Sins Loom: The Unwilling Weaver

“Please put him at his chair. I will handle everything else while you go and get the others,” Buddie commanded. “You’ll be able to rest after that.”

Ed’s shoulders slumped as he relaxed slightly. The end was in sight for him, and he couldn’t wait until he could go and fall asleep. Just have to finish this. At least he’s not having me teach each of them today. Seems he still has his limits.

“Who am I going to next?” Ed asked.

“Next up will be Belle, please make your way through the door.”

~

In a quiet upper-middle-class suburban neighbourhood, in the middle of the night. In a two story house with a white picket fence.

A window was open on the second floor, causing the curtains to sway in the cold night time breeze. All the lights were off, and everyone was sleeping peacefully in their rooms, aside from one person.

A woman, with most of her features hidden, was crouched beside an open dresser table, rummaging through it and tossing items into a sack she carried with her. If she found anything of value, it went straight in the sack, if not, it was carefully placed back in the dresser.

Belle had been staking out this place for a week, and tonight was the night she decided to act. She knew that the mother was out of town on a business meeting, and the father was so tired that he wouldn’t leave his bed unless it was an emergency.

The only problem would be if one of the kids woke up needing to go to the bathroom, but she was constantly vigilant and prepared for that.

She had just entered through the second storey window a few minutes ago, so the sack was still quite empty. She would still make a profit if she left now, but she knew she could make far more from this place, and didn’t want to have wasted all that time and effort for such a small amount.

Let’s see what they have downstairs. Closing the dresser, she silently made her way downstairs, careful to not wake anyone as she passed by the bedroom doors. She first went to the living room and scanned the area for anything valuable.

She began filling up the bag with jewellery and smaller valuable items that she could carry.

As she did so, she heard a sound that made her freeze and want to immediately run back upstairs and climb out the window. Turning around, she saw the front door open. She immediately found a place to hide, hoping that since she couldn’t see who was there, that it meant they couldn’t see her too.

What’s going on? I thought she was still out of town? Her heart was pounding as she tried to hold her breath and not make a sound. She hoped the person would quickly go to bed so that she could leave.

She was hidden in the corner behind a large wooden display cabinet. The cabinet blocked any view of her from most of the room, except for right by the entrance to the kitchen. As long as nobody was standing there and looking directly at her, she would be fine.

She heard the sound of footsteps drawing closer as the person walked into the living room. No no, just go upstairs. Go to bed, please. She was on the verge of panicking now, but was doing her best to keep quiet and stay calm. She knew that things would go bad fast if she didn’t calm down.

The person seemed to come to a stop in the middle of the room and stayed there for a while.

“You can come out now. I know you’re here.” A calm and dreadfully earie voice that definitely didn’t belong to the mother rang out, filling the room.

She felt cold just hearing the voice as her heart began to beat out of control. She could barely even think as she struggled to rationalise what was going on. Someone else had broken into this house, and seemed to be here for her. Maybe they don’t know where I am? I just want to get out of here.

“I don’t want to wake anyone up. Either leave that corner or I will come and get you myself.” Ed’s voice was cold, as if the outcome of this event was inevitable, and no matter what Belle tried to do, nothing would change.

She stepped out of the corner on shaky legs. Her face had lost all colour as she stared at the lanky young man who was calmly looking back at her. She felt her shirt clinging to her body as she was drenched in a cold sweat. Alarm bells were ringing in her mind, telling her to get out of there and to get away from this man.

“Please, let me go. I won’t steal anything in the future. Here! I’ll give you everything.” She tossed the sack and watched as it slid across the ground to his feet.

“Unfortunately, the time has long since passed for that. It is my duty to bring you to a place where you won’t be able to steal from anyone anymore.”

His voice sounded like the ringing of the death knell, foretelling her torturous existence and eventual death. Her eyes widened in fear as she saw something that she would never forget for the rest of her life.

The man picked up the bag, examining the things inside, his eyes glazed over as he looked off into the air. Thin tendrils sprouted from his body and dug through the bag. Each one carried an item through the air, bringing it back to its rightful place.

The entire room was filled by the tendrils. They were everywhere, and they even coiled around her. She felt like she was trapped inside the den of a beast, with no chance to escape.

The tendrils terrified her. They were like something that would plague her worst nightmares. Her body reacted strongly to them, as if she was seeing something that shouldn’t exist. Something so alien and terrifying that it went against the very laws of the universe.

She fainted, dropping to the ground with a thud.