This is a story about a guy named Tom. From the simplest of tasks to the most difficult of situations, count on Tom to fail miserably. Tom doesn’t have many friends, nor can he maintain any relationships with women. Heck - his family can barely handle him.

Tom is simply alone.

But there is a perfectly logical and understandable reason as to why Tom is so different from us and so socially handicapped. I’d like to introduce you to Tom’s self-conscience.

Meet Mark and Damien, Tom’s shoulder angel and devil.
This terrible duo is the very reason why Tom’s life is a constant disaster.

Mark and Damien are best friends who met in school. They both were in the class Morality 101, which was taught by the Society of Conscience. To give some background, shoulder angels and devils are enrolled in class on the day after their human is conceived and they have 9 months to complete the course in
preparation for life. In this class both shoulder angels and shoulder devils are taught the same courses and assignments (to enforce the balance); however, their respective solutions and choices of action must adhere to the code to their kind. While angels are encouraged to find a righteous, truthful and helpful solution to problems, devils are persuaded to see any situation as a way for personal gain; to seek power with no consideration for anyone but themselves.

Unfortunately, this was not the case with Mark and Damien. Since they were best friends, they were more caught up with themselves than school and each didn’t get caught up in trying to follow the code to be righteous like angels or power hungry like devils. They built their own code of morality and have as much fun as possible.

So when the 9 months passed and Tom was born, Mark and Damien were sent off to do their duty as his consciences. The Society of Conscience knew it was a terrible idea but had no choice but to allow it since it would actually be a more tragic situation for a man to have no conscience than 2 ridiculous ones.
Of course there were many who argued otherwise.

Since the day Tom was born, Mark and Damien have controlled every choice that Tom has made.
And it’s only getting worse.



Mark and Damien
Created by: Michael J. Duhamel
September 30, 2008