Descendant

 

Thump, thump, thump.

Joshua kept running as far as his feet could take him. Not being an athletic person Joshua doesn’t usual have great stamina. But today, of all days, was much different. Joshua had run hard and fast across town, he didn’t even care whether or not his truck still waited for him back at school. Joshua made it into the town centre and began to slow down. He knew this town so well; him and Charlie would hang out and play games all over town. Joshua passed some shops and stores along the way eventually coming to a complete rest in the centre where he flumped down on a bench. He waited here for a long time with only his thoughts to keep him company; he watched the townspeople moving around him.

Eventually he heard footsteps coming closer and then a familiar smiling face appeared next to him on the bench. It was his grandmother, a person who although he had his disagreements with he could still talk to and who would make it all ok. She was a person who had filled in for a mother and so she made him feel safe and special. At first neither said anything; it was as though Mrs Clarence knew what he was feeling and that neither should speak just yet. But soon someone would have to talk.

‘Is everything alright sweetheart?’ Mrs Clarence sounded concerned; she was always good at reading people and knew Joshua had a secret he was keeping.

‘I’m ok...I’m about 20% ok.’

‘Anything I can help you with?’ She offered. She was also good at giving advice.

‘Actually yeah, you could. Could you tell me about my parents? You know, who they were, where they come from. Or any information you have.’ Joshua felt silly asking about this, but he couldn’t understand why he felt that way. He had asked a few times in the past but got no direct answer to his questions, for his grandparents always told him they didn’t know much. However it meant a lot to him, especially after today, to know everything he could about where he had really come from.

‘I know you want to know all you can about your parents, and you know I’ve always said that we know so little. But now I think it’s time to tell you what I do know, about how you came to be with us. I can tell you everything I know, but I don’t think it’s going to help much.’

‘Please, anything is enough.’ Joshua sounded soft and emotional for the first time in a long while, but then it had been such an exhausting day for him.

‘Ok, but I can’t promise you’ll find what you’re looking for. Meet me back at home and I’ll tell you all I know.’ Joshua and is grandmother both parted, Joshua had to return to school to pick up his truck. It didn’t take him long however, he was so desperate to find out about his parents that before long he was already driving home. Back home his grandmother waited for him, she was in the dining room sitting at the table. Joshua said nothing but sat opposite her, waiting for the story he was sure was going to give him some idea to what has been happening to him.

‘It was around March if I can remember...’ She began, arms leaning on the edge of the table and hands linked within each other. ‘Fifteen years ago. I had just finished locking up and was on my way to bed when I heard the doorbell ring out through the house. I remember my first thoughts were of who would be at the door at a time like it was, and then what in heavens did they want. Sure enough as I opened the front door I didn’t find anyone. There was no one there...accept a baby boy wrapped in a bundle of blankets.’

‘Me?’

‘Yes, you.’

‘But then what about my parents?’

‘There was no living person who handed you over to me. By then it had been many years since I had actually seen your mother face to face, and as for your father I knew only little beforehand. Your father lived out of town and your mother moved to be with him, we never spoke often. I didn’t even know she was pregnant. There’s something else that happened the night I found you.’ Mrs Clarence paused for a few seconds for breath. ‘I took you in and that night I spent many hours awake with you, making sure you were fed, watered, comfortable. During that time you fell asleep in my arms as I rocked you in your grandfather’s rocking chair upstairs. I had been up for hours and it was the middle of the night when I saw him.’

‘Who did you see?’ Joshua was listen so intensely this whole time.

‘I glanced out of the window and saw a man just outside, but he wasn’t like any ordinary man, he was some sort of tribal man. He dressed in tribal clothes and he had long dark hair flowing free. He was facing away from me and was walking into the distance, so he never knew that I saw him. But I think he was there for you, I think he was watching over you, like you were important to him somehow. I watched as the man walked away, until he eventually disappeared into the darkness of the night. It was the weirdest thing.’

‘Is he my father?’

‘I’m uncertain, but I’m sure that he knew you and may have even been the one who left you at the doorstep. There is one more thing, with you there was a note.’ Mrs Clarence handed over the folded note that lay under her hands to Joshua, who then examined it. Joshua opened up the piece of paper and read through what it said a couple of times. He noticed something about the note, upon the top of the thick paper and what looked as though was painted right in the very centre, was some kind of strange symbol that he didn’t recognise.

‘What’s this?’ He pointed out the symbol to his grandmother who knew exactly what he was talking about.

‘I’m not entirely sure, but that symbol looks like some tribal symbol, which is what makes me believe without a doubt that it was indeed the tribal man I saw who left you here.’

‘So I belong in a tribe?’

‘Possibly, I’m not sure. As I’ve said, I never knew your father, so I’m not really the right person who could answer that.’

‘Is that everything?’

‘Everything I can remember.’

‘Thank you.’ Joshua felt like he had got some kind of peace in knowing how he was left to his grandparents many years ago, but not one of his questions was answered, and in fact it had just made things worse. He was even more curious about his past and where he came from and twice as many questions now lingered within his head. Before Joshua disappeared he was offered dinner which he denied saying that he was not hungry. His grandmother felt sorry for the poor lad as her grandson had never turned down food.

Joshua stumbled through his bedroom door and onto his bed, he didn’t move for a while as thoughts still clouded his mind. He let his eyes close slowly, being too heavy to keep open even if he tried. Before long he had fallen asleep.

Joshua woke from his nap. When sitting up and looking to his bedside alarm clock he realised that he hadn’t slept for long at all. Joshua stood up from his bed and still drowsy he let out a loud yawn, followed by a huge outburst of stretching. Joshua stretched the whole of his arms out high above his head before bending at the elbow and stretching behind the back of his neck. Just then something caught Joshua’s eye in his reflection in the mirror that stood attached the front of the wardrobe. The image shocked him, probably way more than any unexplained and strange event that happened to him that day. At first he thought he was just dreaming, or that his eyes were deceiving him, because for a moment he could have sworn that the muscles on his arms were much more produced.

Joshua couldn’t believe his eyes. He had always thought and was sure that he would always stay a skinny kid with no muscles. He continued to hold out his hands and began flexing his arms back and forth testing his sight. It was certainly what he had thought; his arms were a lot bigger. The muscles were much more round, twice as firm, and defiantly increased in size. Joshua couldn’t understand how this had happened, and what’s more he didn’t look like this hours ago that morning.

Joshua thought this over and decided he didn’t care, because now his t-shirt fit more tightly around his very visibly and now muscular arms. Another thought passed his mind, he wondered whether or not this was the only part of his body which had miraculously got more shape. He decided to check, just in case. Joshua took off his t-shirt and threw it to the floor; it was then revealed that he was right. He now stared, mouth wide open and eyebrows tensed, at his new toned body. He counted his six-pack and admired his shapely chest. It really did look as if he worked out every day.

As Joshua deeply worried about what was going on with him, another situation took his mind of this sudden ripped body he owned. There was a strange smell in the air. A smell he hadn’t smelt before and couldn’t figure out what it was or where it was coming from. Joshua decided to try and follow the weird smell, as he did the smell took him down the stairs and into the kitchen. Here he saw nothing out of the ordinary, nothing around the kitchen would smell like this. Joshua took another deep sniff and found the source; it was coming from his left, over on the kitchen side was a packet and in that opened packet there sat a big piece of meat. It was a steak that his grandmother had taking out to cook for dinner. She must have cut open the packet with the pair of scissors that lay beside it, but she was nowhere to be found.

Joshua stepped closer and stared at the meat. The steak gave a strange aroma that drew Joshua even closer, his face almost close enough to lick the piece of meat before him. The scent freaked him out because the steak was raw, yet he had an erg to take a bite. The lingering smell certainly enticed his taste buds. Joshua closed his eyes and enjoyed the smell; he held his head close to the steak for a long while and then without meaning to he involuntarily licked his lips.

‘Joshua.’ Joshua jumped as he heard his grandmother call his name. He now realised what it was he was thinking and he grew frightened of himself. He didn’t feel like it was him inside anymore. ‘Are you ok?’ His grandmother asked.

‘Yeah, I’m fine. I just remembered I got to be somewhere.’ Joshua quickly spoke without turning around to face his grandmother and with tears almost flowing from his eyes. He began heading through the kitchen quickly, passed his grandmother who looked worried.

‘What about tea?’ She called after him.

‘I don’t want any.’ Joshua shouted back almost angrily. By now he had reached the front door. And soon he was exiting in a flash.

Joshua had been walking under the dark night sky for only five or ten minutes before he found himself standing outside Charlie’s house. He hadn’t even noticed that he had headed in that direction but here he was. Joshua looked up to the house, most of its lights were turned off accept for one at the bottom left being their living room. He walked around to the right of the house still keeping some distant from it, at the side of the house was a balcony. Standing at the side was a strong but slim tree with branches hanging over into the balcony; Joshua knew that the doors upon this balcony would lead to Charlie’s bedroom.

Joshua began to climb the tree until he reached level to the balcony. He had done this often growing up as kids so it was easy for him. On the balcony Joshua took a breath and then knocked on the glass doors in front of him. It took longer than he thought it would but eventually Charlie answered. She was surprised to see him, seeing as it was becoming late now and the last time she did he was running from her.

‘Can I come in?’ Joshua asked her. Charlie replied with a look of concern. ‘I’ll promise to explain everything.’ Charlie stepped aside welcoming him inside. It was an odd hour for him to be showing up at her bedroom but she couldn’t deny that she wanted to know what had happened earlier at school. Joshua settle down on her bed, as did Charlie, and he began his long and very detailed story.

He explained everything that had happened starting from the Sunday morning after his party, of the smelling preacher Dan before he arrived. Charlie also knew the smell he was talking about. And then the events that took place at school. He explained the catching of the dodge ball, hearing her and Jenifer from an impossible distant, the fight which she had seen, and talking with his grandmother and what she had told him. He told her of his muscles and then finally the ever so disturbing raw steak.

Joshua had spent a decent amount of time in his story, so much that they both had got comfortable next to each other on the bed by the end of it. Throughout and even at the end of the story Charlie kept quiet, not saying a word. It grew silence for a moment as they both enjoyed the rest, and then Joshua asked Charlie if he could crash for the night. He really didn’t want to go home that night. Charlie agreed and they both gradually fell asleep on her bed next to one another.

Joshua woke early the next morning, as he opened his eyes he noticed something different about his room. It wasn’t his room at all. He then remembered that he had slept over Charlie’s last night. He rolled his head over to face Charlie but she wasn’t where she had slept next to him, he was alone in her bed. He now noticed she was sat in her office chair not far from the bed looking at her laptop. She had a change of clothes on and she didn’t realise that Joshua was now awake.

Joshua stretched and yawned; Charlie turned and smiled at him as he scratched his head.

‘I’ll be surprised if the neighbours don’t show up on our doorstep complaining about your snoring last night.’ Joshua didn’t retaliate; he was too tired to so instead he smiled at her. In all those many years the both of them have known each other, the many days they have spent together, not once have Joshua ever slept the night in Charlie’s bed. In fact he can’t ever recall staying the night at all, let alone in her bed while she slept an arm reach away. Joshua found this amusing.

He couldn’t help thinking how pretty she was in the morning, how radiant she looked and how much she glowed. This freaked him out that he was thinking about this. He had always admitted that Charlie could be a very pretty girl, but not once has he thought to himself for a long period of time about it. It was a moment just like the time he saw her enter his birthday party. How it caught him by surprise and how he couldn’t move, couldn’t say anything because there were no words in his mind. It was a moment like that right now.

‘So what are you doing over there?’ Joshua finally found the words he was searching for; he got up and wandered over to Charlie who was still at her desk. He curiously looked over her shoulder and looked at the screen on the laptop. Joshua frowned because on the screen was a webpage about werewolves.

‘Um, it’s just research...I found this on the floor.’ Charlie reached out and grabbed a piece of paper from by the side of her laptop and then handed it to Joshua. It was the note that Joshua’s grandmother had given him. Joshua didn’t understand. ‘It must have fallen out of your hand when you fell asleep.’ She explained.

‘OK.’ Joshua placed the piece of paper back in his jean pocket. ‘...So why are you researching werewolves?’ Joshua thought it was an incredibly weird subject to be reading about, especially for someone like Charlie.

‘Well don’t get mad...’

‘Why would I get mad?’

‘Well I remembered what you told me about who had left you at your grandparents house and about how he was a native man. So I took it upon myself to research that symbol on the note to see if I can find out what it means. It just so happens that I found the symbol, it does belong to a tribe. It’s a small tribe that had come from the Navajo nation and then had formed their own tribe. Joshua I think you came from this tribe, I mean from what Mrs Clarence had told you I believe this is where you came from.’ Charlie seemed so pleased about finding this information, like it was something that was hard to find and she was the only one who figured it all out.

‘Ok, it’s possible. But even if this is true, what does that have to do with werewolves?’

‘Well when I was researching about the tribe there was a lot of information about their history and their legends.’

‘Ok.’

‘Right, well there are different versions but they all have the same storyline. There’s a legend about certain Navajo Indians who have this power, or specially ability, where they can change into animals, pacifically wolves. But not every Navajo can do it, only some have the gift. So these certain ones got together and formed their own tribe of natives with the gift to change into a wolf. And that’s when I started looking into werewolves; there are loads of different stories, like some are called skin-walkers or shape-shifters, lycanthrope in Greek mythology or Loup-garou in the French legend and so on. But they all have certain things in common. Like for instant, people with this ability have heighted senses, even when they are in human form, like smelling far away and quick reflexes. The difference with the tribe you come from is that they don’t need a full moon to turn; they can change into wolves whenever they will it.’

‘It’s interesting and all but they’re just legends, they aren’t important.’

‘But what if the legends are true, it’s possible. And with everything that has been happening to you...’

‘So that’s what this is about. You’re not suggesting what I think you are...’ Joshua started feeling strange, like he was being invaded and got agitated at Charlie’s probing into his life.

‘I’m just saying that it explains everything, it all fits.’

‘No you’re saying I’m a werewolf.’

‘No not necessarily. I don’t know what I’m saying; I’m just saying you have the same symptoms like one.’

‘Are you hearing yourself right now? Because you’re sounding like a crazy person. They’re just stories, make-believe.’ By now Joshua was angry at her and was pacing the room.

‘I’m just saying...’

‘No you’re not just saying. You are being noisy like you usually are, butting into everyone’s problems, trying to be the person who knows it all. I’m just a fun puzzle for you to solve.’

‘Josh...’

‘Just stay out of it will you and leave me alone...and stop talking, just keep your mouth shut.’ Joshua’s words were harsh. He turns towards the balcony doors; he walks over, reaches out and opens them both.

‘But Joshua I was just trying to help...’ Charlie follows him.

‘Charlie STAY AWAY FROM ME!’ Joshua shouts as he steps close to her and towers over her; he then quickly escapes through the doors and off the balcony. Charlie got scared at Joshua’s temper, she watched as he leaps off her balcony and runs away.

Joshua ran with anger. His blood was boiling hot and he couldn’t help but notice how upset and angry he got. He has been around people who have done or said something that was personal and that he didn’t like, but not once did he get like this. He couldn’t understand where this was coming from but he could feel the anger inside, waiting to be released. It was a similar feeling to yesterday, like he wasn’t himself.

To cool off Joshua didn’t return home, nor did he go to school. Instead he kept walking until he found himself completely on the opposite side of the town. He liked coming here because there lay an old rundown building that once resembled a hotel. The hotel itself stood in front of the forest apart from the town. It stood tall and abandoned for it hadn’t been used in many years. Joshua and Charlie use to escape here as children, they always wondered why it hadn’t been knocked down. The two of them would play here for hours; it was the perfect place to let their imagination run wild.

Joshua entered the rickety place, dust flying everywhere as he walked through it. He came here still after all these years, for him it was a place of peace and contentment. He could come here and be alone with his thoughts, find the answers he was looking for. However today there were no answers, no answers he could find alone and certainly no answers this place could give him. But still it calmed him some, as he indulged into the many memories that remained. Oh how he loved those memories. Right now he felt home, right now he could escape from the world and escape from himself.