The Wages of Sin
A Story Every Day in 2024 - 4th January, #4/366
It started in the dullest way possible. With a thin brown envelope. It felt important. Unignorable. A bill?
Bills. I used to pay them on time, you know. Smiled with bitten lips. Wrote thank you notes. Fretted.
It had been one of those months: car broke down, washing machine flooded the kitchen and the boiler gave up the ghost. My landlord was a greedy ass and put the rent up. The cost of living crisis backdropped the lot. I'd got nothing in the bank. Really nothing; I was already overdrawn with three weeks 'til payday.
With a dutiful sigh and shaking hands, I slit the envelope open, resolving to call whoever-it-was straight away and plead for time, using my most polite Telephone Voice. Or, worst case scenario, cry.
It was a credit card. I almost threw it in the bin, relieved. At least it wasn't someone demanding money.
Why did I hesitate? Tempted by the lure of "extra" money?
Wait.
It was pre-paid.
Is it a mistake? If I spend the money on here, will I have to pay it back?
Screw it. I'd be no worse off than I am now. I'll be better off. So I used it.
But listen.
It had five hundred on it when it landed on my doormat. I thought I rinsed it, but a statement came at the end of the month showing I'd barely made a dent.
More money trickles in at random times. Sometimes just a few pennies, sometimes hundreds of pounds.
It took me weeks to figure it out. Every time I'm a shitty person, my benefactor tops it up.
When I play a mean prank on a co-worker, cut someone off in traffic, hang around in Starbucks and take someone else's shit coffee.. kerchiiiing.
I insulted my boss, got fired, and now I'm a professional social media troll. I cuss, pay bills late, and swap the carboard sleeves on normal and vegan meals.
It's not free. It's costing me something.
I linger on train platforms, watching people standing too close to the edge. That's a non-earner. I'd actually have to do it.
I walk, a kitchen knife in my jacket. Thinking.
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Word count: 366 words
Submitted on: 4th January at 8.09 AM
* * * Author's Note * * *
As always, thank you for reading! I value your engagement. I do my best to reciprocate all reads, so please leave a comment to make that easier for me. (Please don't comment with a link unless you're taking part.)
The story behind the story: I'm writing a microfiction story every day in 2024. I know, mental, right? This one is my fourth. Four down, 362 to go!
Prompt: My "can't see" story wasn't ready, but this one was! I used a prompt from Serina Carroll for this one: A prepaid debit card that rewarded her every time she made someone cry. I took it a bit further because my brain is probably a bit wrong.
If you are joining me in the "story every day" lark: please do comment with a link to your story! If you think, "bugger that for a game of soldiers" but you think you could do something with this debit card idea, you're welcome to link to it.
Here are my previous "story every day" stories so far:
1st January - A New Beginning
2nd January - The Other Guy
3rd January - One Day, I just Disappeared
I will come back and edit to include links to others who took part!
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More stories from L.C. Schäfer and writers in Fiction and other communities.
One Day, I Just Disappeared
Four years old The first time I woke up invisible, I thought I was dreaming. I'd had lots of real-seeming dreams just like it. I played with my toys and it looked like they were moving about by themselves. I giggled. My voice was invisible, too.
By L.C. Schäfer5 months ago in Fiction
Comments (18)
Sounds like a deal with the devil.
Well-wrought microfiction! You worked your way deftly through the story from debt to demonic debit!
Bad girl gone wild! Loved this, "I cuss, pay bills late, and swap the cardboard sleeves on normal and vegan meals."
I really enjoyed this the curve you threw in this! Then I started counting my sins from back in the day - i would have been Buffett rich!
Do unto others before they do unto you & get paid for it. An influencer's dream scenario, lol.
Part of me wonders how much this is Fiction... why do I have a strange feeling that the "Benefactor" could be YouTube?
Ooh, that was vicious! And I feel conflicted about liking it because of the bit about doing mean things to people, but I can rationalize that it is REALLY excellent writing. Just the right amount of 'seasoning and suspense. A poster child example for "showing" and not "telling." Hooked me from the first lines. I wonder if that is something people think about...make that first line to die for... I was hopelessly invested by the time I hit, "My landlord was a greedy ass and put the rent up." My landlord really was and two months later served a repossession order when the boiler broke down. That phrase is so fitting. I endorse the reading of this story for all but ESPECIALLY greedy ass landlords, so that they know how greedy their asses are thought of. POM-POM-MING YOU 😁 WOOHOO!!!
Oh man. I'd love a benefactor like that. What a miserable prick I could be. Lol. Great story.
Love the direction you took with this. great micro
I really liked this one. The ending was very ominous. I didn't know if he was going to push someone off the platform, rob a passerby, or kill himself.
Oh dear! This guy is really going places, eh? Awesome story, LC! Loved the shockingly quick descent into madness and violence that this person is going through.
Ooph, what a concept, what a trade. I submitted mine today under the 600 word limit. Six hours on an it's not been published.
A serial troll on the loose
This is mine today: https://vocal.media/fiction/the-day-of-the-kill-a029q02lm Yours was Faustian. Loved it.
Whoaaaa! I don't know if I could do that, be a shitty person. Murder, yes, hands down. But I wanna be a nice murderer who's very polite and has very good manners 🤣🤣🤣
Scary premise, but great read!
Prepaid decay of the soul. What a marvelous, menacing premise!
This is the worst story ever, you should give up writing! Fun prompt, and you made it work. Five down, 361 to go. good luck;)