Short Horror Stories

Grandfather Tim

Grandpa Tim was a bit of a recluse, as my family liked to say. He lived out in the middle of nowhere in an old, dilapidated house. But when he came around, everyone listened. No one argues or disobeys his commands, as strange as they were.

For example, the time Tim convinced my Aunt Betty to purchase a life insurance policy on my Uncle Bill. Betty argued but gave in to Grandpa who insisted on paying for the policy. Two years later, Uncle Bill passed away from a sudden heart attack. 

Aunt Betty received a huge payout that helped Uncle Bill's wife with the funeral costs. 

Sometimes his advice would be to get checked at the doctor, even if you weren't sick, and they would find a life-threatening tumor inside you. Other times, it would be to stay home from work on a certain day, and then you'd see a twenty-car pile-up on the highway on the news. Grandpa Tim always knew exactly when to call.

When Tim died, I inherited all his possessions including his house. The lawyer instructed me to check his mailbox for a letter Tim left me.

I found myself opening a door in the basement and then almost fainting when I saw the endless cavern of hourglasses as far as the eye could see. The closest hourglasses to the door had the names of my family members etched on their bases. That's when I saw the sand in my parent's hourglasses about to run out. I called them and told them to not get on the plane heading to Tim's funeral. The sand in their hourglasses refilled.