The sun was shining. The birds were singing. And young Simon Minter had dashed away from his mother's hand.
"Hey Josh!" The blond five year old ran up to his friend, who was sitting on the park bench with his back to him.
"Hi," came the simple reply as Simon vaulted straight over the wooden seat and sat himself right next to him. His parents had told him not to run off ahead, but as soon as he'd spotted his friend the excitable youngster just couldn't help himself. He'd known Josh for about four months now and he'd never had a better friend in his whole short life. He spent nearly every Saturday with him and when he wasn't, he was usually talking about him to his parents or teachers or friends or much to their annoyance, his two older brothers.
"What you doing?" he asked in a sing song voice, swinging his legs back and forth over the edge of the seat as the smaller boy continued to stare dead ahead, his hazel eyes focussed on the open space of the park.
"Watching."
Simon gazed across the grassy area, but saw nothing that captured his interest. "Watching what?" he pestered.
The boy shrugged. "Everything," he simply said, his too large a t-shirt hanging loosely over his small frame.
"Huh," Simon said, trying to work out what that meant. How could Josh be watching everything? And more importantly, why was he watching everything instead of playing. "Are you okay?" he asked, suddenly having a strong sense that there was something the matter.
"Yep," Josh replied shortly, nodding his head. "My parents are getting divorced," he added, almost as an afterthought.
Simon's mouth dropped open in surprise. "Oh...that means they're not married any more, doesn't it?"
"Mhmm."
"Are you sad?" He didn't look sad. There was a girl in his class at school who's parents had also divorced and she'd cried so much one day that she was allowed to go home. Plus she got a lollipop from the teacher.
"I dunno. Maybe." Josh looked slightly confused himself as to what he was feeling, shaking his head indecisively. "Maybe not."
It was only as he shook his head, that Simon suddenly caught a glimpse of the other side of the boy's face, that had been hidden so far. "What happened to your face?" he asked in shock, referring to the dark purple and yellow bruising around the boy's right eye and cheek, as well as the small, swollen cut just under his eyelid.
Josh tensed up immediately, turning his head even further away, so all Simon could see was the back of his head. "I tripped and fell down the stairs," he answered tersely.
"How'd you do that?"
"I'm clumsy."
"No you're not."
"Yes," Josh whispered. "I am."
Simon frowned. He knew even at five years old when his friend was lying to him. What he couldn't understand back then was why he would be lying to him. If Simon ever hurt himself he would tell an adult straight away. That was what you were meant to do, so they could put a plaster on it or that special stinging cream or rub it better until the pain went away. Better still, there was a good chance of sweets or chocolate.
Josh clearly didn't want to talk about it though and Simon was all too willing to let his curiosity go for now. He had something really exciting to tell the other boy anyway. "I have a question for you," he said, nudging his friend's shoulder.
"Yeah?" Josh turned back slightly, a questioning expression on his face, like he was trying to judge if this would be a good or bad question.
"Do you want to come round to mine one day, for dinner?" Simon asked hurriedly, a huge smile on his face. It faded quickly however when did not receive an answer straight away and he mistook Josh's silence and unblinking stare for unsureness. "It'll be awesome," he quickly exclaimed, "I've got a massive garden with a trampoline and we can play football with my brothers. And my dad makes really nice pizza and we've got loads of movies to watch and games!"
He smiled widely again although his heart was beating in his chest. He was worried Josh was going to turn him down after he'd already planned out what they were going to do. He was worried that maybe the other boy didn't like him as much as he thought. What he did not think of, was that the other boy might have been just as worried as he was.
Still staring at him with large eyes, Josh finally managed to stutter out, "Y-You want me there?"
Simon was taken aback. "Uh..." he hesitated, not quite sure what Josh meant by that.
"You really want me in...in your home?" the dark haired boy clarified.
"Yeah...why wouldn't I?" Simon asked in a small voice.
"And your parents don't mind?" Josh continued. "You won't get in trouble if I come over?" It was weird, he sounded almost like he was nervous for Simon. Why would I get in trouble for having friends around? Simon wondered. Well, maybe when he'd been really naughty but he hadn't, he'd been good at school and home and his parents were going to treat him with a trip to the zoo soon!
"No...they're the ones who asked if I wanted a friend around," he assured.
"We're friends..." Josh said slowly, like he hadn't even considered it before.
Simon folded his arms defiantly. "Of course we are."
"But I'm not even from your ends."
"Huh?"
"We don't go to the same school. You go to that school you have to pay for."
"So? You don't have to just be friends with people from your school." And just as well. Some of the kids in his school were stupid.
Josh was still silent and in a moment of empathy well beyond his years, Simon got the sense that perhaps this was the first time Josh had ever been invited to a friend's house before. "Here," he said, holding up his tiny hands to turn the other boy's head to face him. "Your hair's longer than mine so we can do this," he explained, brushing Josh's dark hair to one side and flattening it against his right cheek, careful not to press to hard in case he hurt him. It looked like it hurt a lot. Once he'd finished he sat back and admired his work. "There, now you can't see the bruise."
Josh paused and brought up his own hand to feel his hair. "I look silly!" he proclaimed.
"Yeah, you look my Grandad!" Simon giggled; a giggle that turned into a laugh when Josh started laughing too, and then calmed down when the smaller boy was suddenly hugging him.
"Thank you," he whispered.
"You're welcome..." Simon replied, pleased he'd been able to help. "What for?" he asked a moment later.
Letting go, the other boy looked him straight in the eyes. "For being my friend," he said simply.
Simon smiled again, one corner of his mouth quirking up unto a cheeky dimpled grin. "I'll always be your friend Josh," he vowed.
"Promise?" Josh asked, pulling a face when the blond spat into his hand and held it out for him to shake. "That's disgusting."
"But it's the most bestest of promises! It means it can't never be broken," Simon insisted. He took his promises very seriously.
Rolling his eyes Josh spat into his own hand and clasped onto Simon's, although the blond could tell he was secretly very happy.
"Hey!" The cry from his older brother, Johnny, had the two spinning around to see the boy holding the football up to them. "Are you two little runts gonna come and join or what?"
...
"Hey! Have you kids got any plans this evening?" Simon had to hold his phone away from his ear as his brother's voice boomed down the speaker.
"No...plans? Why would we have plans?" He queried. "Our plan is to get Josh settled and make sure he eats and takes his meds and whatever and then he's probably gonna go to bed."
"Aww, I thought we might be celebrating or something," his brother whined.
"Celebrate, what d'you mean? There's nothing to celebrate," Simon huffed. He didn't get why his older brother had phoned him when he'd be arriving at the house in less than half an hour. He's just excited I suppose, he didn't get a chance to visit Josh at the hospital.
"Sure there is," his brother told him. "Your best buddy's finally home baby brother, what you've always dreamed of!"
"No big deal needs to made of it though," Simon insisted.
"C'mon–"
"No Johnny!" he interrupted. "Everything should just be normal, no special occasion, no plans, no celebration, just normal," he sighed, pacing up and down the main hallway of his house.
"Alright, alright, have it your way," his brother calmly gave in.
"I will," Simon said shortly, before hanging up. Rude it might have been, but whatever, his older brother would be home soon and could kick his arse about it then. Simon was not looking forward to moving back into his childhood home. Don't get him wrong, he loved his brother very much but living with him had never been his favourite past time. Their relationship was much stronger when they weren't sharing the same bathroom. He could hardly get Johnny to move out though, not when he'd moved back home first for a big paying job in the area.
Walking back into the kitchen the nostalgic smell of his mum's homemade spaghetti bolognese wafted around his nose. In front of the oven stood his mum and Josh, getting the food ready for all of Simon's family plus the extra four lounging about in the living room. They'd all offered to help, Simon was sure, but his mum had probably turned them down for reasons such as not wanting the place burned to the floor.
"Just a pinch of that," his mum was saying to his friend as he sprinkled some basil into the sauce. "Thank you Josh," she said once that was done and he stood to the side, waiting to be given another task. It was almost like things used to be, except six years ago Josh would have been laughing and joking around with his mum instead of silently watching.
"Smells good," he commented, going out of his way not to make eye contact with his friend, like he had been doing ever since that day at the hospital. He thought it made Josh feel more comfortable around him, although he wouldn't actually know for sure when he wasn't studying his face. The moment by the car today was when that theory had first been tested and Simon was still trying to work out what exactly had happened.
All he knew was that Josh had been unwilling to take another step forwards until he'd been in his line of sight. Maybe it was only temporary, maybe he's not quite as scared of me as he once was. He was reluctant to take any risks though, only because he cared so much.
"Mmm," his mum's murmuring brought him back to the room. "I remember the six of you would devour it by the kilo, whole mountains of it," she said, referring to the food. Simon smiled. That much was definitely true, especially after football.
"We were growing boys," JJ shouted from the sofa, "Vik and Ethan still are."
"Is that a fat joke?" Ethan asked, making them laugh.
Chuckling herself, his mum smiled kindly at the silent boy. "I think I'm okay for now Josh," she commented. "How about you go and sit with the other lads in the living room for a bit." At the obvious look of nervousness on his face she quietly suggested: "Or you could go to your room and sort some of your stuff out."
There wasn't much stuff to sort out, but it was a means of escaping for a bit and one that Josh took, nodding quickly and scurrying out of the room with his head bowed. His mum watched him go with sad eyes, pausing in the cooking for a moment until the door unlocked and Simon's brother walked loudly though the door.
After calling out her hello's to her other son, she looked to her youngest, who'd moved to lean against the counter where Josh had previously been. "Are you okay?" she asked, stirring the sauce.
"Yeah," he mumbled, picking at his nails distractedly.
"You know if–"
"Mum. I'm fine."
She sighed, giving him the concerned look he always hated to see. "You've just been a little quiet for the past few weeks," she mentioned. "And I understand everything is still strange and upsetting but you could try and crack a smile once in a while sweetheart." She gestured to the four younger boys watching the TV. "I see your friends don't have any problem in doing so."
"So what?" he interrogated, throwing his hands down by his sides in a gesture of annoyance. "You want me to go round with a forced grin on my face? People are always telling me not to hide my feelings and now you want me to put on a show?"
"No," his mother replied calmly. "Nothing of the sort," she told him patiently, ignoring his tone. "I'm just worrying that you're overthinking things again, like you always do, and that it's causing you a lot of stress." Her concern only made him feel guilty, reminding the young man that she had every reason to worry about him, that it was his past actions that had her fearing for his own actions, and he subconsciously pulled down his jacket sleeves even further. "I can't pretend to understand what you must be going through, but the Simon I know, my son; he's been dreaming of this day for six years. Don't let certain factors take away the joy at having your friend back in your life," she said softly, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Certain factors," he muttered. "You mean the abuse...and the starvation...and the muteness."
She nodded in understanding, smiling slightly after a few seconds. "But like I keep hearing Ethan saying, he's still Josh," she pointed out. "Still the same boy who asked if we were royalty the first time he came to our house."
The comment was so out of the blue that it took him by surprise and he laughed out loud. "I'd forgotten he said that," he reminisced, glancing at her. "You and Dad actually had him going for a while on that one."
"I know," she smirked. "What horrible adults we were."
Simon shook his head, the smile still on his face as he thought back on those days. "Do you remember when Johnny convinced him we were all going to be the King or Queen at some point?" he queried.
His mum laughed. "Everybody in our family gets a turn at being the King and Queen of England," she mimicked the words his older brother had used to tease the little boy at the time.
"Yeah..." Simon murmured, his laughter dying down into a sigh. "The good old days."
"There's still the chance of some more," his mother said. "More than there was three weeks ago."
He was quiet, considering her words carefully. "You're right," he decided eventually. This time three weeks ago I didn't even know if he was alive and now he's at my childhood home cooking with my mum. He smiled at her, the woman who always knew how to make him feel better. "I love you Mum," he said wrapping his long arms around her while she returned to her cooking.
She laughed and turned to kiss him on the cheek. "I love you and I'm proud of you and I know you're going to be just fine," she said softly. "You've seen stuff in the past that I never imagined my little boy would see," she murmured and Simon knew she was probably referring to his time spent volunteering with Anthony. "But you've always come out stronger on the other side and this is going to be exactly the same."
A loud thud from upstairs brought the mother-son moment to an abrupt end, startling everyone present. "What the fuck was that?" JJ called out.
"Language JJ," his mum chastised him.
"Sorry Mrs Minter," JJ apologised, glancing to the ceiling. "But what was that?"
Vik stood up urgently. "Josh went upstairs a while ago," he said, eyes widening in panic. "What if he's hurt?" He had been on his way to the door when there were another series of thuds and the boy in question burst into the room, a petrified expression on his face, breathing rapidly, his whole body shaking.
Darting his eyes around like a nervous animal he took one look at Simon before lunging towards him. At first the blond had thought his friend was actually attacking him or tackling him but then the realisation that the skinny arms were not letting go and the head was not being lifted from his shoulder alerted him to the fact that Josh was...he was...He's hugging me. He actually came to me. He could've ran to anyone but he came to me.
It was like he'd been reunited with his friend all over again and the moment was so incredibly powerful that it almost rendered him immobile. However the quiet whimpers and the shaking was enough of an incentive to wrap both his arms around Josh, allowing him to cry into his shoulder.
The others were just as confused as he was, and it wasn't until Simon's older brother hurriedly rushed into the room afterwards that they got some answers. "What's going on?" Ethan asked immediately as Johnny stood by, the shock evident on his face.
The older man shook his head. "I only went upstairs to say 'hi' to him. Door was open and he was sitting on the bed with his back to me, guess I must have startled him."
Simon narrowed his eyes at him. "You don't scare him this much by simply saying 'hi' to him," he commented, his voice tight in anger.
"Well maybe I got a bit overexcited, couldn't help myself," Johnny admitted, before putting up his defences. "But I didn't even touch him or nothing, I'm not stupid, you warned me already," he insisted. "He just...he got scared for some reason."
Simon sighed, not lessening his hold on Josh. "If he was scared, why did you decide chasing him around the house was a good idea?" he asked frustratedly. He didn't doubt his brother's honesty but the guy did the dumbest shit sometimes.
"I...I dunno," the man shrugged guiltily, looking at the younger two in sorrow.
"Simon," his mum spoke up, patting him on the back, "take him in there," she motioned towards the living room where the other lads were watching. "Johnny, come and help me with dinner."
His older brother stared some more at the scared boy before nodding and walking over. "I'm sorry buddy," he said quietly as he passed.
With his friend still refusing to remove himself from his body, Simon had no choice but to awkwardly walk over to the couch with Josh attached to him, sitting down in the corner as the others cleared out to make some space.
"Josh?" he tried, rubbing a hand over his friend's shaking arm, frowning at how many bones he could still feel. "Josh, it's alright, you can let go now," he comforted. No luck, the guy was still hugging him like a koala in a tree. Simon let out a short breathy laugh. "Well okay...but give me a little wriggle room at least," he suggested and Josh loosened his grip around him a little, although his head was still buried into his shoulder.
Fuck, what on Earth's got him this frightened? He was fine ten minutes ago. He began to wonder if they'd have to call Karen already but decided to wait and see if he got any worse. At the moment he was still shaking a lot but his breathing wasn't quite as rapid and Simon was pretty sure he'd stopped crying.
"You had us worried for a second there mate," Ethan said, sitting down on the other side of Josh and lightly running a hand through his hair. "Thought you'd hurt yourself and we'd have to take you straight back to A&E." The contact didn't startle Josh for once and he shifted his positioning slightly so that Simon could just about see the corner of one red-rimmed eye.
"Yeah, I know you got loads of cool shit from them, but no need to be rushing back so soon," JJ added, perching himself on the arm rest next to Simon and by now Josh's breathing had slowed down to a reasonable enough pace that it didn't increase Simon's own heart rate.
Vik then decided to squeeze himself in between Ethan and Josh, keeping his tone light. "Room for a little one Joshy Josh," he said, grinning when the older boy turned to face the latest intruder, his shakes finally coming to a stop.
Simon nodded to each of the lads, relieved they'd managed to handle the situation before it got out of control. He also felt a tiny bit of joy, tamed down because of the circumstances but still there. For if anything could be gained from this incident, it was that Josh wasn't scared of him, at least he wasn't at the moment, and that feeling was a massive weight off his shoulders. We need to know what caused this though, he thought, so we can make sure it doesn't happen again.
Josh was still lying quietly next to him, head still resting on his shoulder and apparently quite content to be squished in between the others, the closest contact he'd had with any of them since they'd been reunited. The TV remained on but none of them were really watching it, they were much more focused on keeping their friend calm and letting him know he was safe. Simon too stared blankly at the screen, not taking in the pictures but counting his friend's every breath instead.
It reminded him of the days when they were really small, and Josh would come over to stay the night; the two of them would curl up under the same duvet on this very sofa, chocolate and crisps on hand, watching kids films until his mum and dad told them it was time for bed. If he closed his eyes for long enough he could imagine that not a day had passed since then, and everything was still okay.
"Simon," a voice whispered to him a while later. "Simon," it hissed again when the blond was slow to respond. He twisted his head to see Tobi - who was sitting in the chair by the window - holding his phone out to him, his mouth set tight. "It might be nothing but take a look at this," he said when Simon looked at him in question.
Taking the phone from the boy's hand and holding it just above Josh's head, Simon squinted to make out what was on the screen. When he put together what Tobi must also have done it was like another punch in the gut. Judging Simon's emotions from his face, Tobi went on: "Hardly twins but you gotta admit there's some similarities there."
There certainly was. And it was almost sickening to think of what might have flashed through Josh's mind earlier. On the phone screen was a picture of the bastard known as Mr Jack Anderson, may he rest in hell, and what Simon and Tobi had come to realise was something that was probably going to change all their plans.
Because although the guy might have had an extra ten years on him, the overall appearance, eye colour, hair colour, face shape, even the glasses, was remarkably similar to that of Simon's older brother, the very same one who had startled Josh in his excitement earlier.
Shit, how is this going to affect things? Is it going to be a big problem? It seemed like a call to Karen was definitely going to be needed soon after all.
"Oh Josh," he whispered, placing his chin on top of the dark head. His friend stirred slightly but remained silent. Simon could sense that he was still frightened from earlier, the connection he had with him was stronger than ever. "I'm here, it's okay," he assured. "I'm here," he vowed, smiling as the smaller body curled more into him, his injured left hand gripping onto the bottom of his jacket.
He sighed. Whatever reason Josh had for fearing him before, Simon knew it shouldn't have meant he had to hide himself away from him. It meant that he had to do everything in his power to let his friend know that he would never hurt him and would fucking kill anyone who tried to.
My new Sidemen book, Shifters, is up if anyone wants to check it out! It's a bit weird but I think it might be half decent XD