Creepy Short Stories

My Grandfather's Final Invention

My Grandfather's Final Invention

My grandfather was an inventor.

All his life he's be tinkering with something, either taking something that existed and changing it, making it into something brand new (Or at the very least different) or inventing something entirely from spare parts. And while nothing he invented was ever earth shaking it was always one of my greatest delights, ever since I was a little girl, to see what he'd made.

Childhood visits to his home would always begin or end with me sitting on the couch, a look of absolute fascination on my tiny face as he showed off whatever gadget he'd put together in his workshop this time around. It was like having my own personal Santa who worked all year 'round to fill my eight year old mind with wonder and glee.

My older sister was likewise excited, no matter how much she tried to hide the excitement it filled her with, probably in an effort to appear cooler or more mature than myself. And while, because of real life getting in the way, the visits became fewer and fewer the older we got, we would always make time to see him at least a few times a year. And every time he would have something new to show us.

He really was a genius.

I should add that isn't meant to imply something horrible happened to him. I'm sure some days he wishes it had, that it had been him who had wound up in that hospital instead of my sister but no, he went in his sleep and I hope that his passing was a peaceful one.

Even all these years later I can't bring myself to be angry about what happened, can't bring myself to hate him. He had no idea what would happen, no clue how things would pan out.

He knew something was wrong, oh yes. He wasn't some doddering old fool. He knew the first time he looked through them that something was wrong but he thought it was something only a little odd, something unsettling and curious perhaps but not anything dangerous. Not anything that would HARM anyone.

I think deep down he just wanted to know that he wasn't crazy. He wanted to be sure that he wasn't seeing things. And who can blame him?

There were three of us that year.

Myself and my girlfriend Justine and my sister Joan. We were both used to our grandfather being bursting with energy to show us whatever he'd put together so his oddly subdued mood when he came to the door to greet us came as a bit of a surprise. I was a little disappointed in fact, as I'd been hoping Justine would get to share in the experience of having a new invention demonstrated before our awe struck eyes. We'd only started dating that year so it would be the first chance she got to see the kind of things I'd been telling her about.

The day passed pleasantly enough as we chatted, enjoyed lunch and watched the television together. I think it was
Joan who asked him, finally, if he had anything special to show us today. We knew that he'd been working on something as while this was the first time we'd seen him in person in a while we'd both spoke to him on the phone in the preceding months and he'd eagerly explained to us that he was working on something he thought would be quite extraordinary.

I still couldn't tell you how he made them, nor would I if I could. Nor could
I tell you what his original idea for those oddly coloured circles of glass had been, before that fateful day he'd looked through them and seen what he'd seen. He never shared details of his work with us beforehand as he wanted it to be a surprise and afterwards I think he was terrified of the thought of anyone replicating what he'd made.

All I know is that when Joan pressed him to reveal his latest invention he looked nervous in a way I'd never seen him before, looked as if he was deeply troubled by something. He hesitated before speaking as if not sure he should say anything at all before explaining to us that the nature of what he was working on had changed after an 'Unusual event' and that he wasn't sure if it would be a good idea to show us the end result.