Welcome back. It's time for Alex to get a few answers so enjoy this next part and don't forget to donate to Nifty http://donate.nifty.org/ to keep the site running and keep the feedback coming, it's always appreciated.
Chapter 5
What a difference a day makes. Yesterday I was practically bouncing off the walls with excitement at going to visit Josh; today I felt like I was about to face a firing squad. I had no idea what to expect when I got to the farm. Would Josh even be there? I had so many questions swirling round my head that I never even noticed his grandpa standing at their gate waiting for me.
"Thanks for coming Alex." He said in a soft voice that startled me back to reality.
"Hi Mr...errr." It suddenly occurred to me I had no idea what his grandpa's name was.
"Call me Bryan." He gave another warm smile trying to put me at ease but I still felt like I was about to be put on trial. He led me into the main house where two ladies were waiting for us at the kitchen table. Bryan introduced me to his wife, Lauren who looked to be in her early sixties, and definitely not as young as her husband. She had silver hair and dressed very much like a farmer's wife. Next he introduced his daughter, Josh's mum, called Alison. She actually looked to be in her early thirties which almost seemed wrong as she'd have had Josh when she was very young. She was dressed a bit more like her dad although I didn't get the cowboy vibe from her; she seemed more like a business woman who didn't take shit in a man's world.
I sat at the table and waited for the spotlight to be shone in my eyes and someone to interrogate me but thankfully that never happened. They all sat down at the table and Josh's mum tried to give me a reassuring smile.
"How are you feeling after yesterday Alex?" She asked.
"I'm fine, well ok, I'm not fine. I don't know how I feel really, I'm just...confused." I started babbling then caught myself and took a deep breath while they waited for me to compose myself. "How's Josh? Is he ok? Where is he anyway, doesn't he want to be a part of this?" So much for my composure.
"He's fine." Replied Bryan, "We had a long talk with him yesterday and calmed him down, but he didn't want to be here while we talked about him so we're respecting that." There was a finality to his tone that told me not to ask to see Josh so I thought it best not to.
"So where do we start?" I asked. The ladies looked to Bryan and he started to explain.
"First of all he's not a freak." I started to protest but he held up his hand and continued. "We know you don't think that but I just wanted to be completely clear." My face flushed and I let him carry on. "Josh has a genetic condition which is carried down through my bloodline. For some reason, and we don't know why, people in our family have the ability grow or shrink our muscles at will. As if to demonstrate I saw his shirt suddenly get tighter as his body expanded, then I caught some movement off to the side and saw Alison had grown a bit too. This family could make a killing on the bodybuilding circuit.
Lauren saw my expectant look when I turned to her and said "I married into the family, we're not inbred." She smiled and I let out a little chuckle despite being slightly dumbstruck. Alison shrank herself back down and explained further.
"Josh has some control over this at the moment but unfortunately right now his body is in the throes of puberty so it's still a little haphazard for him. He will be able to fully control this as he gets older but for now it's sometimes out of his hands." I sat there puzzled so she continued. "At the moment Josh is really at the mercy of his moods and emotions, have you noticed any changes in his body when you've been with him Alex? Besides yesterday I mean." I thought back to the times when I'd first met Josh and things started to click into place.
"I noticed he used to hunch down a lot when he was nervous and he seemed to do that less when he was happier, but I just thought that was his posture changing." I said honestly.
"What you actually saw there was his body changing slightly because of those emotions." Bryan explained, "When he was scared or nervous he actually got smaller but when he's more relaxed and happier he goes back to normal or even swell up a little if he's quite proud." This was starting to make sense but I still had a bigger question.
"So what happened yesterday?" I asked, "What emotion caused him to turn into the hulk?" I think my question caught them a little off guard and I sank into my chair regretting what I'd just said.
"Fear." Lauren said flatly which confused me more.
"But I've seen him scared or at least a little fearful before and that never happened." You'd think that would be something I'd remember but I definitely didn't recall that happening.
They seemed to be deciding how to explain it when Bryan asked, "Have you heard of the fight or flight response?" I nodded, "Well what happened yesterday was an extreme version of that. Josh was so scared that his body could either get him away from there or deal with the problem head on."
"But there was nothing to fight." I protested with confusion etched on my face.
"Josh wasn't scared for himself; he was scared of losing you." Alison said and my jaw nearly hit the floor. "He knew he could avoid the rock but when he saw it heading for you he reacted on instinct. He shoved you away but not far enough so his body made him big enough to shield you from it if he didn't catch it. He really cares about you but when he saw you looking at him afterwards he said you looked terrified so he ran off in case you thought he would hurt you."
"I could never think that!!" I shouted louder than I expected and tears started to run down my face.
"We know that sweetie," Lauren replied laying her hand on mine, "You need to remember that Josh's anxiety has gotten worse since these changes started. What happened yesterday was heat of the moment and he was terrified of what you'd think of him." I started to relax a little then I turned to Bryan as I had a question burning away.
"How did you cope with this growing up?" I asked.
"I struggled for a while but it was a different time back then." He explained. "Kids and teenagers were a lot more active then and a lot of us did manual labour from a young age so we got stronger naturally. If I did anything slightly out of the ordinary people would just chalk it up to me just working out a little more. Cameras were also a lot less common back then so I didn't have to worry about videos or pictures of me being spread all over the world, if somebody tried to say anything it would be shot down as hearsay because there was no proof." I sat in silence trying to digest what he'd said. It made a lot of sense, if there had been other people around yesterday you could bet someone would've had a camera and showed it to the press. Next thing you know we'd have men in black suits crawling all over the place and I'd never see Josh again.
"So what happens now?" I asked, breaking the silence. "Am I supposed to forget all this and stop seeing Josh?" I dropped my head down, trying not to cry but I felt a tear trickle down my cheek as I was really expecting them to want me out of his life.
"Actually quite the opposite young man." Bryan said making me look back up in surprise. "We were hoping you could help us out with Josh. You're the only friend he's had since he moved here so we were hoping you wanted to continue being around him."
"We know this has been a lot to take in but we really want to see Josh happy." Lauren added handing me a tissue. "I haven't seen him light up as much as he has this last week in a very long time and that's thanks to you." I was stunned, I knew he was quiet but I thought he'd at least have some friends around him. To know that he'd had none until I arrived was heart-breaking.
"We're hoping that being around you can help his anxiety levels and maybe get a handle on these abilities sooner rather than later." Alison said. "It may not seem like it but he's a very sociable boy and loves being around people. He's chosen to cut himself off from everyone else to protect himself and not be labelled a freak.
"The thing is this is going to be an all or nothing situation." Added Bryan. "You're possibly going to see some crazy, scary and amazing things from him if you're going to be his friend so if you want to back out just say the word and we'll take him out of your life forever."
I needed to know what I was letting myself in for so I asked how strong he was. Bryan answered without a word; instead he grabbed a cast iron skillet from the counter with one hand and crushed it into a ball like it was tinfoil then left it in the middle of the table. My eyes went wide with surprise as I stared at the hunk of metal, especially as he didn't even seem to struggle.
"He's stronger than I was at his age so we really don't know." He said, "He might show you what he's been doing with his strength when he feels ready, but give him time."
"Is he around at all?" I asked, "I'd like to see him before I go." His mum went to find him as I made small talk with his grandparents. When she returned I was disappointed to see Josh wasn't with her.
"He's still really scared and refusing to come out." She said with a sigh, "I think we're going to have to play the waiting game and talk to him more, he really thinks you're scared of him right now."
"Will he be in school?" I asked hopefully.
"We'll see. If he doesn't want to go then there's really nothing we can do to make him." She replied.
"It'll be getting dark soon so you should get home while Bryan gets the barbeque going." Lauren said.
"What? We're having barbeque? Since when?" Bryan asked taken aback.
"Since we're having steaks tonight and you crushed my skillet." Lauren stated with a slightly annoyed look and pointed at the big metal block in the middle of the table, "Unless you want to bend that back into shape." Bryan plunged his thumb into the block as if it were silly putty then pulled it back out leaving a hole.
"There you go; you've got a new candle holder. I'll get you a new one tomorrow." He smiled and kissed her on the forehead as I looked on in amazement, then he led me outside so I could walk home. "Are you ok?"
"I think so, I still want to be his friend and I'm not scared of him." I replied. He assured me everything would be ok and reminded me to take my time and let him come to me. That was going to be easier said than done but I'd made a promise so I'd see how things went at school next week.