Her Grandmothers house

She looked at the house from the outside and what struck her was that it was disproportionately long on one side – a giant key – the ones she had seen in books and on television. You know the ones that would open the giant doors to castles and haunted houses or even old treasure chests..She was visiting her grandmother for the first time. She had seems photos of herself in her grandmothers arms as a baby but she didnt remember that! Her grandmother was at the door to welcome her. She didn’t look particularly pleased or displeased on seeing her granddaughter  after ten long years. No smile or hugs. She wasn’t your typical grandma..

The little girl entered the house and stepped into what was the living room she noticed the room was small and had two doors in addition to the main door..’Why would a room have three doors?’ she thought but this was just the first of the many strange things should notice during her stay at her grandmothers.

On the wall was were framed photos of Christ and the saints. There was a sofa in the room and cane chairs and side tables with framed photos of her grandfather dressed like a tennis player and of her aunts and uncles as children. “Would you like something to drink?” Grandmother asked. The little girl nodded her head . As her grandmother moved out from the door opposite the front door into the dining room the little girl followed her only to realize the dining room had three doors too one led to the kitchen and the other to a bedroom..leaving her grandmother in the kitchen, she stepped into the bedroom which again had three doors she decided to explore the place.

She moved from room to room.Each of the rooms had multiple doors and were all connected to each other she did find however, that sometimes two of the three doors locked. It was as if she was in a maze like the ones she would draw a way out of in her school workbook. She loved puzzles. She imagined herself as an explorer cutting through the foliage in a far away jungle island. She had passed three bedrooms, a closet/dressing area, a bathroom and another dressing room and finally arrived at a dark passage.

The Passage way had a meat shelf on one side and a flight of stairs leading to the first floor. At the end of the passage were two steps that led down to a bedroom. She stepped into the bedroom and found it was dimly lit. She noticed there was attached to this bedroom a kitchen and she peered in and found that inside it was fully set with a stove and a large kitchen and tables and chairs. She stepped out of the kitchen and decided this was of the rooms of this ‘key house’ the ‘bit part’ the part that had the key wards which were crucial to unlocking doors..

Thats when she saw her …hunched up on the bed in the bedroom wearing a lilac cotton dress with big white daisies – a young woman. The little girl froze in her steps her brain and the body seemed to dissociate from each other that moment. ‘Was she looking at a ghost?‘ She could feel the panic in her mind but her body refused to move almost like she had been converted to a pillar of salt.The young lady looked frail, her frame was almost child like but you could see she was grown and her body had matured.She sat on the bed playing with a little doll in her hand..

Suddenly sensing there was someone in the room the young lady looked up and at the little girl..The Little girl felt a chill run down her spine. She had by now regained her faculties of movement was all set to flee the scene..Something was just not right. This person she was looking at looked back at her with eyes as black as a raven but those eyes looked listless and dull and devoid of any expression.

She turned to step back up into the passage when there stood her grandmother staring at her with a glass of orange juice in her hand.

“Emily this is your cousin – Lindsy.” she said, “drink this and wash up and get ready for dinner.”

Image courtesy: Google images