“Put it on the counter!” My mom said.

“Mom if I put it on the counter you will complain how messy the counter is and tell me to clean it up! Then we will be right back where we started!” I replied annoyed with her.

“Fine put it on the table Abigail! I don’t know! Put it somewhere!” She shrugged her shoulders.

“Whatever I’m going to be late for school” I sighed, rolling my eyes.

Just another morning argument about something stupid, we still had about four more to go before the day ended. Thankfully it was Friday, the last day of school until summer. Although most teenagers are counting the seconds until they can get a beach tan or go to the best party of the year, I was excited to visit my grandmother for the first time at her house. My mother had told me little about the house and why she hated it so much but it’s why she had always made my grandmother visit us. Even though my mother disliked my grandmother’s house I wanted to see it for myself and now that I was fifteen I was allowed to. My mother hadn’t set foot near that house since she was eighteen, when she moved out and it only made me wonder even more.

“Hey Tabby!” Gideon called from across the road, interrupting my thoughts.

“Hey Gideon. What’s up?” I asked.

“Not much Marie and Ellen have been getting on my nerves all morning. On a day we finally get to go to school at ten O’clock I actually wish it could have been earlier.” Gideon shook his head slowly.

“C’mon I have met your sisters before, they can’t be that bad!” I laughed.

“Oh yeah? When anyone is around them they put on their “company faces” but when they are around me they are not as perfect as everyone thinks.” He sighed.

After ten minutes we had arrived at school, people were sorting out their plans for the summer and playing pranks on each other.

“Oh there’s Kelsey… I will catch up with you at lunch Gideon.” I rushed over to my best friend barely hearing a faint “Oh ok…bye” from Gideon.

“Tabby!” Kelsey hugged me. “Guess what? I am going to Ireland for the summer! How great is that?” She squealed.

“Oh Kels that sounds amazing! You are so lucky!” I smiled.

Our last day at school was more of a party than anything else. We ate snacks in class, had tons of music, and watched slide shows from our past year. I snuck to the bathroom after my last class to make sure I looked ok for my trip up to my grandmothers. My deep green eyes blended in with my dull flaw-filled face, “All set” I whispered to myself as I tucked a lock of hair behind my ear.
I ran outside to find my mother looking distressed in her car. She tried to pull an assuring smile but she looked nervous. I hopped in the passenger seat.

“Ready?” She asked through clenched teeth.

“Yup!” I said trying to sound enthusiastic.

“M’kay lets go.” Her voice edged with unhappiness.

“Why don’t you like grandmas house?” I asked with the same confusion as always when it comes to the subject.

“I do like grandmas house.” She lied. I decided not to push her any further and just take a nap so I would have enough energy to be awake at dinner.


“Wake up kiddo!” My mother shouted from outside the car. It took me a minute to gather myself and let my blurry vision focus. When I looked through the windshield I froze solid like a statue. I wasn’t sure if my eyes were playing tricks on me. There stood a mansion-like house; with gargoyles on ledges, ivy growing around the stone walls, and a winding forest on either side. I caught my mothers eye which smiled with humor and regret in seeing my expression.

“W-why didn’t you t-tell me?” I gasped, getting out of the car.

“Tell you what?” She asked with no emotion.

I wasn’t aware at all. I never even dreamed my grandmother as laid back and down to earth as she was that she lived in home so elegant and frightening at the same time. I staggered up the pebbled path to see a sad expression on my mothers face. I knew it brought back bad memories and I couldn’t express how much I had wished she would share them with me.

Knock, Knock, Knock

The front door screeched open.

“Oh Abigial! Ahem…” She coughed. “I mean Tabby! It’s so great to see you!”

“Grandma Rosy!” I hugged her tightly the same way I had always done since I was a baby.

“Hello Danielle, it’s so nice to see you here at home once again! Come in, come in!” My grandma gestured.

“Thanks mom, it’s nice to see you too… but I have a home in Denton.” My mother said flatly.

“Of course…” My grandmother replied.

We walked through the door and I was even more surprised than seeing the outside. The large ballroom floor had two large staircases that winded into one at the top. I noticed my mom was shaking.

“Dinner will be in an hour.” My grandma smiled. A shadowy figure of a man was at the top of the staircase and my eyes met straight with his, they glowed with rage then disappeared suddenly.

“G-grandma… are there any men in this house?” I asked the only thing I could think of.

“No dear only my one lady maid Erna” She replied as if it wasn’t the first time she had heard the question.

My mothers stricken expression had made me realize I really wasn’t sure if I had made the right choice coming here…