Alex wanted his brother to show him the ring that Adam gave Josh. (Alex was likely eavesdropping when Josh received it since the other flashbacks are clearly Alex's own memories) Naturally Alex didn't want to be seen because, as Josh puts it, "Dad'll freak if he finds out." If Adam knew what his eldest son was up to, he'd freak twice. This is a good reason Alex would want to be out of the house where he couldn't be overheard.Pamuyo wrote:The only things I can think of at the moment is that Alex just wanted to spend time with Josh since he was usually not aloud to hang around with him much.sidrawings wrote:I haven't read anything here reading into the reason WHY Alex took Josh out into the middle of the lake anyway.
It struck my as really odd, and it seem like there was more too it then Alex just being rebellious. He's expresses a worry of being seen (asking Josh for his flashlight) and really bullies Josh and acts very mean.
Or, while I doubt this, that he maybe wanted to take Alex away in the middle of the night/early morning and not come back. (Since they didn't seem to have anything for "running away" I don't think this is true either)
Alex does seem to be bullying Josh, but he phrases it carefully to manipulate his brother into showing off the ring. Alex doesn't say "You're a baby," he says "Dad thinks you're a baby." The result: Josh whips out the ring and says "ORLY?" His later antics, calling the ring crap and keeping it away from Josh, are based in his jealousy, and not really any worse behavior than you could expect between two brothers, despite the tragic consequences.