Deadly Sins

Deadly Sins
John and Mary were an ideal couple; they met in high school: popular, smart, athletes. They completed college quickly, to sooner begin their years together. Mary trembled thinking of their life together, spending more time as the days went by trying on her veil and humming the wedding march. John was excited for their life together, yet he spent his days with a calculator, punching numbers to come out ahead, the cost of the wedding weighing on his mind. Had he know the real costs he would never have committed his deadly sin.
Mary wore an ivory, capped sleeve dress; with beading she had sewn on herself. Lying on her pale skin was her great- grandmother’s creamy pearl necklace. A new ivory lace veil rested on her long shining chestnut hair. Her sister’s pearl clip-on earrings dangled from her untouched ears and a sea blue ribbon encircled her crisp white slip.
John stood tall a startling contrast next to the stooped old pastor, his slender form wrapped in his brother’s tuxedo. John congratulated himself on his prudent spending, the smaller church and the cheap reception hall would almost compensate for the other wedding expenses and already he had contemplated schemes to curb Mary’s spending. His eyes strained to see Mary on her father’s arm, and his face stretched to a smile as he praised himself for seizing an attractive wife, the perfect trophy wife.
Mary sighed contently on her father’s frail arm as she glimpsed John’s eyes fixed on her eyes from down the aisle. John’s hair was trimmed for the wedding and even his shoes shone in the soft light of the chapel. Mary nodded to the organist and began her pace, he eyes latched on John, too nervous to acknowledge the guests watching her walk, too afraid any break in concentration would cause her feet to continue without her. Finally reaching John safely she exhaled deeply and turned to her father as he placed his hands upon her veil and slowly lifted, his aged hands shaking as they neared her face.
John observed Mary’s father give his daughter away, his foot tapping imperceptibly wishing the old man would hurry up; the pastor was paid hourly. Luckily, thought John, this snail’s piece is over soon, otherwise we would be here for hours, he thought.
“Goodbye, my daughter” he said kissing her smooth cheek with his wrinkled one. Mary responded to the warmth in her father’s eyes, and then turned towards John, eager to start the next phase of her life.
“We are gathered here today…” began the priest, Mary’s thoughts wandered to the reception, John had not let her see the location but Mary was sure that John had picked the perfect place; he had always taken her on the best outings. Shaking her head Mary focused her attention back on the ceremony hoping; no one noticed her wandering mind or the glazed look in her eyes.
Thank God it’s finally over, John thought, that priest must have practiced talking that slow in order to be paid more. John linked his arm with his new wife’s and together they walked toward the church doors.
“Oh John,” Mary gasped, “It’s a dump. Please tell me this isn’t really where our reception is going to be.” Their brown hatchback clunked up to a square grey building with the faded outline of “Bowl O Rama” imprinted on the wall above the aluminum door. The asphalt of the parking lot was cracked and dandelions, peeked through, but even they were brown and dead, too ashamed to grow through the abandoned lot.
“Don’t be ridiculous Mary; of course this is the place. It’s wonderful on the inside, a real gem, and anyway it cost less than any other place in the neighborhood. We must take care with our money, no more throwing it around on silk mud boots, or whatever frivolous nonsense your father bought for you.” John’s hands gripped the steering wheel, as he pulled the shuddering car up to the building, his fingers clenching and unclenching the steering wheel a rag he was wringing out. Mary stepped from the car hesitantly not wanting to lose the hope that the room inside would surpass the horrid view of the outside.
John knocked smartly upon the door and it was opened by a balding man, with a stained white apron stretched over his generous stomach. The man extended his short stubby fingers stained brown like they had never seen soap. John extended his hand and gave the man’s hand a quick shake, releasing it quickly to not prolong the contact.
“Please,” said the man, “Do come in.” The man stepped aside allowing Mary and John to squeeze past him and tread inside. The inside was dark and dusty, and Mary swore she heard the faint noise of bowling echoing through the empty walls. She shook her head; that’s nonsense, she thought, just imaging brought on by the location.
“John, I don’t like this place,” Mary said, her voice hushed, as her hands gripped his arm, her nails digging into his skin leaving ten perfect half moons on his arm.
“Stop fusing Mary,” he hissed, “besides look at the charm” he said, gesturing toward the faded lanes and fractured plastic seats of the bowling alley. John smiled to himself, scared guests left quickly and ate little, and maybe some of this wasted expense could be returned to his pocket. That added savings would almost compensate for the wastrel priest dragging out the ceremony and costing him so much money. Suddenly Mary was blind, the room devoid of light except the eerie glowing of the man’s eyes, Mary screamed, leaping closer to John.
“God dammit, Mary, it is probably just a problem with the fuses, stop all this nonsense now. I won’t stand for it.” John grabbed Mary’s hands and forcibly removed them from his own, deliberately stepping away from her. “Come now, just find a seat and we will wait for that man to turn the lights back on.”
Mary’s blood raced through her veins as she attempted to follow John’s commands, but her mind was frenzied and her body refused to obey her mind. Mary heard the patter of feet walking to the lanes, silence, and then thuds as bowling balls hit the floor and began to roll, some slowly, some quickly toward the pins. Mary heard some balls roll into the gutter and then the crack as some hit the pins knocking them over. The air was filled with the noise of cheers and groans the occupants voicing their success, or lack of it.
“John, John!” screeched Mary, “What’s going on?” Mary’s body began to shake and she flung her arms out wildly praying to find John within her reach.
John heard a whisper that grew and soon became music, blasting from the walls and ceiling and floor. The bowling continued, no longer synchronized as it had been in the beginning; a constant parade of thud, rolling, crack, cheers and groans. Strobe lights flashed and with each short flash of light John searched for the party, the people, anything sane to explain the source of the clatter. He found nothing, yet the sound continued: thud, roll, crack, cheers and groans, over and over, louder and louder. The sound growing until John could not even hear his own thoughts.
Mary grew more panicked, her head pounded with each new sound, and she covered her eyes, hiding her head in her arms, shrinking to the floor; unable to stand the emptiness with all the sound. Yearning for a quiet place she understood, hoping if she covered her head all the bad things would go away.
A voice began to laugh, the laugh grew louder, swallowing the rest of the sound, just as the laughter overtook the rest of the noise the lights flashed once and remained on, the light blinding and normal compared to the maniacal laughter. John turned to the sound of the laughter and there stood the man, his face contorted with hate.
“Fallen have you into this trap. Your greed has led you here and now shall you pay the price of your life. Your precious Mary sucked away, by your selfishness. Nevermore shall you see her beauty, or hear her voice. Stuck here now, she cannot leave, and from now on she will stay, inside this place, doomed to bowl. For until all greed has left this world, still this place you’ll see, a new disguise for every man, just what his pocket seeks. A cheaper place your greed wanted, a better job for him, yet do not forget the ones you love or you may find them stuck, paying for your hollow soul until all souls are full.” Throughout this speech the man’s form flickered from one shape to the next, yet his voice remained the same, echoing his words from every spot.
John turned to find Mary, praying she was still there, passed out on the floor in fright, but she was not. John fell to his knees and closed his eyes preparing to beg for Mary’s life, yet the man was gone, the building was gone and John found himself kneeling in an abandoned lot next to his car.
John climbed into his car, vowing to find a way to release Mary, yet as the days went past, light after dark after light, John came to realize that Mary was gone, never to return. John gave up his work and soon his life too, he never left his house and he wasted away, unable to change, yet unable to continue.
Heed this warning or you’ll find yourself in this place; where fears are born and hope soon dies without any escape. Greed is a deadly sin, and causes death it does, your body left without a soul, eternity alone.