The Number 8 by Joel Arcanjo Page A

began to slow and then out of nowhere Asmir stopped replying. Dante stayed up for a while thinking through all his issues but almost instantly reminded himself of where he was and the promise he had made to himself to let it go while he was away. Plus, right now, he had bigger issues.
    James, Viktor’s friend, was sat at a corner table by himself in the dining room the next morning. He was rhythmically spooning cereal into his mouth while staring at the wall. Dante was sat at a table with Asmir on the other side of the dining room. He watched this scenario play out for nearly five minutes. He badly wanted to go over to James and make him feel a little better but he had been trying to craft a speech that didn’t sound completely patronizing or insincere. But he hadn’t come up with anything. The truth was, Dante was a little bit wary of him. People in his current state of mind were usually unpredictable and sometimes violent. While it didn’t seem like he was heading that way, all that pent-up rage had to go somewhere. At the moment he was intent on targeting it at the wall across from him. At least there it wasn’t doing any harm to anyone. But at some point it would change. It was inevitable.
    “Yo, stop staring. Why you being so creepy?” Asmir said, his brow furrowed.
    “I feel sorry for him, man,” Dante said, his stare unwavering.
    “So do I, but I choose not to stare at him like a weirdo.”
    This got Dante to snap out of it. “Hey, I’m just trying to figure out a way of getting him out of his funk.”
    “Get him out of his funk… D, do you even hear what you’re saying? The guy’s brother died yesterday, you really think he wants to talk to anyone? Do you think he even wants to be here on this stupid bus tour with us for company? Of course not, he wanted to be here with his best friend. The guy’s so in shock he can’t even understand what’s happening, right? He’s on cloud nine… No wait, that’s the good one right? What’s the bad one?”
    “How can you say something so insightful and then revert back to being an idiot so quickly? There are no sad clouds, Az.”
    “Yeah, well, the clouds thing doesn’t have to undermine what I said before that.”
    “It kinda does, Az,” Dante said in a high-pitched, mocking tone.
    “OK, well you do what you want to, mate, but I’m not going anywhere near him. That guy is seriously pissed and he doesn’t even know it yet. Look how big he is, he can do some serious damage.”
    “Yeah, you may be an idiot, but you do actually have a point. It’ll be like poking a bear. At least for now, it’s probably a bad idea.”
    “Thank God you see reason. I kinda want to have you around for the rest of the trip. I mean, I could replace you in a heartbeat but it would take work. You know, have to listen to their boring stories and giving my opinion. I figure I’ve already spent way too many man-hours on you. Might as well stick with you for now.”
    “Oh thanks, man, means a lot,” Dante said, sarcastically. He got up and went to clear his tray. The morning’s food had been much healthier, at least for him. Asmir had had pancakes and a thick layer of syrup while Dante had had gone for half of a grapefruit and a few melon slices. Not exactly filling, but after his gorge the night before he didn’t have much of an appetite. The fact that they didn’t have any idea whether they were moving on this morning or not didn’t help the situation. Mel had been flitting around all morning looking worried. Same went for Ben. It seemed they didn’t have any idea what was going on either.
    An hour later there still wasn’t any news. Then, a cellphone stopped the chatter dead. It was Mel’s and she didn’t even know it. Ben, who was sat at the same table, had to point it out to her. When she realized she seemed distressed. She picked it up with most of the room still watching.
    “Hello?”
    There was a pause while she listened to what was almost certainly the