Fallen

Chapter 6

Despite my best intentions, doing well in class that day was very hard. My brain was foggy and almost completely incapable of focusing on anything except my growling stomach. I had to be shaken out of a sleepy trance to answer a question more than once. I earned some not-so-subtle sniggers that way.

When the final bell rang, I couldn't get out of school fast enough. I didn't even wait for Theo at my locker. I seized my books and power-walked out the door and down the hill towards town.

The first food shop I came across, I entered. It was a deli that had probably been built before Columbus landed in America, but it was clean and their food looked delicious. I purchased a roast beef and provolone cheese sandwich and headed out the door. I had intended to wait until I got home to eat my meal, but it only took me about five blocks to decide against the idea. I was just turning my head to take the paper-wrapped package from my bag when I heard a gravelly voice near me.

"Please, miss, do you have any food to spare?"

I looked over to my right, saw nothing, and looked down. Leaning up against the brick wall of the building was a scruffy old man, maybe in his late fifties. He was dirty and looked a touch too skinny, and he needed a shave very badly. He was clearly homeless, and clearly hungry.

I opened my mouth, closed it, and opened it again. "No. I'm sorry." Then I turned and walked away. I got ten feet before I stopped dead and turned, but the homeless man was gone, like he had been erased from existance.

"Damn," I said, and stomped my foot in frustration.

It had happened again. Gluttony, the sin I had thought would be the easiest for me to avoid, was the second I had committed in less than a week. Two for two. I was done for.

No. I have to keep going. But I wasn't sure why I was so dedicated, now that I had broken my promise twice. I have to persevere.

I took my sandwich out of my bag and placed it on the ground where the man had been sitting. Then I walked from the spot, using all my willpower not to run weeping from the town, from the world, from myself.

A/N Sorry for the short chapter, I've been in a bit of a rut with all my stories as of late. I usually am able to create without much planning as my stories tend to have a mind of their own and practically write themselves. However, both of them recently just stopped dead and I've had no clue what to do with them. I think that I've got a plan now, but unfortunately I will be going back to school at the beginning of next month and may have even less chances to update. I will do my best, but apologies in advance for any long stretches of no activity.