Dan was centimeters away from losing his fucking mind.
For the pass two day, the man had been standing there, watching, staring at him and Amy. He stood there, only three feet away, and just disgustingly queer at them.
Dan was going mad. He needed to get out of his sight. He couldn't stand it. The constant staring was about to make him snap like a twig. He needed to get out of his colorless glare. He needed to get out of here.
Dan was holding onto Amy's hand tightly. He was literally squeezing the life out of her pawn and she was close to breaking all his fingers. He was trying his best to control his breathing. He was trying his bet to keep his stomach quiet. He was trying his best to not shit his jeans. He was trying his best not the kill himself.
The fear and anxiety was about to blew up inside him, like a grenade. He stared to quiver about two hours ago, and now was full out shaking with no hope in stoping himself. He was in the continuous game of his treacherous self will failing him with the man. He would look away from him the best he could for as long a he could, desperately trying to avoid those inhumane eyes- those savage eyes- those tintless eyes that wouldn't go away.
But, no matter how long he manage to make it out, he would loose his self-control and turn back to the cruel being and look again at those nocuous eyes that were staring straight back at him, like they were when he turned away. They never left him.
It was killing him, driving him to be a total nutcase.
Those eyes... The holder of those eyes... He knew what Dan has done.
He knows about his parents. He knows about Grace. He knew about Irina. He knows about Lester. He knows about McIntyer. He knew about everyone in Dan life that he failed. Everyone he was responsible for once and how they, because of him, were now dead.
He gripped onto Amy tighter. He was about to get it next, he knew it. The man was about to speak to Dan and make him confession his sins about his life. He had more then anyone really knew. He was about to get it. Everyone would hate him then. Everyone would look at him differently then. He only hoped that Amy would stay by him.
God, please... I can't be left alone. Please! Dan pleaded. He was so scared. He was ready yet done with it all. He just wanted to be loved. That's all. God, please! Please!
He could feel the tears rushing to his eyes, building up slowly, till they finally spilled over onto his face. That's will be the time when the man finally takes his toll and divulges all of his faults. That's when Dan will loose all the rest of the people he cared for in his life. Just like he lost the others.
It was just the fact Dan couldn't tell what his eyes were saying. In a light they could have been disgusted with him. In an other, they were pleased by him and his god awful work of destroying people's lives by ending them. And then there was a light were the man was dreaming about what he was going to do to Dan, how he was going to make him suffer and how he was going to enjoy it so much.
Just then, the man looked away from them, his eyes finally parted away from Dan and Amy. Dan suddenly could breath again and silently gasp for air like a silent hallelujah. He gripped Amy tighter before loosening a little. She did the same and breathed along with him.
The man turned back to them and smiled evilly. The oxygen in Dan's lung was suddenly sucked out. The man was in that position again for a good mind shattering, nerve racking five minutes before turning away again and pulling out the dreadful blindfolds.
Here it comes...Dan thought. This is the end of the love I have from these people... God, please don't take Amy away... Anyone but her.
The very thought made him want to die.
The man started to go around the room and put blindfolds onto the others. First it was Hamilton, then Sinead, then Jonah and so on. He finished with Amy and skipped Dan and when to Atticus and then Ian. Dan's heart was thumping in his chest and his mouth was now dried.
Once he was done with Ian, he turned back to Dan and stared at him yet again. Dan couldn't explain how he felt. It had no words to fully describe the fear, the solace, the self-disgust, the worry, and the pure pain. Dan was ready for him, but so much relief washed over him when the man put the blindfold on him and the young boy listen to him walk away to the other side of the room.
Dan felt like crying with pure joy till he heard the very loud thump somewhere in front of him. He than realized what he has just done and guilt racked him.
"Hamilton Pierre Holt." The man spoke, the first time in a while. "The Winner..."
"I want to shove my foot up your ass." Ham stated very clearly "but I'm afraid you would have liked that."
Dan held his breath till he heard the man speak again.
"Funny man, hurts a little through. But that's what you do, you hurt. Just like the bully you always were."
"Yeah, so?" Dan knew what Ham was doing, and found it to be working due to the man's tone of voice.
"A bully who always went too far. Like blowing up the museum the Starlings were in?" Ham was silent.
"After you burnt down Grace Cahill home, right? And then how you came so close to killing her grandchildren on multiple occasions, just for the fucking clues, right?"
"That's all-" Just then a hard, clingy smack rang out and Dan realized that Ham was just slapped with the gun.
"You tried to kill them. And everyone else, right? But especially them... Because they made you and your family look bad. Like the complete dolts you all are."
"We are no-" Ham was slapped again.
"That and you were just trying to made Daddy proud, right?"
Ham didn't speak this time and it made Dan nervous. He knew about Ham trying to prove himself to his father during the hunt but that was fixed. His father loved him, still does. He understood his mistakes and now him and his son were just fine.
"He, the dumbest one out of the bunch, succeeded in killing someone, actually two." The man snarled at the Tomas.
Dan felt Amy's hand squeeze the life out of his. He really didn't want to talk about this he really didn't want to think about it. Ham was his friend. It wasn't his fault. His father turned his ways and said sorry. Eisenhower and Mary-Todd weren't like Isabel, they actually regretted there mistake.
"Yet, his wimpy, weak son couldn't even burn down a dead woman's house without chickening out. Yes, at the time, it was too late but still..." The man then chuckled cruelly. "So much for a brave Tomas. So much for a Honorable Holt." He snarled.
There was some sounds of rough movement before another slap. Dan guessed Ham tried to punch him but, since he was blindfolded, missed.
"Another one and I'll shoot you!" The man screamed, demanding control. There was a pause before the man continued.
"So you tried to prove that you were, which failed epically. You couldn't even kill a little old man without getting scared." The man laughed again. "In fact, you did the opposite, you saved him. You saved the two Madgricals-the Madgricals- in the competition, and befriended them. You betrayed your family that way. You disgraced the name."
Dan could hear Ham heavily breathing, trying to control his anger so he could live for another day. Another day in this hellhole...
"Then, you made the worst mistake of all. You gave up your clues. The clues your family worked and struggled for, the clues of your own branch... All thrown away for your two new little friends."
The end of the speech as snarled towards Dan and Amy. Dan could hear so.
"You humiliated your family. You're the disgrace. You betrayed your family, your branch... Just like grandpa, right?"
Ham let out a scream in frustration, but did not kill the man. Dan understood why he was so mad. The Tomas did give Ham a lot of crap from his actions in the gauntlet at first, calling him every name in the book. Ham thought he was at first, but the Tomases soon saw the light and forgave him. They praised him, even. He even had a shot at being the next branch leader.
But there was still that scent of guilt of what he had done, that light of what he done was possibly wrong. That if all the branches didn't work out in the end that it would have been all his fault entirely. Dan has had the same feeling of doubt and fear himself.
Dan had heard about Hamilton's grandfather, Buchanan Holt, and how he was classed as a traitor, but no one knew why, not even Ham or his sisters. But still, it isn't his fault.
Ham growled very darkly at the man. "You're going to be one sorry son of a bitch once I get my hands on you." He threaten.
"Is that so?" The man snickered, like wasn't at all afraid of the buff, mad man that he was framing.
"I did it all because it was the right thing to do!" Ham shouted at the man, his anger slowly coming out. "I did it for the best, the best for my family! It was for the best for the Madgricals to have the clues! I was thinking of my family- that's all I cared about, my parents and my sisters!"
"If you began to even consider your family at the time, you would have saw that you were ruining them! You literally crumbled there reputations as a whole! You failed them!"
"I saved them!" Han fought back.
"You shunned them! Your own mother is ashamed of you! Your sisters don't even talk to you anymore because you betrayed them and went your own way, without them. And your own father is completely despised to have you as a son!"
"That's a lie!" Ham screamed. Dan could almost hear the pain in his voice. "They love me! They're my family!"
"THAT YOU FAILED!"
Dan was expecting Ham to jump up and hit him, to have the fight started. He would get up and help his friend, and hopefully they could take the man down... But nothing happened. There was no punches thrown to be heard or enraged screams. The only thing Dan heard was his friend rep early gulping, trying his best to hold back his sobs.
"Then..." The man began again. "Then you let it happen. You let it to occur and you didn't even cared."
"Yes I did!" Ham yelled again. His voice was rough but still deep and hate filled. "I always cared!"
"Then why did you let her go alone?Hmm, big guy? Why would anyone who cares, in the slightest bit, let a thirteen year old girl travel to Jamaica, alone? Especially when the girl was there own little sister?" The man questioned him in a lower, softer voice, but there was no symphony or concern in his tone or words.
"I-I didn't know she would get kidnapped!" Ham defended himself. His voice was stronger now but Dan could tell he was about to break down. None of this was his fault, yet so much guilt and pressure and fear came with everything the man has mention. It would effect anyone in the same way, no matter who they are.
"Still Holt!" The man stated in a hatred tone, that was very harsh and cruel. "That was your sister! Your baby sister! Who let's there baby sister go to strange country alone? Even when your parents asked you to go with her, you said what?"
Ham was silent. The man reappeared himself. "You said what!?"
"I said no, because I wanted to go to take a tour at Notre Dome..." Ham confessed with so much sadden in his voice that it even hurt Dan to hear it. That was his friend, one of his best, and he was being blamed for things that weren't his fault. It just wasn't...right.
"So Reagan, all alone and defenseless, went to train for the summer Olympics and got taken away from the evil Vespers. Who were more then willing, more like hoping, to kill her at the first chance they could get." The man teased the Tomas. "Remember how badly your mother cried when she got the news, and everyday after that? How low spirited your father was? How all the happiness went away on his eyes, right with his little girl? How your sister felt so alone in the world without her twin? How all they lives shattered again, all because of you."
"I-I.." Ham couldn't speak. He was fighting back all he could to not look weak and give the man what he wanted.
"You,"The man sneered. "Couldn't take it, not like a man anyway. So you left to look for her, to help your so called friends and family. You went to runaway from your mistake."
"I went away to help!" Ham shouted back. "I wanted Reagan back too!"
"You went to escape your error, your second error." The man corrected him. "You were lucky to get your sister back, or you would have lost everyone else too."
"Th-that..." Ham couldn't get it out and yelled slightly in aggravation because of so. Most of it was from his guilt and regret.
"You're a disgrace to your family. Nothing more then fucking trouble, and you know it. Damn assholes like you... I hate people like you. The ones who just don't care."
With that, footsteps followed and a shutting noise of the door. Dan took off his blind fold and look over to his friend who had his hands in fists and his head down. Dan stood and walked over to him and sat beside him, throwing his arm onto the older man's shoulder. Ham put him head on his shoulder, and finally let it all out. He finally stopped fighting his overwhelming emotions and surrendered, letting the tears go.
His sobs were heart aching to Dan and he didn't like it. At all.
"It's not your fault, man." Dan said aloud. "He's wrong. He's completely wrong. It's not your fault, none of it."
"Yes it is." Ham cried. "She's my sister... My sister!... How could I?..." He cried more. Dan couldn't say anything else himself.
He knew the feeling all to well.