Chapter 4

"I'm serious Iris! That is what happened!!" Rex exclaimed when Iris did not believe him.

"Ok dear, you're here and you're fine, that's all that matters," She said in a soft tone, "Go upstairs, clean yourself up, and try to relax a little, it sounds like you've been through alot."

"Well, no…I…fine…" Rex grumbled, admitting defeat, he was not impressed she thought he was lying about the events that had just unfolded, so after she smiled at him once more, he stood up quickly and stomped up the stairs, shutting the door loudly, getting himself undressed and ready to clean himself up, after having a warm shower, Rex threw on some clean clothes and sat in his chair and stared at the wall for a while.

'What an odd day I've had' he thought, he tried to focus on slowing his breathing because he felt like his headache was going to return if he didn't stop trying to make sense of everything, he took one look at his computer and thought, 'well Iris said my brain is already rotting, no more harm can be done now', leaning over and turning it on, immersing himself into a video game, it was easy for Rex to like video games, not having any friends, except online, he could lose himself quite easily, this was his way of being whoever he wanted to be, without fear of ridicule, not having any parents always made him the odd one out and got him teased quite often, especially at Father or Mother's Day events, always having his grandmother with him in their stead, but in this world, he was strong and fearless.

After losing track of time as he usually did while on his computer he ended up falling asleep in his chair, a loud *CRACK* noise jolted him from his sleep, "What the..." he said instinctively looking at his computer, thinking he had left the game running.

After concluding the noise did not come from his computer, Rex looked for where it could have come from, a light flickering outside pulled his attention to his window, 'Holy shit! That is one huge person!’ Rex thought peeking over the frame of his window and seeing an extremely large figure dressed in a full-body length hooded coat standing across the road, staring intently at the house while leaning on the light post, as if waiting for something or someone.

He was about to close his blinds when he heard the front door open and close, and Iris, dressed in her nightgown with a jumper on to keep warm, headed straight toward the large hooded person, her fearlessness in her movements made Rex believe they must have known each other.

"What are you doing!?" he gasped not believing his eyes.

'What is she doing and who is that she is speaking to, why did the person bow when they saw her?' Rex's mind was racing wildly, ‘Am I just dreaming this up?’ Ow, nope not dreaming after pinching himself.

'Is Iris a secret mafia boss or something, a huge suspicious person covered in a coat, they greeted each other, the person bowed to Iris, so that means they both know each other, this is too weird' He thought, a million other questions now running through his mind, he was not sure if it was because of the video games he played, or the tv shows he watched, but he was sure that Iris had to be a mafia boss of some kind, that would easily explain what happened, he concluded, his patch of cleverness at adding up the situation reassuring him.

After a terrible night's sleep, Rex ran downstairs early the next morning, not even getting changed, he wanted answers to what he saw.

"Good morning King, how did you..."

"Who were you talking to across the road last night Iris?" Rex blurted out, not even letting Iris finish her usual morning greeting.

"Who was talking last night?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at Rex’s brashness, and having a quick sip of her coffee.

"You were, I heard something, saw someone and he bowed to you! Who, what, why..." he jumped around, not knowing where to start his line of questioning.

"I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about, you sure this isn't from one of your games or tv shows?" Iris asked, squinting at Rex.

"Well no... are you ok? You look like someone has spat into your morning coffee" Rex added, pointing out the fact Iris seemed a little paler than usual when Rex asked his questions.

"It comes with age, you’ll know all about it when you get there yourself" Iris replied casually, waving her hand dismissively.

'She is hiding something, I know it, I've never seen her nervous like this.'

"Must have been my imagination then, I was playing video games until late" he exclaimed suddenly, shrugging his shoulders when he concluded the conversation was not going where he wanted, he was not sure how to proceed with it any further and needed time to think.

"I'm heading to the shops today, I need some fresh air and exercise" Iris announced just as Rex had reached the stairs.

"I always do that for you!" Rex scoffed, it had been the routine for many years, Iris had never liked the shops, the large groups of people always made her nervous and forgetful of what to get, even if she took a shopping list, so Rex had taken over that for her.

"Yes, but you're under a lot of pressure from school it seems, your mind is going wild, first fighting, next floating daggers and now this mystery visitor that appears out of thin air, I can handle the shopping this time, I think you need to stop having late nights and get some rest, I won’t be long, and I promise not to forget anything this time." 

"Now I know something is up and I will get my answers," Rex mumbled quietly to himself while walking up the stairs to get changed.

Once Rex was upstairs, he changed into his usual attire, sat in his chair, and flicked on the tv.

"I'm off to the shops," Iris said, poking her head into the door.

"Ok gran, please be careful, remember to take a list with I'll be here watching a movie and relaxing" Rex replied trying to add a believable smile, no way was he planning on staying, he was going to follow her to find out what she is hiding.

Once Iris had walked out the door and started off down the street, Rex was straight up out of the chair, climbing straight out onto the windowsill.

"If I'm going to follow her, might as well do it like a ninja so I don’t get seen," he said with a grin, in all the movies he had watched the fastest way to get to the ground was to go out of the window.

Grabbing onto the drainpipe that ran next to his window, Rex shimmied down, making sure to jump the last few feet.

Landing on both feet, he threw his arms up "And the dismount is a 10!" He chuckled imitating a cheering crowd.

Time to catch up to Iris.

Rex jogged up the street and peered around the corner expecting her to be just in front of him.

"How the hell!!??" Rex exclaimed when he noticed Iris was already 2 blocks ahead of him, it seemed Iris being 65 years old didn't seem to stop her from moving incredibly quickly, Rex had to sprint for another 2 blocks to get close to her.

Once he could maintain a good distance, which still seemed to be quite a brisk walking speed, he watched her pass the main shops and head around a corner into an alley behind them, stopping at an odd-looking door with a symbol of a red dragon.

Rex stopped just around the corner from the alley, pretending to be looking at his phone.

Iris knocked what sounded like a pattern and then a sound like a shutter being opened, then a deep voice came from inside, she then said something that Rex couldn't hear even while he was straining to hear it, all of a sudden, the door was pushed open from the inside, taking a quick look around the corner, Rex’s eyes went wide.

'Wow, that is one massive hand attached to the door handle' he exclaimed in shock, 'That's easily 3 times the size of mine' he thought looking at his own.

‘What is Iris up to, it just doesn't add up’ Rex asked himself.

After Rex had waited for over an hour on the corner, strange things ran through his mind, who is his grandmother really? Who has a hand that big? Who has a chat at that hour of the morning wearing an outfit like that?

An hour and a half ticked by, still no Iris, he was really starting to worry now, thinking he should call the police.

He had just unlocked his new phone Iris had given him, she had replaced the one that was broken, when it rang, "what the f**k?” In big letters was the name HOME with her picture calling him.

Shaking a little answering he said "hello?" 

"Hello Rex, I'm at home dear, where have you gone?" 'Well, thank god it's not a ransom call from the big-handed man' he thought.

"I just ducked out for a minute to see if the bike shop had any new parts I could use, be there soon," he said, quickly thinking of a reason that was believable, ‘how in the world did she leave and get back home without him noticing? I was here the whole time,’ he thought.

His grandmother was getting stranger with each moment, how could she move so fast? Who was the man with big hands? How did she get past me? Once again she raised a ton of questions he wanted answers for.

Running home, Rex threw open the door, stomped into the kitchen, and sure enough, there was Iris making herself a cup of coffee, "Did they have anything you could use dear?" She asked with a smile.

"Gran, be serious, what is going on?" He demanded, crossing his arms over his chest in defiance.

"You're acting strange again," Iris said, "do you need to see the doctor?"

"Please don't lie to me anymore, I need to know, who was the man with the giant hands who opened the door, where did you go and how did you get past me?" he asked, eyeing her suspiciously.

Sitting down with a sigh, Iris looked quite impressed and shocked at the same time, "How did you see where I went? I used something special I've had for years to cloak myself and yet you still saw where I went, that should be impossible."

"Well, if it were impossible, how did I know about the door and the man with the giant hand?" He replied, raising one eyebrow.

"Hm, true, it seems we have a lot to talk about who you are a little earlier than I expected then," She said with a loud sigh, "Close your mouth dear, if you’re not careful you’ll catch a fly," Iris smiled.

Rex realized he had his mouth open in shock at her words.

"What are you saying? You said you were expecting to talk to me about something, like about who I really am?" He asked, regaining a little composure.

"Of course dear, but I didn't anticipate this talk so soon, it's quite the shock for my old system. I thought I had done better to hide what I was doing, I used to be very good at it," Iris said raising one eyebrow and looking off to the side absentmindedly.

"Could you be more cryptic than that?" Rex asked in an exasperated tone.

"If you say so, how about this, forget everything you thought you knew, nothing is as it seems," Iris said in an imitation serious voice, the look on Rex's face told her that it had worked, for all he could do was slap his forehead with his palm in frustration.