There's something in my grans basement

I don’t normally watch the news but that day I was flicking through the channels, when the sight of something recognisable made me pause. It was a clip of a news reporter stood outside a small corner shop. I recognised the shop immediately. It was the local store on the same street that my gran lives on. Concerned, I turned up the volume and listened in on the news report. The smartly dressed reporter was talking about some human remains that had been found in a storm drain just across the road from where he was standing. As he pointed in the storm drains direction the camera panned across to a small cordoned off area with a single police officer stood on guard by a narrow ditch. I had only caught half of the report but had heard enough to become greatly concerned about my gran, or Nanna Sue as we call her. I thought the area she lived in was a safe, quiet community and was shocked to hear that there had been a homicide in the area and there could be a killer running about. I immediately picked up the phone to call my gran, to see if she had seen the news. I knew she would have as she spends most of her day watching tv. Mostly soaps and documentaries but I knew she tried to watch the news at least once a day. She always made a point of telling us how important it was to know what was going on in the world, even though she constantly complained about how it was all lies fed to us by the government.

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The phone rang for a while before she picked up. She was now in her 70s and it took her longer to get around. Eventually she answered in her typical soft welcoming tone. Not wanting to bring up the subject of a murderer in her neighbourhood straight away I began the conversation how I usually would when I call her. Asking her how she was and what she had been up to, getting the same response as usual and a run down of everything that had been happening in the soaps that week. Just as I was about to ask her if she had been watching the news, she started complaining about all the news vans parking along the street.

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‘I was about to ask you about all that, I just saw the news myself and thought I would check you’re ok,’ I said timidly.

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Nana Sue hates when people worry about her. She has always liked her independence and has made it clear that she would rather struggle on her own than ask for help off anybody. Personally, I think she’s just scared of being put in a home. Not that anyone in the family has ever considered it knowing how she would react.

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‘That whole thing. It’s a load of rubbish. A lot of hoo-ha over nothing if you ask me. It’s probably just someone’s dead cat or something and I’m sick of the police coming around, disturbing me to ask questions.’ She replied.

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I can’t say I was surprised by her response. In fact, it was exactly what I expected. I suggested that I should stop by so I could help her fend off the reporters constantly knocking on her door but really, I just wanted to check up on her. She was always happy for the family to stop by and gave her an excuse to cook a big meal, so after a long discussion about what pie she was going to make, I hung up the phone and jumped in the car to go see her.

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As I pulled up outside her house there were still news vans at the end of the road. It’s a quiet street with a row of small bungalows down each side. Nana Sue’s bungalow is surrounded by a high barricade of privet hedge so its hard to see in from the street. I walked in through the small wrought iron gate and up to the little white wood door. As I was about to knock, the door swung open and there stood nana Sue with a big grin and her arms spread to give me a hug.

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‘Shane, come in darling. Before the reporters see you,’ She said as she shut the door behind me and proceeded to fiddle with umpteen locks bordering the door.

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My nan is a small lady at 5ft tall. She has a short grey bob haircut that hugs her face and always makes an effort with her outfit. She’s not a woman who owns baggy old lady clothes and plastic shoes. Her house is always neat and tidy but has a homely country charm.

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I went in and sat down on her beige sofa while she disappeared into the kitchen to make some tea. The tv was on in the background as usual and I was still curious about what exactly was found down the road. I flicked over to a news channel in hopes that they would mention something and didn’t have to wait long before the local news reporter appeared on the screen to give an update. The report stated that this was actually the fourth human remains found in the area in the last month. Never a whole body and usually only bones that had been picked clean by animals. I was now in complete shock and more concerned than ever about what was assumed to now be a serial killer on the loose. I thought about suggesting my gran came to stay with me until the culprit had been caught but knew she would never agree to it. I was trying to think of a believable alternate reason to persuade her to stay at mine when the news reporter mentioned a name I recognised. John Weaver had been identified through DNA as the third victim who had gone missing, only last week. Then Nana Sue walked in to see the startled look on my face.

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‘You’re not watching that rubbish again are you?’ Nana Sue said to me as she handed me a cup of tea.

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‘I thought you liked the news,’ I said before realising I’d skipped the relevant part. ‘Anyway. John Weaver. Isn’t that the guy who fixed your roof last month?’

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‘I wouldn’t say fixed it but yes he’s the one you’re thinking of,’ She said, then picked up the remote and flicked the channel over again.

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I asked her why she didn’t seem concerned about the fact his body had been found in the same ditch as now three others, but she disregarded it and stated he was probably drunk and fell in on his way back from the pub. I figured she was potentially scared and was trying to find reasonable explanations to avoid the grim reality, so I quickly changed the subject.

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As we sat talking, I kept hearing tapping sounds coming from her basement but every time I asked nana Sue about them, she either said she couldn’t hear anything or once again disregarded them as pipes or something. Normally I probably would have as well but the idea of a murderer in the area, made me want to check it out to make sure. Nana Sue was never someone who worried about things until they were actually happening, and she wasn’t going to start thinking there was a killer around every corner, until they jumped out at her with a knife. Even then she would be more likely to offer them a cup of tea than fear them. She always saw the best in everyone and everything.

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Nana Sue went into the kitchen to make the pie for dinner leaving me sat watching tv again. There was nothing interesting on, so I flicked the tele off and started playing on my phone to pass the time. I could still hear random tapping sounds coming from the basement and now there was no background noise I could hear some faint scratching as well. The sounds had been consistent since I got there, so I was reassured slightly that it could just be her laundry machines or pipes like she had suggested, until there was a much louder bang followed by shuffling sounds. Startled, I sat up and listened intently. The more I listened the more I was sure. There was something in my gran’s basement.

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I didn’t want to startle nana Sue, so I quietly got up and made my way down the hall to the basement door. I slowly pushed open the glossy white door and stared down the stairs into the darkness. My heart was beating fast as I hurriedly patted the wall feeling for the light switch. The light flickered on illuminating the basement with a dim yellow glow. The noises were louder now and accompanied by a cracking and tearing sound. Then the smell hit me. It was a musty rotten smell that made me retch but I had to find out what was down there. I tentatively made my way down the creaky wooden stairs. The basement was stacked with lots of boxes and random stuff that Nana Sue didn’t know what to do with. At first, I didn’t notice anything out of place but then there was that tapping sound coming from a dark corner to my left. I froze in fear as my eyes adjusted and out of the shadows stalked a large dark shape. It was like nothing I had ever seen. Some sort of large hairless creature with a long beak like appendage giving it a bird like appearance. Except this thing was at least 8ft tall and hunched over with blood soaked wrinkles of skin draped over it and sharp protruding teeth jutting out along its jaw. Its wings looked more like bats wings and were as tall as it was, with large rounded talon like claws at the ends, that tapped on the ground as it walked. Laying all around it were body parts in a pool of both dried and fresh blood. It stared at me and I at it.

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 The stairs behind me creaked and I saw the creature raise it head and turn its attention to the basement doorway.

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‘Shane, what are you down hear for?’ Nana Sue asked as she started descending the stairs.

I called out to her to stay upstairs. I didn’t want her coming down here with this thing, but she kept coming.

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‘Nana, go back upstairs.’ I shouted but as I turned, she was already stood behind me.

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I was in a panic. I couldn’t just run and leave my gran down there with that thing. I didn’t know what to do. That’s when my gran rested her hand on my shoulder and smiled.

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‘Don’t worry darling, Fluffy’s already eaten today,’

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I looked at my nana Sue in shock as she walked past me and right up to the creature and proceeded to scratch it under its vicious looking beak. Then the thing started letting out a faint chirping sound. The whole event felt so surreal. Was that thing actually purring?

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‘Fluffy?’ I asked.

I’m not sure why the name given to this creature was the most perplexing part, but it was the only question that came to mind at that time.

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‘It ironic,’ she said as she picked up a piece of someone’s foot and fed it to fluffy who took it ever so gently.

The whole time I was stood frozen in the same spot. My mouth hanging open in disbelief. Expecting the creature to bite my head off any second.

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‘I don’t know why you look so surprised. You told me to get a pet,’ Nana Sue added.

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To be fair I had been telling her she should get a pet. Of course, I meant a cat or maybe a goldfish, but I can’t blame her logic.

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‘I found him in the end of my garden one day. He had a poorly wing so I gave him some corned beef and bandaged his wing. He has a good appetite and for a while I was struggling to get him enough food. Then someone broke into the house and Fluffy got hold of him. Got what he deserved, and that John. That John Weaver took my money and my roof still has a leak. Anyway, best get back to making that pie,’ Nana Sue said while bending down and picking up some other unrecognisable body part to take back upstairs.

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Realising where she was getting her meat from these days made me quickly loose my appetite. I followed her back up the stairs keeping one eye on Fluffy and made sure the basement door was firmly closed behind me.

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‘I’m not really hungry now. Think I might just head home for an early night,’ I said

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‘Ok darling, well it was nice to see you,’ Nana Sue said, none the wiser.

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I said my good byes and made a swift exit, trying to make sense of what had just happened. As I drove home thinking about Fluffy surrounded by all those body parts the only image that kept flashing up in my head was the smile on Nana Sue’s face as she was petting her new friend. At least she seems happy and Fluffy obviously doesn’t intend on doing her any harm. As I pulled up to my house, I was feeling a lot less scared and stressed about the idea of my gran’s new pet. Then I was distracted by the car parked over my drive. Mr Stevenson my next-door neighbour. He’s done it again. I’ve asked him numerous times not to park his car there and he still does it. Then it occurred to me. Maybe I should get him to pay Nana Sue a visit.