Grandma's

Grandma’s.

Charlie stared at his mother, but she took no notice.

         “Grandma will soon be here to collect you, and it’s only for the summer holidays. You’ll love it once you’re there.”

         “Her house smells funny, she’s deaf, and I have scary dreams.”

         “But you love grandma.”

         He gazed into her eyes. “I love her when she visits us.”

         “Charlie, your father and I have a few things to sort out. You should stay with Grandma. I’ll come for you when I can.”

         The doorbell chimed.

         “Grandma’s arrived. Put your coat on and pick up your case.”

         Charlie smiled when his mum opened the door. Grandma had aged, and her hair was more grey than brown. She still appeared scary and crazy.

         “Give Grandma a kiss,” his mother said.

         He hated it when she hugged and slobbered over him.

         “Must dash. The taxi meter’s running.”

         “A kiss for me, Charlie?” his mother asked.

         He cuddled her, and a single tear ran across his cheek.

         Grandma gave Charlie a pile of comics to read for the journey from Waterloo Station to Petersfield. Three hours later, they arrived at the ancient cottage.

         “I’ve changed your bedroom,” said Grandma. “I hope it’s alright.”

         They strolled up the pathway, and Charlie saw demons staring at him from every window. He shuddered as the door opened, but nothing happened. His mind wandered to the nights he never slept, believing someone was in his room.

         “I’ll make us a cup of tea.”

         “Have you any pop?” he asked, knowing the answer.

         “Will lemonade do?”

         “Yes, please.”

         He stopped at his bedroom door, took several deep breaths, and pushed it open wide.

         “Wow.” Grandma had transformed his room into a pirate ship. The pirate flag acted as a bed cover. Brilliant, he thought. Maybe I imagined those things. He charged down the stairs to the kitchen. “Thank you, Grandma, it’s brill.” He sniffed because she smelt funny.

         “I’m so pleased.”

         After eating fish and chips from the local chippy, he said goodnight, kissed his grandma and climbed the stairs to his room. With his face washed and teeth brushed, he slid between the crisp white sheets. The moon rose, its light twisting the shadows on the walls, but he could not sleep. Something was missing; he wasn’t afraid, and he loved what Grandma had done, but somehow it wasn’t the same.

In the morning, Grandma insisted he eat a cooked breakfast.

         What led him into the smelly, dark, damp, and musty cellar, he didn’t understand. Daylight filtered through dirty ground-level windows.

         With his hand against the wall, he imagined giant spiders and monster bugs waiting to pounce. The place was spooky, with damp walls and creaking doors. This was a dungeon where dragons lurked and preyed on the unwary. Then he found the light switch, and the demons vanished.

         What he searched for, he knew, was in the cellar. In the coal room, he found the wardrobe in a dank corner. Beside it lay an axe, ready to carve it into kindling.

         This was the moment he dreaded. For five minutes, he stood daring himself to open the wardrobe door. “I’m six,” he shouted and yanked it open.

         He shrieked as his eyes fell on the ugliest of creatures.

         Inside the wardrobe, the creature covered its three eyes and squeaked.

         Charlie shrieked and stumbled backwards.

         Something unfolded from the wardrobe’s darkness. It had three glossy black eyes, a head too large for its body, and skin that looked like damp grey paper. Long fingers tipped with yellow claws covered its face. When it breathed, its chest rattled as though stones rolled around inside it.

         Why they stopped yelling remains a mystery.

         “You’re ugly,” said Charlie, full of bravado.

         The creature rose to its full height of four feet. “You look like a flat swamp fish.”

         “How come you can speak English?”

         “It’s my language.”

         “No, it’s not.”

         “It is so.” The creature folded its three arms on the top of its head.

         “Why did you scream?” asked Charlie.

         “Because you’re so ugly, and my mother told me if you catch us, you eat us.”

         “Eat you? I bet you taste awful.”

         “I don’t.”

         “How do you know?”

         The creature and Charlie stared at each other and laughed, forgetting their horrors.

         “Have you seen my bedroom? It’s a pirate ship.”

         The creature blinked and lowered its head. “When you were last here, I wondered how you survived in the other land.”

         “Where do you live?”

         The creature pointed to a tunnel that disappeared into the wardrobe. “In the land of light.”

         “Can you take me?”

         “Never tried, but don’t see why not.”

         “Will it take long? My grandma worries if she doesn’t know where I am.”

         The creature shook its head. “I’ve stopped time in your world.”

         “Cool Magic,” said Charlie. “Do you have a name?”

         The creature glared quizzically. “Axial.”

         “Charlie.”

         With Axial leading, they descended the stairs into his world. He stopped. “Do not look at those with four eyes. They are our leaders, so bow when they pass.”

         “I’ll try, but it won’t be easy.”

         They turned a corner into a land of brilliant colours, shapes and strange beings.

         Charlie grabbed Axial’s arm. “Is it safe?”

         He chortled. “No one will harm you. You are so ugly they will float out of your way.”

         Charlie laughed.

         Far above them, Grandma paused while washing up and glanced towards the ceiling.

         “About time,” she murmured, smiling.

         For a long time, Axial showed Charlie his home. The giant red toadstool-shaped houses, with curly chimneys and pink smoke. The bluegrass in the parks.

         After a while, his feet ached. “I should go back. Next time, I’ll show you my home, but people will scream if they see you.”

         “Are there places without people?”

         Charlie grinned. “I can show you everything on the television. Those people can’t see you.”

         Axial lumbered to the base of the stairs. “Can I visit you soon?”

         “Look forward to it, but make sure I’m on my own.”

         For Charlie, it was the best summer holiday ever. He and Axial played games in the local woods and watched television while Grandma shopped.

         When his mother arrived without his father and told him they would have to live with Grandma for a time, Charlie said, “Great.”

         “Great?” his mother asked.

         “I like it here.”

         Grandma smiled but said nothing.

         Later, while Charlie unpacked his belongings, his mother shook her head.

         “Don’t ask me,” said Grandma. “He even wanted my old wardrobe back in his room and now sleeps with the light out.”

         “He’s growing up, Mum.”

         “Maybe.”

         Grandma glanced towards the cellar door.

         For a moment, she thought she saw it move.

         Then she smiled.

         “Or perhaps he’s learned that not every monster is something to fear.”

         Charlie’s mother laughed.

         Grandma laughed too, but her gaze lingered on the cellar.

         Deep in the darkness below, a wardrobe door opened the tiniest crack.

         Three bright eyes peered through.

         And quickly disappeared again.