Magnificently Malcontent

Chapter 5

As soon as Chase was out of his brothers' line of sight, he sprinted down the halls over to Henrik's room. He didn't want to admit it to any of the others, but he was scared out of his mind. The last time Chase came into contact with Anti or anything associated with the glitch was when his children were taken. He didn't even want to think about what has been happening to Marvin in the past month right under his own nose.

Soon enough he was at the good doctor's door. Chase skidded to a halt and knocked forcefully. "Henrik? Hey, man, we need you to come out here! Like seriously!" No response. Now was not the time for the man to shut down on them. Henrik was always the one they turned to in a crisis. He was the level-headed one. Chase couldn't do this without him. He knocked again only to be greeted with silence once more. Frustrated to his very core, Chase picked the lock. It was something he hated doing, but it was a necessary skill he picked up from having his kids lock him out.

Picking the lock only took about a minute to do. Chase mentally berated himself. He should've been able to go faster, but his damn fingers kept shaking. He threw the door open to see the room empty. For a second Chase was sprung back to when Henrik was first taken. He shook his head and cursed himself again. Now wasn't the time for jumping to conclusions. What would Henrik do? What would Henrik do? He's not in his room but that doesn't mean he was taken.

Chase took a deep breath and tried to think rationally, but it wasn't really a skill he was any good at. Where did he go? Suddenly a light bulb lit up in his head as he thought of the one other place Henrik could possibly go at a time like this. Chase dashed through the door and made a series of twists and turns until he was standing in front of the forgotten shed in the backyard. Chase had found him there once months ago. Henrik had said that it had a calming effect and to not tell the others about it. The shed was so far away from all the main areas of the house that no one was ever there.

Chase could hear someone breathing deeply through the door as if they were just then getting their breath back. Henrik must've sprinted all the way there. "Henrik? It's, uhh, it's me Chase. We kinda need ya with us buddy." Chase tried to keep his voice steady and calm. He didn't want to scare him off. Through the door he could hear shuffling sounds. The door opened a crack, and Chase could see the scared eyes of Henrik through the opening. Chase let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding. At least he was alive.

"Look, I know you're scared. We all are. But we need you with us. It's all too-" Chase was cut off by Henrik's shaking head. "What's wrong?" Chase scrambled to try to find where he went wrong, but was stopped again as Henrik slowly came out of the shed.

"I vas scared, yes, but now..." he took a deep breath and looked down at his shoes, "You don't understand." He tried to turn to go back into his shed, but the motion was halted by Chase grabbing his arm.

"Then help me understand." Chase pleaded with Henrik. He couldn't do this on his own, and if they were going to help Marvin with whatever was going on then all hands needed to be on deck.

"It's mein fault. It was all mein fault. I didn't know zhat zhis vould happen. I should've known. Ich weiss nicht." Henrik's speech was rushed like a dam that had burst open. He quickly started speaking in complete German, which Chase knew was a sure sign that the doctor was panicking.

"Woah, woah. Slow down there. Deep breaths. In for 4. Hold for 7. Out for 8. There we go. Now what were you trying to say?" Chase did his best to be patient. Unfortunately all the confusion and questions that were swimming in his head did nothing to help. Henrik finished his breathing exercise and looked more composed before looking up at Chase once more.

"I'm zhe reason Marvin got involved vis Anti."