Derrick woke up the next day with his head throbbing , and a pounding in the pit of his stomach. The last thing he remembered was talking to a group of boys till one of them said something and then it all faded to black.
He blinked once, twice, before sitting up, groaning at the pain in his head. He rubbed his eyes as he stood and stretched, wincing when his head started spinning once more. He shook off his disorientation and made his way to his bathroom, running some cold water in the sink so he could cool down enough to walk outside without falling over.
He felt a little better now that he had some coffee in him. His headache hadn't gone away but it wasn't so bad he couldn't function properly anymore. After drinking half his coffee and taking an ibuprofen out of the cabinet beside the sink, Derrick headed into his room and got dressed in his school uniform. As he walked to class, he ran a hand through his hair, attempting to flatten it down a little. If there were any stray hairs caught between his fingers, however, he didn't see any. He was pretty sure that the rest of his body would disagree with him, though.
When he entered the classroom the teacher looked up from her desk and frowned, "Mr. Taylor? What are you doing here early this morning?"
Derrick smiled and shrugged, sitting down and picking up his notebook. "Just wanted to get out of the house. Had a few things on my mind."
The teacher raised her eyebrows in surprise, "And I suppose those things can wait until after your test is done?"
Her words startled him but he managed a smile, "Of course. I won't fail, promise!"
"I trust you won't, Mr.Taylor," she assured him, turning back around in her chair. "Crap, I completely forgot the test was today. Where do I even begin? Derrick was still fiddling around his desk when Kyle came in with Vanessa holding hands with him. She gave Derrick a sad look and avoided eye contact while he immediately shifted his gaze back to his desk, pretending to be working on something else instead. He knew the other boy was looking at him, which made him want to cringe every time he did.
"Hey, Derrick," Kyle drawled after a moment or two of silence. When Derrick just hummed in response, he went on, "Can we talk? Please?"
Derrick swallowed hard, glancing sideways at him. "We're not really friends," he pointed out, not bothering to hide the venom in his voice. "You can't expect things to go back to the way they were just because you apologise dude, you messed up and I'm not going to forget that." Derrick said as he felt fumes rise in his chest. The idea of forgiving him seemed absurd to him. Not after everything he'd put him through and everything he did behind his back .
Kyle's expression softened slightly, "Look, Derrick-"
But Derrick cut him off before he had chance to finish his sentence, standing abruptly and slamming his textbook down on his desk. He took one step towards Kyle's direction and said, in his most menacing tone, "Don't call me Derrick."
With that, he turned and stormed out of the room, ignoring Kyle's calls for him to come back.
As he made his way to English class with a heavy heart, he tried to push thoughts of his old life away from his head. It was no use.
After what felt like an eternity the closing bell finally rang , signalling everyone's dismissal from class. Derrick rushed through the hallway, making his way to his locker as quickly as possible.
Once his books were safely inside, he quickly grabbed his things, and made his way to the main entrance. He didn't spare the crowd of people a glance, too busy getting out of the school to notice them staring at him in disbelief.
As soon as he stepped into the cool September air , he let out a sigh of relief. At least the day was over. Derrick looked around the parking lot and decided to head towards his car.
He unlocked the door with his keys and threw himself inside the vehicle, pressing play on his CD player. A few moments later he was driving home.
***
By the time he reached his apartment, Derrick was exhausted, not only physically but also mentally.
It was almost six pm by the time he entered the bedroom where he collapsed onto his bed, pulling out the first book that he found on his nightstand and opening it. The cover read 'How to make spaghetti sauce'. Derrick chuckled softly to himself as he closed his eyes and focused his energy on the words.
Halfway through reading the book, he suddenly realized that someone else was in the room and jumped in surprise, dropping his book onto the floor. "Who's there? Show yourself!"
His heartbeat raced and his palms began to sweat, praying to whatever god was listening that this wasn't a burglar. There were times when Derrick considered breaking up with the rent money, just so he wouldn't have to deal with any burglars who might try to take advantage of his vulnerability. Unfortunately, he couldn't bring himself to think about it, not wanting to risk his life.
Footsteps sounded on the wooden floor of the living room, and then the owner of the steps appeared in the doorway, leaning against the frame.
"Sorry if I scared you." A deep voice echoed throughout the small apartment. revealing seven silhouettes, including the speaker.
"You...what are you doing here?" Derrick asked cautiously, still wary of being attacked.
"Oh, well," Lust answered smugly, scratching the back of his neck. "We kinda live here dude remember? "Oh hello D-Man! Sloth said as he appeared from the shadows, followed by the other five. "You guys can't be serious, this shouldn't be real! You guys shouldn't be real!" Derrick said frantically as he backed further away from the intruders, trying to keep distance between them and him. "What the hell is wrong with you!?"
Lust rolled his eyes and spoke in his usual monotone voice, "Dude chill man, we aren't gonna hurt ya. We don't do that kinda stuff anymore. Besides, you're our guest. It's the gentlemanly thing to do to offer our guests food and drink while you study."
"Why are you talking to me?! Aren't you dead?!"
Sloth piped up this time, giving Lust a disappointed frown, "You mean like, 'dead', right? Yeah. Well, yeah. We're spirits. But hey, why are you freaking out so much? I thought you liked us guys. Thought we were cool?"
"Uh, I-"
Before Derrick could even answer, Lust spoke again, "We're not here to hurt you. We came to help you." Derrick, still not believing a single thing that has been said to them said "But why me? Why do you wanna help me?? What makes me so special?" He paused, and continued when Lust and his gang were quiet, "Am I gonna die soon? Cause I really need some money before then."
"No, dude. It's not like that. You're special alright. Don't worry," Lust said. "Alright, how about this... you tell us about you, and we will tell you about us, individually this time right guys? Lust said as he turned to face his brothers. They all nodded their agreement. "Well, we've known each other since forever. My name's Lust, and these are my brothers Sloth, Wrath or Anger, Greed, Pride, Gluttony and Envy," he gestured to each of his siblings. "So boys, if you'll please give Derrick a formal introduction, that'll be nice. Lust said as he gave way to let whosoever would speak first come forward.
"My name's Sloth, you remember those times when you felt unusually lazy with no urge to get busy? yeah... that was me in a way. You could say I'm laziness personified. I think that should be all from my end-" "And I'm Gluttony, I'm the reason you always want more each time you're given a plate. I tend to go extra when I'm in control so you may need to be careful with who you select to be the dominant possessor." Gluttony said as he interrupted Sloth. "Well, you already know my name, Lust. And I'm the reason you always wanna bang Vivian everytime during Gym period at school, in other words I'm the ideal 'ladies man'." Lust said as he let out a long smirk. "Anyways, now it's Wrath's turn, isn't it? Let's start with Wrath, then. His name means anger or frustration, according to him. So we already know what that means." Wrath scowled and shot Lust a glare.
Lust ignored the glare and carried on, "Anyway. He likes being in control the most, but also likes having the upper hand. Basically he wants us all to submit to him as a unit. That's how he's managed to get everyone to follow him without even trying." Wrath scoffed at Lust's last statement, but didn't say anything else.
Next came Pride, then Envy and Greed.
*****
After what felt like an eternity, Derrick finally understood that they were actual demons from Hell as portrayed in the Catholic doctrines and they've taken the forms of boys so as to appear less threatening to him.
"If what you say is true then... why are you helping me? Look, I just need to know." he pleaded, trying not to sound desperate.
Lust sighed and walked forwards until he stood next to Derrick. He placed his hands on Derrick's shoulder and squeezed it gently, "Because I want you to be happy, dummy. And I guess it was never actually meant for us to kill you. You're a really good guy and I'm sure you're not gonna enjoy what happens next, but you'd need to trust us, alright?" "I know you're probably scared to death but we'll protect you dude! Trust us, please!! I won't let anyone lay a finger on you!!" Sloth exclaimed excitedly.
Derrick hesitated, unsure whether he should trust them, or what they were planning to do with him in return for their kindness. In the end, after thinking about it for a moment, he decided that trusting them was the least thing he could do - besides, what did he have to lose?
"Ok. If you guys say so..."
he replied, not entirely convinced. But at least he had a bit of hope in his mind. A little bit of hope for something good to happen tomorrow, maybe. Or tomorrow, tomorrow morning. It was too early for him to start worrying about tomorrow. "So uhh when do we start? Do we shake on it or something?" "Uhhh hold your horses man, we're coming to that part.", Lust said. "We'll explain everything tomorrow, ok? But for now, you should probably rest. You look tired as fuck."
Lust patted him on the back as he and the others vanished before Derrick's eyes.