Chapter 5

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 window sill.

"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 drain pipe 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 usual 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 every day, 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's 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 no 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 me, 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, all he could do was slap his forehead with his palm in frustration.