They didn't vanish.
Even after the silence returned, they stayed. Or maybe they were never fully visible to begin with. Just... lingering in the background like awkward memories or that one sock you can never find the pair to.
I didn't sleep that night. Not really. My body gave out like a drained battery, but my mind kept flickering, like a faulty lightbulb refusing to die. When I opened my eyes, it was to the kind of gray light that makes you feel like the world is on mute.
They were still here.
Pride stood near the window, posture perfect, chin lifted slightly like he was waiting for a camera crew that never arrived.
Wrath paced back and forth like she was training for a marathon she never signed up for.
Lust was upside down on the couch again, humming to herself, fingers dancing in the air like she was orchestrating a dream.
The others were scattered. Sloth was somewhere under a blanket, Greed rooted through the fridge, Envy loomed near the window, and Gluttony was poking at a plate of stale cookies like they were an artifact.
I groaned and sat up. Every joint in my body cracked like bad popcorn.
"So, the ghost is awake," Pride said without turning, voice polished as ever.
"Still looks like a sad burrito," Wrath said. "A slightly unwrapped one."
"I like burritos," Gluttony offered sincerely.
"You're not helping," Envy muttered.
"They deleted a photo last night," Lust said, quieter now with a smile. "You looked way brighter in that picture and better."
I looked at her. She was just watching. Gentle in a way I hadn't expected.
"You were watching?"
My voice came out scratchy, like it hadn't been used in a while. Because it hadn't.
"We've been watching," Pride said. "But you finally did something worth noticing."
"Deleting isn't exactly noble," I mumbled.
"Neither is wasting away," Greed chimed in from the fridge. "But here we are."
"Let's give them a task," Wrath suggested, rolling her shoulders. "Something that doesn't involve sitting around and sighing. I might actually punch him if i continue seeing him like this"
"I have got an idea!!" Pride declared with a very prideful smile (pun intended) . "It's symbolic. It's productive and It's... overdue.
"What is it?" I ask. The others also listen on curiosly.
"Start with cleaning up the room" Pride said looking proud of his idea, the other sins nodded their heads along agreeing to his idea.
"And we'll watch," Envy said. "Because that's what we do."
Sloth peeked out from under the blanket.
"I'll cheer from here. Emotionally."
"Thanks," I said, mostly to myself. I mustered as much energy i had in myself and got up to clean.
I started with the crumbs. The garbage. The mess I'd stopped noticing. With every sweep, I felt like I was arguing back against something invisible.
Wrath helped me move the couch.
"Careful," she warned. "This thing's probably older than your will to live."
Gluttony wailed when I threw out a nearly fossilized biscuit.
"He was part of the family!"
"He had mold eyebrows," Lust said gently.
Bit by bit, the space changed. Not much. Not spectacularly. But enough.
"Well," Pride said, inspecting my work. "You're still a mess. But the floor isn't."
"A solid 6 out of 10," Greed added. "Which, given the circumstances, is practically a miracle."
"It feels... different," I admitted, sitting down—not collapsing. Just sitting. I didn't feel tired. I felt... present. Like I had earned this stillness, instead of sinking into it. For the first time in what felt like ages, I wasn't retreating from the world—I was reclaiming a little piece of it.
Sloth nodded approvingly.
"Now the room matches your slowly reviving spirit."
"We should mark this day somehow," Lust said. "A little ritual. A signal to ourselves that something changed."
"We could bake something," Gluttony suggested. "Cookies of progress. Muffins of emotional growth."
"You just want snacks," Pride muttered.
"Snacks and symbolism," Gluttony said proudly. "Multitasking."
"What about planting something?" Envy offered, surprising everyone. "Like a little succulent. Low maintenance. Grows slowly… kind of like you."
"A depressed plant for a recovering human," Wrath nodded. "Makes sense."
I shook my head, the tiniest smile forming.
Maybe I wasn't fixed. Maybe I wasn't even okay.
But I was seen.
And somehow, that was enough to keep going.
In Room 7, even the smallest spark felt like a sunrise.