Here's the final chapter of this Christmas interlude, don't worry though, they'll be back in the New Year. For now, don't forget to donate to nifty https://donate.nifty.org/
Part 4
"What you up to out here all on your own?" I asked as I walked up behind the little auburn haired boy who was trying to peer over one of the stable doors. When he heard my voice he suddenly turned around, looking like a kid who'd just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
"Sorry...I just...I'll come back in now." He replied, looking at the ground and trying not to make eye contact.
"Don't worry mate, it's fine." I was trying my best to reassure him but I could tell he felt guilty for not being in the house. "Dinner's about half an hour away so you can stay out here for a bit if you want."
"Where's all the other horses?" He asked, looking back towards the stables.
"Out in the fields. We're just keeping Molly in here as it's going to be cold tonight and she's pregnant, so we want to make sure she stays warm and well fed." I replied, pointing to the horse looking out over her stable door. "Everything ok with you today? You've seemed a little quiet since you got here."
"No, I'm ok."
"Come on Benny, I know you're normally happier than this." I said, reaching down to put my hand on his shoulder.
"DON'T TOUCH ME!!" He screamed, pulling away from me.
"Woah!! What's going on out here?" I hadn't even heard Sam approach but I was too shocked to respond to Benny's outburst. "Benny apologise right now! You were taught better than that." He just looked at the ground again but I could see he was crying now.
"Sorry." He almost whispered and I could tell he didn't really mean it.
"What's going on Alex?"
"I dunno, I came out to make sure he was ok and when I asked what was wrong he freaked out." I replied. I wasn't mad at Benny but I was a little taken aback at his reaction to me touching him. Sam bent down on one knee and lifted Benny's chin when he suddenly threw his arms round his dad's neck and started crying more.
"What's going on mate?" He pried his son off him so he could look him in the face. "We've been here plenty of times before and you've been ok."
"It's him!!" He shouted while pointing at me. "And Lucas!! And...them!! They're all freaks!!" I was actually getting upset by the way he was reacting. I'd never had anyone treat me this way since getting these abilities, but I guess that's because no one knew about them.
"Hey!! That's enough!! We don't use that word to describe people, understand?" Sam said, looking angrily at his son.
"But it's not fair!!" Benny whined through his tears. "They're all strong and big and I'll never be like that."
"That's not a bad thing." I replied, making Benny look at me with a mix of surprise and sadness. "I'm serious, there's loads of bad things that go with being like us. I wasn't always like this so when I was suddenly able to do these things I had to learn how to do a lot of normal stuff all over again." Benny looked doubtful about me being normal but didn't say anything.
"I've told you before that Alex was a hopeless wimp when I first met him." Sam said.
"Wait, you told him that?" Sam flashed a cheeky smile at me and I swear I saw a little curling of Benny's lips for a second.
"He was useless at sports, nowhere near as funny as he thought he was..."
"Hey!!" I knew Sam was just joking around and it seemed to be lightening Benny's mood.
"Oh come on, you never grasped that the idea of dodgeball was to avoid being hit." He replied, looking at me then turned back towards his son with a smile. "He even got hit when he was sitting on the bench at the side. But when he got these abilities from Josh I was there and I saw the way it changed him and the struggles he had."
"How can being super strong be a struggle? He could be great at sports and beat anyone up." Benny said.
"Well yeah, if he could actually throw a ball accurately, but the way he was the gym would just have a load of popped dodgeballs and dents in the wall."
"Can we get away from my lack of athletic prowess and back to the point?" I complained.
"Ok, well the reason it would be a struggle is because if he suddenly became good at sports..." He suddenly let out a snort as I just rolled my eyes. "Or started breaking records then people would start to ask questions."
"The biggest problem I had was learning to control the strength rather than unleashing it." I continued. "You saw the way we could squash those Lego bricks by pinching them, now imagine how difficult it would be to hold a pencil and draw with it. I used to get really upset when I accidentally crushed pencils or paint brushes but thankfully I'm more in control now."
"Do Lucas and Sammie have those problems?" Benny asked quietly.
"They used to, that was why we kept them out of school until they were more in control of their strength." I replied. "And that's why we got them things like juggling balls and the Rubik's cube. Sammie loves puzzles but gets frustrated easily, so if she doesn't want to wreck it then she'll need to control herself. And Lucas needs to learn that in order to juggle he'll have to control the amount of power he puts into throwing each ball."
"If he's anything like you he'll need to learn how to catch first." Sam grinned.
"Will you let it go?" I asked with mock exasperation. "I need to ask you to do something for me though Benny ok? Very soon you're going to become one of the most important people in the world so I need you to be ready for that."
"How am I going to be important?" He asked, looking both scared and shocked at the same time.
"Simple, you know about us and it's important that that stays a secret." I replied. "Can you imagine if some politician or crazy general ever found out what we could do and tried to replicate it, or use us to fight a war? The world could be in grave danger if this ability was given to just anyone and we've been careful to make sure that the kids know not to let the secret out or it could be curtains for all of us. Lucas and Sammie will be going to school with you in a few years and I need you to look out for them for me."
"You mean I have to be friends with them?"
"Not necessarily. I'm not telling you who you should be friends with but if you ever see anything that may cause you concern then I want you to tell either me, Josh or your parents so we can make sure it doesn't become a problem ok?"
"Ok, I can do that." He gave me a weak smile.
"Any time you want to talk to any of us about any of this then don't be afraid to." Sam added. "Josh and Alex are great guys so I don't want you to be afraid of them ok? They'll never do anything to hurt you, although you should run for cover if you ever see Alex with a ball in his hand." Benny cracked up laughing at last then came over to hug me, which I think was the first time in years he'd done that.
"And remember, we've got far more to be jealous of than you have." I said to him.
"Huh?"
"Think about it, you can do anything you want without having to worry about trying to control yourself, or trying to hide who you are. So what if Lucas can pick up a car or Sammie can crush a Lego brick, they haven't earned the ability to do that so there's no accomplishment there. You can push yourself to do amazing things as well and be proud of what you've achieved so go out there and do anything you set your mind to ok?"
"Ok Alex, and I'm sorry about what I said earlier."
"Thanks Benny."
"Good lad, now I don't want to hear you using the F word again." Sam added.
"But Uncle Luke uses it all the time."
"I didn't mean that one, but don't use that either." Sam was barely keeping it together and completely lost it when I burst out laughing at their exchange. We walked back to the house with Benny holding both our hands and I was thankful that he'd got over his worries.
The rest of the day was warm and cosy as we all settled down to a huge feast with plenty of laughs around the table, especially when Lucas was telling us about breaking up the logs from the Christmas tree. He just happened to say "you should see what I can do when I've got wood" right as my dad was taking a drink and that was when he spat it out all over his dinner. Thankfully we'd learned from previous years to use a plastic table cloth as we could guarantee something like that would happen every year.
Later on when Sam's family were preparing to leave Benny said his goodbyes to Lucas and Sammie then ran up to give me a big hug.
"Remember, you're gonna be my eyes and ears in school, ok?" I whispered in his ear. He pulled back; giving me a big grin and an enthusiastic nod, then ran over to hug Josh, who looked completely shocked.
"What was that all about with Benny? He hasn't hugged me in years." Josh asked as we waved them on their way.
"I'll tell you all about it later."
Luke stayed on after his brother had left and drank far more than his liver could ever be happy about so Bryan let him sleep in one of the guest rooms. We sent the kids off to my parent's house so we could have our place all to ourselves and Josh was still in the mood for some Christmas fun. I won't go into details here but let's just say we decided to rewrite the film Santa with Muscles into a porno.
Merry Christmas folks