Riley's Box

Part 24

"However, as the Devil's humble servants," Avidicci went on to say, before he was interrupted. 

"Speak for yourself," said a woman with purple eyes and hair, from behind him. 

He ignored her and continued to explain himself, anyway. 

"We are responsible for making sure those shadow spirits return to their rightful place of rest...and torment," he said. 

I shuddered to think about what kind of torment waited in Hell, but I allowed for Avidicci to continue. 

"When the shadow spirits return to Earth, we can too," he said. "The box is how we get to Earth. In total, there are only three left. Many of them were destroyed centuries ago, after the Pandora crisis." 

The others nodded in agreement then, with serious expressions upon their faces. 

"She was the last one to release us," he explained. "After we had finished our duties, though we were helping the people, they seemed to think we were evil. They banished us and destroyed our box, until the next one was made- this one. It's been kept a secret for decades, now. Fortunately, the last owner- your grandmother, didn't blab quite as much when she discovered us." 

"What?" I asked then. 

So, my grandmother had known about this- about all of it. 

"Indeed," Avidicci said. "It's quite the surprise, I am sure. However, your grandmother has been our safe-keeper for ages now. I suppose, now that she is getting old, she believes it is your turn." 

"And...you know, you tend to meet us after you've shown the seven sins yourself," Otis spoke then, as he lazed on the grey carpet of the closet.

"How? I'm a good person! I've never-" I cut off then, as the purple-eyed woman spoke again. 

"You believed you deserved head girl over everyone else- the sin of pride," she said. "I should know. I'm the Queen of Pride. My name is Prida Hell. You should be pleased to make my acquaintance." 

"You showed lust for Eric!" another one of the beings said. This one had long red hair and a feminine voice. 

"I showed lust for-" I cut off. "Now, wait a second," I said. 

"I'm Adina Malice, Queen of Lust," she said, as she flipped some of her red hair over her shoulder. 

I felt my forehead crease, at her suggestion. 

Me? Liking Eric? She definitely had the wrong person, here. 

I turned to her with a smile, regardless, but I couldn't agree with her. 

"Nice to meet you, Adina," I said. 

"Likewise," she smiled. 

For a Queen of Sins, she didn't seem too bad. 

"You showed wrath by plotting to destroy Susie's head girl plans," a new voice spoke and we all turned to him immediately, as though to not pay him attention would be the greatest betrayal of all. "My name is Ira Flame," he said. "King of Wrath." 

"Remind me to not get on your bad side," I joked. 

It earned a couple of laughs from Otius and Guttur, but the rest remained perfectly silent. 

"Remind yourself," he said. 

Invidia smirked. 

"I'm the Queen of Envy- though you could be a close competitor. You envy Susie," she said. 

"I don't-" I was about to say that I didn't, in fact, envy Susie. However, I knew that would be a lie. I had been so mad at her getting head girl over me, but how was I supposed to know that a bunch of literal sins would show up in my closet! 

"You were gluttonous for chocolate," Guttur said then, which caused all eyes to glanced towards him. 

"I- really? I like chocolate. Is this really necessary-" I started to say, but Avidicci held up a finger to signal me to stop. 

"You've been greedy for achievements," Avidicci said. 

I couldn't argue with that. 

"It's good to be ambitious," I said, with a shrug. 

He smiled a small smile. 

"Indeed. It's not worth ruining friendships over, though, now is it?" he asked. "Unfortunately, I would know. I don't have many friends." 

"And how am I lazy, exactly?" I asked, my eyes glancing towards Otius, the King of Sloth. 

"You didn't go to school today," he said, with a shrug. He then yawned and I instinctively yawned, too. 

I was about to ask another question, but then there was a sudden knock at the door. 

Well, maybe not so sudden. About half an hour had passed, since my parents had left for their shopping trip. 

Great. Now, I had to hide my sins from my parents. Literally. 

"Go back into the box," I said. "My parents will be through the front door, any second now." 

"Why should we?" Invidia asked. "They can't see us. Unless...your parents touched the box, didn't they?" she continued. 

I nodded. 

"Back in the box everyone! That includes you, Guttur. Stop eyeing up the sweets. You'll make yourself sick again," Avidicci scolded, before he led the way back into the golden box. 

I really didn't understand how they all fit in there, but then they weren't really people, were they? 

I wandered downstairs and my mother looked at me with blue-lidded eyes. 

She must have gone to the makeup section of the store again. She tended to were a lot of foundation to cover up a scar she had got in an accident years ago. 

"Hi Riley," she greeted me warmly.

"Hi mom," I said, in the voice of someone who most definitely didn't have seven sins hiding in their closet. Literally. "Hi dad! How was the shopping trip? Tell me all about it." 

"We bought those pizzas you like," my father said, with a smile, "And we got some pasta. Cookies..." he trailed off. 

Great. I just needed to keep Guttur away from the entire kitchen, now. 

"Sounds great!" I said, with a friendly smile. 

My mother's eyebrow shot up. 

"Is everything alright with you, Riley?" she asked me. 

"Oh, me? Yeah, of course," I said, as I waved my hand as if getting rid of a fly. "Everything is just..." I trailed off, as I heard whispering from my bedroom. "I'll be right back!" I said, and then raced upstairs to find that Otius was sitting on my bed, playing with my portable game console.