Eternally Bound to the God of Sins

Reiko just tapped Sina's shoulder when it was 4 p.m., to let her know she was leaving. Sina perked up and told her to wait. Reiko raised an eyebrow while Sina picked up a flyer, folded it, and dropped it inside Reiko's bag.

"Just in case you want to go with someone else," Sina said.

Reiko shook her head and clocked out for the day.

As soon as she stepped outside the building, a dark female voice spoke in her head, so loud and real that she visibly flinched. She hadn't heard it all day.

[Package received. Self shut down until reboot on 17th July]

Before she could form her next thought, there was a small log-off-like tone and then a clear static filled her head. So this was what it felt like to have no crazy 'system' inside her mind. But most importantly, what package?

She looked around her feet, up at the sky, and at the few other people nearby. There was no package whatsoever.

Reiko was convinced she was hallucinating. She instantly checked her bank account and did some rough calculations. Okay… she thought she could afford one session.

Luckily, the doctor a friend had recommended in their group chat was free the whole day, so she could go in as soon as she booked the appointment.

He greeted her and told her to take a seat.

"So, why did you want this therapy session?" was his first question.

Reiko was convinced she had developed some sort of schizophrenia, so she'd booked therapy right after work. The clothes in the washing machine could wait, she needed to figure this out first. She wanted to be normal, not deranged. Not again.

"I'm having hallucinations…" she explained.

After an hour of enlightening rapport and thirty more minutes of prescriptions and general check-ups, she walked out of the clinic feeling lighter. There was a slight hop to her step, almost as if she could break out dancing. The doctor was right, perhaps even though she felt content with her current life, her dormant child self probably wanted to have some fun.

It was a lot to think about. But either way, it had been a good session. He'd suggested she pick up some hobby or fun activity, and the silly screen in her head should never appear again. And it was so easy to listen to him because he had such a pretty smile plastered on his face while saying so. She even asked him if he was married, to which he laughed and replied, "No, no," followed by some explanation which Reiko didn't listen to because she then got distracted by the veins on his arms. Which reminded her that she should probably start working out. Seeing veins always reminded her of that. Then she asked her final most important question:

"So are you diagnosing me with schizophrenia?" she had asked at the end of the session. That way she'd have medical proof to show her boss if anything crazy happened at work, or not. Maybe that'd get her fired.

"No, not as of now. Let's see for a few more sessions and we'll come to something concrete." 

After Reiko left, swearing not to come back for those 'few more sessions,' for her own sanity. Soon after that, the doctor let out a breath he had been holding in and frantically reached for the phone on his table and took out his Recently Placed calls. 

"Hello?" 

"Yes?" The other side replied among the background noise of clatter and loud ordering around. 

"Our candidate just came in and left." 

"What? Really? So He was right? How did he know?" 

"He's a God, what do you expect?" 

"That's crazy, so were you able to inject it in her?" 

"Yes, I gave the syringe to my staff personally and watched them do it. It's inside her for sure." 

A short spell of silence stretched between them both, except for the background noise. They both were probably getting reminded of what came after this. Every one of them started off like this. Unknowing, unaware. Because who would question something a healthcare clinic injects inside you? 

"Okay then, see you later." 

"Okay," the doctor nodded and cut the call. For a split second he wondered if he should have defected… saved the innocent woman from all of this. But then again, the God of Sins wouldn't have chosen or even noticed her existence if she was all that innocent. 

That night Reiko woke up drenched in sweat. She groaned and fumbled over to the wall to switch the air conditioner on. But even then, she wouldn't stop turning over and to the side and back again. So she tried removing her sleepwear, and just left the undergarments on. It gave some relief and she shut her eyes tight and willed herself to go to sleep, with the feel of her rough bedsheets grazing against almost every part of her skin. 

Her mind felt fuzzy and her bones felt like they were being pulled from both ends. Her eyes flew open as she felt something knot inside her. "What is this…" She wondered if the sandwich she had eaten for breakfast was contaminated. But she made it at home… 

As the weird feeling increased, she ran into her washroom and bent over the closet and heaved. A large waterfall of sandwich juice burst out from her mouth and into the closet and everywhere. 

Headache. 

Sweaty palms. 

Nausea. 

She somehow managed to pour water over the area and stumbled out of the toilet before falling to the floor. Her body felt like it was turning to spaghetti. 

"Hey Siri…" she croaked. 

"Call Sina." 

Immediately, as if someone heard her silent call, the doorbell rang. She lay down on the ground, unable to move. But the doorbell rang again after 2 minutes. Confused, she managed to pull herself up with the help of the table and covered herself with the blanket. She noticed her phone which had failed to place the call. 

So who was this at her house at this time of night? 

She looked through the eyehole to see the doctor she had visited for therapy. "How…" 

She checked the phone in her hand slowly and saw 2 missed calls from the clinic. Was something wrong? In a state of panic she turned the knob and opened it for him. "Doc, I…" Her breath stank of vomit and her face was pallid as the blanket poorly covered her frame. 

The doctor looked her once over and pushed her in before locking the door. 

"Is something wrong? I'm not feeling well." 

The doctor held her by the shoulders and shook his head. "I'm so sorry I just got your report and had to come immediately. There's an ambulance waiting for you below." 

"Ambulance?" But she heard no such sound. "I'm feeling really hot." 

"Hot? Where?" The doctor helped her go back to the room and sit down before he stood in front of her. She looked up at him and placed his veined hands on her own forehead. "Here," and she moved them to her tummy, "and here," and finally she placed them softly on her chest. The doctor's eyes widened as she croaked. "Here." 

"That's all?" 

She shook her head slowly and pulled him down so that he knelt on the floor in front of her. Not letting go of his hand, she placed it between her own legs. "Here, too." 

The doctor looked up at her to see that she had started to shiver. "Wait, I'll tell them to bring a stretcher to collect you!" 

"No," Reiko whined and held his wrists tightly. "Just fuck me unconscious right now and you can drag me down there." She wrapped her arms around his neck and tucked her face under his. "Your skin is so cold…"

The room door burst open and a scream was heard, "REIKO!" 

Reiko's eyes flew open once again and saw Sina's silhouette at the room door. "Sina-" 

"What are you sleeping on the edge of the bed? Why did you call me?" Sina fell to the floor in front of Sina and checked her face that was strewn with strings of vomit. 

"Doctor…" 

Sina whipped her head from side to side. "Doctor? What doctor?" 

Reiko blinked and then looked at herself. Half naked and dirty. She had stopped sweating buckets, but there were still some drops on her skin. 

"I was dreaming?" 

Sina shook her head and helped her put her sleepwear back on before slipping her hands under her knees and neck and lifting her. 

Reiko giggled and placed her hands above Sina's heart. "You're tho thronkk…" Her words bubbled away as her conscience slipped away.

Worry filled Sina's mind as she took the elevator down and placed Reiko in her car. She would be okay. The hospital would figure it out. As Sina drove away, the doctor who only Reiko could see peered over the apartment's balcony that overlooked the parking lot. His hair was disheveled and his knuckles white from the tight grip on the railing. 

He got a call and picked it up, "I lost her." 

The other side spit a sharp and short string of curses before hanging up. The doctor looked up as he heard footsteps. One uncle from an apartment locked their door and walked to the elevator. The doctor held his breath, but then let it out once he realised the uncle didn't even notice him. 

After he was gone, the doctor started walking down the stairs frantically while the gears in his head turned. This uncle couldn't see him, but Sina could so that means he had finally… "It's okay… she could see me in this form, so it worked," he nodded to himself. He made the previous call again and updated him on this information. 

"You are sure?" 

"Yep," the doctor nodded as he passed by the security cabin too without being noticed. 

"Wow, that's great. Then we can move on to the next instruction." After a pause, the other side softly said, "Congratulations, Victor. Welcome to our world." 

Doctor Victor smiled lightly, his heart feeling full, as he hung up. He suddenly got reminded of what he had been about to do with Reiko before her idiot friend barged in. A shiver went down his spine at the thought. It certainly felt weird to see her that way, because in the therapy session you'd never guess that she had something like that in her. It sort of reminded him of his life before he started walking the Bridge. So it was actually true, the God of Sins never misses a target. He could probably see in a human beyond what other humans see. 

Their deepest, darkest, soft velvet-like desires. 

He could sense their hunger buried in places where even the omniscient light cannot reach. 

As Victor walked out into the chilly night, he wondered what other things this world had in store for him.