Back at the front, Lexa was clicking through screen after screen of red and green dots with her tongue sticking out. From our angle of approach it was hard to say what kind of information she was clicking through.

  “Hey, Lexa,” I said.

  My voice snapped Lexa out of her focus, making her jump in her seat.

  “Oh! Mr. Alvarez,” she said. She saw Gav beside me, and there was a brief pause before she decided to say hello to him as well. “H– Hey Gav, you spooked us just now.”

  “Uhm… yeah, sorry,” said Gav, suddenly looking at the floor. It was truly amazing how he always managed to find such interesting spots on the floors and walls.

  Their situation was pitiable. Lexa clearly had some feelings for Gav, and Gav was the kind of guy that felt embarrassed for not remembering his own name during an introduction being an amnesiac. I could only imagine how he felt about not remembering someone that clearly had been a good friend, if not a budding lover.

  They both started looking away from each other now, so I spoke to breach the silence.

  “We’ve got a new lead,” I said to Lexa. “So, just stopping by to say goodbye.”

  “Let me know if your manager approves us to view that footage.”

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “Of course,” she said, then, “oh, Mr. Alvarez, before you go, I think I found something you might want to hear.”

  I cocked my head at her.

  “What did you find?”

  “Nothing. I don’t know. Maybe something?”

  “Only way to know is to hear it.”

  “Right, uhm,” she took a deep breath. “When you had me check on Gav’s last visit to the gym, I noticed that there were lots of other people who hadn’t shown up in a while. So I did some more digging and found that our attendance is like way down!”

  “When does it start to go down?”

  “Just before Gav went missing! Look!”

  Lexa turned her monitor so I could see it. The red and green dots she had been looking at earlier were names. Green for when a person had an attendance streak of two or more days, and red for anyone that has missed a day. Apparently up until a few days before last week, the majority of the members of Mars Gym had been attending daily. Now most of the names were red.

  “Crazy right?” said Lexa.

  “Very,” I agreed.

  Even Gav forgot to be awkward long enough to examine the screen. He leaned to examine it, unknowingly bringing his face closer to Lexa’s. They caught each other’s eyes and then each of them found interesting walls on opposite sides.

  “Hey, Lexa, would you be able to get me the contact information for everyone who's been missing days?”

  “I don’t have access to their contact info, but I’ll mention it along with the footage when my manager is done with his meeting.”

  “Appreciate it, thanks.”

  “Anything to help Gav,” she said, looking for Gav’s eyes but finding that they were trained on a rack of branded merchandise.

  .

  Gav and I bid our farewells to Lexa, Gav’s being more than a touch awkward. I couldn’t help but perceive a longing in both their eyes, and something extra in Gav’s. His face was flush, just like it had been when he tried introducing himself to me at the hospital, but more so. I think I saw a hint of shame.