Sins Loom: The Unwilling Weaver

As the light flickers on, the man shoots up off the ground, alertly looking around the room. He reaches down to his waist but finds nothing. Where’s my pistol? He searches his body, rummaging through the hidden pockets in his jacket, and on the inside of his thighs, but finds that all of his weapons have been taken. Shit.

Looking around the room, he spots only two things of note. A gigantic container in the centre of the room, with steps leading up to the top of it, and a door on the wall opposite to where he woke up. He calmly walks to the door, keeping an eye out for any changes along the way. He tests the door handle. It’s locked. He tries a few different ways to get it open, but ultimately fails.

After failing to open the door, he turns his attention to the container.

“Good morning, Tom. As you have already discovered, you have been trapped in a room, and all of your equipment has been taken away from you. Your only chance to escape from this room is by getting the key...” As Buddie starts to speak, the lid for the container opens up, and a box drops into it, causing liquid to splash out over the sides. “...which happens to be in that box. The vat contains a concentrated solution of sodium hydroxide and water. Something that has been known to dissolve a human body in just a few hours when at the right temperature. Will you be able to retrieve the key before it is destroyed? Or will you succumb to the damage lye will cause to your body. Good luck.”

Without hesitation, he walks up the containers steps and jumps into the liquid. Immediately, he feels his skin start to burn from the heat of the liquid. As his entire body is submerged in the solution, the pain starts to become unbearable, the extremely hot lye covering his body in chemical burns and first-degree burns from the heat. Using his hand covering his nose and mouth, he is able to stave off his immediate concern of inhaling the liquid, but he knows that he still doesn’t have long to get the key. Unfortunately, with him having closed his eyes to prevent immediate blindness, he will have to spend a few more seconds than he would like to get it.

The pain intensifies, as if the liquid is actively eating away at his skin. Fuck! This is the worst pain I've ever felt. Even getting shot isn’t this bad. Swimming downwards, he reaches out with his one free hand, eventually feeling the bottom of the vat. Where is it? As his skin starts to blister, he feels as if he’s being boiled alive. The alkaline solution continues to eat away at his skin, causing excruciating pain.

Unable to find the box anywhere, he resorts to opening his eyes, hoping to catch a glimpse of it before he is blinded. The lye immediately latches onto his eyes, causing severe burns that leave him in excruciating pain. Just before his vision disappears, he manages to see the box, and immediately rushes for it.

His mind starts to become delirious due to the pain, causing him to start imagining anything in hopes of ignoring it. Memories of all the people he killed start to flash through his mind. Their tragic faces filled with terror mix with the excruciating pain, making him pause. His movement slows for a moment, as everything starts to eat away at him. Maybe I deserve this... Just as his movement grinds to a halt, his hand knocks against the box. He shakes his head, pushing out his memories.

... no. I did everything I did so I could survive. I needed to put food on the table, and that was the only way I could. With his will to survive now bolstered, he grabs tightly onto the box. Pushing through the pain, he starts to swim back up to the top. He pushes his feet off the bottom of the vat, which immediately made him want to cut his own feet off. Just shoot me.

Having been submerged for so long, his lungs start to burn from the lack of oxygen, just making the pain far worse. It felt as if the sodium hydroxide had someone made its way inside and was burning a hole through his lungs.

Swimming up to the top of the vat, he feels as if he has been stripped of his flesh. God, I’ve got to look like absolute shit. Pushing his head out into the open air, he hurriedly gasps for air, inhaling as much as he can. Unfortunately, some of the liquid slides down his face and into his mouth, immediately burning through his tongue as it slides down his throat. Reaching his stomach, it is immediately sent back up his throat, as he vomits it back out.

Reaching out for the side of the vat, he tightly grips onto it with his free hand, ignoring the pain it causes. He tosses the box with the key over the side, before pulling himself up onto the side with both hands. Falling to the side, he slams into the ground with a thud. “Ugh!” He groans, the pain of his burnt flesh slamming into the cold concrete floor somehow feeling more intense than the process of having his flesh burnt off. Feeling the open air on his skin, he wishes for it all to end.

Opening his eyes again, he is unable to see anything, only vaguely making out the light above him. Slowly getting up off the ground, he stumbles around, trying to find the box. It should be on this side somewhere. As the pain starts to overwhelm him, and his consciousness starts to fade, he manages to kick his toe against the box. Hurriedly reaching down, he takes the key from the box, tightly clenching onto it as he walks to the nearest wall, hoping to feel out where the door is by walking along the perimeter of the room.

However, he crumbles to the ground. The pain getting the better of him, as his mind fades out of existence.

“Unfortunately, it looks like you were unable to escape. Although you managed to successfully retrieve the key from the vat of sodium hydroxide, you have succumbed to the injuries you sustained in doing so. Do you regret what you did with your life? Enjoy Hell, Tom. Goodbye.”