Good afternoon, House of Madness demons:
Have you ever wondered where evil comes from? Has it always been that way, or was it coaxed into something against its will? As always, I hope you enjoy, and thanks for reading!
Family Ties
As Yannick woke after hitting the 'snooze' button a world record 23 times, he quickly realized today was Saturday, and he didn't work on Saturdays. Oh well, he was awake now, so best to get on with the day ahead in which he now realized was an empty runway; maybe he could finally get started on cleaning out the guest room his grandfather stayed in before he passed just over a year ago. After the three S's were taken care of (shit, shave, and sugar), Yannick opened the door to his grandfather's room, and the stale air hit his lungs like a vacuum in reverse. As Yannick opened the window for some fresh air, he saw a note on his grandfather's dresser which was meant for him, but he never saw until now. Yannick's grandfather had throat cancer, so instead of communicating in the traditional sense, the two often left each other long scribblings every day, which each of them cherished without letting the other know as much. This one read "Dear Yannick, you've taken such great care of me the last years of my life, and I'm eternally grateful. Please know that I've always embraced our close relationship, and if I never expressed this to you before, I apologize. I love you, Yannick. Gramps". "You did, plenty of times, Gramps, I love you too" Yannick sobbed as he wiped the tears running down his cheeks. It dawned on Yannick that speaking to his grandfather out loud felt almost wrong, so he flipped over the note and wrote down what he had just said to the room. After a few minutes of deliberating, Yannick thought it would be best to tuck the letter into the pocket of his grandfather's favourite suit which hung in the closet, and leave it there for him to read during his eternal slumber. Yannick was in no mood to clean now, so he closed the window before exiting the room, and decided to go back to bed.
Yannick awoke a few hours later, much more refreshed than the first time the day tried to introduce itself to him, and he sat down in front of the TV just in time for a day full of college football. Yannick couldn't explain it, but as he got up to grab himself a beer, he felt compelled to return to the spare bedroom, and check on the note he had left for his gramps. "This is ridiculous, he's dead" Yannick spoke into the emptiness of his hallway, but he found himself turning the doorknob just the same. The door opened a third of the way and Yannick already saw the note waiting for him on the dresser where the first had been. In a panic, Yannick went straight to the closet and checked the pocket of the suit coat - nothing. Then he slowly turned towards the note that waited for him on the dresser with doom pulsing through his veins. As he walked towards the note, Yannick tried to comfort himself by saying "I just left it there, I was tired and remembered wrong, that's all.", but deep down he knew better. As he raised the page up to his face, he found he had to pry his eyes open because he was squeezing them shut, and then he read "Yannick, you must join me in these hallowed corridors, where the blood flows like water, and the fires rage with invigorating essence. Come to me, and let me show you the powers in which I can now wield, and we shall be reunited forever!". Yannick dropped the letter and tripped backwards over the edge of the bed, almost knocking himself unconscious in the process. "Is this a joke!?" he screamed into the empty air, but he knew it couldn't be a joke, for he lived alone, and his friend count was currently hovering at zero. Yannick didn't know what to do next, so he did the only thing that seemed logical, and started writing his response.
As Yannick sat watching football, his unease and anxiety consumed him while he thought of nothing but his grandfather and the messages they had exchanged. As the hours passed, Yannick tried his mightiest to summon up the courage to head back into the spare room and read the response that was surely waiting. Finally, when the beers were long gone, and he couldn't tolerate another cigarette, Yannick headed towards the spare room. As he slowly turned the knob and eased the door open, he once again saw a note on the dresser, not where he had left it in the suit pocket like before. As he approached, his fear slowly turned to anticipation, and he could barely control his emotions as he apprehensively lifted the page to his face for the final time. As he started to read the letter, he realized he was reading the last thing he had written hours earlier, and a smile grew on his face. Yannick turned towards the closet, and there stood his grandfather in all his glory, eyes burning red, sharp teeth gleaming white, and claws at the ready, just itching to inflict pain. "Just like old times." was all Yannick's last note had read, and as they gazed into each other's eyes one last time before Yannick was transformed, his grandfather spoke for the first time in decades, "I like working on Saturdays!" and they laughed and laughed while the house burned all around them.
NB
