The Duke

1- About a dream

"I'm surprised John didn't shed a tear at the funeral", said my mother breaking the silence in the car.

"Right? I thought he was going to put on a show", I could start seeing my grandmother's house in the distance. "How are you feeling?" I turned to my mother who was driving with her hands stiff on the car wheel.

"I'm ok, don't worry".

"Dad will be here with Steve soon, we should start organizing first". She nodded and fell silent again.

To be honest, I couldn't even grasp what my mother was feeling at the moment. I tried imagining how I would feel if she died, but I couldn't. And even though it was a bit sad about not seeing Grandma again, I just felt relieved when I heard the nurse saying she had passed away. The only thing I could think of was she was not going to suffer anymore. 

I think I might have cried what I had to while she fought against her illness, which was way harder than having her resting at last.

My mom and I put our hands at work quickly. There were a lot of things we had to pack for charity and my mom still had to decide whether she wanted to keep something or not. We started with the visit's room, and then the garage.

It was lunchtime already when my dad and brother got there with two pizzas and coke.

"Will they come?" Asked my mother the moment she saw Dad.

"They will be here at 5".

"Thank God!" She sighed relieved.

"I told you to leave it to me".

"I know, thank you".

"We might need to help to move it though", said Steve.

"I don't mind, I just want it as far as possible, and fast". Steve and I exchanged a knowing look.

Since I can remember, Mom said Grandma's house was haunted, that the piano played without anyone there in the middle of the night, and that Grandma had weird and cursed objects hidden all over the place. Steve and I laughed every time she talked about it.

I must say I spent every summer with Grandma until I was seventeen and I never experienced anything like my mother told us, which were things that seemed taken out straight out from a horror movie.

After taking a break for lunch, Dad took Mom for a walk while my brother and I kept packing things in boxes that started to pile up in the living room.

"I think we are finally done here", said Steve stretching his back.

"What about that box over there?" I pointed at a white and dusty box in the corner of the garage.

"Ah, it was already packed. I was going to move it with the others". He motioned to get it.

"Did you check it?"

"No, but it's already packed". He shrugged his shoulders.

"You know we have to check everything", I slapped his back. "Mom told us she's looking for the photo albums of Grandpa". He sighed and helped me to open it.

"Oh, here they are". He gasped taking out the albums.

"See? You almost kill us both!" I took the other things out to check the box's contents. There were three photo albums, a lot of envelopes and a diary. It was Grandma's diary!

"Are you reading that?" Exclaimed my brother.

"Why not?" I said already scanning a random page of it.

"What if there are... details, written on there?" He said putting on a disgusted face. I laughed.

"How old are you? 12?" I already knew there wouldn't be the type of details he thought though, it was Grandma we were talking about.