I have attended quite a few Halloween parties, but the night I met the eerie old man was by far the scariest.
Several unquestioning teens had received a postcard invitation to meet for a party at the old Gramling home. The house, built over 100-years ago, setback a long stony road, high on a hill. It stood three stories tall and had a small circular window in its spire. I grew up thinking it was haunted.
When I arrived, the eerie old man had already greeted several other teens. I had been inside this house before, but I never entered through the storm doors. The old man opened them wide and waited for us to go inside. I looked at the stairs. They went down into the basement. The rest of the house loomed over us as if wanting to push us in and swallow us whole. The eerie old man laughed a very strange laugh, "Ahee-hee-hee-hee-hee!"
My friends and I stood there staring at the open pit of stairs and at the hunched over eerie old man. His white dress shirt had dirty spots on it from who knows what, and his long nose looked like deformed clay. His eyes were hidden and dark. He moved his long and wrinkled fingers as if playing an invisible piano. He pointed at the stairs.
"Ahee-hee-hee-hee-hee!"
Each of us shoved the others in front, not wanting be first. He stepped closer to the little group of young men I was a part of but had turned chicken. As he reached for me, I about peed myself. I think I did wet a little. I fell. My salvation. Then the others, like dominoes, backed over me and I was in front again. Stink! He continued toward us, still reaching out. I tried to turn and get away. It was no use.
"Ahee-hee-hee-hee-hee!"
The eerie old man was behind us now and the only way of escape was down those stairs. I was first.
I was first!
I ran down those stairs leaving the chickens to fight the eerie old man by themselves. I was going to ... to ... to have cake? and punch?
A party awaited us in the basement. The other boys were standing there with me now staring at the decorations and the table of goodies. I heard the basement doors close behind us. Whose party was this for anyway?
"Ahee-hee-hee-hee-hee!"
YOU ARE READING
That Night at Grandpa's (And Other Scary Stories)
Short StoryEach of the stories you are about to read are more than fifty percent true. Some parts you won't believe. Some stories are completely true. Feel free to ask my kids which of these stories are true. They might tell you. They might not. They have firs...
