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Everyone except for Sandy. The only person in this entire universe who cared about him enough to even just pay attention.
“Rane, please,” Sal grabbed his shoulder this time. Firm but pleading. A friend reaching out. “I am begging you to get ahold of yourself. You were doing so well! I don’t know what’s going on with you, but your mother-”
Rane smacked his arm away, laughing with a vicious smile. “Oh, yes, my darling mother has pleaded my case to you many times, hasn’t she?”
“Rane-”
“No,” he was the one to cut him off this time, holding out his arms. “You’re right. I should focus on the game! Let’s not waste time. The only reason you put up with me is because I win championships, isn’t that correct?”
“Rane, stop it!”
“So, let’s get out there and win!” He declared, fist up, crest tightly pressed down.
“Rane, get back here!”
He wasn’t listening anymore. He turned from them before Sal could grab him again and dropped out of the sphere. Warmups were nearly done anyway.
The moment gravity took hold of him and his feet hit the ground, he looked up. From here, he couldn’t see into any of the private boxes, but he knew exactly where his mother sat. Where she watched over him. Pulling the strings she had on him. He glared at the glass, almost certain he could feel her eyes on him in return.
He turned his back on her and returned to the locker room where he shut himself in one of the showers until it was time for the game to start.
Maybe he was being immature, not wanting to deal with his team anymore and hiding from them. But it suddenly felt like he had stepped off the edge of a cliff. Like he had finally been pushed too far and they really didn’t matter anymore.
Only Sandy mattered.
He’d get her pregnant. He’d do it the first chance they had. And then, he’d insist she leave the planet for the safety of herself and their young. His mother would torment him, he had no doubt, but Sandy and their young would be safe. From there, it would only be a matter of time. No indignity or injustice his mother could subject him to would change that.
So, he would play. He would win. He would protect his female.
Those were the only things he could do, so he would do them so well, no one would ever be able to suggest that he hadn’t done his duty.
The warning buzzer went off in the locker room, alerting them it was time to re-enter the sphere. He left the shower, unsurprised to find his team all standing there, waiting. Sal tried to say something, but he walked right past, ignoring them.
If they had questions, they could ask his mother. He was sure that she would have some kind of answer for them.
The lineup demonstration was quick as it ever was. He didn’t bother with fancy tricks or showy moves this time. He rose when his name was called and immediately dropped into his position. The other team had already taken their places.
It was a brutal game.
Chapter 25
Sandy
Something was different with Rane.
Everyone around her in the private box was cheering. The game was incredible! Rane in particular was on absolute fire. He was scoring so many points, knocking down so many of the other team’s beaters, it kind of felt like the rest of the team was incidental. The other friends and family in the box were saying he must be feeling extra motivated since it was the last home game of the season. Others said that maybe he really was finally back to his old self.
Did they not realize how wrong he looked out there?
Trikball was a team game. By absolute necessity of the rules. The three beaters were the only ones able to steal an enemy ball and get it to the rigger, who was the only one capable of changing its color and alignment to their own team, who had to pass it to the strikers who were the only ones who could score a goal. It couldn’t be played solo.
But Rane was doing his best to prove that belief wrong.
After every goal, the ball was reset back to neutral – which meant that either team’s strikers or beaters could get their hands on it. Which meant, every time Rane scored, all he had to do was get the ball back, toss it to Sal, the Elivier rigger, then get it back again.
That was the only person he tossed it to. Sal might pass it to another member, but once they sent it back to Rane, he took over. Like they weren’t even there.
This wasn’t him playing; this was him fighting.
