°Oh yeah Gluttony, most of the other coworkers are busy and we thought it would be rude to plan something without the rest. But I do have a date with Tiffany tomorrow, so I¡¯m relaxing today.¡±


    ¡°What about your exercises?¡±


    ¡°I still have a few more hours until that.¡± Curious, it almost seems like he doesn¡¯t want me around. ¡°But anyways, I wanted to give my thanks for that diet you and Lust came up with, it really helped me with my self-confidence.¡±


    ¡°Oh really? That¡¯s wonderful, I guess that at this point you know I did a little more than sprinkle in some stamina boosts.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I was also a little confused as to how I got such a better figure in such a short amount of time, even though I wasn¡¯t aware I¡¯m glad you did it. Thanks.¡± The mood wasn¡¯t terrible but the silence wasn¡¯t great either. A few moments passed as gluttony was preparing lunch, the sizzling of some ham on the stove, the scrape of the spatual across the pan, it was almost deafening in comparison. I decide to ask something I feel I¡¯ll regret.


    ¡°So what¡¯s it like for you to go shopping?¡± This seemed to have piqued his interest as he almost jumped at the question.


    ¡°Ah, I¡¯d love to show you, could you wait until after lunch?¡±


    ¡°Sure, I look forward to it.¡± While I wait for lunch I play a bit on my phone, some classic minesweeper to help keep the mind busy. It was a short wait, lunch was yet another 5 star yet cozy meal, cooked ham slices with some sort of mixed herb seasoning and rich gravy, a baked potato with sour cream, chives, shredded cheddar, and bacon, a light salad with cucumbers, baby tomatoes and a raspberry vinaigrette. Feeling full and somewhat refreshed, Gluttony waved me over to the bedside with the book on it.


    ¡°Take my hand and close your eyes for a moment Joseph.¡± Taking his oversized hand in mine and closing my eyes, I felt a pleasant breeze. ¡°Alright now open your eyes.¡±


    A wonderful sight lay before my eyes, rolling hills of green, some grazing sheep, lush fields of ripened crops, and a small village at the base of the hill we were standing on. ¡°Quite a ¡®feast¡¯ for the eyes eh sonny? C¡¯mon let¡¯s enter the market, you can meet my main supplier for basic vegetables.¡± Keeping my distance from the sheep I followed behind Gluttony as he gave me a questionable glance but didn¡¯t ask about it.


    We arrive at stone and wood house near the outskirts of the village and Gluttony knocks on the door. From the other side I hear some foreign grumbling, the door bursts open and a gruff looking man with a bulky figure scowls at us before recognizing Gluttony¡¯s smiling face. He breaks out into what sounds like German with a friendly manner, with a bear hug ensnaring us both. Recognizing the extra size the man pulls away and questions Gluttony, probably about who I was, who surprisingly responds with some sort of greeting for me in his language as I wave with an awkward smile. ¡°I didn¡¯t know you could speak multiple languages.¡±


    ¡°Well we¡¯ve lived quite a long time, it would be ignorant of us to not know them, but some of the african dialects are a little difficult for me. Lust even knows how to speak in whistles, isn¡¯t that something? She said something about them having a way with their mouths because of it.¡± Well I guess even sins do anything for love. ¡°Anyways, this is Elias. He provides me with various vegetables and lamb.¡± Gluttony gestures towards Elias and he asks another question for gluttony, who responds in kind and with his fingers as well, I¡¯m guessing it¡¯s for how much of each produce he needs. Elias then goes back into his house and after a few minutes comes back with a burlap sack filled to the brim with goods. Gluttony hands him some coins and we head off after another bear hug for a goodbye.Stolen story; please report.


    ¡°So what¡¯d you get?¡±


    ¡°5 pounds of potatoes, 1 pound each of wheat and barley, 2 pounds of carrots, 2 pounds of cabbage, half a pound each of onions and radishes, and 3 shanks of lamb, I was thinking of making some German dishes for the next few days. That¡¯s fine with you I assume?¡±


    ¡°If it¡¯s anything near as good as all of your meals have been so far, I¡¯d be grateful for this as well.¡±


    ¡°Wonderful, well now that shopping is done would you like to see some of my other suppliers.¡±


    ¡°Sure, the day¡¯s still young, and it¡¯s been a while since I¡¯ve gone sightseeing.¡±


    ¡°Alright, then take hold of my hand and close your eyes again.¡±


    I do as he tells me to and suddenly a salty gale whips across my face. I open my eyes to a bustling waterside market with rampant workers and shoppers hustling goods to and fro, arguing prices and begrudgingly agreeing over the results. ¡°Here¡¯s my little secret spot in Indonesia, I get most of my seafood from the merchants here, the haggling process is rather fun but I¡¯ve been told that I¡¯m a bit lenient¡± he admits with an embarrassed chuckle. ¡°Alright, off to the next. Let¡¯s go!"


    Before even opening my eyes my nose is assaulted by thousands of various herbs and spices, I already have a good guess where we¡¯re at. ¡°Welcome to India, this here is one of my favorite spice markets in the country, it¡¯s always a neat thrill seeing the scales weighing the spices move up and down with the weights. A nice and fair business but the heat is a little troublesome.¡± Now that he¡¯s said that, it does feel rather hot around here. ¡°One moment, I forgot I need to get some spices here.¡± He dashes away from me with a giddy smile, fascinated with the scales that he¡¯s likely seen thousands of times by now. Pacing back towards with a skip in his step he holds onto a bag filled with smaller bags full of spice. ¡°Alright ready to head back home?¡±


    ¡°Wait what about the more basic meats like chicken, pork, and beef?¡±


    ¡°Ah I¡¯d rather you not see that, maybe another time sonny.¡± Uttering with a smile and a furrowed brow I decided not to ask further. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s head back Joseph.¡±


    Upon returning home I notice sloth resting on my bed, turned over on the side , Greed at the table, seemingly waiting for Gluttony to come back. ¡°Well how much did you spend?¡±


    ¡°About $90, I¡¯ve got enough food to last about five days.¡±


    ¡°Good, I¡¯m guessing you got a slight discount again from Elias?¡±


    ¡°Yup, it took a bit more time with him than previous suppliers but I think me and him are on friendly terms by now.¡±


    ¡°Good, well I¡¯ll let you get to dinner. Kid make sure to get some shut-eye after dinner, I¡¯ll get Lust to wake up the big ol¡¯ lug.¡±


    "Oh yeah, before you get to work, what happened to shopping at the grocery store?" I asked.


    "Well you don''t really get the same flavour as when you get it straight from the source, also getting to know the delaers often leads to both more friends and some discounts. It took a bit for me to find some new suppliers."


    "Ah, alright, I guess that makes sense." Despite seeing him do it multiple times already, watching Gluttony in the kitchen is still a sight to behold. Dicing up the potato into chunks along with the carrots and cabbage, he also took out some leftover peas and tossed them all into a pot filled with leftover gravy. Then carefully taking out a lamb shank and grilling it he also ground up the wheat and barley into a fine flour and made some dough, then placed the mass into the oven after placing it into several bowl and lid-like molds. After the lamb was done grilling he got up close to the oven and the bread seemed to cook almost instantly. He pulled out the now cooked bread bowls and lids and let them cool. Turning his attention towards the lamb he cut it up into several small but thick strips and began placing most of the lamb into the pot along with some flour and turned up the heat. After about ten minutes of stirring and simmering he took off the pot and slowly scooped out its contents into the bread bowls and placed the lids on top of each one, 6 in total.


    ¡°Well these are some bread bowls with a lamb chowder innard, I hope you enjoy.¡± The taste was beyond description and somehow reminded me of the overloof of the small village we visited, somehow almost making me homesick for a land thousands of miles away from my actual home.


    ¡°Thank you, it¡¯s wonderful. I feel like I could have this all day!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s wonderful for you to say, but tomorrow morning I¡¯m going to make you something healthier so you can keep up your figure. I hope you¡¯ll enjoy that as well.¡±


    ¡°If it¡¯s made by you I¡¯m sure that I will.¡± Gluttony then gives a big cheeky smile and I can¡¯t help but smile as well, it feels like I¡¯m back at home in my childhood. After finishing up another bread bowl, I thank Gluttony for the meal and lie down to bed, seems like Lust got Sloth off of it while I was enjoying the meal. I drift into a deep sleep reminiscing about the past.

 Chapter 8: Pride and Family Matters

    ¡°Good morning Joseph, had a nice rest?¡± Pride was sitting with his legs cross at the end of my bed in a grandiose throne, upside down on the ceiling.


    ¡°Good morning Pride, what¡¯s with the pose?¡±


    ¡°Ah just thinking various things, I thought a change of posture would help, and I believe it has.¡± The chair dissipated into nothingness as Pride uprighted himself. ¡°I think it¡¯s about time you have a talk with your relatives.¡±


    ¡°What!? Why the hell would I ever talk to those bastards?¡±


    ¡°Watch your tongue boy, they may be unpleasant but they¡¯re still your relatives and your father can¡¯t exactly make up with them himself.¡± I winced, my father probably would have wanted me to do this as well.


    ¡°But why should I, I¡¯ve been doing just fine on my own haven¡¯t I?¡±


    ¡°No, you¡¯ve been doing fine with US, and we won¡¯t be able to support you forever you know.¡± Again he hits the nail on the head, sometimes I hate how right he can be. I sit upright.


    ¡°Well how do I know they would even want to talk with me.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t. Neither do I. The only way to know is to stand up and risk it.¡±


    The phone lay just inches away from me, but felt as though it was miles. I need to settle the matters for my father, his coma was my fault, it¡¯s my turn to make up for it. Overcoming the distance, I managed to pick up the phone, remembering the calls I¡¯ve made and the abrupt hangups my throat began to swell. Scrolling through my contacts I eventually found him, Cedric Waise (Author note: pronounced like ¡°said-drick ways¡±). He was the one relative who seemed remotely concerned for my dad. The clock read it was 7:15 am, hopefully work hasn¡¯t already got too busy for him. I began calling him. One ring. Two rings. Three rin-¡±Hello?¡±


    ¡°Uncle Cedric? Hello this is Joseph, Alec¡¯s son.¡±


    ¡°Ah, you called a while ago about money for his medical bills. I¡¯m sorry but like I said before, we agreed to not interfere with his lifestyle.¡±


    ¡°Wait hold on, please. What happened for you guys to separate like this?¡±


    ¡°You mean he hasn¡¯t told you? That figures, coming from him. Anyways it¡¯s a long story, it¡¯s best to hear from¡­ oh, right. Actually, how old are you?¡±


    ¡°20, 21 in a few months.¡±


    Under his breath I heard him mutter to himself ¡°For fucks sake Alec, you kept it from him for that long?¡± Then he corrected himself back into a formal tone.¡°Well I suppose you¡¯re old enough to know this. Back when your father was about 25 years old, our father passed away, and your father was listed as the successor to the company.¡±


    ¡°Wait company? What company?¡±


    It almost sounded like he gasped on the other end of the line. ¡°Listen, Joseph was it? Your granddad was the owner of a technological firm in New York, and he was the next in line for the company head. Your father declined the offer, but the will didn¡¯t have any backup clauses so it was either him or someone picked by the court. He reluctantly took the position but he was almost drunk with power, he practically destroyed the company from the inside with how poorly he managed deals with other firms and the internal finances. Unfortunately he resigned rather late and his damage was done, with the results being left to us as directors of the company. We tried to have him be accountable for his actions but instead he ran away, and cut us all off. He initially responded with a request for us to not interfere with his life, but then he just rejected all of our calls and letters and changed his address. Only from your recent calls did we even figure he was still alive.¡± Well. that was, something. My dad hardly ever talked about his past at home, I thought we were always farmers. Why did he never tell me?


    ¡°Well I¡¯m sure that¡¯s a lot to take in. Maybe he had another perspective. But he would never let us get the chance to ask. Most of us believed he destroyed the company on purpose for forcing him into the position. I¡¯m the only one who believed there was something else driving him. Did he find something we were unaware of? Did the work drive him insane? I doubt it but maybe he wasn¡¯t even capable of the position in the first place. So now that you¡¯ve heard all that, do you have anything else to ask?¡±The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    ¡°Could¡­ could I call you again another time?¡±


    The other line was silent for a moment. ¡°Sure kid, let me know if anything happens to your pops.¡±


    ¡°Thanks, you¡¯ll be the first to know.¡±


    ¡°Alright, goodbye Joseph.¡±


    ¡°Goodbye Uncle Cedric.¡±


    I sat there with the words of my uncle swirling around for a couple of minutes until Pride called me back to reality. ¡°Are you okay lad? Your face seems a little flushed. What did your Uncle say?¡± I didn¡¯t know whether or not I should tell him this secret that was kept from me so long, but he was one of the few people I could turn to right now and I wouldn¡¯t want to bother my coworkers.


    ¡°My father was the owner of a big company¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s wonderful news! We can get you to climb his corporate ladder with his connections and soon you¡¯ll be -¡±


    ¡°and he destroyed the company then quit.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡± Neither of us could seem to fully grasp the issue. Pride broke the silence. ¡°Why would he do that?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, neither do any of the relatives it seems. Maybe my old man just wasn¡¯t cut out for it.¡± It hurt to utter those words, like I were betraying a dead man.


    ¡°Well was there anything else? Did you fix the relationship? Broken bonds are rather unbecoming of a person and displays social ineptitude.¡±


    ¡°Oh come on, you expect me to try and rebuild after figuring out my father hid all of that from me for 20 years?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re a monster.¡±


    ¡°Oh please, get a hold of yourself, you¡¯re drowning in your own self-pity, it¡¯s hideous.¡±


    ¡°Well why can¡¯t I do that?¡± I was shouting now. Why me? Why my Father? Why my life?


    ¡°Boy, you asked us to help you, this may be a rather high hurdle now but if you give up now who¡¯s to say that you¡¯ll ever get back up? I am your pride, and I will not falter, and neither will you.¡±


    I picked up the phone, took a deep breath, and called the familiar number. ¡°Well that was fast? So what do you need?¡±


    ¡°Uncle Cedric, I want you and my father to make up.¡±


    ¡°Listen sonny, I¡¯ve tried that for years, and nothing came of it. I¡¯m willing to give it another try, but your father¡¯s not really up to the task.¡± It still ached to know that it was my father that caused all this, what the hell happened?


    ¡°Do it with me in his place.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a rough spot you¡¯re putting me in kid, are you sure your father would be fine with you becoming friends with me without his consent?¡±


    ¡°At this point I need to know about him as well, so consider me doing this of my own volition.¡±


    ¡°Well I guess that makes two of us, welcome to the ¡®why the hell did Alec do this?¡¯ club. Anyways I have some work to get back to, shall we continue this tomorrow afternoon?¡±


    ¡°Oh, yes. Thank you, I¡¯ll let you know if anything comes up. Oh, wait. Does this mean you can help out with the medical bills?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll see what I can do, send me his medical records at (insert email here) and we¡¯ll work from there. On another note, I¡¯m guessing I¡¯m the first sibling you contacted?¡±


    ¡°Yes, you seemed the most reluctant about refusing to help with the bills previously.¡±


    ¡°Well I¡¯ll try and discuss this with the other siblings, maybe you can provide some insight for them.¡±


    ¡°I will.¡±


    ¡°Alright then, goodbye Joseph.¡±


    ¡°Goodbye Uncle Cedric.¡±


    As I hung up the phone I saw a rather smug-looking pride leaning against the doorframe. ¡°Seems like you managed to get over this first hurdle, I recommend you send those records first and then do a little background check on your old man.¡± I gave a slight nod and began my call to the hospital. It took a few minutes for verification but the receptionist said she¡¯d have the records available tomorrow afternoon. It was only 11:00 am but it already felt like I should be asleep, maybe I could ask for some help from sloth. Ah but I should get on my morning routine, Lust said it¡¯s easy to fall out of habits in the beginning of a regime, and I¡¯d prefer to keep my figure slimmed down.


    As I went and opened the door I was greeted by a nice summer day. I did my three mile jog around the city, then headed to the gym for my muscle training and aerobics. On the way back I noticed a small pile of white feathers near a streetlight. Back home I had some lunch with Greed and Gluttony along with a brief talk regarding my finances. After finishing lunch I relax with my coworkers online, a little team-style game where we all party up before looking for a match, it¡¯s a fun pastime we sometimes take part in. As the sun begins to set, I log off and have dinner with Gluttony and Lust, talking over how it¡¯s been going with Tiffany. Lust was a little annoyed at the slow progress, but satisfied with how much I¡¯ve made so far. After dinner I do some light aerobics in the apartment, take a shower, brush my teeth, comb my hair, and then finally head off to bed. After work tomorrow I¡¯ll call Uncle Cedric and discuss what happened with my father.

 Chapter 9: Wrath and The Uncovered Past

    ¡°Ey runt, up an¡¯ attem!¡± The shout barraged my ears. Looks like Wrath was in charge of waking me up today. Would it kill them to just let me use an alarm?


    ¡°Good morning Wrath, what¡¯s the time? 7:30? Time to get ready then.¡± I took of my pajamas and got on my corduroys and flannel, seems like another work day today. On my way to work I noticed an odd pile of white down at the crosswalk, it looked like it was a foot tall and pure white. Odd. It looked like Wrath paled a little near the pile as we passed by. At the receptionist desk I was greeted once again by Tom, it¡¯s always nice to start the work day with the smile. It was a little slow today as there weren¡¯t that many requests, to pass the time I worked on programming a little bubble screensaver. I got around 20 calls that day, most of them being short ten to twenty minute calls, with one taking an hour and a half, and two others taking taking about 50 minutes each. The small calls were generally short little glances at the manual to find the issue, whereas the long ones were actual errors that I had to step them through. Lunch was roasted lamb with some pickled cabbage, steamed carrots, and mashed potatoes. Tiffany, Taylor, Chase and I talked over some of our calls. Chase would sometime talk over his customers so he often overlooked some of their issues and had to start over from the beginning, Tiffany came across a rather elderly user who couldn¡¯t figure out how to auto-connect some wires, and Taylor didn¡¯t really have any calls that were too memorable.


    The smell of coffee still lingered around me as I left the office a little after 5:00, and as I strolled back home, I noticed that the homeless people on the street had rather fuller donation cans then normal, and for some reason I felt compelled to donate $50. I¡¯m not too frugal but I normally donate a lesser amount, but that urge felt oddly¡­ unnatural. I wonder why I felt I had to do that, well it¡¯s not too important. As soon as I stepped into my apartment the first thing I did was dial up uncle Cedric. ¡°Hello Uncle, Joseph here.¡±


    ¡°Ah, good afternoon Joseph, did you just finish up work?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, got some calls in and generally happy clients. So I was wondering about what I should do regarding my father.¡±


    ¡°Ok, what I need you to do is head back to where you used to live with Alec. Once you get there I want you to bring back anything you think might be relevant as to why he acted the way he did.¡± I felt like this was going to be a rather late night. Since the farm was so far away I decided to order a taxi, it¡¯s a shame dad decided to sell his car for my schooling.


    The fields were barren, looks like nobody¡¯s bought the place yet. Let¡¯s hope the locks weren¡¯t changed yet. As I slowly took my steps up towards the house, I realized that I was trembling. This was where my mother died, where I selfishly had my father move into the city. Where my childhood crumbled away. My old life. I hate this place. As I put the key into the door, I let out a slight sigh of relief as the door unlocked. It felt like the house hasn¡¯t changed at all, a one-level house with two bedrooms, and a dining room openly connected to the kitchen and living areas. I decided to check out my room first, just like it used to be, kind of small with a nice window near my old bedside. The bed was much too small for me now, time sure flies by. As I turned to walk towards my parents room, I noticed a slight bulge of feathers coming out from underneath the door-frame, they looked just like the ones I saw at the street corner in the morning. I opened the door and entered the room. It felt like I entered a place I shouldn¡¯t have. There were piles of the feathers all over the room, and I saw an unusually large pile atop the desk in the corner of the room. I opened the draw and found piles of papers, most of them looked like bills, but upon further inspection it seemed like they were actually confirmations of donations of large sums of money. The amounts were ludicrous for a farmer, it seemed like he either kept past papers or he kept some money from when he was the CEO. The timestamps on the papers favored the former. This seemed important enough. I grabbed all the papers in the drawer and tried to turn on his computer, it turned on but I didn¡¯t know the password. I took the computer tower with me as I believed that there could be more details in there.


    The taxi driver I called for the way back seemed curious about the paperwork and computer tower but didn¡¯t ask any questions. It was a rather silent drive back as I flipped through the documents. By a rough estimate it seemed like my dad has donated slightly over 10 million dollars in total to various charities. What the hell was he thinking of spending his money like this instead of on his family or his work? Finally arriving back at my apartment at about 10:00 pm I called Cedric. ¡°Hey, it¡¯s Joseph, I found some crazy stuff back at the farmhouse. My dad¡¯s spent over 10 mil on some random charities.¡±


    ¡°Good lord, so he was still doing that.¡±This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    ¡°Wait what do you mean ¡®still¡¯? When did this happen before?¡±


    ¡°Well the main method your father used to blow the company was through charities and giving great deals to rival companies that were horrible for us, along with giving away some company secret techniques and work statistics. It seemed like he wasn¡¯t even himself.¡±


    ¡°Wait did you happen to see any sort of pure white feathers in his office or anywhere around him?¡±


    ¡°No, what does that have to do with anything?¡±


    ¡°Sorry uncle, I was just wondering, I guess not.¡± out of the corner of my eye I see Wrath perk his head up at the mentioning of the feathers.


    ¡°Well, there had to have been something, perhaps-¡±


    **click**


    ¡°Wrath what the hell was that about?¡±


    ¡°Listen kid, did you say something about feathers? What did they look like?¡± there was a slight tremble in his voice and it seemed like he was almost sweating.


    ¡°They looked like something off an eagle, but they were all pure white. Why do you ask?¡±


    ¡°Ahhh fuck. Fuck fuck fuck FUCK *FUCK*. THEY¡¯RE HERE ALREADY?¡± Wrath was shaking now.


    ¡°Wait hold on calm down. What are you so worried about?¡±


    ¡°Kid you don¡¯t get it, we¡¯re screwed. If we can¡¯t get them before they find us I don¡¯t think we can fight back.¡±


    ¡°Who are they?¡±


    ¡°The Seven Heavenly Virtues. From how your conversation was going it seems like we¡¯re dealing with Charity. God damnit, Greed¡¯s gonna flip his shit when he hears about this. First off, where did your old man work?¡±


    ¡°He was the head of a tech firm here in New York city.¡±


    ¡°Fuck do you know if your dad ever stopped being insanely charitable?¡±


    ¡°Well it seemed like we got some nicer things when I was about 8 years old. Maybe he stopped a little while before then.¡±


    ¡°Shit that''s one hell of an after-effect. How much did your dad give away when he was CEO?¡± ¡°About $800,000 in pure cash, I¡¯m not sure how much in assets and skills.¡±


    ¡°Well that explains the after-effect duration, your dad got hooked by that bastard into some extremely charitable acts.¡±


    ¡°Wait but then why did it eventually stop?¡±


    ¡°Oh, that was because your dad lost his position where he could donate a ludicrous amount of money. My best bet is that Charity is still lurking around the city, trying to get all the people he can to donate in any way possible, beneficial or not. Those bastards can get so engrossed in their own virtues that it corrupts them.¡±


    ¡°Wait so it wasn¡¯t my dad¡¯s fault that he blew the company¡¯s money?¡±


    ¡°Pretty much, yeah. Your father was still the one who gave away the money but he was under a strong influence from a virtue.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s great, I¡¯ll call uncle Cedric and let him ¡­ no, he can¡¯t see you guys and I doubt he¡¯d believe me that dad was under the influence of a corrupt heavenly being.¡±


    ¡°Now you¡¯re seeing it, the only thing we can do is try and find that jackass and knock his shit around.¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t there any other way, I mean charity isn¡¯t all that bad isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Sure, just throw away all your possessions, I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll work wonders to be homeless and penniless.¡±


    ¡°You know what I mean.¡±


    ¡°And I¡¯m not sure you know what you¡¯re getting yourself into, this guy¡¯s a virtue, your mind wouldn¡¯t last a second.¡± I sat there for a moment, thinking of something I could do. Going up against something like that seems impossible, but there has to be some way. Some way that I could calm this guy. ¡°I don¡¯t know why you¡¯re trying to talk diplomacy around me, I say we knock his lights out. End of story.¡± Maybe that¡¯s all I can do.


    ¡°Okay ,so let¡¯s settle what we know first, have you seen any places that have angel feathers around them? You¡¯re the owner of the book, and as a human you can mediate between virtue and sin. We can¡¯t see the virtues and they can¡¯t see us, all we have is a vague feeling when one of us is nearby another. You, you can see the spiritual forms of all of us, so you can also see their feathers right? Those bastards shed all the fucking time, and they¡¯re vessels do as well while they¡¯re under their effects.¡± I guess those feathers in my parents room were actually angel feathers then. Wait.


    ¡°I normally see a small pile of feathers on my way to work but today it seemed pretty big, and it was getting bigger.¡±


    ¡°Shit, did you feel oddly charitable when you were near that pile.¡±


    ¡°Now that you ask, yeah. Instead of donating the usual five bucks to this homeless guy on the street I almost instinctively gave him $50.¡±


    ¡°FIrst of, never mention you doing that around Greed, secondly, it seems that Charity has gotten bored and is now targeting random passersby in the area. Which means we need to work fast.¡±

 Chapter 10: Preparations with Greed

    A knock came rapping against the doorwall. I turn to face the unnanounced visitor only to find my eyes fixed about a finely dressed slim figure with a crooked grin. ¡°So it looks like the little saint Nick has grown tired of waiting for his next prey eh?¡± the sly voice was instantly recognizable for Greed.


    ¡°Woah there bucko, we can¡¯t have you fuckin around here. Don¡¯t you remember that you ain¡¯t that good around Charity?¡± Wrath wore a grimace as if he¡¯s had to say this hundreds of times already.


    ¡°Well then you should also remember that none of you can stop me from fighting him.¡±


    ¡°Gah, fine. We¡¯d hafta clean up after your mess anyways.¡± It was quite the surprise to see Wrath actually back down from something.


    ¡°So Joseph, where exactly did you see these feathers? Just lead the way and I¡¯ll take it from there.¡±


    ¡°Wait what do you plan on doing? Surely you don¡¯t mean to fight each other right? I know that what he¡¯s doing right now is wrong but the act of charity is rather nice.¡± I wanted to try and calm down Greed, but it didn''t seem to help much.


    ¡°First of all, if you speak kindly of him once more I can assure you will regret it. Secondly, do you not realize the unbalance and chaos he¡¯s causing? Thirdly, I am Greed, everything this bastard does goes against my principles, and I seek no forgiveness for my wrath.¡±


    ¡°Oi. that¡¯s my shtick.¡±


    ¡°Wrath, you¡¯re not the only one to seek violence among us, let me be.¡±


    I was still confused. ¡°Wait, isn¡¯t there any way that we can try and help Charity? Maybe try and bring him back to reason?¡±


    ¡°So you want these people lying in the streets to just continue and rid themselves of their possessions? Do you realize how much these people will lose while you try and negotiate with a corrupt virtue?¡±


    hm? ¡°Wait, ¡®corrupt¡¯? What does that mean?¡±


    ¡°Ah, so we have to start from there then, fair enough.¡± It seemed like Greed was preparing for a long lecture. ¡°Well I¡¯ll skip the whole beginning stuff since it doesn¡¯t matter, but let¡¯s get started with the conditions. The seven heavenly virtues are the counterparts are each of us seven deadly sins. They are often used as a sort of emergency measure against us sins in the case we go rampant, especially with our previous wishes. But occasionally these virtues incorrectly gauge the balance of sin and virtue and overreact. This causes them to essentially throw a tantrum and causes the nearby people to be corrupted by their virtue. Us sins hardly ever have this happen since we are normally kept heavily in check by the virtues should we try and upset the balance. That¡¯s actually the main warning clause in the book, the repercussions for granting sinful wishes aren¡¯t caused by us, but by the virtues. The old man always favors the virtues, so he places the blame of the ¡°curse¡± on us. Anyways, us sins have a natural disposition against our opposing virtues, but the virtues often treat us like nothing, despite us often being the ones who have to take care of their outbursts. You don¡¯t need to worry about us though, since we are manifestations of humankind¡¯s virtues and sins, we can never really die, but our more direct influences on humanity can be temporarily stopped. That¡¯s what I plan on doing with Charity.¡±The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°So Joseph, the longer we stand around here dawdling, the poorer the saps around Charity¡¯s lodging will become, and I¡¯d especially hate it if places were to go out of business because of this.¡± Deep down I was really conflicted. I didn¡¯t know whether to agree with Greed and destroy Charity, or to try and help Charity calm down. I had to make up my mind.


    ¡°Greed, wait. Can you please let me try something with your help? This is something I must have.¡±


    ¡°Kid, just because you appeal to my admiration of greediness does not mean you can just get me to do what you want. But I¡¯ll at least hear out your request.¡± Here goes nothing¡­


    ¡°I want you to protect me from Charity¡¯s curse and let me try and talk him down.¡±


    ¡°Kid, do you know what you¡¯re asking me to do?¡±


    ¡°Somewhat, yes.¡±


    ¡°Well let me enlighten you, the only why I can protect you from Charity is to enhance your greedy nature. If anything goes wrong your morals could be permanently cursed to be unbalanced into greed. Do you still think it¡¯s worth the risk?¡±


    Was it? Was it worth risking my personality for the sake of saving someone from a temporary death? I thought about the good that could come from other people being properly charitable, and how some people could really be changed for the better sooner rather than later and made up my mind.


    ¡°I do. So how should we go about this?¡±


    ¡°Gah, I feared you would do this. Since you¡¯ve made up your mind I suppose we should come up with a plan tomorrow. It¡¯s already getting rather late. I¡¯ll have some rough numbers done up by the time you get back.¡±


    ¡°Alright, I suppose we¡¯ll figure this out after I¡¯m done with work.¡±


    Wrath finally popped into the conversation. ¡°Well since it seems like you too have gotten somethin¡¯ figured out I¡¯m gonna head off and do my own thing.¡±


    ¡°Alright Wrath, see ya later.¡±

 Return Announcement

    Hello everyone, while it has been a while, I have settled the issues that caused the rather abrupt hiatus. I understand any confusion that may have occurred due to it but I can assure you that I will safely continue the story where I have left off at the same pace as previously. I hope you look forward to the next chapter next week.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    I also have a reiteration of the story on wattpad, the story is the same as here so far but with a different character name. It''s currently at chapter 4, wrath. If you wish to influence that version to have a different order than this I recommend taking a look.


    The Seven Helpful Sins-Wattpad</a>

 Chapter 11: Charity

    ¡°Wakey wakey Joseph¡±, I awoke to a wad of dollar bills slapping my face. ¡°I¡¯ve been psyching myself up this morning to help you out against Charity, so don¡¯t flop out now.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ve made up my mind and I never go back on my word.¡± I got out of bed and put on my most expensive suit, gelled my hair, put on the watch and necklace Greed bought and turned to look into the mirror. ¡°Greed, are you sure all of this is necessary?¡± ¡°Of course kid, the more expensive items you have on you, the easier it will be for me to influence your greedy nature. Now are you ready? We have a virtue to crush.¡± ¡°Convince¡± I corrected, as I headed out the door.


    As we approached the area where I found the feathers it there were flocks of people lying around on the streets, smiles stuck to their faces, completely stripped down to their undergarments. ¡°Do you see this kid? This is what excessive charity leads to when there are still people willing to accept things. These poor people have given away all they have, most of them have nothing in their bank accounts eithers, we need to stop Charity before this spreads any further.¡± I began to become a bit hesitant, ¡°Greed are you sure I really need all this? Why don¡¯t you take it instead?¡± ¡°Fuck! Kid it seems like it¡¯s already starting to get to you. Don¡¯t blame me for what happens afterwards.¡± Greed pulled out from his suitcase what seemed like a piggy bank and placed it above my head. He then pulled out a hammer and broke the piggy bank, spraying fading green and yellow sparkles over myself. ¡°Sorry, that wasn¡¯t me.¡± ¡°I know kid, now lets going before those thoughts get back to you again.¡±


    The feathers seemed to pile up around a run-down building, with planks lining the windows and an open entrance. ¡°It looks like this is the place, c¡¯mon kid, we don¡¯t have much time to spare.¡± I stepped through the doors and was swarmed by people trying to give me their items. Wading through the crowd was a mess, as I was practically pelted with clothes, jewelry, and a pair of dentures. The elevator was littered with dollar bills and Greed nervously eyed the floor. ¡°Hey kid, are you sure we need to talk to him? I can call the others and we can just take him out now.¡± ¡°Greed, I can handle this.¡± I said to both convince Greed and myself.


    The elevator pinged and what greeted us was a barren room, with nothing but a wooden table and chair. Sitting in the chair was what appeared to be a homeless man, with a pair of beautiful white wings attached to his back. ¡°Welcome! Welcome. What would you like?¡± ¡°Well I¡¯D like you to piss off, but this kid here would rather have a chat.¡± ¡°Well well then young lad, why don¡¯t you have a seat?¡± As he gestured, another wooden chair appeared in a cloud of smoke right across from him, and I took a seat.


    ¡°I was hoping to have a talk with you about¡­ this.¡± I explained, while gesturing around the room. ¡°Lovely isn¡¯t it? Everyone has gotten rid of their worldly possessions, and have given up everything to the needy others.¡± ¡°I see that, but doesn¡¯t that process turn them into the needy as well?¡± ¡°Ahhh, you¡¯d think that, but these people are still rich, in their soul.¡± ¡°Charity, you see this richness you speak of? That does not feed them, it does not protect them, it does NOTHING for their physical wellbeing.¡± ¡°You may say that, but are they not able to enjoy a wonderful mental wellbeing?¡± ¡°WAKE UP YOU IDIOT, these people have families waiting and relying on them, there are things that should have priority in these people¡¯s lives!.¡± My anger was beginning to boil at this ignorant virtue.


    ¡°Do you wish for me to have the others suffer just so those important to these people can live in luxury?¡± ¡°Living to only make ends meet is not living, I know because I¡¯ve been through it. Do you actually realize what you are putting these people through? Living slightly beyond basic necessities is not luxury, and these people have earned what you are forcing them to give away!¡± The man¡¯s began to lean back into his chair at my speech, but I continued my anguish,¡±My father is stuck in a coma because of you, do you know he¡¯s given away his damn life to live? Do you not understand my hatred towards what you¡¯ve done to him, he is not at peace, his family is not at peace, and neither will ever be if you continue with this madness.¡±


    ¡°Well then, what do you suppose is best for them then?¡± This bastard, he¡¯s even pushing his responsibilities onto me since he can¡¯t handle them himself. ¡°Why not let them decide to be charitable of their own free will? Isn¡¯t that what was originally intended? Most people are charitable normally if they have the capability to be so.¡± ¡°Well, I guess maybe I don¡¯t need to be that active.¡± ¡°Charity is good in its own right, just like how greed is as well.¡± as I gestured to Greed by the elevator. ¡°Moderation in just about everything in life is what leads to the best experience.¡± ¡°Maybe you¡¯re right kid, I suppose I should head out of here then, that way these people can return to ¡®normal¡¯¡± His wings slowly extended from his back as he ascended to the roof.¡± ¡°And good riddance to you.¡± Chimed in Greed. On our way out of the building, passing by everyone slowly coming to their senses, I suddenly got a call on my phone. It was from the hospital. My dad, he finally woke up.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    I ran my way to the hospital, checked in with the clerk, and burst through the doors to my father¡¯s room. There was a man standing beside the bed in casual wear with wings attached to his back chatting with my father. ¡°Charity?¡± I asked. ¡°No no, I¡¯m Johnathan, I was just apologizing to your father about what happened.¡± ¡°Joseph, it¡¯s a miracle! This man was the one who put me into this coma after hitting me with his car, and he¡¯s going to repay us for all of the hospital charges!¡± I glared at Charity, as he shyly looked downwards. ¡°Aw c¡¯mon son, at least he¡¯s apologizing, and hey! I¡¯ll be out of this bed in a few days after the doctor¡¯s give me my clean bill of health.¡± ¡°That¡¯s great dad, would you mind if I speak with Johnathan here for a moment?¡± I gesture and we both head outside. ¡°What the hell are you doing here? What if anything happens to the people here?¡± ¡°Relax Joseph, I¡¯ve concealed that presence. Also I¡¯ve come here to return my dues, it seems like I have a few more debts to repay. I know that there¡¯s more damage than just this, but this is all I can do for now. I hope you can come to forgive me.¡± With those final words he shot through the ceiling. Hopefully that was the last I¡¯d need to see of him as I reentered the room.


    ¡°Hi dad, sorry mr. Johnathan had to leave to take care of some business, he wished you the best. How are you feeling?¡± ¡°Ah, well it was nice for him to visit and apologize, but it¡¯s great to see you again son, I¡¯m sorry for all I put you through. I don¡¯t know what I can say to thank you for all you¡¯ve done to help me while I was out.¡± I went up to his bed and gave him a long hug, it was all I needed to finally feel him hug back. I talked with him of how things have been going lately, minus the sins. How I¡¯ve gotten a new job, got into a relationship, improved my diet, and am generally improving my life in every way I can. He was really impressed and seemed pretty proud. ¡°This is amazing son, when I was raising you after your mother¡¯s passing, I was worried that I couldn¡¯t do enough, but look at you, you¡¯ve made a fine man of yourself. I¡¯m really proud of you son. But, I was thinking about something. I think it might be good for me to head back to the farm, I think you¡¯ve grown up to a point to live on your own and I think it¡¯d be nice for me to get back to your mother.¡± ¡°While it would be sad to not see you around, I¡¯ll be sure to visit you whenever I can.¡± ¡°And I¡¯ll be sure to give you a fine meal with all the crops I¡¯ll be growing.¡± ¡°That sounds wonderful, and I¡¯ll help make the meal since I still remember your cooking from back then.¡± We had a chuckle between the two of us and said our goodbyes as the doctor came in to begin the examination.


    As I was walking home the sleek figure of Greed appeared beside me. ¡°So how did it go?¡± ¡°It went pretty well, my dad woke up, Charity was there too for a bit and repaid all of the hospital fees.¡± ¡°Well it seems that flea-ridden virtue may have some regret in him after all. It¡¯s good to see that your father¡¯s back and attem, what¡¯s going to happen with him after this?¡± ¡°It looks like he¡¯s going to head back to the farm, trying to get back with mom and his old memories.¡± ¡°Ah, well that¡¯s a nice sentiment but I can tell you-¡± I gave him a quick glare ¡°-nothing, I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll be happy.¡± As we returned home I was welcomed back by the sins at the apartment.


    Pride was the first to welcome me at the door. ¡°Welcome back Joseph, it¡¯s glad to see you come back safe and sound. I¡¯m sure things went well with your father as well, seeing as how Charity popped by to offer his apologies. Congratulations on managing to convince him to tone down on his virtue.¡± ¡°Congrats kid, looks like you had enough spine in ya to stick it to that virtue after all, Greed didn¡¯t mess with your head too much did he?¡± It was quite something to see Wrath be concerned for me ¡°No I¡¯m fine, I¡¯m pretty certain I¡¯m still in a proper state of mind despite all that.¡± ¡°Well that¡¯s good to hear Joseph, why don¡¯t we get you settled for a victory meal and then have you set back down for a night¡¯s rest.¡± Lust lured me over to the kitchen where a wide spread from Gluttony was laid out before me. ¡°Thank you for the meal Gluttony!¡± After I finished the meal I had a good night¡¯s rest for the next day.

 Chapter 12: Sloth and Self-Care

    After all the happenings that occurred dealing with charity, I was feeling rather drained. After getting dressed up for work, I went and asked sloth if he could help at all. He slowly sat up on the couch with his towering stature and yawned. ¡°Why not just... sleep?¡± he tiredly responded. ¡°Well I¡¯d love to but I still have to go to work, and I¡¯m still a bit new on the job so I¡¯d rather not make any bad moves like taking a day off.¡± ¡°How is that¡­ bad? Sleep is healthy.¡± ¡°Sleep is healthy, yes, but work is a bit more necessary so I can pay for all of my other needs.¡± ¡°Well just be sure not to *yawn* overwork yourself.¡±


    As I made my way to work I noticed that sloth came to drowsily stumble beside me there. It was quite a sight to witness his gargantuan size, he was about 8 feet tall and had to phase or crouch through all the doorways in the apartment. Through the sliding doors I greeted Tom, rode up the elevator, and arrived at my cubicle, beginning my work day. Albeit today sloth sat on the edge of my cubicle desk and seemed to continuously stare at me. After about half an hour I quietly asked ¡°Hey, is something the matter?¡± ¡°It seems like you¡¯re too tired to work at the best you can, you should rest more.¡± ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ve just been going through a lot dealing with Charity and my dad. I should be able to get back into a proper sleep schedule soon.¡±


    After about another hour dealing with sloth¡¯s stares, Chase popped by and we talked about how our work was going. ¡°Yeah I¡¯ve just been dealing with customers non-stop, some of them complained that I was talking too fast and asked for me to slow down, man I really need to work on that haha.¡± I can empathize with his clients, he speaks a mile a minute and can¡¯t really help it. ¡°Ah well on my end I¡¯ve mostly been stuck with older clients, it¡¯s rather rough trying to get them to trust my advice. I got this one middle-aged client though that I had a nice talk with, he wanted to get his software repairs done quickly so he could watch his son play in a soccer match. Turns out he was the star of his old team and his son seems to be inheriting his talent.¡± ¡°Yeah back in highschool I was a star of my tennis team, I could always reach my opponents shots but I would oftentimes miss when I hit it back.¡± Just then I caught sloth taking a glance at Chase and frowning, that wasn¡¯t really a good sign. I then got a ring on my phone, Chase said his goodbyes and I helped out the client. Shortly afterwards I asked Sloth ¡°Is something the matter with Chase? I doubt he doesn¡¯t get enough sleep, he always comes to work so hyper.¡± ¡°No, he can¡¯t manage his energy properly... he puts it into everything except his thoughts... he¡¯d be able to do a lot more otherwise.¡± ¡°Wait, so are you saying he¡¯d be some sort of super-genius if he could just focus more?¡± ¡°No¡­ but he¡¯d be able to do a lot more¡­ than he is now.¡± Somewhat shocked by the revelation I returned to my work as I got with my next client over email.


    During lunch I saw Chase chatting with some of the other workers and I went up to chat while he was refilling his coffee. ¡°Not hyper enough eh? Any plans after today? Maybe we can invite Shawn and Alex along so we can have ourselves a guys night out. Catch some fish, talk about work, go get something to eat, stuff like that.¡± ¡°Ha, that sounds like a pretty good idea, but I think I¡¯d rather save something like that for the weekend, it¡¯s just monday man.¡± ¡°Sorry, sorry, yeah it¡¯d be on the weekend, but would you still be down for something like that?¡± ¡°Sure, did you ask the other guys already?¡± ¡°No I was going to ask them after work, probably Alex first since Shawn normally leaves early.¡± ¡°Sounds good, let me know how the other guys respond. Well it looks like lunch is ending soon anyways, we better get back to work.¡± ¡°Of course, just be sure to let your clients talk first.¡±


    Not much happened during the rest of the work day, Brad came by to tell me that my customer reviews were above satisfactory, that if I kept it up I could see a raise sometime soon, and I talked to seven more clients before the workday ended. I got up from my cubicle and headed over to Alex, slumped over his desk looking like he was ready to fall asleep. ¡°Hey Alex, gonna sleep here again or are you headed home.¡± ¡°...Hm? Oh hey Joseph, I¡¯ll be heading home later. After a short nap¡­ is there something you want to talk about?¡± ¡°Yeah, me and Chase were planning to head for a guy¡¯s night out this weekend, are you up for it? I¡¯m also going to be asking Shawn about it tomorrow.¡± ¡°Nighttime?¡± ¡°Yup.¡± ¡°Sounds nice... what are the plans?¡± ¡°Maybe some fishing, talk about work, get something to eat, maybe a movie, stuff like that.¡± ¡°Sure, just let me know the time¡­ I¡¯ll be active after 8:00.¡± ¡°Sounds good, I¡¯ll let you know how Shawn responds.¡± After packing my stuff up I sent Chase a message that Alex was in for the night.Stolen story; please report.


    On my way back I was a bit curious about Alex and decided to ask Sloth about it. ¡°Hey Sloth, what¡¯s up with Alex? He always seems so tired.¡± ¡°Oh... the tired guy you were talking to earlier? He has some insomnia, which often troubles his sleep. Other than that he does his best to get as much sleep as possible, even during the day.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± As we continued back I couldn¡¯t help but feel bad for both Chase and Alex, would it be considered intrusive if I try to help them through their problem? As I got home I thanked Gluttony for the meal and went to sleep. The next day I asked Shawn if he wanted to join and he reluctantly agreed. Over the next few days we all went over the plans for the weekend after work.


    At the time of the weekend I got ready for the trip. We decided that we would start the night with a movie, head to a little bar for something to eat, and then head to the river to fish for the rest of the night and talk about how life¡¯s been going. We all drove to meet up at the movies, it was an old war movie about getting behind enemy lines and getting the jump on some germans. We all got our kicks out of some of the more corny lines along with the incredible amount of explosions and jump cuts throughout the film. The bar we went to afterwards had a replay of a football game from the previous weekend. Arguing about some of the plays and calls was pretty funny and everyone but I got a little bit tipsy, even the shy Shawn was beginning to crack open a bit. During the twilight hours is when we all started to ramble about our lives during the fishing trip. It turned out that Shawn got his shy nature from his mother, and that while he was rather embarrassed about it, he never resented his upbringing and sees himself more so as being reserved. Chase was clinically diagnosed with ADHD and talked about how he was incredibly grateful to be accepted into a job that requires so much focus, and how he¡¯s giving it all to prove his worth. Alex talks about his insomnia, how it interrupts his life and how it was really nice that we all stayed up for this trip. For me, I talked about how my dad finally awoke from his coma, everyone gave their congratulations and asked about what he was planning on doing. I told them he was planning on going back to the farm to make up for lost time with my late mom, which led to some condolences from the others.


    About an hour into the fishing I saw that Sloth was eyeing us from below the water''s surface. ¡°While this looks nice and fun... are you sure you should be up this late? You¡¯re still somewhat recovering... from the Charity incident.¡± I whispered back to him ¡°Yeah, we¡¯ve all planned for this and made sure we got some rest before coming out here, I¡¯ll make up for my sleep tomorrow. Is there anything you can do to help out Chase or Alex?¡± ¡°No¡­ we are only to help you.¡± ¡°Well is there any advice you can tell me so that I can help them?¡± ¡°No¡­ you still need to work on yourself more¡­ before you can help others.¡± While it was upsetting and annoying to hear that, I guess it couldn¡¯t really be helped and I just enjoyed the rest of the night with my coworkers. We caught and released a few fish, and we all headed back to our cars. The other guys had a bit more to drink so I called over Tiffany and Taylor and we helped drive them and their cars back. After we got back I felt it was a good time to talk with Sloth. ¡°Hey Sloth, why were you even following me around today? You didn¡¯t really do much to help me at all.¡± ¡°I did¡­ but I suppose it¡¯s hard to tell¡­ You need to focus more on yourself recently¡­ To know about others... is one thing, but to know when to focus on yourself¡­ is also important.¡± ¡°So I just need to not spend energy on others and focus more on myself? So why did you let me go out with the guys tonight? My sleep schedule is probably much worse now.¡± ¡°No¡­ you made sure to sleep¡­ you also needed to relax¡­ mentally¡­ Having fun is good for that. I think¡­ you should sleep again now.¡± ¡°Well while I agree with you on sleeping now, I don¡¯t like how you want me to focus on my own wellbeing, if I don¡¯t have compassion for others what good am I?¡± ¡°You¡¯d be¡­ alive and well¡­ to help another day. Until you yourself are well... it¡¯s bad to spend energy you don¡¯t have¡­ on others.¡± ¡°Well I guess that makes more sense, thanks for explaining. I better get to sleep then. Good night sloth.¡±