Evolve-C3

 

Chapter 3

 

The heavy door burst open as Walter pushed his body to the limit, falling to his hands and knees on the cold tiles of the entry way. 

 

In the living room to his right, Walter’s grandfather got up off of the armchair that sat in the corner between the window and the brick fireplace.

 

“Thirty -five minutes and thirty seconds. Well done my boy. Best time yet,” his grandfather said as he stepped over Walter’s body.

 

Yeah, great, Walter reflected as he climbed to his feet, trying to ignore his grumbling stomach. His mind wandered to bacon and pancakes, but he immediately dismissed them. Hunger was an immense distraction and active meditation required a clear mind.

 

He followed his grandfather down the hall to the garage just off the kitchen. The morning sun peeked through the row of windows set in the top of the garage door and a musty smell of old metal and sweat permeated the air. No cars lay dormant in the space. Only a tarnished iron set of free weights, squat rack, bench press, and an odd contraption of two iron pillars standing parallel to each other about three feet apart connected by a wide bar at two, and eight feet. 

 

“Why don't we do the two foot bar today, heh?” His grandfather pointed to the contraption in the middle of the room. 

 

“We did that yesterday,” Walter said with a hint of annoyance. 

 

“You know, you may be right.”
 
Walter rolled his eyes even though he couldn't tell if his grandfather made the mistake on purpose to see if Walter would catch it or if it had just slipped his mind. You were never certain with him, a master at disguising his thoughts and intentions. People normally assumed he was just distant.

 

“Well, lay down here then,” His grandfather added, pointing to the bench press as he placed a fifty-pound weight on each side. “Five minutes, with one minute rest, ten minutes and five minutes rest, then fifteen minutes.”

“… thirty minutes,” Walter scathed under his breath.

 

“Silence!” His grandfather replied with a calmness teetering on aggravation. 

 

Walter turned to consider the old man who stood a couple inches shorter than he, a deep scar ran diagonally under his left eye and hooking around it.  His grandfather had a way of making Walter feel like an incompetent fool. Walter recognized it was a tool his grandfather used to instruct him, but like most things in his life it made Walter feel alienated. Trapped to undergo a lifetime of endless routine.

 

In that moment Walter’s frustration mutated into something different, something stronger, darker. He wasn’t sure what it was, only that a small pit had formed deep in his chest. Like he was missing something.

 

“We will continue where we left off yesterday. Recite the moves made thus far and then we will continue our chess game, at which point the weights go in the air.” 

 

The clanking of little plastic chess pieces filled the room for a brief second while his grandfather set up a board behind him, out of Walter’s sight.

 

“Yeah yeah, I know the drill,” Walter said as he laid down.

 

Walter closed his eyes and searched for the chess game they had started two days ago, reciting the moves as his grandfather instructed. 

 

“I made the last move white knight to G5, check,” Walter called out as he exhaled and brought the bar off the rack above him, focusing all of his attention on the chess game and pushing the discomfort in his arms out of his mind.

 

*************

 

“Superb, my boy,” Walter’s grandfather said as he removed the weights from the bar. 

“Very strong defense today, you held your focus well.” 

“I will leave the rest up to you. Tomorrow we're doing legs so don't push too much.” His grandfather patted him on the knee before he got up and left.

 

Walter rolled off of the bench and on to his feet saying nothing to his grandfather. The pit in his chest seemed like it’d steadily grown. He was anxious and on edge and stretched his arms across his chest, trying to get rid of it along with the drumming soreness of his muscles.  After hearing the garage door close, he walked to the squat rack and put two hundred pounds on the bar. He bent his head, stepped under the bar, straightened his back and pushed his heels into the ground. The pit in his chest shrunk under the weight and a sense of calm came over him as he put all his focus on the lift.

 

Maybe it's another one of his tests, he wondered as he finished his tenth rep and placed the bar on the rack, giving himself a few moments of rest.

Or he wants to fight, for me to stand up and take charge.

 

It's more likely that he's trying to teach patience and obedience, like a dog. Walter reflected sourly, the pit in his chest growing again. 

 

He stepped under the bar once more and lifted. Everything his grandfather did usually had a lesson behind it. His grandfather always said that the best teacher was life itself.

Walter wasn't sure he could take any more life lessons as he considered what he’d missed out on during his youth, the things he’d read in books or watched other kids doing. Blowing out candles on a birthday cake, playing baseball, going on a date, playing video games… The list was endless, but he remembered that it hadn't always been this way. It’d been five years ago now, since she left. After that everything changed.

 

 

 I’ll be a senior next year and I have nothing to show for it, he realized as he put the bar back on the rack for the last time. The clarity diminished as he put the weights back and continued his routine. The contentment his grandfather preached was getting harder to come by, and today it seemed impossible.

 

Walter grabbed a towel before he walked into the kitchen after a few sets of crunches, followed by a stretch. Walter wiped the sweat from his forehead and opened the refrigerator. He grabbed the orange juice and downed it to completion before rummaging around for breakfast. 

 

“You did a great job today,” His grandfather said. 

 

Walter looked at him, sitting at the round kitchen table, the early morning rays of sun were shooting through the sliding glass door and reflecting off of his bald head as he read the morning paper. 

 

“I do a great job everyday.” Walter said under his breath as he took leftover ham, threw it on a piece of bread and turned to head out of the kitchen. 

 

He almost made it. 

 

“What did you say?” His grandfather replied, turning his gaze away from the paper to stare at Walter.

 

He could sense his grandfather’s eyes pierce into him. The pit in his chest seethed into a caldera waiting to explode.

 

“I said, I always do a great job.” Walter faced the old man and returned the same piercing glare. Anger welled up inside him, it was almost intoxicating and goosebumps flowed up his arms.

 

“I wont put up with insolence Walter.” His grandfather scolded as he stood up from the table and moved within inches of Walter, A tactic Walter had become familiar with.  

 

“Insolence!” Walter spat. 

 

His grandfather’s words lit the fuse and before he could stop himself, the pit in his chest erupted in a storm of pent up emotion.

 

“I have done everything you’ve asked of me my entire life and what do I get, huh? I’m a prisoner, a serf, an indentured servant! I can’t do anything, no sports, no friends, I’m not even allowed to excel! All I do is train!" Walter fumed, all rational judgment gone.

" You won’t even tell me why I train! How about your scar, is that why? Maybe my mother is the reason, Ya know, the one you wont speak about."  Walter yelled.

" How about where dad disappears to?" Walter paused for a second wondering if he'd get an answer this time.

"You know what I think! "Walter's voice fell back to a normal octave.

" You’re just a pathetic old man who got stuck with a kid no one wants."

The revelation calmed the volcano of anger in his chest, replacing it with bitter loneliness
 
" I don't care anymore, I’m done playing this game."

 
Walter stormed off leaving his grandfather staring in disbelief. His face was flushed and his heart raced as he climbed the stairs, but he felt good, he felt free. 

 

***

Walter’s hands were shaking as he stepped into the shower and turned the water on as hot as it would go. The water flowed over his body, taking the last remnants of pent-up emotions with it as it spiraled down the drain. Calm, rational thought replaced the impulsive, and he tried to figure out how he lost control. 

Walter suffered a pang of guilt at how he treated his grandfather, who had raised him his entire life.  He soaped up his body, and he pushed all thoughts from his mind. With a clear head, Walter stepped out of the bathroom, steam billowing out and dissipating in the cooler air as he moved down the hall to his bedroom. He shouldn’t have snapped on his grandfather like he did. But things need to change. They are going to change, he thought as he sat down at his desk and opened the top drawer. He reached back, pulled out a white locket and held it in his hands.

 

“Soon.”