1.0 angelos
hi loves! i'm saniya, and this is a book that compiles all of the short stories I've written in my life. including the ones that submitted as my English short story assignments back in high school. i hope you enjoy them!
here is the story of angel white, living her normal life, when a hooded figure gives her some news that could quite possibly change her life.
Closing my apartment door, I hung my jacket in the closet and set my bag down. I tied my raven black hair and walked towards the kitchen to make dinner. As I was silently working in the kitchen, the lid of the kettle suddenly blew off. I screamed and quickly ducked, instinctively covering my face with both of my hands. It was silent and after a moment, I cautiously lifted my face up to see if it was safe or not. Instead, I saw something peculiar, I stood up to see better.
Black smoke gradually came out of the kettle, travelling around the room making me cough and my skin prickle. The dark fog then collected into a blob in front of me and dissolved into a hooded figure. I gape in astonishment.
Am I hallucinating? I asked myself.
"No, you're not," said the hooded man with a deep voice. I jumped from the unexpectedness, my hand hitting the glass and breaking it into shards. I quickly picked one up to defend myself.
"You can read my thoughts?" I stuttered, trembling slightly.
"Well, of course, the spirit of death has to have some sort of power," he said, making my blood turn ice-cold. His stance casual while mine was tense.
"The spirit of death?" I said choking on my words, I could feel my throat closing up.
"Well, you can call me Thanatos," he said, picking up a knife, "anyways, I came here to give you a message." I glanced from the knife in his hand to where his face should be with panicked eyes.
"A message?" I repeated him, my palms started to become moist.
"Yes, I'm just giving you a heads up, but you're going to lose your life in less than a day," he told me with a shrug. My eyes widened further if that's even possible. My heart raced so fast, I could feel it beating my chest like a drum.
"If you don't mind, I must do some other..." he paused, "tasks, I'll come and get you soon." Tears were already streaming down my face.
He waved at me and burst into a dark thunderous cloud, which dissolved into the air. A strangled sob ripped out of my throat, as I dropped to my knees trembling wildly. My skin started to burn and my clothes clung to my skin because of my sweat.
Breathing heavily, I stumbled to the washroom and pushed through the door. Grabbing the container with sweaty palms, I shakily consumed the anxiety pills and desperately gulped water from the sink. Trying to control my breathing, I looked at my reflection's grey eyes.
Suddenly, a strange wind hit me with such force that I stumbled back. I looked up to the mirror to see a beautiful woman with flowing silver hair and ghostly pale skin, replacing my reflection.
"Angel White," she whispered, my already high eyebrows, shot up at the acknowledgement.
"Who are you and how do you know me?" I asked, my voice raspy from all the sobbing.
"I am Macaria, the goddess of blessed death," she stated in a whisper again, "I know everyone that is soon to die. I choose who has a peaceful death based on their past actions."
"What did I do to deserve a short life?" I asked desperately.
"There is a way for you to live longer," she said with an emotionless face.
"Which is?" I asked.
"If you collect items that symbolize the Seven Sins and put them in this box before your time of death, you will be excused from your death sentence," she said, raising her hand and some sort of wind swirled above her hand then dissolved into an antique wooden box. The box had intricate gold designs and a gold lock, but the box itself was black.
"Seven Sins?" I murmured looking down, trying to recall any memory that was related to that specific term. Once I looked up to ask her, I see my reflection instead of her. I looked around the bathroom to see if she is still here, I saw the box she mentioned resting beside the sink. I quickly grabbed the object and ran to my study table, I took out my laptop and began my search.
I typed up "7 sins" on the search machine and the answer popped up. Taking a piece of paper and pen, I wrote them down.
Wrath, Sloth, Gluttony, Pride, Greed, Lust, and Envy.
I looked over the terms and chose sloth, and gluttony, which are pretty easy to accomplish. Gluttony means eating a lot, so some sort of food could work. Running to the kitchen, I grabbed a bag of chips from the pantry, and ran back to the box and place it in the container. A whisper echoed around me.
Gula
It's not in any language I know, but it obviously meant gluttony. I look around to see if that goddess is still around, it sounded like her soft wispy voice. I ignored it and go to slothfulness.
A sloth meaning slow, tired, or just lazy. If I was tired I would go to sleep. When the realization hit me, I stood up and ran to my closet. I dug out the object and ran back to my desk. I placed the travel pillow in the box and another whisper sounded around me.
Acedra
Repeating the word in my mind, I quickly searched the word up on my laptop and find that it's the Latin term for Sloth. With a nod, I shut the laptop and thought of everything that is related to wrath. While I'm doing that I took out a cigarette and lit it up. The need to calm down has me blowing out a puff of smoke, I lay my head on my chair.
Wrath as in anger. Anger can be represented by fire.
I snapped my head to look at the lighter in my hands. I opened the lock of the box and set the lighter in the box. As soon as the item touched the material, a whisper echoed in my head.
Ira
The term immediately registered in my head, ira is the Latin term for wrath. I checked that on my list and thought of the next sin. Pride. I asked myself a bunch of questions related to pride and came up with the conclusion that a trophy suits the sin best. I collected it from my shelf and placed it in the box.
Suberbia
The soft whisper resounds around me but I choose to ignore it and focus on my next task. Envy. When I think of envy, I think of the Snow White story and how the evil queen used her mirror to see what Snow White was doing. The mirror itself represented jealousy. So, I collected a compact mirror and place it in the box. For greed, I came up with jewelry because most people have a desire for money and gold. I put the only gold necklace I could find in the box. The next sin is lust. I come up with lipstick because it is an object of desire used by women to seduce men. I drop it in the box and the last whisper echoes around me.
I rested my head on the chair and released another puff of smoke, but immediately start coughing. While the smoke clogged my throat, I ran to the kitchen and grabbed a glass and filled it up with water. I gulped it down desperately to extinguish the intense feeling in my lungs. I breathed heavily when my skin started to burn up. My sweat started to drip down my forehead, my already racing heart thumped against my chest.
I felt the hot chunky liquid coming up my throat and I slapped my hand over my mouth. I ran to the bathroom and knelt in front of the toilet, letting the liquid drop out of my mouth. Once I finished vomiting, I flushed the toilet and stumbled to the sink. Washing my hands, I searched for the anxiety pills but find no luck. My stomach began to hurt like it has been shot. I hugged myself and leaned on the wall. My eyesight became blurry and I slide down the wall.
I opened my eyes one last time to see a dark figure with everything else white. My eyes closed of their own accord, and my body relaxed. In less than a second, I was transported to a horrifying view. I saw my body in front of me, sprawled against the wall.
"We meet again," Thanatos said beside me. I could feel the smirk on him.
"What am I supposed to do now?" I asked, strangely calm. There was not much I can do, I lost my body... Thanatos lifted his hand and I hesitantly took it.
"Just hold on tight," he said. I have transported yet again to a dark but fiery place. I guessed it was the underworld. In front of me, I saw Macaria and another person with a dark cloak. He held a long sceptre and had pale skin. He had silvery straight hair and looked much older than any of us. Side by side, both Macaria, and the unknown man looked alike.
"I am Hades, ruler of the underworld," he extinguished my curiosity with this statement.
"You are to be rewarded by being an underworld goddess," he said, in his deep electric voice. He raised his hand and a glowing sphere appeared above it. He lightly threw the orb to my head, and it burst into sparks that fell onto my soul. The sparks transformed my exterior.
My hair turned back into my raven black hair. The sparks dissolved into my skin, which went back to my sun-kissed one. The sparks also dissolved into a long-sleeved black lace gown that hugged my curves. I look up and see the spirits giving me an approving look.
"You will now be known as Angelos, a chthonic deity," he said, giving me tight smile.
With a jolt, I realized that every event that happened was done on purpose. I looked at the three spirits in front of me and they all gave me a smile which sent tingles up my spine.
