Winterberg Brain Rot

Give him back

Dark.

Everything was dark. Karl's head hurt like hell, and he felt like shit.

From what he gathered, he was gagged, blindfolded, chained, and collared. Not by Ethan, so he wasn't into it. He was in a cold room and felt almost naked with his arms lifted above his head, forcing him to stand up straight. only in what he assumed were his boxers. He didn't know how long he was out, where he was, who took him, or if his family was ok. Frankly, he was kind of scared and unnerved. Mostly because there were too many unknowns and he felt completely helpless. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't feel the magnetic energy flow in his body. No matter how hard he pulled on the chains, they wouldn't break. The blindfold and gag were too tight to shake off. He tried not to panic. He learned from a very young age that panicking leads him nowhere.

Okay, he could try to use his other senses.

Touch. He could feel the cold, hard stone flooring touching his feet. He could kind of grasp the chains cuffing his wrist. Leaning back, he could feel a shiver roll down his bareback. It was a solid wall.

Smell. He could smell almost nothing. In fact, it hurt to breathe through his nose. must be broken. Even so, he could smell the faint scent of unknown people. People he can't trust.

Hearing. Nothing but his own breathing and the jingle of the chains hitting the wall when he moved.

Taste? The cloth and his spit.

Sight? It is too dark to see anything. Not even the blindfold wrapped around his eyes.

He could bite off the gag, but then what? That won't let him do anything but run his mouth to who knows what. Even so, his voice felt all scratchy and horse-like. Shit. What the hell is he supposed to do? What can he do?

---

"Ethan, calm down, we-"

"Calm down? CALM DOWN?!? THREE DAYS CHRIS! THREE GOD DAMN DAYS MY HUSBAND HAS BEEN GONE AND YOU'RE TELLING ME TO CALM DOWN? FUCK YOU." Ethan screamed as he threw his dining table against the wall. His whole house was trashed. Rosemary sat a little far from him, watching her dad yell in a blind rage. She sat in her own anger, still and quiet. Her dad had every right to be mad. Her papa has been gone for three, almost four days now, and they have gotten nowhere.

"We will find him," Chris said, pushing Ethan back into his seat. The blonde only glared at the older man, coming close to decking him in the nose.

A few days ago, Ethan woke up to an empty bed. He thought nothing of it as he would only assume Karl was off to work. He made his way down to make breakfast for him and Rose before the girl headed off to school. Ethan worked from home while Karl worked in the office per his request.

The day is a quiet one, like most. It wasn't until dinner time that Ethan got a little worried. Something inside him told him something wasn't right. He blindly hoped it was his paranoia that had gotten the better of him and finished off dinner.

After dinner, Rose got the same uneasy feeling in her stomach. The two had taken a trip to Karl's workplace to hopefully visit the man, believing it was only a late day of work. They had walked into the building and noticed his desk was empty. The car was still parked, however. Then they called Chris. They trusted someone more than the police and could understand their situation better as he knew their history and could do better research.

It wasn't until the morning that they concluded that Karl had been kidnapped by ex-umbrella agents and began their search.

They've been searching non-stop. Ethan only got a total of 2 ½ hours of sleep for the whole duration. Rose had been sleeping better than her dad, but not nearly as well as she used to. She was allowed to help after she finished school and homework for the day, and it wasn't too late. Ethan didn't want to drag her into it, but she was very much a part of it as much as he was. Instead of arguing, he made a proposal to which she agreed. Chris was allowed a small group of men to help with the find. They wanted to stay on the down-low for as long as they could. They had to be people that Chris could personally trust. Too many people would end up worsening the situation.