What Hides Within

Ghosts

"Celine the ghost-grandmother..." David laughed. "Sure, I heard about her."

Eric switched his phone to the other hand as opened a can of beer. "Joe said Celine was never mentioned in the family."

David chuckled. "Joe might have not, but my mum did. She once told us a bedtime story of Celine the ghost-grandmother when Carrie was staying over. Carrie and I would joke about it for years after that. Mysterious sounds in the house? It was Celine. Thought you heard someone whisper your name? It was Celine. Your cat is staring at the blank wall behind you? It was Celine. Celine was one of our favourite inside jokes."

Eric settled down on Carrie's favourite bean bag. "Have you heard about Myra?"

"Yea of course." David said flippantly.

"Carrie knew about Celine when you guys were so little?" Eric asked, confused.

"What, no!" Now David sounded confused. "My mum told us about Celine when we were about ten."

"How did she know about Myra then?" Eric asked.

"Ok buddy, you lost me there." David laughed. "Myra was the name of this doll that Carrie spotted at a shop when she was out with mum and me. She totally pestered my mum to buy that doll for her but we weren't doing too great with money back then and my mum refused. So Carrie created a fictional friend Myra. Why, Myra was my friend too. Man, I miss her." David laughed again.

Eric didn't laugh. "Did you know Celine's second name was Myra?"

"What? No way! Really?" David said.

"So imaginary friend Myra had nothing to do with Celine?" Eric persisted.

David snorted. "Are you kidding me! Of course not! It was a harmless thing and we both forgot Myra soon enough. Why are you even bringing this up?"

Eric ignored the question. "What do you know about Celine?"

David paused. "I don't know the full story really. What I do know is that Celine was this bad ass woman. Tough as nails. Sharp as a tack. That kinda woman. Her kids were terrified of her. Her grandkids were terrified of her. She lost her husband at a young age and brought up seven kids on her own. But my mum once told me that though Celine scared her shitless, she was one woman she aspired to be."

Eric toyed with the can. "So she wasn't... evil..."

David laughed. "Dude, are you joking! No! Let's say if she was a working woman in this day and age, she would be Meryl Streep from 'The Devil Wears Prada'. But evil? No man!"

Eric rubbed his eyes wearily. "I think I need to meet your mom."

A/N: What do you think of Celine? Is she really the evil great grandmother Joe made her out to be?