Pride.
Hubris.
The sin that started it all.
She never understood how she could love a man who bore such a serious flaw.
He was so sure of himself, so desperately needing to be right about everything.
Such a shame that hubris prevented him from seeing the real truth.
The truth she felt every day.
Every time he came near.
Pride's dearest companion crept in,
Lust.
Luxuria.
She knew it was sinful to fantasize about one man while married to another.
She didn't care.
When she was no longer bound by the vows that seemed so meaningless, the fantasies didn't stop.
They quadrupled.
Why shouldn't she want him?
Why didn't he want her?
How could she finally make this desperate aching cease?
She couldn't.
And it killed her.
Lust invited someone else to join the party, and so along came
Greed.
Avaritia.
Once she got a taste of the lips that had been denied her for so long, she wanted more.
Needed more.
It didn't matter that it had been an act.
She began to bribe and manipulate who she could, anything to be near him.
Anything to attain just one more kiss.
It never came to be, and Greed got lonely, which led it to find
Envy.
Invidia.
She felt it whenever she saw him with another woman.
Sometimes the pang would hit her and disappear as quickly as it had come. Sometimes it stuck around, eating at her from the inside.
That was how it felt this time. Watching her kiss him made her sick to her stomach.
Made her want to slap the smile off her face.
"He belongs to me.
My partner.
My soul mate.
Mine."
She hated the feeling almost as much as she hated her for getting to kiss him.
Almost as much as she hated him for making her feel that way.
The green-eyed monster never shows up alone. And so he invited his good friend,
Wrath.
Ira.
She couldn't look at the whore without wanting to tear her to shreds.
Claw out her eyes so she could no longer rest her gaze on him.
Rip away her ears so she could no longer hear his voice.
Tear out her throat so she could no longer speak to him.
Unworthy pig.
When the feelings faded, they left traces of something else;
Something that created a void in need of filling.
And so they were joined by
Gluttony.
Gula.
She indulged herself in everything but the one thing she so desperately wanted.
She gorged herself until he body begged her to stop.
She purged herself of her sins in the office lavatory.
It didn't matter now.
What did?
Gluttony began to bore her, and so came
Sloth.
Acedia.
She could no longer bear to be near to him.
They all came at once, all seven, taking over her mind and seeping down into her heart.
No more.
It's over.
He didn't seem to understand.
She sat at home for a week after making that phone call, and let Sloth make itself welcome.