Alex sat with his head pressing against the wall of the Candid Cantina. The red in his eyes had not gone away but at least now he found himself in a position to finally close his eyelids and rest for a minute. He was sitting at their usual booth and getting there had been relatively uneventful. Pollum Mock had shot them a glance as they walked in, and it was clear to them that his patience was wearing a bit thin. If they could have, they would’ve bought a drink to soothe his annoyance with the calming aroma of money, but since Sophia had misplaced the credit chip that idea was out the window.
It would seem the roles had switched as Sophia paced up and down beside the booth, her face full of worry. It hadn’t gone unnoticed by her that Neil hadn’t shown up yet, she thought for sure that he would have been here by now. It wasn’t like him to go off on his own, or maybe it was like him. She had never known Neil outside of the Lavender 1, perhaps he did have a tendency to disappear when given the space for it. She shook her head, there was no way he would just wander off on his own for no good reason- especially not in a place like the Ring.
“Alex, I worried.” She spoke, her fingers tapping on the hilt of the gun sticking out of her pocket. “What if something happened?”
“I am too,” Alex replied, his sore eyes opening with difficulty. “But Neil is crafty, hopefully, he’ll be able to take care of himself.”
Sophia scoffed, “being able to take care of yourself ain’t exactly enough to cut it when you're out of your depth.”
“You seem to be doing fine at it.”
“That’s different.”
“How?”
The girl didn’t reply, instead, she gritted her teeth and kept walking up and down in her place.
If Alex’s legs weren’t so tired, he would’ve joined her. Instead, he sat alone in his seat worrying about his missing friend. It wasn’t all bad though, at least he could rest comfortably knowing that his other friend was safe now. Soon Timothy would be escorted back to the cantina and would be released. With him being behind bars during the time of the Casino ‘robbery’ there was no way that he could have done it. Unless he had an accomplice. Alex’s thoughts whispered. They could always say one of us did it for him.
Trying to pry his attention away from the whole ordeal, he looked around the bar for anything interesting to distract him. Pollum was serving a patron with his usual blunt style, crafting the drink with two of his arms behind his back whilst another hand accepted a credit chip from the customer. As usual, everyone else having a drink was keeping to themselves and hunkering in their respective seats. However, he noticed that he was getting more looks than usual. Eyes, antennae, and other seeing body parts were slipping toward their direction, only partial glances but it was enough to know that he and his friends weren’t as discreet as before. Are they waiting for something? He wondered, trying not to stare. Oh, of course they are.
Alex sighed and rested his head back on the wall, feeling another round of exhaustion coming on. They had made too much of a scene, he realized. The lottery, the murder, the missing ticket, and the mystery of it all must have gone around by now. He thought back to when they first arrived at the Ring when that shop owner had been executed by Mr. Ham. An entire crowd had gathered to watch, not to help or step in, just to witness whatever mayhem might go down. It was spectacle, and when you’re among some of the most hardened and devious criminals on this side of space, it would seem that the show needed to be bloody. He felt a chill as the image of a room full of people cheering as Timothy was killed flashed into his mind like a camera. So much for keeping a low profile, he figured to himself. Hell, it was possible that half the galaxy knew at least in some small part what was going down now with all those ships that had been in the sky. But a smile crept along his face as he continued to look on- no one here would be getting a show tonight, and he was very happy to disappoint.
His attention snapped back as Sophia fell on the booth across from him. “How long do we have until Mr. Ham brings Tim back?” She asked, tapping her fingers anxiously across the table.
“I don’t have a watch or anything, but if I had to guess I would be an hour or two,” Alex said, proceeding to let out a big sigh. “Just a few hours and this nightmare of ours can be over.”
“One nightmare, at least.” She bemoaned.
Alex had been wanting to ask his friend something for a long time now, and it never seemed like he got the proper chance. It was a stupid question, that’s why he never said it out loud. But the thoughts in the back of his head kept nagging him about it and he felt his reluctance slowly chipping away from him. “Sophia, I’ve been meaning to ask you something.” He said, his confidence wavering.
The girl didn’t meet his face, she seemed focused on something else outside the bar. “What?”
“Well…” He stammered; this was so idiotic of him. “Why haven’t you…”
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“Neil!” Sophia cried, standing up from her seat.
From the doorway, the boy in the tattered coat stumbled in, his chest heaving as he struggled to catch his breath. Neil watched as Sophia came running up to him quickly, for a second he thought she was going in for a hug but instead she reached up and brushed something off his shoulder. “Are you okay?” She asked, eyeing him for wounds.
“Jesus Christ, I almost died!” Neil cried, hobbling over to the booth, and crashing down on his side. “Remind me to never do that again!”
Alex felt awkwardly cut off, but his friend was more important. “Wait, what did you do? What happened?” His eyes narrowed. “And why do you have a round mark on your forehead?”
Breathlessly, Neil recounted his tale of following Sally Silver. He tried to go into as much detail as he could, though he felt inclined to leave out the more personal side of interrogation. Alex nodded along, listening carefully to every detail and his head rested idly in his hands as he tried his best to stay awake. After the story was over, Sophia was quick to fill Neil in on what happened at the casino.
“I heard that something went down there,” Neil remarked. “Does this mean that we’re good now? Tim’s safe?”
Sophia smiled, “yeah, yeah it does.”
“Thank god,” he blurted. “The sooner we get out of this place the better. I could live without seeing another back alley or casino ever again.”
“We still need to get Tim, though, so it isn’t over yet.” Sophia was trying not to sound hopeful just in case destiny wanted to mess with her.
The two didn’t notice as Alex looked away for a moment, concealing his concerned expression. It doesn’t seem right, does it? All of this is just too easy, you must have missed something. “It’s really suspicious what Sally and John-John did with the gun, isn’t it?” He heard himself ask. “I wonder what they were up to?”
“I don’t know man, but that’s not on us anymore,” Neil said with a wave. “We were never detectives, all we ever wanted to do was save Tim, not solve the case. So don’t worry about it anymore, you’ve done enough of that anyway.”
Alex shook his head, “there were so many people there the night Corpus died, they all could’ve done it and they each had a motive…” His eyes trailed off, staring into the distance. “But why does this whole case seem backward? Something just feels wrong, you know? It’s like there’s something on the tip of my tongue and I just can’t say it! I can’t stop worrying about it, I can’t!”
“Do you know how red your eyes are?” Sophia seemed serious, her voice going low. “You can barely keep your head up now, Alex, you’re worrying yourself to death!”
“I’m fine, I’ve just got to think.” Alex clutched his head in his hands, knocking the side of his skull with his knuckles like someone trying to unclog a stuck vending machine. “What did I miss? What did I miss?”
“You’re making me worried, man.” Neil fretted. “You need to calm down.”
Alex’s eyes began to move rapidly, his breath going shallow. You’re going to fail them all, don’t you even try to deny it. You’ve missed something and now your friends are going to pay the price! What else did you think was going to happen? Were you going to solve the case and save the day, then have all your friends sing your praises as they carry you into the sunset? You’re a failure, Alex, that’s who you are. You failed at your life, you failed your parents, you failed DeAndre, and you’ve failed every friend you’ve ever tried to help! Stop trying to be someone you’re not.
“I’m sorry!” Alex stammered, his voice weak and wobbly. “This is all just the calm before the storm. I know it is! I just… I can’t…”
Snap! Snap!
Alex’s eyes refocused as Sophia snapped her fingers in front of his face. It was only then that he noticed how worried his friends looked and he felt a bit of shame well up in his chest. “Stop!” The girl demanded, her voice booming. “You’re having a panic attack!”
His hands suddenly felt damp as he pulled them from his head, he didn’t realize how much he had started sweating. Inside his chest, his heart was beating rapidly, and his body seemed to sway like a tree in the wind. “I’m sorry… I…”
From beside him, Alex felt Neil grab his hand and hold it firmly in his own. Strangely it was comforting, it was like he had been a kite drifting in the wind, and something had finally anchored him down. “Hey, it’s fine.” The boy in the tattered coat spoke. “Just relax, okay?”
Alex took some deep breaths and cracked a puzzling smile. “Sorry.” He repeated. “I guess this is why people have those little paper bags.”
Sophia crossed her arms; she had never seen him like that before. “You, okay?”
“Oh, I’m good,” Alex replied, slowly taking his hand back from Neil. “It passes.”
“Has this happened to you before?” Neil asked slowly.
He shook his head, “no, I’m sure it’s just the fatigue.”
Yet again, Sophia was immune to Alex’s lies. “Not buying it.” She said, leaning in closer with a troubled look. “Talk to us.”
The boy’s smile dropped, the façade crumbling. “It’s happened maybe a few times in my life, nothing to worry about.” The look of concern on both of his friends’ faces was enough to disprove that statement. “I’m sorry, I promise I won’t do that again.”
Neil was taken aback. “Alex, we’re not mad at you, we’re worried about you! You don’t need to apologize.”
“Yeah, it’s good,” Sophia explained softly. “It happens.”
The feeling of shame was a bit overwhelming in Alex and he gritted his teeth to try and compensate. “It shouldn’t happen, not right now. Too much is going on for you guys to worry about me.”
“You’re sounding like Tim with all those apologies, man.” Neil smiled. “Look, we’re your friends, it’s our job to worry about you so don’t stress it.”
“I wish it was that easy,” Alex replied with a frown. “But thanks for helping me, I really mean that.”
Sophia shrugged, “anytime.”
“Look, I know what I said about jinxing us.” Neil began with a sly look. “But I think everything’s starting to look on the up and up! Right now, all we need to do is get Tim back from Mr. Ham, find someone to fly us back to our ship that isn’t Jenny, and we’re good to go. We’ll be back on the Lavender in no time!”
Suddenly the lights flickered, almost as if on cue. A second later they went out, as they seemed so very inclined to do. The darkness was biting, and the three friends looked to each other for support. Of course, they couldn’t see each other, but still, it’s the thought that counts. With a click, the lights flashed on filling the room with a glow. However, like a bad magic act, someone appeared in the room unannounced.
“Alex!” Shouted Timothy as he waved his arms. “Alex you’ve got to get out of here! He’s going to kill you!”