Ethan and Connor haven’t seen each other since they were ten and fifteen years old, the day that their mother passed away. Nine years have now passed, and Ethan and Connor are brought back together, both on opposite ends of a cruel ordeal. Connor is willing to do whatever necessary to pay off his debts, he hardly remembers Ethan anyways. All he needs is to get the money and then Ethan will be released and they never have to speak again. That was the plan at least…
It is rather rare for one to show even an ounce of kindness when one has never had kindness shown to them, or at least, not in a very long time. Ethan remembered the kindness of his mother, one of the few he knew who ever tried being kind to him. Not just towards him either, but even towards strangers in the street that would yell obscenities at her when she passed by. The memory that stood out most was when she nearly collided with a man in the street, the stranger had begun to scream threats and words of anger towards his mother. Her response, however, was not to apologize, but she handed him some money from her wallet and wished for him to have a better day. It had been quite a generous offer, even the stranger was hesitant on taking the amount until his mother insisted. He thanked her, apologizing for his words, and told her about how he had just lost his job. His mother gave him the money and had hugged him before continuing on home with Ethan. She had been kind, even until the day she died just after his tenth birthday, she had been kind and lived her life making those around her happy. Ethan hoped to be as kind as her in his life, and clung to the memory of her as a reminder of why.
Lying on a cold floor, bound by tight ropes around his wrists and ankles, Ethan thought about his mother, how much he missed her. He didn’t wish that she was here with him though, not down here where he would have to see her gentle eyes turn to fear. He wouldn’t be able to truly see her, thanks to the blindfold wrapped around his eyes, but he would know.
He’d been down here for what seemed like days, or maybe it had only been a few hours, he had no way of keeping track. Except for the few times that he had fallen asleep, beginning to assume those as day and night cycles. The bandana tied around his mouth was damp and was beginning to taste old, another indicator of time passing. He hadn’t yet faced his captor, and had already tried screaming for help, but no one had ever come down.
Ethan slowly sat himself up, leaning back against where he could feel the wall, trying as he had many times before to loosen the blindfold, or even the gag which would have been a greater relief. Much to his surprise, the blindfold started being tugged down as he moved his head along his shoulder, he started moving faster until the fabric fell around his neck. His surroundings were nearly pitch black, except for a light coming from the other side of a nearby door, creeping in from underneath. To him, it was better than nothing. He took a moment to breathe through his nose before beginning to work on the gag, which had been tied much more tight than the blindfold had been. With the blindfold off though, he could just barely make out a nail several inches above him sticking out from the wall.
Ethan slowly pushed himself up, moving his head near the nail until he could get the gag caught against it, then tugged forward until the bandana was torn apart, allowing him to simply spit it out from his mouth. He coughed loudly, his throat cracked and dry from thirst. He was halfway to freedom, all he had to do now was—
“Go fucking check on him! It’s been two days! He probably dehydrated now, you’ll be lucky if he isn’t dead.” Ethan panicked upon hearing voices, he hadn’t heard anyone here yet. Of course though, the moment he finally had the sense to free himself, his captors decided to finally show themselves.
“I just got a little nervous!” The other voice yelled back. “I’m still waiting to here back and I thought you would be a lot quicker! I’ve got this handled though.”
“Oh dear god…just follow me. I will handle this and you will watch closely.” Footsteps began walking around, Ethan scrambled back against the wall as the door opened wide. A taller man emerged through, rapidly approaching him and picking up the torn gag from the ground. He was followed closely behind by another man, younger than the first, but definitely seemed older than Ethan, who was only nineteen.
“Did you do this?” He asked Ethan, holding it up.
“Y—“ he barely got a word out before a hand was pushed over his mouth.
“I’d rather if you simply nodded for me. I’ll get you some water and then I’ll get this figured out I suppose.” Ethan slowly nodded, the hand was removed and replaced with a bottle of water, allowing him to drink until the bottle was empty. It didn’t feel like nearly enough, but he was better than before.
Ethan could feel his face growing hot. Tears were pooling up in his eyes, his stuffed nose beginning to leak and bubble as he started sobbing. The bandana that had previously been in his mouth was pressed against his face, cleaning him up.
“Hey…Ethan?” A different voice spoke to him now. The younger one that had followed the taller man. “We’ve got a minute or two before he gets back. I need you to breathe and calm down.” Ethan realized that he recognized the voice now, he knew exactly who this was.
“Connor…?” He asked, he couldn’t believe how long it took to recognize his own older brothers voice, though this was to be fair his first up close interaction. He also hadn’t spoken to Connor in years.
“Hey…look I’m really sorry, but I needed an easy target for my initiation and you’re just…you know…you’re just easy to intimidate. We’re not going to kill you, but lately I’ve been failing at my assignments, losing a lot of money. I’m back at the training stages.” He explaining.
“I don’t have anything and I don’t know anything. Just let me go, there’s no one I even could tell about this! You wouldn’t be in risk of trouble!”
“I already sent our father the ransom—“
“He won’t pay it!” Ethan snapped. “He won’t pay it…” he repeated, his voice breaking.
“I have to get that money back…I’ll do whatever I have to do. If he won’t do it, then someone will.”
“Connor! Please don’t do this, we’re supposed to be brothers…” Ethan pleaded. Connor’s eyes softened but he slowly shook his head.
“I can’t…my hands are tied. Figuratively…not literally like…just shut up, he’s coming back.” Connor said quickly as the door opened again, the taller man from before walked in carrying a bag.
“Alright, gag him again.” He instructed, tossing Connor a baggie. “We don’t need him to talk right now.
“I won’t scream, I promise. Just please don’t put that thing back in, the ropes already hurt.” Ethan pleaded.
“Joel…the ropes are pretty tight and the basement is decently soundproof. It was just a precaution in the start but we’ll both we keeping an eye on him. We could at least do something courteous.” Connor asked. Joel stared at Ethan for a moment, as if studying him.
“Gag him.” He affirmed, not trusting Connor. “Actually, let me do it since last time he managed to actually get it off himself. Imagine if you hadn’t been here and he started screaming.” Joel criticized, walking over and pulling a bandana out of the bag.
“Please no…” Ethan asked again as the bandana was shoved into his mouth, another one was tied around his mouth and then secured behind his head. “Connor…please don’t do this!” he begged through tears. His words were muffled and garbled by now.
“Better. Now watch, I’ll show you just how effective this will be.” Joel stood up and kicked Ethan as hard as he could. Ethan let out a scream, the sound drowning in the gag. He let out another lost scream as Joel kicked him again. The kicking continued to persist until Joel noticed Ethan wasn’t even reacting anymore.
“He’ll probably just pass out. Watch him for now. I’ll set up for our game night tonight with the others. Everyone has finally forgiven you, especially with this challenge you’ve taken on, I think it could just be like old times.” Joel instructed to Connor, patting his shoulder before walking away.
Connor knelt down next to Ethan, checking his pulse and running a hand through Ethan’s hair.
“Just go to sleep, Joel can be a little extreme sometimes, it won’t be worse than that though.” He promised, not knowing that was far far from the truth. Ethan just nodded, turning as best as he could away from Connor before allowing darkness to take him over.
