RON

I checked every corner of my room to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything important. When I was more than sure that I had packed everything, I grabbed a picture from my bedside table, sat on my bed and spent a while staring at my late wife's face. I thought about how she would have loved to go with us on this trip, how she would have loved to see her dad again and the thought that it was no longer possible for her made me sad and it also made me miss her even more.

I stared at the photo a little more trying to memorize every curve, corner and spot on her beautiful face then I kissed it, set it back in it's usual position and rolled my suitcase out of my room.

"Is everyone done packing?" I asked

"Yes, dad." both David and Peter answered.

"What about you, Rose?" I asked but she ignored me and continued texting. I walked into her room to see if she was almost done but I was instantly enraged when I saw that she was far from done.

Her suitcase had only a few dresses thrown into it and she didn't seem to care that time was running out.

"Rose, please pack up, right now." I said trying to contain my anger.

"Can't you see l'm busy." she responded and I suddenly couldn't control myself. I yanked the phone out of her hands and started yelling,

"Rose, you have had all week to prepare so I'm giving you only 20 minutes to get done packing if you are not done by then I swear I will drag you to the car regardless of whether you have packed all that you will need. Your time starts now."

We were heading for my wife's father's house and he had a strict rule that no one should ever visit him after 6:30pm and I really didn't want to piss him off because he already didn't like me. My wife's father, Greg, had never liked me since the first time I met him and because of that, we were never close, infact the last time I spoke to him was at my wife's funeral 12 years ago when David was 6, Rose was 5 and Peter was 4 but I felt that since my children didn't get to know their mother, maybe getting to know her family would help them miss her a little less and maybe they would get answers to some of the questions they have about her.

When the time elapsed, I stormed into Rose's room, grabbed her hand along with her half-empty suitcase and dragged her to the car like I said I would despite the fact that she kept screaming and cursing.

We drove in silence except for Rose who kept ranting about how she hadn't packed everything she felt she needed until we reached the tiny town where their grandfather lived, Smallville.As I drove in, I noticed how eerily silent the town was. There were houses with security lights on which proved that people lived here but there wasn't a single soul outside yet it was only 6:15pm and the sun hadn't even fully set yet. When I realized that I was only 15 minutes away from making Greg hate me even more, I increased the speed and to my relief we arrived at 6:25pm.

Before we could even knock, Greg hurriedly pulled us in along with our luggage then slammed the door closed and frantically locked all 7 bolts of the metallic door. Then he turned to the children with a huge smile and replaced the panicked look he had a few seconds ago and a jolly tone as he commented on how big they've gotten and completely acted as if I wasn't there at all.

"You know what ,why don't you all go to your rooms and settle in while I prepare a lovely dinner for you. Does that sound good?" Greg said and the children agreed. As he made his way to the kitchen, he passed right by me and i half expected him to at least give me a cold greeting but he instead gave me a nasty stare and continued walking, guess he still didn't like me.

At dinner we all ate in silence until Peter spoke up,

"Grandpa, can I ask you a question?"

"Ask away"

"Why is it forbidden to go outside or to even visit after 6:30pm." Everyone at the table paused and stared at him eagerly waiting for the answer but at the sound of the question Greg's smile faded and he was suddenly visibly angry.