The Games

[TWO] The Theory

-TWO-

The Theory

"Is that Martin?", Lexy asked, a shocked expression on her face.

"I'm...", I started to say, but failing to say anything. "I—god help me!"

I just continued to stare at the guy, who was undoubtedly Martin, where he was continuing to hand out small bags to people who were giving him money in return. I just nodded. The question we were all asking ourselves was how he could do this. All we really know of him is that he is a heavy smoker who was about a year older than us. That would make him about 21 years old.

"How could he do this?", Lexy asked, still staring at him with disgust in her eyes.

"We did not see the red flags", Maya said, trying to cheer Lexy up.

"What if he has been doing this for a long time? What if he is part of a drug ring? What if he is a serial killer? What if...", Lexy cut off, tears streaming down her face.

She ran towards the bathroom, accidentally bumping into Martin on her way there.

"Woah babe, not so fast. Look where you are going!", he said, sounding a bit surprised that she had bumped into him. "Lex?"

"Hey Martin!", I shouted, pulling his attention onto me. "What's up?"

Martin walked towards me, his eyes turning darker with every step he took in my direction.

"Leave. Me. Alone", he growled, staring me down.

"What? What did I do to make you angry?", I asked him, confused as to why he was so aggressive.

"You keep on disturbing me, you ungrateful boy!", he shouted, now poking my chest.

To be honest, I was terrified. I did not know what Martin was capable of. He seemed to be very strong, his muscular body flexing as his anger increased.

"You should be happy that I am not going to batter you. You would deserve it", he spat, then he turned around and stormed out of the bar.

"What did I do to him?", I muttered, now turning back to Maya. "What?"

Maya was giving me her disappointed face, but that did not last for long. As soon as Martin left the bar, she came running to me and hugged me.

"I was scared about you!", she whispered in my ear, not letting me go.

"It's ok, he is gone now", I replied, feeling her shake.

I could hear a pair of heels slowly walking to us. I looked over Maya's shoulder and saw Lexy walking in our direction. Her makeup was completely smeared across her face and her hair looked like a bird was building a nest in it.

"Come, join in", I said, taking one of my arms from Maya and invited Lexy to join the hug.

So, there we stood, hugging each other, in the corner of a filled bar. Looking like we have not seen each other in 10 years.

"Come on, let's go home", Maya said, loosening her grip from me and stepping out of the hug.

We agreed that that would probably be the best idea, so we started to walk back home. A couple of minutes later Lexy started talking.

"Do you guys think that Martin is connected to something bigger?", she mumbled, looking at the pavement.

"What do you mean?", Maya asked, looking at her confused.

"I'm not sure yet, but I think he might be in a drug ring." I shot her a sceptical look. "Yes, I know that that is jumping to conclusions, but I think that something bigger is going on", Lexy admitted, now looking at me and Maya. "See, there are about 5 known drug rings in Bristol. Two of them are big international ones, and the others get their products from those two. So, what if there is a small ring that produces their own drugs and sells these in small bars and nightclubs. It's not that hard to believe."