The Takers

Chapter 3

The following day, I drove back to my house. I immediately found a stack of old newspapers and some duct tape. Amalia wouldn't be able to get to me if the mirrors were covered.

After I had covered the mirrors, I went into the living room to relax. There were a lot of mirrors in the house, and my arms were exhausted. Seeing all our mirrors covered in newspaper creeped me out a bit. I knew I would have to take it all down before my parents came home, or they would have many questions. I was about to sit down on the couch when the doorbell rang. I would have to rest later. I knew it had to be my grandpa. I headed to the door and peeked into the peephole. It was my grandpa.

I opened the door and put a smile on my face.

"Hey Frankie, there is some information I didn't tell you earlier, and now I realize that it is unfair for me to keep it from you."

"Come in."

"Wow. I have not been here in a long time," he said, stepping inside the house. He paused to look around.

I led him into the living room, and we both sat down.

"You guys changed a lot since I was last here." Although it was not my fault, I felt guilty that my parents cut him out of our lives.

"Yeah," I agreed. "So, what is it that you wanted to tell me?"

He looked down. "It is about Amalia." He paused for a bit. "I used to be haunted by her too."

"I didn't want to tell you, because I lost so much in my life. Everyone thought I was going crazy, especially your parents. I was afraid that they would send me back to Serenity Heights if I started talking about Amalia again."

"Serenity Heights? What is that?" I asked.

"You don't know? Your parents didn't tell you?"

"No?"

"Serenity Heights is a mental asylum that your parents checked me into. I was there for a while... and with everyone telling me that I was crazy, I guess I started to believe it."

"Oh."

"After that... I kept my distance," he said.

"I'm surprised that my parents never told me. You must have felt so alone."

"I did feel alone at first and a bit angry too. It took some time to get used to. On the bright side, I did make some great friends in that place. But it was tough being away from my family."

"I can't believe they did that. I'm so sorry," I said, rubbing his shoulder.

I could not believe I was finally learning why we stopped seeing Grandpa. Now I definitely couldn't tell my parents about Amalia. It seemed like when he needed them the most, they gave up on him.

"Frankie, you don't have to apologize for anything. I'm just glad that I got to see you again."

"I'm glad I got to see you too," I paused. "But I have a question now that you told me you used to be haunted by Amalia."

"Ask away."

"I didn't," he sighed.

"What do you mean?"

"I still see her." I saw fear in his eyes. "Not as much as I used to, but she still visits me. However, sometimes I don't mind it because seeing her reminds me of my sister. Although it's been a long time since the accident, I still miss her."

"Oh ..." I processed what he said. My heart seemed to skip a beat. I had assumed that he had found a way to get rid of Amalia, but that was not the case. "How are we going to stop this? I don't want to see her for the rest of my life."