The Grandad’s Room

When she had been five years old her parents had died in a car accident. From that day on her guardian had been her grandma.

After she had finished college, Sooyoung had employed herself at a florist’s to save some money for studying. The job was enjoyable; her boss was nice and the shop was located only a few streets away from her home, so if her grandma felt bad, she could get to her fast. The old lady had rheumatism and a weak sight. After the she had trouble speaking and it was difficult to fully understand her.

Sooyoung was taking care of her. They lived in big house, with four rooms and a Korean style salon with a buddhist altar in memory of her parents. It wasn’t easy to keep the house clean but the sentimentality wouldn't let Sooyoung leave it. This was the place where she grew up. She had spent all her childhood memorizing the house; therefore she knew every inch of it. But there was a place she had never visited. It was a room on the second floor in front of the stairs. It was always closed and the key couldn't have been found. Grandma said it had been grandad’s old study and it wasn’t opened since grandad’s death. The key was lost, but the old lady never really bothered if the room was closed or not. Sooyoung thought that maybe the subject of grandad’s death was still hard for her and she simply didn’t want to bring up anything connected to that case. She deemed it best to just let her grandma be and never asked about it again.

One day, in the early afternoon, Sooyoung was heading home from her work place. She was riding a blue bike with a basket in the front. The purchases that she had bought were shaking and jumping inside of it every time she went over  a ragged piece of pavement.

Her favourite part of the road was a steep slope swerving at the end. Sooyoung spread her legs and quickly rode down with a squeal. Thank goodness there weren’t any passer-by’s. Oh, this is so unsuitable for a grown up woman like you, she imagined her grandma saying. That thought made her smile even wider.

She parked the bike next to the house’s wall and closed the gate. Struggling with all the shopping goods, she opened the door and clumsily ran through the corridor to the kitchen since the purchases were falling off her arms. She wiped some sweat off her forehead with her wrist and puffed.

“ Granny? I’m home!” Sooyoung shouted as she started to bustle around in the kitchen. She entered the daily room and saw her grandmother sitting and mumbling near the altar. A fresh incense stick was smoking in front of grandad's and  Mr. and Mrs. Choi’s photographs. Sooyoung gently put her hand on granny’s back and said:

“ Are you feeling good, granny?” the old lady looked at her slowly, like she was just realizing her granddaughter was speaking to her. She murmured something and Sooyoung helped her to get up.

“ Let’s go. We’ll take a bath and then I’ll prepare a delicious supper. I managed to get a good fish; the shopkeeper saved it for me.”

Sooyoung talked to her grandmother about everything. Since the old lady didn't have any other company she wanted to cheer her up a little. Her daily life wasn’t exciting but it was always nice to at least try.

After bathing and feeding, Sooyoung helped her grandmother to prepare for sleep. When she was covering her with a quilt the lady whispered:

“ He’ll come tonight.”

Sooyoung looked at her with surprise.

“ Who?”

But granny only murmured something obscurely. The young girl stood up and left the room. She was used to granny’s mumbling since the unfortunate .

Sooyoung took a pack of chips from a kitchen cupboard, ensconced herself on the couch and the TV. Her favourite, “I Am Legend”, was on and despite having watched it already a hundred times she couldn’t say no to Will Smith.

When the commercials came on she lazily got up and went for something to drink. She opened the fridge and poured some orange juice into a glass. The air was warm and heavy so she quaffed it and poured another one. The commercials were over so she went back to the room.

On her way she felt something move behind her. With a frown, she turned her head but there wasn’t anything to spot. She shrugged her shoulders and sat on the couch.

At the same moment the telephone rang, making Sooyoung hop up. Who could it be at this hour, she thought and with a sigh moved to pick up the phone.

“Hello?” she said, but the person at the other end of the line remained silent.

“ Ah, hello…?” still no response but now Sooyoung heard someone’s breath and started to feel irritated. Was it some ert or a silly joke?

“ What the f- !”

“ N-noonaaa! It’s me. Me, Chen-chen!” the voice responded shakily. Chen was Sooyoung’s co-worker at the florist’s shop. He was 3 years younger, but seemed to be stuck on her. He was a nice boy; a bit clumsy but always upbeat. He usually wore a shirt with stiffly pinned collar and trousers unveiling his ankles.

“ What are you doing? I thought it’s some ert.” Sooyoung rolled her eyes. “You need something?”

“ I’m sorry…Well, no, I don’t need anything…I just…. I-I-I was wondering…” Chen stuttered “ Would you like to go for lunch with me?” he literally spat out the last words like some kind of splinter.

Sooyoung smirked.

“Oh. You mean, tomorrow?”

“Yhm…”

“ Well, let’s see…” He wasn’t her type at all, but she thought that maybe her approval would give him some confidence. She decided to a little bit, since he was obviously dying of fear to ask her out and that, in her opinion, was amusing. “ Yeah, I guess I can find some free time.”

But suddenly the call was disconnected. The light in the room flashed a few times, there must have been some troubles with the electricity link. Then, upstairs, a sudden ruckus pealed. What was that sound? Is grandma awake?

Sooyoung went upstairs and to the grandma’s room. While passing by the grandad’s room she noticed that the door was slightly open. She furrowed her brows in amazement and touched the doorknob. What, on Earth…? How? It was so dark inside the room that she could not see a thing. When the noise repeated, she rushed to the grandma’s room. She carefully opened the door and saw the old lady sitting on her futon. The girl slowly approached her from behind, wondering if she was the one making that noise earlier.

“ Granny? Is everything ok?” Sooyoung reached her hand to grandma. Then, the woman’s head turned about 180˚ and opened wide, letting out something like a black smoke or a shadow. The eyes rolled back, the skin turned ashen and from grandma’s throat the most inhuman growl spew out.

Sooyoung screamed in horror and darted for escape. She almost lost her balance on the stairs, rushing for a phone to call an ambulance; or maybe the police would be better, she didn’t know. To get help, that was all that was on her mind. After dialing a number she realized the phone was not working – how could she have forgot about that?!; the lights in the house were still flashing rapidly. The girl headed back to the corridor and wailed at the sign of the black smoke filling the stairhead. It was moving weirdly, like a living thing, controlling its own moves. When Sooyoung wanted to run out of the house the smoke grasped her by shoulders and pulled her up the stairs. The door to the grandad’s office was now fully open and that thing was evidently trying to pull her in there. She was screaming and trying to tear away from it. Finally she managed to jerk strong enough to run away. She opened the door and stormed out on the street, overturning the bike. The street was empty and dark, but not as scary as the thing she had just seen. Sooyoung ran as fast as she could, without looking back.           

Granny slowly, step by step, walked to the dark room of her husband. The dark shadow that retrieved from her itself into the grandad’s room and slammed the door behind.

The light in the house stopped flashing and the evening became quiet again, but its calmness had disappeared.