Max's Spirit Sin

I tried not to get frustrated with the sins, that sounded better than dolls, or didn't sound as silly. My list of things to do was endless, at the top I still needed to reach out to the insurance company. Again.

But I'd just spent four hours pausing or canceling all my current subscriptions… no more ad free podcasts, music, or shows. Reed had also helped me make another spreadsheet to tract my last three months of spending… coffee was necessary. I would have to convince Reed of that… just not right now.

I'd also called Robby back so I could get picked up Friday for dinner, then seeing Stevie off in the morning. That one call had been more draining than orientation, finding out my apartment is in fact haunted, and knowing I might have to ask to borrow enough money to cover rent.

As far as I was concerned… any motivation I had when I woke up had died five minutes into the call.

I lay on the ground, surrounded by the sins, debating every life choice that brought me to today…

"Exercise is a great way to work off steam, we could jog around the block. Get pumped to start going to the gym." Ire offered as he stretched his arms, then started doing some push ups.

"Before I go out, I need to buy new headphones." I sighed, that might be appealing… if I had headphones. Then I could at least listen to music as I explored the area. I mean… seriously who just walks around these days…

Reed glanced over, "Does your phone have headphone jacks?"

"No, Bluetooth only, the pair I had… well I don't have them anymore." I lamented with another sigh, Arianna had gifted me a really nyce pair for Christmas… but I'd been so disgusted I didn't bring any of the gifts. Even if said gifts were bought using my money… that had seemed besides the point at the time. Now… I kind of regretted leaving so much behind.

I sighed, if I was already on a roll, might as well keep going… it was still pretty early in the day. As I was about to get up suddenly the bear, Ace fell onto my face, paws on either side of my face as I looked up into the beady bear eyes. "Rest… is good… we did… a lot today… yawn." Ace murmured then sat up.

Without waiting for my answer, he walked down my chest, then plopped down on my stomach, curling up for a good nap. "Don't… burn yourself… out."

I wanted to laugh, "I think you're my spirit animal Ace." The bear paws patted my stomach.

"I'm… everyone's favorite." Ace stated matter of factly as he pulled my shirt up like a blanket.

"Yeah, I'll take a thirty minute nap, then food prep for the week, productive and procrastinating at the same time." I agreed getting up as I held Ace in my shirt to walk to the bed. I plopped down, still cradling the bear to my stomach as I set an alarm on my phone.

Tony came bounding in, leaping on the bed, "Oh! Oh! I'll make sure you wake up! Food is Great! Naps are good! And best days are lazy!" he sang burrowing into the blankets.

I took a second… had Tony… just… he parodied a song… damn, now that song would be stuck in my head all day. God is great, beer is good, and people are crazy. I fell asleep as a few of the others came to join me for a nap.

True to his word, Tony was running around the bed the moment my alarm went off. With a yawn, I followed the exuberant pup into the kitchen. We looked at my very full fridge, "Hmm, I'm thinking… tuna fish, I can make a weeks worth… cook the rest of the bacon… hmm." I had a lot… but most didn't stay good long after cooking.

"Oh! Rice! We can cook now and make fried rice! There's ham and frozen vegetables!" Tony said hopping up to check the items in the fridge.

I hesitated… I'd… never made fried rice before. Not to mention… rice wasn't so great after a day or so.

"We can freeze them in portions! OH! Fried rice is great! Lunch! With breakfast! As a side! Oh! Fried rice is the best!" Tony wheedled running around my legs.

"Uh, sure, let me look up a recipe." I pulled up fried rice foods, the sheer amount of options was a bit overwhelming. Scrolling through images, I saw fried rice wrapped in seaweed as a quick, filling, easy on the go option. I looked through my cabinets… then started looking up seaweed recipes.

Fifteen minutes later I was so far down the rabbit hole I was looking up ways to cook lyve octopus… anyway! I was todays years old when I learned! Thankfully Dillon had bought the wraps of seaweed otherwise I'd have never thought to use them. Guess I was going to explore my culinary talents in the days to come.

"Oh! We should boil the eggs first! Then! Wash and cook the rice! Do you like garlic? Yeah, lets add some garlic to the rice, give it some oomph!" Tony directed after moving to my shoulder.

With my back seat cook, or shoulder side cook, I started cooking. While I wasn't a chef, I haven't poisoned anyone… yet. Over three hours later, I had tuna fish, a dozen hard boiled eggs, four frozen portions of rice, four portions of rice cooling for fried rice, two pounds of bacon, and enough pan fried ham for my future fried rice.

Now… the dishes… I stared at my disaster of a kitchen. I had dirty dishes in the sink, on every counter, and on the floor.

"Should… probably… handwash the… big stuff. No… need… to invite… pests…" Ace murmured from on top of the fridge. "Getting… pests to… leave… takes forever…"

"If we get insects or mice, they could also become an expensive problem." Reed agreed looking around the kitchen.

I sighed, I really needed to invest in those rolling countertops like Dillon had. Just $400… "On it." Since I didn't need instructions on how to wash dishes, I started listening to a podcast as I cleaned up. As the first ad played I sighed… ads… are the worst! For a heartbeat… I thought about washing them in the bathtub. The sink was just… so small…