Strange Shorts

Grandma's Clock

Every time I was asked what I was afraid of, I would say Gradma's clock. It was not always like this, but ever since that day, I never wanted to return to Grandma's house again. Grandma always had that clock; it was old and had always been in that house. The day my mother had to be out of town was the day I had been dropped off at grandma's house. Before she left, my mother told me

"Do not touch grandma's clock."

I didn't think much of it at the time; I just shrugged it off. I knew Grandma had a lot of brakeables, and Mother didn't want to make Grandma mad since she was Mom's only babysitter she could rely on. I walked up to the front door and noticed a note on the door.

"The doors open. Come on in."

I opened the door as it made a creeking sound, and right inside was the clock standing in the walkway, displayed like a centerpiece. One thing I noticed is that the clock wasn't making any noise at all, and it seemed to be stuck at 11:59. I looked around to see where Grandma was. The house was strange and kind of dark, in a very creepy setting. I looked over to the room where the living room was and noticed Grandma in her chair, snoring. I didn't want to wake her and figured she was expecting me because of the note on the door, so I went up stairs to the guest room and put my backpack on the bed.

I turned around only to find Grandma standing at the door of my room. The look she gave me was one of confusion for a moment, until she finally recognized me and reached out for a hug.

"Oh, my grandbaby, I didn't hear you come in."

I gave her a hug, and she wanted me to come down to the kitchen. As I walked into the kitchen, I noticed a plate full of chocolate chip cookies. She picked one up and handed it to me.

"Have a cookie."

She smiled as I reached for the cookie, and when I grabbed it, she had a blank expression on her face. She looked over my shoulder with a concerned look. I couldn't help but look behind me, but there was only a dark room that met in the kitchen. I turned back to her only to find her whispering something with that same look on her face. All I could hear was "move it."

She turned her attention back to me, smiled, and asked me.

"Could you move the clock's hand to twelve, dear?"

I shook my head no, as I didn't want to anger mom if I accidentally broke Grandma's clock, so I quickly changed the subject and offered to play cards with her, which worked. As we sat at the kitchen table playing cards, Grandma seemed to be really happy and enjoying herself until she turned once again to look over at the dark room. I knew it was the clock that was bothering her; it seemed like it had become an absesion to her. I could help her, but there must be a reason mom told me not to.

It was getting late. I wasn't sure why Grandma showed no sign of stopping the card game, and I wasn't quite sure what the time was. I yawned, and Grandma noticed.

"Oh dear, you look tied. We better call it a night and start again tomorrow."

I could not agree more with her; I was tied and ready to sleep. I gave her a hug and went off to my room. I went to bed tied and went to sleep fast; however, I awoke sometime later and was not sure what the time was since most of the clocks in Grandma's house never worked. I tried to go back to sleep, but I couldn't get that clock out of my head. Maybe mom meant not for me to touch the clock unless grandma wanted me to, or maybe she meant a different clock? I was curious now. I got out of bed and opened my door. I walked ever so quietly down the hall and down the stairs. I stood in front of the clock, just staring at it for a moment. I fought hard not to mess with it, but I figured if I moved it, Granma would be very happy by the morning.

I reached for the big hand and moved it to twelve. Suddenly, the clock bell rang. It was loud. I hoped it wouldn't wake Grandma. I figured it would stop after the twelfth ring, but it didn't; it just kept ringing. I was afraid. I thought to myself, Maybe this is what mom meant when she told me not to touch the clock.

Suddenly, I hear something making noise above me on the second floor. It sounded like something was dragging across the floor along with footsteps. I was afraid. I ran upstairs quickly to try to get to my room, but as soon as I made it down the hall, I saw what looked like Grandma with her head facing down, her hair covering her face, and in her hand, an axe that was dragging on the ground as she slowly walked toward me. I ran in a panic, yelling at her and trying to wake her up, but as soon as I could even think, I tripped down the stairs, hitting my head. I was out of it.

The next day came, and all I could think about was the splitting headache I had that morning. I tried to look around while my eyes were still trying to adjust. Thats when I felt a deffrent pain. I noticed something felt off, and as I reached to feel my mouth, I found that my mouth was sown shut with yarn. I freaked out and tried to yell out, but the pain intensified as I tried to open my mouth. I noticed I was back in my room, and so I ran into the bathroom to look in the mirror and saw the poor job of the yarn that had been keeping my mouth shut. All I could remember was that parts of my upper lip had been hanging and torn flesh around my jaw. I was panicking. I ran out of my room and down to the kitchen, where Grandma was nowhere to be seen.

I grabbed a knife to try and cut the yarn from my mouth, but the pain was unbearable. As I was doing this, I heard a car horn. It was mom. She was supposed to pick me up today. I ran out the front door to meet mom, and she saw my face. She told me to get in the car. I tried to explain what had happened, but she told me

"I told you not to touch her clock."

Ever since that day, I never returned to that house. Mom never wanted to talk about it or talk about Grandma. I never even knew what happened to Grandma.

The End.