Destroyer of Time: Pyrokinesis

Chapter Ten: Road to Home

As I walked towards the direction of my house, I was deep in thought. I felt like something had changed with Nick recently. He'd become more secretive than ever. I understood that we didn't share everything, but I felt like he'd been keeping more and more from me lately—just that conversation we had earlier already made him seem so suspicious. 

     What's the real connection between the two, or was Nick even talking about the same girl that I met? 

I couldn't ask Nick any questions without raising some suspicion. Everything was changing a lot these days. Suddenly I found myself where I couldn’t do anything but sniff and lie to get information from people.

Maybe I'm just overthinking things when I'm not supposed to be. 

I shook my head and kept walking until I bumped into a guy because I was too deep in thought. When I glanced up, I saw the guy didn’t even budge on where he was standing while I rubbed my forehead. 

     Who is this guy?

His chest was like a brick wall, and from the looks of it, he could be Mr. Muscle Man of the century. He appeared to be in his mid-thirties, an inch taller than I was, and black hair with the same piercing blue eyes that I could swear I'd seen before. After a minute of looking him over, I stared up in his eyes, and by the looks of it, he was doing the same to me. 

     This guy bothers me.

     “Excuse me, sir, but you’re standing in the way to my house," I told him as I pointed at the gate behind him. "You know, the one behind you. So, can you please step aside?” I told him slowly, like talking to a man who didn’t know the alphabet. I knew it was rude to talk like that, but I was still on edge after my match, and I was starting to feel weird. My body felt like I was on fire, and my bones were turning to mush. All I wanted was to go inside, shower, and probably sleep for the rest of my days. This mountain bear wouldn't be able to stop me from doing that. 

     At least I'm not scared of him like I'm scared of my dad. Okay, maybe just a little bit.

The thing that pissed me off more was he just kept standing there while looking at me as if I was a clown from a freaking circus. Even though his face didn’t change, I could see the amusement in his eyes. 

     So, he thinks something's funny, huh? I wonder if he'll still feel the same after I break his nose?

I stepped back a little bit, giving myself some space to work around if I had to take him down. It would be tough to do it, but I believed that I could. “I see that you aren’t moving, huh? I’m telling you, I'm not really in the best mood." I tried to sound as menacing as I could, but it appeared only to amuse him more, judging by the small smirk hovering in the corners of his mouth. "I’m really damn tired, and my mind is a hell of a mess, so I need to rest. It has been a very long day! I just want to go inside my house, and I won’t be able to do that while you’re standing in my way. So can you move now while I’m still asking nicely?” I told him, gritting my teeth.

     Even if this guy is big as a polar bear, I will still strike him. What the hell is happening to me today? Now, I was thinking of punching somebody just because they're on my way? s**t, I think I’ve finally gone insane.

Shaking my head, I glared at him.

     “You got some guts. I gotta give you that. You know I benched weights heavier than you?" The grin finally broke through his face, and that irritated me more. "You're absolutely just like your father and not just because of the quick temper. You looked exactly like him when he was younger. Splitting image, I tell you." He stepped closer to me and stared me down. "Threatening me, though, won’t work. I can swat you like a fly between the two of us,” he said, laughing. The mirth was still in his eyes, but there was also something else there. The bells were ringing loudly inside my head, warning me off about confronting this person. 

I could sense the air shifted and vibrated from the tension. 

     This guy is dangerous. Who the hell is he? Is he the Grim Reaper ready to collect my soul? I guess not, because this guy is bulkier than Santa Claus will ever be, even if he spent his years in the gym than riding his deer. I heard that Grim Reaper is just a walking skeleton, not meat.

We were still at our standoff when a voice cut through the staredown. “Road? Road, is that you?” My dad called. I couldn't see my dad because this meat wall was completely blocking him until he turned to look at his back. 

     Did my dad call him Road? That is a very unusual name.

The guy fully turned his back to face my dad. I needed to step on my left just to see their conversation.

“When the hell did you arrive and why didn’t you call me? I thought you’re going to be here the day after tomorrow? Sunday?” My dad barraged the other man with questions.

He put his hands up to stop my dad from asking more questions before he could answer. “I finished my business much earlier than I anticipated, so I went directly here. I see you look better than the last time I saw you,” he said to my dad, smiling.

     “Yeah. That wasn't one of my best moments,” my dad told the other guy, smiling back. "Speaking of that, I should apologize for the things I said to you and the rest. Also, for the things I did."

The guy shook his head and placed one of his large hands on my dad's shoulder. "Don't worry about it. You were going through some tough times then, and everyone understood. Well, some took a while to console, but they eventually came around. It would be nice for you to visit again and apologize to the rest in person. No one wanted to admit it beside me, but we all missed you." 

I heard my dad sighed and chuckled a little. "I missed you guys too. I'd visit for sure soon once I've taken care of a couple of things here."   

     "That's good, man." Road patted his shoulder before he backed away. "You can even bring the rascal with you," he said, before pointing his thumb towards my direction. 

That was when my dad only noticed me. “Oh, Hunter. I didn't even know you're home already."

I smiled at him. "Yeah. I wouldn't either if I was you since Mount Everest was blocking your view."

He snorted a laugh, and Road gave me an amused grin but kept silent. My dad walked towards me with a smile. It was still weird for me to see him doing that so often now. It was like seeing a different person. 

     "So, how did it go?"

I knew what he was referring to, so I proudly patted my newly acquired belt. “Well, I got promoted to black belt, and it was pretty easy,” I responded, emphasizing some words, but the other guy just chuckled.

     “That’s great, son! Not that I’m surprised at all. I knew that you were gonna win,” he said, looking proud. That was the very first time that my dad showed an ounce of care about my accomplishment, and I felt a little bit emotional because of that. Not that I let it show, but I could still see the laughter the other guy held back from the corner of my eyes. I just chose to ignore him and not let him ruin my mood further. "I'm sorry I couldn't be there because of work. But your next one? Count on me to be watching and cheering you on."

     "It's okay, dad. You don't have to be there," I tried to tell him.

     "No. I will be. That's the end of that," he declared, shaking his head at me. 

I put my hands up in surrender and just nodded. We fell into silence, and I couldn't stop my gaze from going back to the stranger standing behind him. I was interested in finding out who he was. 

A few seconds passed before my dad finally noticed where I was looking and exclaimed, "Wait, I haven’t introduced you both yet.”   

     Now, I will know who this arrogant f*****g asshole is. Well, besides his name since I already know it.

He pointed at the muscled man. “Road, this is Hunter, my son,” my dad started, shifting his gaze from the guy to me.

     “I figured. I told him that he looked exactly like you when you were a kid."

     "I'm not a kid," I interjected, frowning at him.

He gave me a knowing smile before he continued. "When you were younger," he said with emphasis. I knew that he was toying with me, and I wanted to blame it on fatigue because I couldn't help but glare at him and rose to his bait. By the laughter he was smothering, I knew that he just got what he wanted from me. Again. 

     Control yourself, Pendigram. You're not a child. Show it, I mentally scolded to myself, followed with a mental slap. Yep, definitely tired.

     "Anyway, I also told him that he has your temper. So easy to goad."

I kept giving him the death glare but didn't say anything because I didn't want him to win more. Not that I was preventing that by looking at him like I wanted to evaporate him, but hell, I had to do something. My dad, though, frowned at the guy.

     "Uh, I hate you tell you this, Road, but I wasn't the one with temper problems when we were young."

The giant frowned back. "Wait. Was that not you?" 

Dad laughed, shaking his head. "No. Remember the time that Trevor Fawls stole your lunch back in fifth grade? Well, I surely wasn't the one who chased him down, pulled his pants down, and hanged him upside down or the time when you thought that Victor Feebs was talking about you behind your back during biology and you slapped him in the face? I could tell more stories if you still don't---"

     "Alright. Alright. I guess it wasn't you with temper problems."

While my dad was telling the stories, my grin got bigger and bigger until I was beaming at the other guy. For once, he was the one that looked irritated. 

     Well, look at that. I guess someone also doesn't like losing, huh?   

     "Better watch yourself, kid. You might accidentally trip on your own feet," he muttered, giving me a dark look. I just kept smiling at him. 

My dad shook his head with a knowing smile, catching up easily. "Children. Both of you," he mumbled.

     "I'm not," Road and I said in unison. My father looked at the two of us and laughed. The other guy and I glared at him. 

     "Sure," my dad said once he recovered. "Anyway, Hunter. This is Road. An old friend, and also, he's your uncle."

I stared at him dumbfounded for a while, unsure if I just heard him right. When I was about to open my mouth to ask him to repeat himself, the world suddenly spun off its axis. I tried to keep myself upright, but I just couldn't stop myself from falling. 

Before the world blacked out, I heard them calling out to me—my dad and apparently, this guy named Road, who just happened to be my uncle. 

     Perfect.