My grandmother has been severely ill my whole life. She has smoked cigarettes for over fifty years and is still a heavy smoker. She was diagnosed with a bad case of COPD at fairly young age before i was even born, but she never stopped smoking. I am a twenty year old man now and my grandma is still alive, even though she has suffered multiple heart attacks and strokes and been diagnosed with coronary artery disease and lung cancer.
I remember my mom explaining me, that grandma is very sick and will die soon when i was just a little kid. All my life she’s been either sitting in a wheelchair or on the couch, or walking extremely slowly with a rollator. Only times when she stands up during the day, are the moments when she goes to the balcony for a cigarette, or needs to use the bathroom. In both of these situations, she almost always needs some help from my grandfather too.
She’s often very grumpy and you rarely see her smiling. I’ve always liked to think that she’s grumpy and annoyed only because of her illnesses and i’ve never saw her as a mean or bad person. She had a habit of giving me and my siblings some pocket money every friday, on the condition that we had acted right and fulfilled our responsibilities like school and housework. We lived only a mile away from our grandparents, and my school was right next to their house. I could even see to their backyard on break time and sometimes my grandfather was there doing some yard work and waving at me.
I normally went on to pick up my weekly pocket money right after school on fridays, and the typical meeting was very quick and quiet. I knocked on the door and waited for my grandpa to come and slowly open the door. He always opened it just a little bit, softly said hello and pushed his hand through the door gap. I took the money, thanked, and at that point the door was already almost closed. Usually the visit was just that short, but sometimes grandma wanted to come see me quickly and walked very slowly to the door with her rollator.
I remember the typical situations where i only met my grandpa at the door and tried to view grandma from the little gap that was open. It always looked dark, shadowy and quiet inside and i thought that grandma is probably taking a nap. I liked the tradition of getting to meet my grandparents every friday and it was always nice start for my weekend. But then, one friday afternoon, when i was about thirteen or fourteen years old and going to pick up my money, something very weird happened and that sight still gives me chills and deep anxiety.
It was sunny autumn day and i got out of school a bit earlier than usual. I took my bicycle out of bike stand and headed to my grandparents house. Like i said, it was a little earlier than usual so they weren’t waiting for me yet. I went on to knock on their door, but no one came to open it. I waited for moment, but still no one came. I was about to leave and thought no one was home, until i heard some noises from the inside. I thought they just didn’t hear my first knocks, and knocked again, bit harder than last time.
It still took a while, but finally the door opened, even less than normally. It was dark, i could only see the fuzzy figure of my grandpa who didn’t even say hello this time. He just gave me the money, and whispered that grandma was sleeping because we were not expecting you to come yet. At this point, the door gap was a bit bigger so i could see to their living room where was some kind of dim light.
I was little ashamed about my sudden visit and decided to whisper back that i was sorry and my school just ended earlier today. Before i could say anything i heard intensifying footsteps coming out of the living room and immediately after saw my grandmother RUNNING through the living room in a weird, creepy and unnatural looking forward bent posture, not moving her arms at all. I looked there for probably half a second but i was so terrified it felt like a minute. Grandpa just slammed the door shut in front of my face and i stayed behind the door almost shaking from the fear and shock.
So many thoughts in my head. How can grandma move so fast? She is very ill and cant even walk without support. Why did grandpa lie about her nap and what the hell was that? As i started to walk away to get my bike and leave, i calmed down and thinked that maybe she wasn’t moving that fast or mom has exeggerated her bad condition. I didn’t even really believe those explanations, i just had to get some logical reason for that to calm down.
I walked over the grass to get my bike that was parked right under my grandparents bedroom. I hopped on it, and took a quick look on the window that was right next to my face. What i saw next still haunts me and even after all these years i find it hard to think and explain. My grandma, staring straight at me with big, wide open eyes and a deranged smile. She didn’t even look like my grandma, or she did but the expression was something my grandma would never do with her face. She looked similar to the Momo face that roamed internet couple of years ago. She seemed to be sitting or squatting on the floor cause her face was on the lower edge of the window.
I was instantly terrified by thought of her being there stalking me with that disturbing face while i stood there calming down and was slowly starting to leave. I remember hiding my fear and responding to her stare with a little smile, but she didn’t react at all. Then, my grandpa ran behind her and closed the curtains. I cycled home fast and told my mom the whole story, which she basically just ignored thinking i overexaggerated her speed. She couldn’t understand why i was scared of her looking at me from the window, but she wasn’t there.. my grandma wasn’t ”looking” at me. She was STALKING at me.
After that day i didn’t went to get my pocket moneys for weeks. As time passed, i started to go visit them. First with my mother and later alone again. Grandma was always like i remembered. She cant even walk without support. No one ever mentioned anything about that day and my grandparents were asking why i suddenly stopped visiting on fridays. I know my grandpa remembers that, but i’ve always been too scared to ask. I kinda just want to forget the whole thing and spend as much time with my grandparents as possible. But i will never forget that day. My terminally ill grandmother ran like a child and stalked me through the window like a psychopath. What was that?