Sins Loom: The Unwilling Weaver

Early in the morning, a delivery truck is driving leisurely down a quiet suburban street. Passing by house after house as it makes its way down the freshly paved road. Getting to the end of the street, it turns sharply onto the main road.

Inside the truck, Brigid slams against the side, groaning in pain. Ugh. What’s going on? As her eyes flutter open, she feels a dull pain ringing in the back of her head. She reaches up to try and feel it, but realises that she can’t move her hands. It’s only then that she notices that rope is tied around her limbs. She shakes off the pain, trying first to figure out where she is. I remember being in the warehouse, what was I doing... Slowly her memories come back to her, she laughs maniacally as she remembers having that man’s child in her grasp. I was so close. A few minutes later and I would have had him on his knees grovelling at my feet... Oh how good it would have felt to see his despair when I killed his daughter right in front of him. Her laughing grows manic and desperate as she realises she lost that chance.

“Good morning, Brigid. You may be confused about your sudden change in circumstances. Your revenge was just within reach, but now it’s completely gone. However, was it the right thing to do? That child was innocent and had nothing to do with your problems with her father. Which in and of itself was something completely fabricated in your mind. Mr Wallace was not targeting your family. You grew desperate, and in your desperation, you did something despicable. And now you are being punished for that. Your captor has trapped you here in the back of a truck, and your only chance to stay alive is by escaping. However, be careful. Your captor is as delusional as you are. Good luck Brigid.”

Hearing the voice, she grows more furious.

“Show yourself you coward! You ruined my family. We are almost homeless because of you.” Her breathing gets heavy as she cackles. “I will destroy your family just like you did mine. And there’s nothing you can do about it.” Her delusions only grow stronger, believing that she had been kidnapped by Mr Wallace.

She struggles for a little while, trying to escape from her bindings. Although she is unable to loosen them, she bumps into a small delivery box. What do we have here? knocking the box closer to her, she manages to open it, finding a smaller box inside. It must be packaging for something. Opening the box, she takes out and studies the contents. Running her fingers across the item, she feels a cold metallic edge hidden inside of what she presumes to be a wooden handle. A pocketknife. That’s perfect.

Carefully, she pops the blade out, bringing it up to the rope tied around her wrists. Cutting back and forth, the rope eventually loosens, falling off her hands. She rubs her sore wrists for a moment before getting to work on the ropes tied around her legs.

Standing up, she uses the surrounding shelves and boxes as support to keep herself standing. She walks to the front of the truck and finds a door connecting where the driver sits to where the items are stored. Running her hand along the door, she feels a familiar dent. It happened when she helped a friend move places, and they forgot to tie the mini fridge down properly. This must be my truck. She tries to open the door but finds that it’s locked. She feels around her pockets for the keys but can’t find anything. Damn. Looks like I have escape from the back.

Making it to the back, the area around her is empty, and she loses all forms of support. I should be able to open it from in here. Suddenly, the truck veers off the road, sending her crashing into the wall. Fuck. She groans in pain as she lies against the wall.

Feeling the truck rattling under her, she guesses that she’s no longer on a road. We must be out of town now. she waits a while before getting up, making sure that the vehicle doesn’t take any drastic turns that could hurt her again. Feeling around a little, she finds the internal switch to open the back doors. Giving it a flick, she hears a loud click, telling her that it’s now unlocked.

Making sure she’s firmly planted on the ground; she lifts the security bars and pushes the doors open before quickly stepping back to the shelves. Light floods into the back of the truck, and with this she is able to see that the truck is in the middle of nowhere. She watches as the truck kicks up dirt along the old discarded trail. I can’t jump out. The truck’s moving too fast. I’ll get hurt, and I've got no clue how to get to the hospital from here. I have to wait for it to slow down.

Holding onto the shelf, she waits for an opportunity to escape. Eventually, the truck slows down, pulling into an old warehouse. As she looks around at the dilapidated car park, she finds it familiar. Why does this look like the warehouse I was at before I woke up?

While confused, the truck comes to a stop, and she hears someone start to walk along the side of the vehicle. Shit! I need to get out of here right now. She rushes to jump out of the truck, landing awkwardly on her ankle, but pushes through the pain as she tries to escape.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Says an eerily familiar voice.

Brigid stops in place, slowly turning around. Damn, I can’t escape. As she turns around to face her captor, the first thing she notices is the pistol aimed right at her. As her eyes follow up the hand holding the gun, she comes face to face with herself. What? As if looking in a mirror, she sees her face staring back at her. Freezing in place, her brain shuts down at the absurdity of the situation

“Call your father.” The woman closes the distance, passing her a phone while pressing the gun against her. As if her body was not under her control, she keys in a phone number she is unfamiliar with. After a few rings, the phone is picked up.

“Hi Sweety, why are you calling? Shouldn’t you have a class right now?”

Brigid’s blood runs cold as she hears the voice over the phone. Wallace. Before she can say anything, the phone is snatched away from her.

“I have your daughter, and if you ever want to see her again, you will do exactly as I say.” Her captor says. The conversation continues on for just long enough for her to say what she wants. Before he can respond, she throws the phone to the ground, crushing it underneath her boot.

Time passes as Brigid tries to wrap her head around what is going on. This is eventually stopped by the sound of a vehicle approaching the building. This might be my chance.

As the door to the warehouse is pushed open, the gun is pushed against her head even harder, making it clear that if she does anything, she will die. Light shines down on the person walking through the door, illuminating Mr Wallace’s face as he raises his hands to show he isn’t armed.

“Baby, are you okay? Has she hurt you?” He says with clear concern and worry written on his face.

Brigid’s face turns red with anger, wanting nothing more than to kill the man in front of her.

For a moment, the gun is lifted from her head, instead pointed at Wallace to stop him from getting closer.

“Here’s the money you asked for. Please don’t hurt her.” Mr Wallace tosses a duffle bag towards them, which lands at their feet.

“Open it.” her double says to her, using her spare hand to point to the bag.

Obeying, Brigid bends down to open the bag up. She is momentarily blinded by the sheer amount of money in it, and so is her double behind her. Because of this, they both miss the subtle hints from Mr Wallace, telling her to duck out of the way.

“Good. Looks like it’s all there.” her double says, before swiftly pulling the trigger.

BANG.

The last thing she hears is the sound of a gun being fired, as the bullet buries into the back of her head. She falls to the floor.

“It looks like you were unable to escape in time, missing multiple chance to keep your life. Your fear blinded you from jumping out of the truck, making you lose your first chance. Your hatred of Mr Wallace clouded your judgement, making you unable to seize the opportunity to hurt your captor. That was your second chance. Finally, your greed made you lose your last chance. You were blinded by the wealth before you, but so was she. Enjoy Hell Brigid. Goodbye.”