February 24th 2014: Testimony of Tommy O'Hara Part One

Monday morning saw everyone back at court. Marley and Kitty had returned to Lima on Saturday, but had been promised updates. Otherwise, there was a full compliment. The only Warbler missing was Jeff, now alone in the witness room with his sketch book. Today was different though. For the first time since the trial had begun, the witness was not known to them. Tommy O'Hara was a relatively unknown quantity. They did know that he had offered to give evidence against Hunter as part of a plea bargain - he had also been present in the alley on that terrible night. At the appointed time, a red haired, bearded, green-eyed young man was escorted onto the stand, with a police guard. He had a face that seemed to have seen damage in the boxing ring. There was a ripple of noise around the court as Hunter snarled on seeing him. All of them heard him whisper "Traitor" under his breath. Tommy just ignored him; took his place and the oath, and began.

"I met Hunter Clarington on the day that he arrived at Eisenhower Military Academy. I was in my third year there at the time. His presence from that initial day was huge - it was clear from the moment that he arrived that he was a dominant person. That he would want to lead and expect others to meekly follow behind him. In short, he was going to be trouble. I should have kept well clear, but I wasn't given a choice. I was appointed as a mentor to him - me and my good pal Dan Einsterwitz. We were supposed to be an example to him, but Dan was soon under his spell. Hunter was good - a born soldier. He excelled in target practice, in warcraft - not so hot academically, but that wasn't an issue at our school. We were being trained to fight, not to write - not to work in an office or anything like that. Music was the only interest he had outwith the military sphere. He was a good singer, and there he progressed quickly. He took over as lead soloist in our choir. But beneath his outer layer of sanity, there was a psychopath. Bullying was a fact of life at the Academy - difference of any kind was not to be tolerated. He began to punish any boy in the choir that let us down. The authorities did not regard this as an issue - we were supposed to be tough and just deal with it."

"That all changed in Hunter's second year. Then things came to a head, which resulted in a situation which saw myself, Dan and Hunter expelled. There was a boy, Mark, new to the school. Lovely singing voice; a great talent. Hunter could not stand him, because Mark was different. He thought that he was gay, and that, to Hunter, was unacceptable. So he became the main target of Hunter's pranks - I think that hazing would be a better term. He tormented the boy both physically and mentally - there is a long catalogue of incidents - the worst of which involved the shaving of the entire left hand side of his body. Mark went from confident to weak - I used to hear him crying himself to sleep every night. I should have said something; intervened to stop it. But Hunter knew that I was sleeping with someone that I shouldn't be, and if it came out, then I would be finished. So I gave into his blackmail, and said nothing, just tried to ignore what was going on. I was a fool, because it all culminated in disaster anyway."

"We had a major war game that weekend. We had been taken to a proper army training area, and had been armed with live ammunition. I was on one team; Hunter, Dan and Mark were on another. There was an 'accident' involving Mark. He ended up getting shot in the chest - the bullet missed his heart by less than an inch. He lived to tell the tale, but only by playing dead. It turned out that Hunter had fired at him - he was seen not only by Mark, but by a couple of other guys. Hunter had obviously assumed that everyone would keep quiet as they usually did in these situations. It was the fact that Mark nearly died that swung it. They feared that they would be next in line, so they spoke up. Hunter was expelled at once - luck not to have been charged with attempted murder, but I think that his father intervened, and used his power and influence to sort it out. As for me and Dan, we were in charge of the group; we were lucky I suppose that they still gave us our high school diplomas. But we were held partially accountable, and were expelled - our chance of joining any branch of the military was also taken away. We both took it hard. Why we didn't side with Mark against Hunter at that point, I don't know. I managed to get away from him - Dan did not. He liked Hunter - the guy was prepared to take on 'those fags' that were ruining the army. Me, I'm not homophobic. Be a bit ironic if I was…."

"I was not able to apply for college the following year - it was too late. In any case, my place at the Academy had been a scholarship - my parents ain't rich. I had no hope of a college fund. I got myself a job in Cleveland; the pay was good, but the hours were long. It didn't matter, I was saving for my future. Then one night, I got a visitor; my old mate Dan. Had a proposition for me, a chance to earn real money. I was curious at first, but when he mentioned the word Hunter, I was far less interested. My life was going ok, I just wanted to keep my head down. I said no, but Dan left his number. That's what I called a few weeks later, when due to cutbacks, I lost my job. The offer was still on the table. The story I was spun was that Hunter was owed money by some guys at his new school; they had refused to pay it back, and he needed help in getting it back. He said that this was what happened at public schools like McKinley High. He made no mention of Dalton Academy - must have known that I would google the school name to check out his story. He knew so much about Lima and 'his' school that I didn't bother to check too deeply - wish now that I had. I could have stayed well clear otherwise."

"I found myself living in New York, with Hunter, Dan and two other guys. Brent was a childhood bud of Dan's that had been in and out of juvie over the years. Sean was a guy that Hunter had met at a bar, here in Manhattan. He was on the fringes of a gang of drug dealers, which did concern me at the time, but I still thought that I could stay on the fringes, collect my money and head back home to community college. Then came that night - the night when my life was turned upside down all over again. The night that he told me we were going to meet the guys that owed him the cash. Blaine Anderson and Kurt Hummel. The minute that I caught sight of them, I knew it was wrong. They did not look like the kind of guys that would owe Hunter money. They looked far more like poor Mark. I had been embroiled in a gay bashing plot. I refused to attack them. But it was still four on two…"

Afterwards, I felt physically sick. I had tried to get away from the others when we heard the police siren and ran. The siren that stopped Hunter from finishing off the job on Blaine. As I say, I tried to get away, but Dan grabbed me and wouldn't let go. Took me back to where Hunter was waiting at his apartment. Told the others to scatter across the city; told me to stay. When they had gone, he turned to me and asked me why I hadn't done my job. I said nothing at first, trying to chose my words carefully, as he still had hold of the baseball bat - the gore streaked baseball bat. "I think I know why - you queers won't hit each other." I froze when he said that and he took my lack of response as a yes. Told me that although he could live it, the others might not like it if they found out. Might think that I was a liability to get rid of. But he wouldn't say anything if I stayed loyal. No handing myself in. No stories. Just be a loyal lieutenant. I knew that Dan wouldn't care, but Brent and Sean - they had been too enthusiastic in their attack on Kurt and Blaine. I had no real choice - but even then a part of me was thinking keep close, learn more and then drop him in it even harder. So I went along with it to save my own skin - Hunter came to trust me. Trust me so much that he told me everything, including his long term plans. You see, this was just the start of his revenge…"

He paused, and took a drink of water. "He showed me what he intended to do one night, twelve days after the attack. I heard by then that Kurt Hummel had died - I went back to the scene and left a bunch of red and yellow roses." There was a gasp off shock from Santana; she had also gone back to the scene prior to Kurt's funeral - had seen the bunch of roses there and thought it had been Blaine - now she found out that it had been one of the gang, it chilled her to the bone. "I knew that Blaine had survived, because Hunter was irate over that, particularly when he discovered that the police had not been on their way when we ran. He smashed a shop window that night in a fit of anger. He went to the hospital, intending to finish Blaine off there - a pillow over his face to end his life. But there was always someone there - usually his brother. On one occasion, he nearly came face to face with two of his Dalton boys, Nick and Jeff. The time he came closest to going in was when he saw him alone with the 'cripple boy' - he could just have smashed him over the head, tipped him out of his chair, then smothered a helpless Blaine. Probably would have finished the other boy off as an afterthought to remove the witness."

In the gallery, Artie sat in shock. He had felt uneasy that day when he had sat with a dozing Blaine in his hospital room - now he knew that he had had every reason to feel that way. He realised then that Puck had placed his hand on his shoulder - he turned round to see his face and saw that it was grim and angry looking. Next to him, Quinn was wiping at her eyes - further along the row, both Tina and Brittany were crying. On either side of them, both Mike and Santana looked ready to go down and punch Hunter in the face. Suddenly, he heard Mercedes whispering in his ear. "No-one hurts you or threatens you, and gets away with it." He could only smile at all of the love that was surrounding him.