Favorable (Jamilton)

34. Hamilton

Alexander woke up with a pounding headache lying on the floor in a concrete room that he didn't recognize. 

His first thought was that he finally got arrested for something, then he remembered that he paid an unexpected visit to the King of Narcissism. He realized that he was officially a kidnap victim. 

"Fun," he muttered to himself as he sat up. The room spinning so he used the wall for balance when he stood. "Hey! Can anyone hear me?!"

"Keep your voice down! Are you trying to get yourself killed?" someone hissed from the other side of the wall. It took him a second, but Alex recognized the voice. 

"Samuel?" 

"Yeah, now shut up before they come back. If they see you awake, you might as well sign your death warrant, Alexander." 

Sam sounded way colder than when they last talked, but that just made whatever happened there even scarier than it already was. He decided not to say anything about it. 

"How long have I been here?" Alex asked quietly. 

"I don't know, I don't have any windows other than those bars right there." Alexander noticed a square cut from the wall connecting the two cells. "I think that's part of their torture thing. . ." 

"Torture?!"

"Not real torture, like mental torture. They're just insane. Except for Maria and John, we can trust them."

"John. John who." Hamilton remembered seeing his friend shrinking into the same couch that he'd sat on when he got too far into this. The feelings of anger and betrayal were beyond undeniable.   

"Andre, I think? I-I don't actually remember too well."

Alex sighed. So Laurens wasn't a part of the group that he could trust. He wished he would have known that before he got trapped down here. Without thinking, he got up and started yelling. 

"LAURENS!" he screamed. "If you can hear me I need you to come to wherever-here-is! Now!" 

"Shut up! What the hell are you doing?!" 

"Getting John's attention. He wouldn't do this without being blackmailed somehow, I'm going to help him out."

"We can't trust him!" 

"And we trust Maria Lewis? How do you figure that, Samuel?"

Sam sighed. "Before you got down here they would bring me and the girl that was in your cell food and they'd talk to us--"

"Wait, someone else was in here?" Alex looked around the room and felt uneasiness rise in his chest. Someone else was staying in the same cell before he got taken and now she was gone. "What happened to her?" 

Sam stayed quiet.

Hamilton's blood ran cold and the panic finally started setting in. Before he had a chance to start screaming again, he heard a metallic creaking and saw his door opening. He darted toward it, only to be tripped by the chain that was attaching him to the farthest wall. He fell flat on his face. The visitor helped him up. 

In one last burst of panic, Hamilton ditched the game plan.

"What the hell!" 

"Okay, Alex, I know you're mad--"

"I am chained. To a wall!" Hamilton motioned to the chain for emphasis. "And you want to say that I'm mad? Where even am I?" 

"I can't tell you that, Ham."

"Oh no, you don't get to use that. You had something to do with the kidna-- you had something to do with the kidnappings. . ." Realization slowly fell onto him like someone cutting a rope that's holding a piano up with safety scissors.