What Are You? War Beneath The Earth

Ghosts and Demons

I stared numbly at the old man for a few seconds. He just looked at me with the same shocked look in his face. I know that this is the same old man from the other day. How did he know I lived here?! How come he doesn't look too shabby and he looks proper and clean and kind.

I heard a few scuttling footsteps and a hand on my shoulder.

"Why, who is it-?", Grandma stopped short and looked wide eyed at the old man then squealed. "Oh Harris!"

The man seemed to snap out of his thoughts and gave a warm smile to my Grandma. Grandma knows this man?!

"Why, hello Hilda. It's been so long since we last saw each other.", the old man whose name is Harris, as my Grandma said, nodded slightly at her and smiled. I just stood there, still stunned.

"Why, darling, don't just stand there. Let our guest in.", Grandma cast a disapproving glare at me.

I muttered an apology and opened the door wider, motioning Mr. Harris to come in.

He hesitated to come in at first, like he was bothered with something and kept on glancing all around the house. This old man is really weird. I can tell.

Nick was sitting on the couch and almost fell when he saw who our new guest is. I gave him a glare and mouthed 'get a hold of yourself' while following Grandma and the old dude to the kitchen.

"Please, Harris. Take a seat.", she pointed at the chair next to the dining table and Mr. Harris did as he was told.

I kept on glancing at Mr. Harris cause I am so freaked out right now. My mind is stirring up because Grandma knows this guy! This guy who grabbed me and told me I'm being followed by a demon or whatever! I decided to just look at my shoes and keep my cool.

"So Grandma, who is our new guest?", I almost whispered, not daring to look at Mr. Harris because he might be looking at me. What? He gives me the hibbie-jibbies.

"Oh my, where are my manners.", Grandma rolled her eyes, smiling. " Harris, this is my grand daughter, Monalis. Monalis, this is Harris Hamilton, an old friend."

I gave him a small smile and he nodded at me, his intense brown eyes seem to stare right into my soul. It made my skin crawl.

"Harris, it's a good thing you showed up. Today is Mona's 17th birthday. Oh, it was just like yesterday when I was holding her as a baby.", my Grandma beamed while stirring the sauce for the spaghetti and meatballs.

Mr. Harris' eyes grew wide and shot a worried look at me. He gulped and said " She's seventeen today?". He continued to looked at Grandma and didn't glanced my way at all. I was confused because, why would he even care and be worried at all if it is my seventeenth birthday today.

He still has his back turned to me and I want to ask why but I felt a hand on my shoulder and I almost jumped. I looked up to see that it was Nick. He had this distrusting look on his face. I just nodded slightly at him to assure him everything's just fine.

Dinner came and he were all sitted around the table. Grandma and Mr. Harris were at each end of the table and Nick and I are sitting side by side. I scooted closer to Nick because I'm still scared of Mr. Harris and I still don't know what's gotten into him to grab me and say scary things to me.

I tried to distract myself by looking at the food. There was my favorite, spaghetti and meatballs and some turkey sandwiches, a bowl of macaroni and cheese, a few chocolate brownies on a platter, roasted ham,  and a large, round chocolate cake at the center of the table.

I looked at Grandma and said thanks. She looked pleased and motioned for us to eat.

We ate in silence and only the tinkering of the forks and knives against the plate is heard. I kept on taking small glances at Mr. Harris in case he does anything weird. Well, so far, so good. He just kept on eating normally and wouldn't look at me ever since he knew it was my birthday.