10-Next game!!

          Soon enough Moustache-Man picked his candy.

          Only Axel was left.

          „Josh, are you alright?“, I asked him.

          „Y-Yeah. T-Thank you.“, he said and smiled, „Thanks to you I made it this far... I’m in your debt.“

          „I-It’s nothing, really. You don’t own me anything.“

          „I do... I don’t know if I will ever be able to repay you... But I’ll try my best to do so one day.“, he said with more confidence than I’d ever seen in him. He left me speechless.

          „15 seconds-“

          „I KNOW, I KNOW, I’M THINKING FOR FUCKS SAKE!!“, Axel yelled at a guard. He took a candy and swallowed it.

          „And with Axel Errate we are at the end of game #1 everybody!! “, the announcer said to the crowd, which went crazy. „The winners will now be escorted to the hall where they will regroup and wait for the next game to start. Until the next game begins I wish everybody from the crowd a great time! And also good luck with your bets!! “

          Bets?

          Did... Did he talk to the crowd??

          If he did... then-

          „Follow us, sir.“, said one of the guards, as he pulled me towards the exit.

          We went down the hall and entered an elevator. It felt weird, now that only the four of us made it to the second game.

          Janneth Gloria...

          I will remember you...

          When we made it back down to the floor where we originally formed these groups, we were met with a few other groups. Each with 5 members or lower. I recognized Boris in one of the groups, as well as Yellow and the fourth roomate. I guess my gambling instincts were right about those three.

          We waited for a few minutes until the last group arrived, after which we were told we have a 10 minute break.

          This was it! My chance!

          My chance to meet up with Linda and find out what the second game is!

          ’’E-Excuse me? Could you please show me where the bathroom is?“, I asked one of the guards.

         „...“, he just stared at me without saying a word. I guess he won’t tell me. I started looking for it when Axel stopped me.

          „Hey Ken!“

          „H-Hi.“

          „Hey man, I’m really glad both of us made it!“

          „Yeah, m-me too.“, I said.

          „That thin girl... what was her name... Ammy Something I think-it doesn’t matter... That was scary... When she ate Mercury I mean...“, Axel said with a sad expression on his face.

          „It was...“, I agreed. I wanted to get to the toilet as soon as possible, so I have to think of an excuse to get out of here-

          „Ken... I want...“, Axel started.

          „What is it, Axel?“, I asked him.

          „I want to apologize once again... for what I did before the first game... I’m really sorry.“

          „It’s okay, man... I already forgave you-“

          „IT’S NOT OKAY!!“, he yelled and punched the wall.

          „It’s not okay... I... I have these anger issues... I’ve been taking meds for it for the past three years... But recently, since my mother passed away last year... I stopped taking them... I just didn’t care anymore... About myself... Or my girlfriend... That’s why she dumped me, and... I don’t blame her... I would do the same if I was in her place...“, Axel opened up to me. I... I didn’t know what to say to this...

          „I don’t know through what hell you’ve been that lead you to these games, but... I’m sure you’ve been through some tough shit, man. And I want you to know that... That I’m sorry... I truly am...“

          „Axel I...“

          „Heh.“, he laughed and looked above us. We stared into nothing for a few moments, when he said: „You’re a good man, Ken... I hope you win this, and that you turn your life around, for the better, of course...“

          „Th-Thank you, Axel... I wish you the same...“, I answered. I was shocked... Didn’t expect this from him...

          „I’m sorry I gotta go to the toilet.“, I told Axel.

          „Yeeeaaahhh, I should probably go, too... Well then, let’s go! Show me the way.“, Axel said.

          Shiiiiit.

          How do I get rid of him now?

          „Uuumm... A-Actually I hoped YOU would know where the toilet is!“, I smiled nervously.

          „Oh...“, he said with a disappointed look on his face. „I guess we should go ask some guard or something...“

          „Y-Yeah. Well, let’s go to that one!“, I pointed at a guard that was closest to Axel. „Sure“, he replied and we started moving towards the guard. The truth is, I really did not know where the toilet is on this floor... Linda didn’t tell me where it is, but I guess it’s obvious that I gotta find that out on my own. „Yo! Big guy!“, Axel told the guard. He was a big guy. Probably the buff-est guard I’ve seen so far. „Where’s the toilet?“, Axel asked him. The guard smirked. „Oh, you need a toilet?“, he mocked us, „Will you piss yourself if you don’t find out where it is, soon?“

          „Yeah, so show us where it is!“, Axel was already getting pissed off. He really does have anger issues.

          „AHAHAHAH!! Can’t wait to see the two of you losers pissing all over yourselves in a few minutes!“

          We couldn’t really argue with him. He was an asshole and there wasn’t anything we could do... Especially because he was twice our size! I put my arm on Axel’s shoulder. „Axel, we should go ask someone els-“

          „HELL NO!! Fuck this place, man!“, Axel pushed my arm off him. „AXEL!!“, I yelled. He looked at me and slowly calmed down. „Sorry... Let’s go...“

          „MICHAEL!“, we heard a voice behind us.

          „YO, JACK! What’s up, man!“, the buff-est guard responded. So his name is Michael. We turned around to look at who greeted him and we saw it was the muscular guard with small moustache from game 1.

          „Why are you hanging out with these filthy losers, Michael?“, Jack said.

          „They’re about to piss themselves! Ahahahahah! They don’t know where the toilet is!“

          „That’s funny and all, but... Michael... If they piss themselves because you didn’t tell them where the toilet is... Don’t you think the boss will make you clean all that mess?“, Jack asked Michael.

          „SHIT! YOU’RE RIGHT!!“, Michael panicked. „The toilet is down that hall then the second door right.“, he showed us where to go, thanks to Jack. He mentioned the boss ? Linda’s father?

          Anyway, since we had little time to spare, we went down the hall. We entered the toilet. It was a small uni-sex toilet, with only 4 cabins. Two were occupied. Axel entered one of the toilets. As soon as he did one of the cabins unlocked.

          Linda came out of it. „Oh.“, she said. „You’re la-“, before she could finish I put a finger on my lips, to indicate that it’s not safe to talk. Then I showed at the cabin Axel was in. Linda read my signs and kept silent. I whispered that she shall go back to her cabin, while I will stay in mine until Axel leaves, then I will knock on her doors so she can come out.