Family Secrets

Family Secrets

“Sarah, be a dear and get me some sugar out of the pantry.” The elderly woman askes as she was making tea.

“Yes Grammy.” The younger woman got up and does her bidding.

“Now, where was I? Oh yes. Margery said that I had the best apple pie in the county. So, I said why not. I entered the pie in the county fair and the rest is history.” She said with a twinkle in her eyes.

“I know Grammy. That was what, fifteen years ago? You make your apple pie every year and every year you win. Everyone says you should branch out and you would make lots of money but you won’t.” Sarah rolls her eyes. Every time she comes and visits her grandmother she hears the same story. Granted, the woman is eighty years old but doesn’t look a day older than fifty.

“Bite your tongue young lady. Respect your elders. If I want to tell the story let me. I think I deserve it.” She scolds her.

“Sorry Grammy. Go ahead.”

“What I was going to say is that this will be my last year entering the competition.”

“What? Why Grammy?”

“I’m getting old and I’m tired. Besides, it’s time for someone else to start winning.” She pours herself another cup of tea.

“Grammy! You’re so young and full of energy.” Sarah counters. Concern was creeping in. Her grandma was the most energetic older person she knew. She never talks about her age or her aches and pains.

“Thank you dear, but that’s not the truth. I’m getting on in years and it hasn’t been the same since your mother died.” Sarah’s mother died five years ago in a car accident. Just thinking about it brought tears to her eyes.

“Let’s not talk about that Grammy. Let’s talk about something else.”

“No, there’s things you need to know. There are things about our family you should know about. Here dear,” she holds out her arms. “Help me up.”

Sarah helps her grandmother to her feet. Something was going on and Sarah was going to find out. Her grandmother usually wasn’t this secretive.

“Come with me child.” She saw the look on Sarah’s face and explains. “I’m not crazy or senile. I have something to show you. It’s about our family. There are many things that we have not told you about. Things that your mother should have been the one to tell you about.”

“This ought to be interesting.” Sarah thought to herself. Her and her mother hadn’t talked in years before she died. Not that there was really any specific reason that she could think of. It just seemed to her that her mother was slowly losing her mind. Her mother had been committed for a while before she had her accident. She died two weeks after being released from the hospital. It was said to have been an accident but many thought she had killed herself. Sarah was one of them.

“You nevermind that girl. Come with me. I have much to tell you.” Grammy heads for the stairs.

“Where are we going?”

“To the attic girl. That’s where all our family secrets are kept.”

Sarah giggles. “Isn’t it the basement where people tend to keep their family secrets.”

Grammy stops and turns around. “Maybe so. Maybe so. Oh, but not this family. Besides, it’s too dark and dank down there.” She then turns and continues back up the stairs.

Sarah silently follows her grandmother. She was starting to question things in her family. Some things she used to just pass as bad luck. Now maybe whatever is in the attic will explain what is up with her family. Things like, why are there no males in the family. Or why do the males die or just disappear. Her father died when she was about eight years old. Her grandfather died before she was born. Her grandmother had been married at least three times and the last time, he disappeared maybe ten years ago.

“In due time.” Grammy whispers ahead of her. “All in due time.”

Sarah didn’t know what to expect when she went into the attic, but what she saw was far from anything she could imagine. The room was very sanitary. A bit too sanitary. It actually smells like a hospital. The smell is what hits you first. Then, the machinery. It was like a modern day lab. It fascinates her until the next thing she saw. What she saw were four hyper chambers. She new she shouldn’t walk over to them. She was getting a bad feeling in her stomach but she couldn’t stop herself.

“I know you’ve had some questions about our family and some of our little “quirks”. I argued with your mother for many years about telling you. But she wouldn’t have it. She wanted you to have a normal life. We will never have a normal life. A normal life was written out of our lives many generations ago.” Grammy explains.

Sarah looks into the first chamber. It was old and she had to really rub the glass to see. What she saw shocks and disgusts her. It was what was left of a body. An old almost desiccated body. She steps back, putting her hand over her mouth.

“That is my Robert. My first husband.” Grammy touches his chamber somewhat lovingly. “At that time I thought I could change my destiny. Poor fool that I was. I tried to turn my back on my family and all I got was a broken heart. Robert was stepping out on me with my best friend at that time. That is when my Aunt Gladys brought me back into the family. You see dear, our family is necromancers. We feed off of the dead or nearly dead to sustain life many more years than normal humans.” She said it so matter of factly, that Sarah didn’t recognize her grandmother. The woman who helped raise her was a crazy monster.

“What? I don’t understand.” Sarah was frozen with shock.

“You will understand. Soon enough.”

“Who are these other people?”

“That one” she said pointing to the one next Robert. “Is Gilbert. I didn’t make the same mistake twice. That time I married him for money. Which was a nice compensation considering what a horrible person he was. He was such a nasty bastard!”

“Grammy!” Her language was a shock. Her grandmother was always proper and didn’t think it was right to curse.

“I’m not a prude dear. I knew he was bad. He liked to go whorin and gambling. It wasn’t until later I found out that he like to hurt little girls. That made what I had to do so much easier.” Grammy didn’t touch his chamber.

“Are they dead? Did you murder them?”

“Some are dead some are brain dead. I personally didn’t kill any except Gilbert. I found him trying to do things with a little girl and I was so angry and had to stop him. It was an accident. I only meant to stop him but I hit him too hard.” She pauses. “Robert had a stroke. I walked in on him with my best friend. I guess the shock was too much. He was alive up until 10 years ago.”

“You kept them here the whole time I was growing up?” She has a sinking feeling. “Please tell me that isn’t grandfather?” She tentatively points to the third chamber.

She has a sad look on her face. “Yes. That is your grandfather. He died of old age. I found him in bed one morning, stiff as a board. Your mother and I carried him up here and then went to the police. They never found him of course. You have to have a very keen eye to find the door up here.”

So, Grammy has told her the first three chambers. So, what about the third?

“I think it’s best if you come over and look at this book.” Grammy was at a table away from the chambers where a large book was sitting.

“Who is in the last chamber?” She knew she shouldn’t ask but she couldn’t stop herself. She needs to know if that is her father in there or not.

Grammy sighs. “By the look on your face you already know who is in there.” She pauses. “He was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Your mother and I were arguing about whether or not she was going to follow the family ways or not and whether she was going to bring you into it or not. She didn’t want anything to do with it and she wanted to make sure you had nothing to do with it too. I explained to her you can try to deny your heritage, but you cannot escape it. It always catches up to you. Your father must have heard us arguing and came up to see what was going on. Your mother had left the door open and he found the entrance to easily. He had never been up her and it took him by surprise. Needless to say he was shocked. Your mother tried to explain that she didn’t have anything to do with it but the hurt in his eyes said he wouldn’t listen. He left in a hurry. I made your mother go after him. I don’t know what happened but the end is the same.”

“Why? Why only males? How? I just don’t understand?” Sarah sat down at the table next to her Grammy.

“Let’s go downstairs and we’ll talk over a cup of coffee.” Grammy grabs the book and leads her downstairs, securing the entrance.

Once they are sitting at the table with their coffee, Grammy opens the book at the beginning.

“We’ve been around for many, many centuries. What you may not know is that we are not entirely human. You and I aren’t completely human I should say. The first of our line was completely alien. They bred with humans and we are the outcome of this.” She turns to a page and shows Sarah a picture of their ancestor’s true form. It was not pretty. Its appearance was so hideous that when the first people saw them, it drove them insane. “Don’t worry. We don’t look like that. We’ve evolved. We appear human but we have certain powers that are dormant right now but will come in handy when needed.” Grammy explains to Sarah while arching an eyebrow.

“But what about the chambers? What about those poor people? What do you do to them?” She was afraid to know, but she needs to know.

“You have to use them to survive. You’ll understand as you get older that you just don’t want to die and that you will do almost anything to prolong death. Even doing macabre things.”

“That still doesn’t tell me what you do to them and why they are only males?”

“As a necromancer I need various parts of the body to do certain spells. That’s why you make sure you have more than one up there. You mix the parts with certain herbs and the proper incantations, and you’ve prolonged your life.”

“And all of this is in this book?” She carefully flipped through the pages. They were brown and worn but still in good condition.

“Yes. As far as why it is males. The only reason I can see it is mainly males is because we are matriarchal. The women hold the power and the men are there to sustain whatever we need. Now,” Grammy turns to Sarah with a serious look on her face. “Have you made your decision on what you are going to do? I know why you are here. And don’t give me a look like I’m crazy. From the moment you walked through that door I knew what you were up too. Are you going to try to kill me or would you like me to teach you the family ways?”

Sarah was in total shock. How did her Grammy know what she was going to do?

A week ago, Sarah received a key to a safety deposit box in the mail. It was from her mother. What was in the box changed her life forever. There were notebooks, pictures, and letters explaining everything about their family. Her mother kept meticulous notes. She thought it was her mothers deranged mind but some of it made sense. The last letter she read was a letter from her mother to her. It explained that she needed to kill her Grammy and destroy everything that had to do with their family. It took her days to work up the nerve to come to the house. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do. The tour up in the attic was so surprising. But, it was Grammy. How can she destroy her? Especially since she has been the only one there for her? Her mother certainly wasn’t.

“Teach me.” Was all she said.