The Changed Grandma (Short Horror)

Upon seeing her grandma sloping off and eating food at midnight, Janet decided to get help from the church.

It had been ten years since Janet lived with her only Grandma. Her parents passed away when she was three. With no close relatives, Janet would have been in an orphanage or a spoiled kid on the streets of London unless Grandma took custody of her. Victorian-era London had always been a struggle during rapid developments. That was why authors set characters like Sherlock in London.

Grandma had taken Janet from London to a remote village, Oakbale. Janet couldn’t remember her life in London anymore.

Their home was at the edge of the area.

Grandma grew her vegetables in the back of the villa and lived alone. As Janet knew, the villagers avoided her grandma, calling her a witch. It was no wonder why people hated Grandma, as she used to work as a lender. The villagers even called her “a Jew” in her absence.

Currently, Grandma couldn’t give any loans. The only job left was consuming her farm products with her Granddaughter, Janet. Her garden was a rich source of vegetables. So, they only went outside to a nearby market when they lacked oil or flour.

“In the time of our elders,” When Grandma got bored, she started talking about the great times when her ancestors got the title of Baron. Janet, in her free time, listened to Grandma. She had no work to do except help Grandma with farming, cleaning the house, and reading. Grandma didn’t send her to school, but Janet didn’t need school either. Their home library stored thousands of books, including inaccessible ones for women (Medicines, Engineering, etc.)

The stranger was in the library containing books on magic and charms. Most of them came from different countries like India and China. Some were bestiaries on ghosts and demons. The writers were from their family, “Tratent,” Grandma said that the Tratent family members used to store knowledge from all parts of the globe.

Outsiders might wonder how could this pair of Grandma and Granddaughter live in a house alone or why didn’t they scare bandits. But the truth was the bandits avoided the Tratents’ home. And so was everyone in Oakbale. Thanks to the crazy rumors around the house. Also, there was nothing to rob from Grandma’s house except the books. Pieces of jewelry had run out by the times, and people knew them as “Broken,”

For Janet, It was lifeless to stay at the house every day, doing nothing except the house’s chores and reading books. As a teenager, she had a person of interest. She was fascinated by a same-age boy named Andrew, whom she met every time in the market. But could show no passion for him. If Grandma had known, she would have become furious.

Doom had come to this remote Grandma and Grandaughter pair. Cholera infected Oakbale Village, causing many deaths. Grandma and Janet stayed home, but their rats didn’t, bringing cholera home.

On the first day of infection, diarrhea caused both of them to pale white. It was worse for the elderly Grandma. Janet, who knew medicine, gave her grandma salt water. She drank it too. Contemplating that she had to take care of her grandma, Janet went to bed. The following morning, grandma lost consciousness, and Janet had to awaken her and treat her with more salt water. Grandma recuperated afterward.

But Janet noticed that Grandma became silent after recovery. Had she lost her memories while losing consciousness? Janet wasn’t sure. Grandma rarely called her name, sleeping all day and eating lesser meals. Janet had doubted if Grandma remembered her or not. In her view, she looked like a dead trunk.

Janet took care of grandma even though she talked less with her. Loneliness tortured her while living in the house. Even if she went outside, things didn’t get better. Once she went to the Village market to buy some flour.

“Last month, Cholera was such a pain,”

“Of Course, that Tratent witch caused those disasters,”

Two shop owners were gossiping about Grandma near Janet, making her furious. Janet wanted to yell at those vendors, but she didn’t. She desired to make no offense to the low-graded vendors.

Even the shop she used to buy from was harsh to her, pretending not to hear her. When Janet grabbed a bag of flour, the owner said, “Give me the cash before taking it,” Janet was irritated. Was she the kind of person who would take things without cash?

“There,” Janet threw her coin into the bowl, causing a loud noise, shocking the owner.

She couldn’t find Andrew at the market. Perhaps, he would have passed away during the pandemic. Soo many irritations for her. Grandma's activities had become abnormal. Every night, Janet heard her going outside the room.

One night, she heard grandma muttering, casting an unidentifiable spell. The food she left at night disappeared in the morning. As there were only Janet and Grandma, who would take them instead of Grandma?

The day before, she learned about a strange creature while reading a bestiary on ghosts.

“There was a creature named “Phote” in the myths of South East Asia. These ghostly beings possess the corpses before decomposing and live in the dead’s bodies as if alive. They try to walk among the living but, being dead inside, need a strong appetite. As they are ghosts, they admire working at night and do not know the family members (of the body they possess). I had seen one possessed by that creature while serving at Rangoon in 1834.

Richard Tratent,”

The dialogs ended with a signature. Richard Tratent is grandma’s father and Janet’s great-grandfather. The words shook Janet’s heart. Grandma’s conditions were so similar to theirs. “It can’t be,” she wanted to reject. But, the writer, Richard Tratent, who served as police chief at Rangoon (Yangon) for a decade, wasn’t ordinary.

That night, Janet determined to observe her grandma’s activities. Footsteps started appearing at midnight, and Janet got up from bed. She found out that grandma was not in her room. So, she quickly followed in her footsteps. As it was midnight, the surroundings were dark and chilling. Janet felt like the pictures on the wall were staring at her. Her spine was chilling, and her heart was throbbing.

There, she found Grandma. Grandma was muttering some spells and holding an unidentified thing in her hand. To get a better look, Janet went nearer to her.

“Ehh,”

Janet screamed after seeing Grandma’s action. She was crunching a rat while ripping it apart bare handedly. There was nothing to be surprised about . Janet understood that the one before her wasn’t her grandma anymore. The Grandma turned around toward her, but Janet didn’t want to see the bloody face again. She ran out of the house swiftly.

“Church,” “Church,” she whispered.

There was a church beside a cemetery at the edge of the Village. As she knew, the old priest stayed in the church at nighttime. She would ask him for help.

Even though she ran like the wind, Janet never felt weary. She ran faster while crossing the cemetery, causing her to trip on a tombstone. Janet wondered whose tombstone that was.

“Janet Tratent

Age, 14,”

Janet’s eyes widened, and she screamed in shock. Janet stood still for a while. Memories of the first night she cared for Grandma appeared. That night, while going to the toilet, she felt like falling into a pit of darkness.

“Oh My God,” Janet exclaimed. She was the dead one instead of Grandma. Hence, Grandma didn’t talk to her, and people disdained her. Was grandma casting spells and doing rituals because she wanted to meet her?

A sweet voice disrupted her thoughts.

“Are you Janet Tratent?”

She turned around and saw a golden-haired, Celtic-like boy wearing a grey robe. He holds a pan flute in his hand.

“Yes,” she said.

“I’m sorry. I forgot you,”

As the boy started playing his flute, Janet fell asleep in his beautiful melody.

The End

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