Chapter-10

Grandma's house was small, especially fit for a single person and with Brad and I both in her house it felt like living in a single room, her kitchen, bedroom and the sitting room are all in one room except for her bathroom, which is so small you can barely stretch your legs freely, Grandma took a liking of small things when she was a little girl and now everything she has is literally small even her car, my dad would never fit inside her car.

"Where your mama at you rascals." Grandma said holding her frying pan in her hand, she was about to make some eggs for Brad, which Brad hated of course but Grandma would only feed him eggs and milk instead of sweets. She usually spoke in slangs, which I found it very hard to understand.

"Leaving her kids for me to look? What a bummer." She muttered

"Go ask her then!" I said rolling my eyes, my Grandma was as bad as an eel, you can compare her to a witch too.

"I was thinking of hanging loose today, until you rascals showed up out of nowhere."

"Grandma that's not very nice." I said

"Well your mother better leave me some bread then, how am I suppose to feed two mouths."

It's always like this when we pay a visit to grandma or for now, living with her but she soon forgets about all this and stays as if nothing has happened.

Grandma slowly poured the egg into a plate, the yolk was overcooked and it was already solid she placed it in front of Brad who was sitting at the table, he stick out his tongue when he saw the egg, " yuck!"

"Now don't you make that face young man." She said, " or I'll shove it down your pipe hole."

All the loud yelling of grandma was giving me a headache, and all of us going to sleep in a single room made it even worse.

"I should have just stayed at home."

Grandma tried to cut the eggs into smaller pieces and was trying to feed Brad at which Brad was pushing her hand out of his way.

"Grandma he doesn't like eggs." I said

"And what does that have to do with you." She said when Brad pushed her hand a little bit too hard that the fork in her hand fell down to the floor.

"Bless you! You rascal, how ungrateful." She said as she slowly bended over to pick up the fork, "ow!" She cried, " my back!"

I quickly went over to her and helped her get up and slowly allowed her to sit in a sofa

"Ooof!" She moaned, " you rascals are so ungrateful, after mom abandoned you and Iam here trying to take care of you but you are so not good."

"Grandma maybe it's best if you take a nap." I said, "I'll handle Brad."

"I ain't taking no nap," she said but she slowly slumbered away on the sofa as soon as I spread a blanket on top of her.

"That's a lot better, finally all peace and quiet."

"Brooke, I want to go home I miss mom." Brad said.

"I know but you don't want to stay there right it's haunted."

"But mom's still there."

"Don't worry, she'll soon find a new place for all of us to live together and not in that house anymore."

Brad grabbed the egg from the table and slowly took a bite of it, "Brooke why do old women look like witch." He said

"Well most of the witches are old woman." I replied, " hey com'on Brad let's go out for awhile if we stay inside here for too long we'll also become like grandma."

"Heheh" he giggled

The neighbourhood was quite lively compared to our neighbourhood, I saw kids running down the street and saw a lot of street stalls selling food, I went up to the stall selling cotton candy.

"Brooke I want the blue one." Brad said.

The man selling the cotton candy added some blue stones inside the machine and soft blue cotton candy came out from it, he quickly rolled it into a stick and handed it to Brad.

It was slowly becoming dark but there were still people on the street," wish our street was like this too"

A kid ran up to Brad, he was holding a toy which looked like a transformer, "do you want to play war with us?" He said

Brad looked at me, his eyes told me he wanted to say yes.

"Brad it's already dark and we have to go home before it's too late."

The kid grabbed Brad's hand, "com'on everyone is waiting." He said

I quickly slapped his hands away from Brad's arm.

"Sorry, we have to go home." I said as we made towards the other side of the street and into Grandma's house.

"Where the hell were you?" Grandma said, she was standing at the doorway, holding her usual frying pan in her hand, "I got to feed your mouths and you dare run away from me, how ungrateful."

"Grandma we just went out for a walk, your house is too small to be living for a long time."

"You rascal, where so you think your living now, MY HOUSE! Your mama didn't want to take care of you rascals, so she dumped you to me and now your here complaining!!"

I rolled my eyes as she was speaking, "Grandma it's not like that!" I said

"Rascals" she muttered, "dinner is ready!! I hope you will at least eat that."

"Thank you!!" I said sarcastically

The meal was simple, she made boiled beans and ham a classic 19th century meal, Grandma was already at the coach watching her favourite show

"Beat your kids"

The volume was at max and it nearly popped off my ear drums, I took a bite of the ham and the beans and for once it was actually pretty good, Brad liked it too as he was eating it without making a noise. After dinner it was already Nine and Grandma was fast asleep snoring and Shaking the entire house.

"Brooke I cannot sleep" Brad said, laying awake on the sofa, "just close your eyes and think about living in a bed full of cotton candy." I replied I slept next to Brad on the floor, as Grandma had only one bed,

"Brooke, why is grandma snoring so loudly." He said

"Hush! Brad don't talk, go to sleep."

The night was cold without a bed and a proper blanket but I didn't care as long as no one disturbs my sleep and no one shows up in front of me or at least for now and for the first time I slept peacefully.

"GET YOUR ASS UP! It's past nine in the morning."

The shrill voice of my grandma shook me up, I quickly got up and sat on my back, "Grandma why so loud, it's still early."

The loud sizzling from her frying pan, made it impossible for her to hear me inside this tiny house. Brad was already up and was sitting at the table waiting for his breakfast

My eyes was still heavy,I sauntered into the bathroom door and opened it, the sink stinked and the toilet was left without flushing in properly

I pinched my nose and pulled the knob the water started flushing down the remains. Brad and I have been staying here for almost two days straight and we don't know how longer we will be able to handle this here any longer, mom called me yesterday and told me that she had found a new home, although a bit expensive and we'll be ready to move in starting from next week.

Breakfast was hot at least because grandma preferred to cook breakfast instead of buying,

"Get off my face after your done eating!" says Grandma scrubbing the dishes on the sink.

"Don't worry." I said, then there was the doorbell.

"Who's at the door." Grandma said turning her head, I quickly got up from my seat and headed towards the door and opened it.

"Silas!?"

He was standing there his expression brighten as I called out his name,

"How did you get here?" I said

"Your mom told me the address, what's up?"

Brad jumped down from his seat and came running towards him, "Silas! How did you come here."

"Magic" he says to Brad,

"Who are you!?" Grandma said rudely.

"Granny, how are you? are you taking your medicine regularly." He replied

"Who is this rascal again, Brooke where did you find this animal."

"Grandma!" I yelled, Silas laughed, "Your granny's really is something."

Grandma's face turned bright red with anger and burst out shouting, "GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!!"

"Whoa! Granny," Silas said, "Calm down, watch out for your pressure."

I slowly pushed Silas away and shut the door behind me.

"Sorry about that, Grandma's always like that." I said

"Your Granny really is fun." He said laughing

"That's not funny…anyway why are you here."

Silas cleared his throat before speaking, "actually…I always wanted to tell you…."

He stopped for a while before clearing his throat again and said, " I've always….."

"Always what?"

He gave me a smirk, "always liked your Mom!"

I slapped his back as he started to laugh, " that's not even funny!"

"Iam sorry Iam sorry." He said holding back his laughter.

"Is that why you came here, to tell me you like my mom? Seriously what is wrong with you, you like woman twice your age?"

"I was just kidding" he replied, " I don't like your mom, I was just playing."

I gave out a sigh, "if that's all then…"

"I came to hang out with you." He said, " I know your stuck here, let's go to a place I know it's beautiful."

"Where?"

"It'll be a surprise, look I even bought snacks, you can call your brother too and your Granny if you want, we can all eat together."

What he said actually made me feel excited after a long time, staying in Grandma's house for two days straight gave me headaches.

"ok, let's see how beautiful that place is."

Silas expression brighten, "Iam sure it will be fun, oh! and I even bought this." He pulled out a camera from his bag.

"Oh you even bought a camera? That's nice."

He quickly snapped a picture of me,

"Hey!" I yelled, "don't take my pictures."

The photo slipped out from the camera instantly,

"It's not just a camera it's a Polaroid camera." Silas replied as he shook the photo once or twice and handed it to me.

I took a look at my picture and I was mad ugly.

"Com'on let's go." Silas said

"Where are you taking us?" I said, Silas kept quiet and walked ahead of us leading the way, the path of rocks beneath us were disappearing as we walked further and thick bushes started to cover up everything, "Silas where are we." I held Brad's hand tighter as we climbed up the hill and all of a sudden, I see a beautiful lake, with white flowers surrounding it "wow!" I said without knowing.

"Do you like it?" Silas said as he dropped his bag on the ground

"Silas, how did you know of this place." I said,

"I use to stay here, when I was little that's why I knew your place at once after you mom told me."

I sat on the grasses and Brad beside me, "Brad so you like this place." I asked, "umm not so much." He replied

Silas pulled out some snacks from his bag, Brad quickly jumped and grabbed a snacks from his hand, I watched the lake, swimming with fishes

"We could fish here too." Silas said

"Only if grandma allowed." I replied

Silas laughed and stood up picking up some stones from the ground, " God bless Granny!" he tossed the stones in a high arc above me. I laugh.

"What did you bring I'm hungry."

Silas took out a piece of tart from the bag along with some sandwiches and chips, I took a bite of the tart and it was really soft the flavour melted in my mouth.

"You know you can just stay with us." Silas said

"What!?" I ask,

"I mean, You don't like living with your Granny, and it'll take some time to find a new place." Said Silas

I didn't know how to respond, and the thought of living together with Mrs. Rose was not a good idea.

"If you wanted, I'm not forcing you." He adds quickly.

We sat there in silence, only hearing the chomps of Brad eating the chips, I can agree Mrs. Rose house is beautiful but I just didn't want to stay with her she seemed weird and looks like she's hiding something, I could say yes if she wasn't there.

" Hey Silas, hand me your camera let's take some pictures." I said, breaking the silence.

After that it was lot of fun, I never knew hanging out with Silas would be fun, I can be myself in front of him and that made me happy.

"Brad go sit over that rock, I'll take a picture of you." I said

"No, I don't want to take a picture." He said back.

Silas picked up Brad in his hands and sat on the rock," Now, quick click." He said. I pressed the button and the shutter made a sound, the picture slipped out of the camera, I took it out and gave it a shake, "ok now Silas,you can get out, Brad just sit there I want a picture of you alone."

Silas moved out of the way, "wow, Rude." He said.

I giggled, "sorry just one picture of my brother alone."

I held the camera to my face, "Brad smile." I said

But he looked at me and stuck out his tongue.

'CLICK!'

The sun was already setting down, it was getting late, Silas walked us to our porch, "Thank you Silas, today was great, I never knew you were a fun person." I said

Silas rubbed his nose and said, "That hurts, I thought You always liked me."

"Silas can we go tomorrow too." Brad said

Silas bended down and rubbed Brad's head, "sure, if you sister wants to go then we can."

"How are you going home then." I said, "it's already getting late."

"Don't worry about me, I can just take a cab or can ask someone to pick me up." said Silas

"You can stay the night with us." I said

He laughed, "no thanks, that Granny of yours would kill me."

I joined him too, "your right, anyway thanks for everything today "

He gave us a salute before turning and walking down the street, he turned back once again and waved at me before a car hit him.

Just kidding, that was what I was thinking, what if that happened but it didn't.

"Who was that young lad." Grandma said at the dinner table, at first I was a bit surprised a sage didn't speak in slang and was speaking normally.

"Our neighbour." I replied," what happened?"

"Nothing, he just seemed suspicious." Grandma said

"The only one suspicious here is you." I muttered

Grandma stood up from her chair, "ok I'm done, Brooke can you do the dishes, I'm tired and off to bed."

"I'll do it." I replied

She staggered her way to her bed and with a heavy 'thud' she landed on her bed, and within a minute she was fast asleep snoring all the way.

It was already very late at night but I was sitting at the table with the photos we took today, the lights were off and since Grandma didn't have a lamp, I had to burn a candle, it was dark except for my table, I smiled as I was watching all the photos one by one, the beautiful lake view, the ugly picture of myself that Silas took without asking me, all these will become a good part of my memory, at first I didn't like Silas because he was always there wherever I go to anywhere, but that was the reason why I started to like him even more, I never thought having a friend who notices me would feel so good, Iam very bad at making friends but Silas was able to handle me very well and now I can say that we have become better friends than before, I took a sip of the juice I was drinking as I flipped the photos one by one, we took a lot of photos and knowing the fact that the camera produces instant photo made me more excited that I took more than I expected, I flipped the photo of the tarts and the sandwiches Silas brought from home and the photo of the both of us together and the lake behind us, but it didn't come out well because Brad was the one clicking the picture, I flipped the photos of the one with Silas holding Brad in his lap, I laughed after seeing Brad's face, then I flipped the final photo, the photo of Brad alone sitting in a rock sticking out his tongue, I squinted my eyes and took a proper look at the photo, my eyes grew wide open when I saw that the photo had not only Brad in it but next to him was an old man, his face was pale and his eyes were dead, staring right at me he was holding Brad's hand and his body was see-through, I choked and dropped the glass of juice I was holding, it shattered on the floor.

"Brooke?" Brad said in a low muffled voice, he slowly got up from the sofa and came towards me yawning, "Brooke what are you doing." I couldn't move I was still holding the photo in my hand when Brad noticed it, his eyes grew wide open and his jaws dropped.

"Brooke!" He shouted

"That's Robbie!"