The Boy I Used To Know ( A Josh Hutcherson FanFic)

Chapter 8

Josh's POV

*two months ago*

"Josh, are you coming down or what?" My mom shouts from downstairs. It's Saturday Family Movie Night to my parents and Saturday Torture Night to me and Connor. Downstairs, I can hear them arguing on which movie to watch. Connor is sighing really loudly while my mom is fussing on what we should snack on. Sometimes I wonder what the families of the nerds in my school do on nights like this. Definitely nothing like my family is doing.

I stretched as I turn off the computer and rolled my head. Clockwise then counter clockwise. I hear a satisfying crack and winced. The crack seemed to hurt on one side. Shit! Did I break my neck? I felt around my neck and my finger brushed on a little bump. I looked into the mirror. Pretty normal to me. Probably just a bruise or something. I sighed and made my way down the stairs.

"Finally, Josh!" My mom says, "I was going to send Connor up to get you." I looked over her shoulders at Connor, he shakes his head in frustration, rolling his eyes. "What should we watch tonight?" My dad pipes up from the behind the dvd player. Connor offers to help pick a movie and before I could stop him, he hands my dad the New Moon DVD. You know, the one with the sparkly vampires and Kristen Stewart? Connor has a crush on Kristen for as long as I can remember and he's watched the Twilight saga movies a million times.

"Again?" My dad whines. Connor nods excitedly. My mom smiles, like it's the cutest thing Connor can ever do picking the New Moon movie. He pops the dvd into the player and we settled on the couch to watch. I see my mom cuddle up to my dad and he kissed her on the cheeks. It's sweet, really. But when I hear Connor make choking sounds, I can't help but agree with him.

The movie ended with Edward and Bella being all lovey dovey and happy again. "Ugh, Edward doesn't deserve Bella. After all she's done for him, he leaves her then comes back again as if nothing's happened. I'd prefer her with..." Connor says, pausing before saying, "Jacob." But I knew him too well.

"Ah, ok. The movie is done. Tonight was great too. I love spending time with you guys." I say sarcastically. My mom smiles and grabs another tissue. Yeah, she's been crying. My dad? He's fast asleep. Connor and I both faked a yawn then we rushed into our room. "Oh my God, at least that was over." I whispered.

"Hey, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Connor beams. "No." I say matter of factly because I really didn't want to. "Lets prank em'." Connor whispers. "How?" I asked. He excitedly whispers his plan and I agree to do with him. We casually walked into our parent's bedroom and I lifted the quilt, Connor silently slips the rubber spider underneath and I lay the quilt down. I wasn't going to touch the nasty thing, I hate spiders as much as my dad do. Then we quietly went back to our room and waited.

Two minutes later, my dad screamed. Screamed! Me and Connor were already on the floor laughing our heads off, my mom came out to see what the commotion was and ended up laughing too. My dad stormed out of the room, crossed and glared at us. Connor tried to hide his laugh but couldn't hold it in. We laughed even harder when my dad tried to chase Connor around the house.

I choked on my laugh and I couldn't stop coughing. And coughing. "Josh, are you okay?" my mom asks in between tears. "Yeah..." I croaked. I had sip of water and went back into my room. When I passed a little mirror, I thought of that bump on my neck. My hand instinctively rubbed it, trying to figure out what it is. "Mom?" I called out. "Yeah, hun?" "What's this?" I showed her the bump. She rubbed it, running her thumb over it softly. "I'm not sure. Probably just an insect bite." she smiles. "But it's too big for that, don't you think?" she looks at it one more time and a frown formed on her lips.

"I'll ask your father to take a closer look tomorrow, kay'? Does it hurt?" "No, I don't feel anything." i reply. "Ok, goodnight then." she says. I wonder what it is and why she frowned. The next morning when dad checked it, he gave the same frown and talked to mom in private. That evening I tried to ask them what it was but my dad shrugged it off, claiming it was just a little insect bite. Then he gave my mom a look and they both looked away.

The whole week, I had a sore throat. A mild one but enough to keep me home for a couple of days. Annie would drop by after school to pass me homework and hang out. She tried asking how it came around but I had no idea. Then came the weekends, my parents bundled me and Connor into the car and took us to the hospital.

"Is someone sick?" Connor asks. "Oh no, dear. We're just taking Josh to see someone who'll check his lump for him." my mom casually says like it's the most common thing to do. We entered Dr Patrick's examining room and I sat down. "Hello, I'm Dr Patrick. And what's your name?" he smiles. "Josh Hutcherson." I say confused. He looks down on his clipboard and said, "Well, Joshua. Let me have a look at your lump, hmmm?" he checks it for awhile then he shines a torchlight into my mouth. He took some blood too and left the room. I hear him talking to my parents outside and I strained to eavesdrop. "He might.... but I'm not.... samples to the.... results in a week." That was all I heard then he came back inside and smiles. "You can go, Joshua."

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"Hey, dad? There's a letter adressed to you." I waved it at him. He opens it with a frown. "Michelle? We have to talk." He says, disappearing into the kitchen. That was weird. Talk about what? I followed him into the kitchen. They both stop talking and he looked at me. "This is private, son. If you would please.." He gestured to the door. I've never had my parents be so harsh on me before. But I wanted to know what it is. I hid behind the wall and cupped my ears to the wall.

"The results are here. Take a look at this." My dad says. There was a shuffling sound from the paper, a short pause and my mom gasps. My dad shushes her and hands her another paper. "Is Dr Patrick, right? He might not be. We should see another doctor." my mom suggests. What is right? What is Dr Patrick wrong about? "I'll make arrangements but until then don't tell him." my dad says and gives her a hug. I quickly tip toed back into the living room before they catch me.

My parents had a dinner date with some friends that night. My best chance to find out what the letter is about! I told Connor my plan and we both waited until they drove away. Connor and I rushed into our parent's room and dug around in every drawer, every compartment to look for the letter. 'Here it is!" Connor says.

We read in silence and my heart drops. Cancer? Cancer! Is that what Dr Patrick can conclude with? Cancer?! Connor lets out a shaky laugh but I'm not laughing. I'm mad. How can they not tell me? I have cancer and they treat it like it's secret information? My life depends on it! I wanted to call them. To say something. To tell them... To tell them... To tell them what? Connor pats my back. "He's probably wrong, Josh. I've never heard of a 15 year old getting cancer. That man is old, he might have been clouded by old man's vision or something." he tells me, trying to make me laugh. "You mean cataract?" I chuckle. "Yeah, that!" he smiles. We put the result slip back and thought about other things for the duration of the night.

Connor's right. Dr Patrick might be wrong. He is old after all. Maybe he has old man's vision like Connor says. But what does a twelve year old know? He thinks vampires exist. There is a nagging feeling in my head that keeps me pondering on the possiblity of it. Is it true? I keep asking myself. Well, I don't want to die. At least not yet. If it's true, I can't tell Annie. Not now, not ever.