Chapter 1: Slavery to Sin

Year Eight Uzziah-Academic Year Waw

Rising from his slumber, the young man yawned and looked out from the window. He felt the heat from the sunlight shining through his uncovered glass window. Rubbing his excited eyes, he saw a lot of buildings watching men, women, and children of all ages either walking or running past one another, on the sidewalk or crossed the street. Cars, vans and trucks-old and new-drove past one another in opposite directions, moving in slow motion. A bronze statue of a bald, old man waved at the world with a grin, holding the rolled up papers on his left hand by his abdomen. A few floating clouds slowly moved forward in the clear, blue sky. Taking his relaxing, deep breath with his eyes closed, he smiled out of joy.

-Oh, today's the big day, Zac buddy! My special day! I'm turning fourteen today! You know what that means, don't you?! 
He raised his clenched fist up in the air and closed his eyes for a moment.
-It's time to make triple the money and buy more videogames!

Then he got off of bed to raise his hands up in the air, and looked up at the ceiling. "Dear Elohim, I thank you for giving me a good night's sleep and protection throughout the night, and wake me up in a beautiful morning. Please provide me with a very good, special day for me, for You know I'm turning fourteen today. Please give me more blessings and wealth, so I can buy some video games. In Yeshua's name, Amen."

Turning around, he walked up towards his brown shelf near the flat screen TV and his black console. There he exclusively saw a lot of videogames; although most of them are online battle royale, some of them were retro, a portion were action-adventure, a few were just action, and others were racing. He hugged his shelf and placed his hand on his videogames, sniffing at them a couple times, rubbing them onto his cheek, turning his attention to them with a smile.

"Oh, hi, my little babies," Zac said in a cute voice as if he was encountering a baby. "How are you today? Did ya sleep well last night? Huh? Huh? Huh? Well, of course you did, and so did I! Yes, you have! Yes, you have! You know what today it is, do you? Yeaaaaa, I'm turning fourteen today. You know what that means, do you? I'll be making some triple the money today, so I can buy an extra videogame! Yes, I am! Yes, I am!"

He kissed them. "Muh-muh-muh! I love you, my videogames. Muh-muh-muh! Yea, I know you love me too! Muh-muh-muh!"

After he got done being that lovey dovey with his videogames for a while, he then entered his closet and opened the vault door. He grinned at the money inside. 

"Good morning, money!" He also said to his money in his cute voice, "You know what today is, do you? You guessed riiiiight. I'm turning fourteen today! Money, come to papa!"

He grabbed a handful of money and sniffed at it a couple times, rubbing it onto his right cheek. "So did you get a good night's sleep last night? Huh? Huh? Huh? Oh, yes, you have! Yes, you have! I'll find some new members to add to my family! Oh, yes, I will! Yes, I will!"

"Zaccai, your breakfast is ready! Come in here and eat it before it gets cold!" The voice of Zac's mother said, echoing his room from the kitchen.

Zac sighed in annoyance and frowned at his own mother for calling him his real, legal name and interrupting his interaction time with his money. "Mom! I'm kinda busy right now! I'll be there soon enough! Can you put my breakfast in the microwave, so that I'll eat it as soon as I finish getting ready for the day?"

"Sure thing, son!"

"Thanks, mom!"

"No problem."

He returned his attention to the money, turning his eyes to the left with his even more annoyed face. 

-God, she's so freakin' annoying! I'm tryin' to socialize with my money, yet my mom has to interrupt that, does she?!

He then smiled at them. "Well, money. Looks like we're going to our separate ways as usual."

He shook his head up and down. "I know, I know, money. Yes, I know. I hate it when we're separated from each other, but I don't have a choice now, do I?"

He stopped shaking his head and continued, "Don't worry, money. I want you to stay here and keep one another company, while I get ready for the day and go out to find new members for my vault family, like you did before. I won't be gone for long. I promise you that. I'll be back today as I usually do. Love you."

He kissed the money a couple times before he placed it back into the vault. "Muh-muh-muh!"

Then he waved at it, with a grin on his face. "Bye now, money. I hope you have a good day today!"

After closing the vault door and turning the tumbler, he exitted his closet, walked towards the bathroom, and prepared for himself for his special day.

****

"Alright, dogs! Let's go walk in the park!"  Zac commanded three dogs on the leash. After the hounds joyfully barked at him, he walked around the track with them in a loop within the park. He smiled greatly while people either walked or ran past him in all sorts of directions. He also saw children playing in the playground either by themselves or with their parents.

-Alright, looks like I'm doing good so far. All I have to do is do an hour walk, and I should get one hundred and fifty Shekels from my neighbor. So exciting! I can't wait to get a hold of that money! 

He returned his focus on the mongrols below him. "Now then, you three! If you guys behave well in one loop, I'll give you guys doggie treats! What do you say?"

All three canines excitedly barked and looked him in the eye.

"Oh, you're such good dogs! You guys keep making me proud! I'm about to cry," he exclaimed, wiping the tears out of his eyes. "Alrighty then! Let's keep walking!"

They barked at him, turned their attention forward, and displayed their excited faces. Zac and the pooches continuously walked  forward, until Zac began to slow his pace. He widened his eyes out of shock and opened his mouth.

-Huh?!

There he saw two girls around his age walking forward in his direction, with the people still moving past by them in opposite directions. Both of them wore jeans and some jewelry-a couple bracelets on one of their arms, a necklace, and a pair of earrings. One girl with short, red-brownish hair wore a purple headband on her head, a purple shirt, and a pair of white sneakers. Her friend had long, black hair and wore a blue shirt and a pair of sneakers. However, his eyes became fixated on one girl more, as he saw them chatted with one another. Then an adult couple walked around him to his front, blocking them from seeing Zac and the dogs.

Zac imagined those girls taking him to the authorities after they'd gotten their money back from him and the possibility of either being grounded by his parents, or worse, spending years in prison and having a criminal record which could hurt his chances of his future employment.

-Aw, shit! That's one of my former customers! Quick! I better get the hell out of here before she sees me!

He quickly and fearfully turned his attention towards the hounds. "Alright, dogs! Time to walk in a loop in the opposite direction! Quickly now!" 

He tried to get them to turn around. But once the adult couple walked around those youngsters, however, one girl noticed Zac a split second after he turned those canines around, becoming curious of him.

"That boy over there…," One girl said, turning her attention to the other one and Zac back and forth. "Do you see him?"

"What boy?" Her friend asked.
One girl pointed her index finger at him. "The one that's walking in the park with those three dogs."

Her friend looked at where one girl's finger was pointing at and spotted him. "Yeah, I see him now. What about him? Do you know him or something?"

"He looks kinda familiar to me. I think we met about a month ago. Do you remember his face?"

Her friend turned her attention towards one girl and raised her eyebrow. "Uh…You sure know him?"

"Yes, I believe he might be the one we're after. Let's go see if he really is the one we're after."

Her friend turned her attention to Zac. "Yeah, sure thing. Let's go."

While those two youngsters walked towards him, the mail truck drove past the park. The pooches began to chase after that truck, barking aggressively. They pulled him away and turned him around. His eyes widened and his mouth twitched while sweat fell down on his cheeks, pulling the canines back under his control.

"Hey, you guys! Stay with me, damn it! Don't start chasing after that mail truck! The hell, man?! Bad dogs!" He roared at the dogs below him.

-Shit, shit, shit, SHIT! I really hope those girls don't see me, or I'll be toast big time!

Those young ladies then gasped.

"I think I remember that boy now! We've finally found him, after failing to find him for the entire month!" The other girl exclaimed, smiling viciously.

"We're definitely getting a refund from that scam artist! Let's go!"

"Mhn," her friend agreed as she and one girl began to chase after him.

-GODDAMN IT! I've been caught red-handed thanks to these dogs! Quick! Let's get the hell out of here!