Sins Loom: The Unwilling Weaver

The screen flickered, changing to show camera footage of Anthony retrained in a dingy room. It’s started. He stumbled forward, knocking his knee into the table. Watching him stumble around, a sense of dread filled Ed. He’s drunk. “Buddie, why is he drunk?”

“Because he drank alcohol Ed.”

You’ve got to be kidding me. “I can tell. I’m asking why he is still drunk in here? It seems entirely unfair for his mind to not be fully working when he has to go through this, and I know that you can heal seemingly anything, as you’ve shown that to me already.”

“This is the state that I found him in, and is also how he was when he first cheated on his wife, thus it is the most appropriate state for him to be in. I see no reason to provide him with this benefit, as it is only used to maintain the quality of workers.”

Workers? Are there others like me? I guess it makes sense, he has been saying that this is a job, so I should’ve assumed that I wouldn’t be the only one like this. I’ll have to ask him about this later. “Okay, I understand your reasoning now.”

“Good morning, Anthony. I can see that you are a bit confused right now. You are no longer in the bar where you passed out...Marriage is a sacred thing that is supposed to be taken seriously. However, you have chosen to repeatedly go against your own commitments to your wife and have instead gone willingly into the arms of other women... you have to pay a price for your actions. Your right hand has been tied up in steel wires, these wires are connected to the ring. Your fingers will break, but as long as you cherish your relationship with her, you will be set free, and all wounds will eventually heal. Good luck Anthony.” Buddie’s message played through the screen

Hopefully that will sober him up a bit.

“Jessica? Jessica, can you hear me? This isn’t funny, I’m sorry for cheating on you babe, just please let me out so we can talk about this.” Oh, he thinks Jessica is behind this, understandable, but unfortunately for him it’s something far worse. “Bitch, let me out. This is vile. I knew I never should’ve married a crazy bitch like you.” Okay, this might not go well. I don’t think he cares about her at all. Hopefully he can realise the importance of this and take things seriously.

Seeing Anthony wind up to punch the glass, Ed cheered. Come on, please work... Damn Buddie thought of that. He’s going to do it. Watching him grab the ring, Ed calmed down and started to focus.

Crunch

Looking at Anthony’s right hand, Ed bit his lip. It’s not too bad, this is definitely better than the previous one. It’s far less bloody... OH SHIT. It almost sliced his finger off. Why did it happen so quickly? Ed’s mind raced as he looked at how far the ring had moved. He barely started moving it again. Holding back his vomit, Ed asked, “Buddie, why did this one happen so quickly?”

“You never specified when you wanted each finger to break, so I filled in that missing information by randomly selecting when it would happen.”

I messed up. From now on I need to be more specific for things like this, otherwise people won’t be able to escape... god, he vomited. “Thanks for answering my question.”

“You’re welcome, Ed”

On the screen, Anthony started moving the ring again. The gears spun as the ring passed the half-way point.

Why haven’t the other fingers been broken yet?

His wrist passed through the gap in the box.

SNAP!

Of course. How bad is it? Ed looked at Anthony’s broken hand to see two fingers crushed together, almost as if they were welded together. He leaned forward and vomited. As it came out, it disappeared into the air. What just happened?

“It’s important to maintain a tidy working space, Ed. So, I’ve taken the liberty to clean it up whenever it gets dirty.”

I guess that’s helpful. “Thanks Buddie, I didn’t want to have to smell that constantly.”

Clink.

Ed turned his attention back to the screen, and his heart dropped as he saw the ring on the bottom of the box. He was so close.

“You have once again proven that your marriage to Jessica isn’t important to you. You were close, but ultimately you selfishly chose yourself over her, just like you have for the past year...”

“Fuck off you piece of shit.” Anthony snapped.

“Now that’s a bit harsh, he was clearly in too much pain.” Ed said at the same time. Hearing Anthony speak at the same time, he nodded, understanding his pain.

“Anthony has been rather confrontational while in here, also he was not a good person beforehand either, so I see no reason to be polite with him.”

“Touché.” Ed looked at the footage, seeing Anthony futilely reaching for the ring. Give up Anthony, there’s no way you’ll be able to get it. This looks like the end. The footage should shut off soon. What should I do with the time I have tonight. I’ll try and get some information from Buddie, maybe I’ll be able to find out more about the other workers, see if they are like me. I also might as well read through Anthony’s file for anything I might have missed.

“... Goodbye Anthony.”

“Let me go. Why are you doing this to me you evil bastard!” Anthony flailed around on the screen for a while before he sunk to his knees and the footage shut off.

“Congratulations Ed for another successful project. Your next task will be given to you in the morning, so you now have some free time to use as you see fit.”

“Actually, I have a few questions I would like to ask you Buddie. Earlier you mentioned that healing people is a benefit used to maintain the quality of workers, how many other workers are there?”

“You are not allowed to know the answer to that question, but I will tell you that it is constantly increasing. You said that you have other questions?”

I kind of expected that answer. “Yes, what is my current position in this company?”

“You are currently working on a trial basis as an intern.”

Trial basis? Does that mean he will let me go if I’m not good enough. “What happens If I’m not good enough to work here past this trial?”

“So far, apart from your slight disobedience, you have shown yourself to be an exceptional candidate for a position in the company. However, to answer your question, anyone who fails their trial period will have their employee benefits removed and will face severe punishment.”

Thinking about the punishment he received already, Ed trembled at the use of the word severe. That doesn’t sound good. If the punishment is anything like what I’ve already received, I will definitely die, and since I won’t have access to the employee benefits, I will stay dead this time. “What other employee benefits are there?”

“Our company makes sure to provide our employees with the best benefits possible, as an intern, you have already experienced several of them. For the ones that currently apply to your position. You are provided with the best medical care imaginable...”

Which I would only need because of the life ending dangers I have faced.

“... Free food and accommodation...”

While the first one is true, I wouldn’t consider being trapped in this room as accommodation.

“...and regular all-expense paid holidays around the world.”

Holidays where I’m guaranteed to die at the end. “Thanks for answering my questions about the company Buddie.”

“You’re welcome, Ed.”

“That’s all for now, I’m going to read through the files for a while.” Opening Anthony’s file, Ed scanned through it to try and find more details about the outside world. There are a few points here that make me think that I’m still on Earth. His parents divorce and his experience in the education system tell me that the legal and educational systems are at least similar to what I remember. Culturally speaking, hanging out at bars was also a very common thing to do. It wasn’t something I was comfortable with doing, so I’m not personally familiar with how easy it was to find a partner, but Anthony is conventionally attractive. So that would help.

So far, I haven’t found anything that suggests this is a different world other than Buddie himself. So, for now I’m just going to think of it as Earth.

~

“Your free time is up now Ed. Get some rest so that you can perform better tomorrow.”

After looking through the files, Ed started to have doubts about what he was reading. “Buddie, these files feel too short to describe a person’s entire life, have you been shortening them?”

“Yes. It is ill advised for a person to read a full-length file as it can be severely detrimental to their health, so I’ve taken the liberty of only keeping small snippets of their life that won’t cause any damage.”

What does he mean by severely detrimental, It’s just a bunch of words. I can see it being excessively long and tedious to read, but that shouldn’t be considered as detrimental to one’s health. I don’t know if I should ask him about it. I’ll start with an easier question first. “Buddie, do you have a file for each of your employees, and if so, can I see mine?”

“Yes, in our records we do have files for each of our employees, however right now you are not allowed to access any of them, including your own.”

Yep, that’s what I thought would happen. “One last question, can I take a glimpse at a full-length file?”

“Are you sure you want to do that, Ed? These files are unfit for humans to see and can result in severe side-effects simply from looking at them.”

Breathing out slowly Ed nodded, “Yes.”

Anthony’s file reopened, and the screen paused for a moment before becoming flooded with information. Ed’s head spun as he stared at it, Devilish whispering echoed in his ears as he felt as if he was being burnt alive. He vomited blood as his head swelled. The information filled his thoughts, making it impossible for him to think. Every millisecond of Anthony’s life played out in his head in excruciating detail. Moments of Anthony’s life stacked on top of and melted into each other as if it was water thrown into a bowl. Every moment simultaneously distinct, and completely indecipherable from each other. Every sound, touch, taste, sight, and smell overlapping on repeat in an infinite number of combinations, shocking his body. Blood flowed from every orifice on Ed’s body, as his head exploded from the influx of information.