"So Nicholas? Do you have anything you'd like to, 'add'?"
"Why do ya think I do have somethin to add?" He glanced at Thomas, hiding his cards beneath his rough palms.
"It's just that the environment has become a little too, 'tensed'. How about you...tell me what part of the event did you find the most fascinating?"
"The only fascinatin thing I found was humiliating a man too full of himself at a stage. Mad fun."
Thomas narrowed his eyes but kept his smile, "I see. That must have been quite enjoyable for you."
The cards were flying on and off from their hands.
"Interesting." He called for show once again. Every single time.
How much of a control freak was this man?
After the devastating defeat from before, Johann was right to back off at the beginning itself, this also allowed him to focus more on the conversation between the two men as they played. Hoping they'd slip up some information which neither did.
"Bravo!" Shouted Thomas, "That makes four games. Though it is quite sad to see someone going further into debt. Don't you think so Nicholas?"
"Hey! My luck's just been bad today, that' all."
Thomas no longer held a patient smile on his face or eyes filled with enthusiasm and warmth, it was replaced by something much more sinister.
Lurking.
Something was lurking in his mind. What was he contemplating, was completely impossible for Johann to figure out. He just sat, waiting for the cards to be placed into hands. He would play and maybe win, or maybe even lose. It didn't matter.
He already had to cope up with being a onlooker of Thomas's horrendous presence, what would be the harm in escaping that for a single day? He would return the next and have to bare witness to more of it.
There was no point in trying to avoid him.
Soon enough, Thomas's hands moved but they weren't flicking the cards to his direction, they weren't shuffling the cards either. Rather, they were moving to and fro, tapping on the table in some sort of a pattern and Johann heard it in its entirety.
He tapped and tapped rhythmically, taking gaps between the taps.
Until it all clicked together to form a single word.
"D O N O T R U N"
This fucking bastard.
He bit his lip trying to calm himself, on top of already being irritated, he now found a profound fury surge in him as well. All the while Thomas looked really content with himself.
Someone bold enough broke him out of his reverie ,"Shuffle the cards you geezer, we ain'got all day."
"Oh of course! Slip ups happen to the best of us."
"End this Mr. Trivola, I don't wish to spend more time here."
"Ahh! Seems I have irritated the both of you! Well then, here are your cards for the final game." with a swift motion, he slid four cards to each of the players and picked up his own hand, still smiling.
Making empty threats won't work on Johann. Whatever Thomas was trying to communicate would not work the way he wanted it to. Johann wouldn't let it.
He steeled his nerves, his only goal now was to piss off Thomas as much as he could. And when he wouldn't get the reaction he desired out of him, he'd simply sit and smile internally as he saw Thomas fuming. It was a perfect plan and thankfully for him, an opportunity was really quick to present itself.
Though perhaps, fate had a better idea.
Thomas's fingers fell on the table again and he started tapping.
One. Two.
Break.
One. Two. Three.
Break.
One. Two. Three.
Break.
One. Two. Three. Four.
What?
It was random jargon. What was he trying to spell?
There was nothing that could come out of such an obscure combinatio-
His hands froze and his body went cold.
His heart beat so fast it could leap out of his chest but he couldn't feel it, nor hear it. His ears were ringing, ringing so loud they never let another sound in.
"Aye J, it's your turn. Hey! you aight?"
He wasn't alright. This didn't make sense, it shouldn't make sense. How could he know this?
Johann saw it.
He was grinning.
He was truly walked into a trap, one he could never escape from.
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※
"Do you feel better now, Mr. Everett?" Asked the vile creature.
Johann simply nodded and sat on the table. He had suddenly dashed away and ran to the restroom, from where he emerged a few minutes later, with fear surging through him like he had just seen a ghost.
Or more appropriate was that he had just been reminded of a ghost he had created. One that he desperately tried to avoid every second of his life.
"If you're such a lightweight shouldn't have had a drink don'chya think?"
"Yeah, you're right."
If anything the one thing he wanted to accomplish now was to win, he had to win the game. To get every second he could away from this lunatic, he'd wager his life earnings to not see him ever again and to never let him family ever lay their eyes on this wretched monster hiding in human skin.
He knew. He fucking knew.
His hands were shaking and yet he was still playing, he had to win.
The cards shifted throughout the table with a dangerous silence looming over all of them.
His hand wasn't bad, and as the new cards made their way into his deck it seemed like a real possibility that he could win and this was his last shot.
"Thirty" he called, practically throwing the coins in front of him.
"Bold now aren'cha?" He was bold too. Being able to sit next to 'him' and talk callously like Thomas were a friend. They'd never be friends, not in this universe and not in a million others.
He hated Thomas, just like Johann. Yet he had the audacity to casually address him, to pat his shoulder and threaten him like it was nothing.
So, so lucky you are Nicholas. How very lucky.
Johann was practically trying to stab daggers into Thomas's chest with how he looked at him and Thomas was smiling all the way through it.
Another cycle of card charity was through and Johann saw his chance, if he let another another cycle take place chances are that Thea's hand would become even stronger she had been holding onto her cards all this time.
"Show!" He yelled.
All eyes fell on him before everyone promptly laid their cards on the table.
"Bluffing didn't work once again, did it Nicholas?" laughed Thomas.
"Don' say anythin, you got your ass kicked didn'chya?" He replied.
"A straight flush." Johann's voice was shaky, "And yours is?"
She sighed like it was a minor inconvenience, "Full house."
Johann's eyes lit up for the first time during the entire night, he didn't make a show or celebrate, he only clutched his arms together and buried his face in them.
The table felt more relaxed now, Thomas leaned back on the chair with a distant smile merely observing whatever was happening.
Nicholas shrugged as well, looking at Thea who was inspecting Johann's cards.
"A tie for the win and you won a hundred and ten points, simply amazing Mr. Everett, I must applaud you."
"I don't need an applause Mr. Trivola, just make up to your promise."
"Oh? Why of course I will! You deserve it after all, you will not be accompanying us on the train to the borde-"
A dignified voice cut through Thomas's words, "Wait Mr. Trivola. There seems to be a mistake." She lifted up her own cards then Johann's,
"Mr. Everett, the ace is valued at eleven in poker, not one like in gin."
And unexpectedly all the noises were drowned, nothing he heard mattered anymore. The only muffled sound that made it to his ear drums were the cackles of the man he loathed with all his being.
"What! To make such a mistake in haste! It truly is you playing with us Mr. Everett." Catching his breath, he took back his statement and instead turned to Thea.
"Well then Mrs. Adonai, congratulations on your victory! Although I must say, Mr. Everett really had a high chance of winning. Don't you think so too, Nicholas?"
"Pfft! Beginner's luck or somethin'! And I let you win so don't be so high." He grumbled.
"Of course! As you say, now then Mrs. Adonai, let us change locations."
Thea was quick to get up from her seat.
She hadn't even moved at all from her location after winning.
Soon, both of them were gone and what was left was Nicholas groaning in his seat, complaining about the back pain he was suffering from after being forced to haul stolen goods from an underground organization that the government deemed dangerous.
"Or they were just some damn Aaergalians tryna do somethin with their lives."
He went on and on about how the men supposed to be doing the labor had been picked up by the government and sent to transport cargos because it was more important.
"Hey. You gonna say somethin'?"
Johann got up from his own seat and without looking at Nicholas, turned back and began to walk.
Through the banquet, through the park, and outside of the gates.
The guard was slumped over with his hat over his large red face.
Sleeping so soundly like a bear, if he saw Johann like this he'd have made a run for his life and forget his cherished job.
He was too tired to even care about what was happening as long as his car was fine. He was reminded that day that having any expectations from this world would only lead to disappointment when he saw the flat tire.
The engine still roared thankfully, and he was dashing off into the night, his body burnt out and his mind numb from thinking too much.
God, he just wanted to go home and the next day book a flight with all his belongings and never come back here again. Just like he had decades ago but this time with his family by his side so he wouldn't suffer the same trauma.
There was not a single open shop on his way back and the one thing that caught his eyes was the federative skyscraper shining brightly amidst the dark starless night.
It was manageable with the flat tire even if he couldn't race at the speeds he wanted to.
Thomas's wager was continuously repeating in his mind, the way he was tapping his fingers spelling out her name.
"Why her of all people!" he groaned.
The one person he never expected, of which he had vowed of not speak of in front of them.
How did he know.
"Fucking hell."
He rolled down the window, hopping catching some fresh air would do something that could pull him out of his misery.
The air was really cold at this hour but he couldn't care less, he just needed something to drown out his own thoughts.
He fixed the sideview mirror, ready to take a left turn and saw another car on the highway behind him.
It was a Red Pointiac with half the body of a person outside the window with a gun in hand.
He smashed the accelerator and dragged the car with all the power he had.
He had not a single clue what was happening, for a second he could have dismissed it as just a dream but the gunshots were definitely real.
And they were aiming for him.
As soon as he out of the highway his car was ricocheting from one end of the road to another frantically.
Whatever God was foreseeing him, he was completely sure that it loved to toy with him.
"Shit!" They were yelling their hearts out at him. His hands were shaking and his heart was about to burst from how quickly it was pumping again.
"The cunt's rushing into the streets!"
The only way to get them off was to fit his car through an unreasonable amount of narrow streets with the hope they'd lose track of him or at least find it so irritating to navigate so many of them.
He never expected he'd be thankfully for being broke teen in the past because if he wasn't then there was no chance he could've known the twist and turns at every point.
Another street passed and their determination only strengthened with each mile, giving chase to him relentlessly.
The next street was empty except for a small dog that was unfortunate enough to come in the way and Johann had no intention of slowing down. Stopping now would be a death sentence. He was already doomed to hell with all of his terrible actions in the past, killing a single dog would be nothing compared to surviving and getting his family out of this shitty place.
It worked. The red pointiac passing the street behind him was slowing down with all the random turns he was making, just a little further and he'd be out of this mess.
Johann had been rummaging through the streets here looking for work when he had initially come to Marlen, both him and his wife seeking for work and running through these streets almost daily.
It wasn't a miracle that he knew the turns, one thing he didn't account for though was that the changing city would become a disaster for him soon enough.
He didn't crash into a wall, he forced his car through a narrow turn and got it stuck midway through.
Without neither of the doors to escape out of and with the car coming to a halt behind him, he took off his jacket and wrapped it around his hand and began to punch the windshield.
It was way too sturdy, and he yelled in pain numerous times before being successful in shattering it and crawling out of the narrow space he managed to find.
Then he began to run as fast as he could without looking back, dead end after another, repeating curbs and groups of drug dealers and thieves.
He would've been a prime target to rob but with how quickly he ran, most of them were sure he was being chased by a bear in the middle of the night.
Light.
He saw a faint light in the distant.
There were next to no streetlights here, finding one was a sign that he was finally making it to a clearing—or a terrible one where he'd find the car stopped afoot of him with armed men dressed in black clothing ready to beat him to a pulp.
Staggering, he peeped from the side of the wall, looking left and right, and finding a whole lot of nothing.
The path was clear, the air was much cooler and the bench under the light was inviting with a large green sign next to it.
He was panting with the knuckles of his right hand bleeding. He was making his way to the bench but never got a chance to sit on it.
A bus came stopped in front of the stand, waiting there patiently for him as he made his way to its entrance and plopped down on the last seat of the empty bus, clutching his knuckles as tightly as he could until they whitened and he screamed into his arm in pain.