Short Story Collection

Anubis Commanded

Trigger Warning: violence, abuse, sexual assault.

"Lay down your heart," Anubis commanded. The elderly man in front of him did so, moving with an ease that, had he been alive, would have been impossible. He stood in front of the scales and laid his heart down on the pan opposite Ma'at, the feather of truth.

Anubis closed his eyes and looked into the heart. It belonged to 78-year-old Benito Costanza, who currently stood at the scales. As Anubis watched, his life began to play before his eyes.

Benito was born to a poor family in Rome, Italy in the middle of the Second World War. From a young age, he performed menial tasks for wealthier families and brought his meager wages home to his family to help them pay for their necessities. But, as Benito reached his teenage years, he began to work more and give less to his family.

Benito's mother and grandmother noticed, but they kept it a secret. They hoped that maybe he was planning to do something nice for the family, but he kept all the money for himself. The day Benito graduated from high school, he purchased a one-way ticket to America. He said goodbye to his mother, father, sisters, brothers, grandmother, and grandfather, boarded the ship to America, and never looked back.

Benito arrived in New York City in 1960. He found work as a janitor in a powerful company on Wall Street: Jackson and Founder, LLC -- a sales corporation. He lived in a dingy apartment and found himself barely scraping by. Over the years, as his English improved, he managed to secure a few promotions and eventually became an office assistant.

Not wanting to be mistaken for an Italian if possible, Benito began to introduce himself as Bradley Costanza. The workers in the office, including his boss, Mr. Jackson, were generally nice to him. He did good work, and he did it with a smile on his face. Their trust in him grew, and he was allowed to take on more responsibility around the office.

One night, Benito found himself the last person in the office. An urge overcame him, and he entered his boss's locked office. Tucked away in the bottom desk drawer, Benito found the sales pitch for a huge client that the company would be hosting in the morning. The sales pitch was greatly tempting to him.

Benito took the sales pitch with him, as well as the contact information of several other large clients. The next day, he didn't go in to work. Instead, he called every friend he had in New York City and asked if they wanted to go into business with him. Several said no, but a few said yes.

Benito called the client that Jackson and Founder had been trying to pitch to, and found out that the pitch had gone horribly, as Jackson and Founder had turned out to be underprepared and unprofessional. Benito offered his condolences, and asked if they would be willing to meet with his company instead. Admittedly, they were a small company, but Benito thought they would be very impressed with the results.

The client agreed, and Benito and his colleagues rushed to rent office space in time for the meeting. They scraped together every dollar they could and borrowed from everyone who would help them. In the end, they came up with a small, dimly-lit office on the outskirts of the city.

The client was very apprehensive about the location of their office and the size and age of their company, but the pitch was rock-solid, and in the end, he decided to do business with Costanza and Associates.

From there, Benito's success had only just begun. He phoned the other clients from Jackson and Founder and offered them better deals. One by one, just like the first client, the others followed suit. Benito's company began to grow, and with it, his ethical threshold grew as well.

On several occasions, Benito could be seen engaging in illegal business practices. One time he was caught, and he had another of his employees framed for the crime. When questioned by the authorities, Benito feigned ignorance. His employee was sent to the newly opened Federal Correctional Institute in Otisville, New York, leaving his wife without a husband and his children without a father.