Chapter Twenty-Two: Grandma is My Life:

My grandma was the only person who kept me sane through all of this. I tried to keep the whole Miranda issue to myself. But since things started escalating, I didn’t have any choice. Miranda had to stop and I didn’t know how.

Days before my sixteenth birthday, I knocked on my Grandma’s bedroom door.

“Enter,” I heard her say. I froze with my hand in mid-air. How could I tell her what’s going on? What if Miranda went after her next? I wouldn’t know how to handle it. I started to back away.

No. This had to stop. I can’t let Miranda keep terrorizing me like this! I have to tell Grandma what’s been going on. I have to! I took a deep breath and opened the door. My grandma sat on her bed with a book in her hand. I think it was one of those Southern romance books.  I wasn’t looking. She glanced up at me with her glasses on.

“Kinsey?” she asked. I looked down at my hands.

“Kinsey?” Grandma asked again. “Baby, what’s the matter?” I struggled to put this into words.

“Grandma, I am in trouble,” I said. “Really big trouble.” Silence lingering in the air made things so much worse. Grandma lowered her book.

“What do you mean?” she asked. I pressed my lips together.

“It’s Miranda,” I said. I walked over to her bed and sat down on it. I laid my head down on her lap. She ran her fingers through my hair.

“Oh, sweetie,” Grandma said. I felt like I was going to cry. I always came to her when I was upset. Mama was never the cuddly type. She wasn’t really around much around the house. I looked up at Grandma.

“She scares me,” I whispered. I started to tremble as I spoke. “She didn’t used to be so mean. She hurt Mama. She keeps trying to hurt me too. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to do.” Tears started to fill my eyes.

“Shhh,” Grandma whispered. “Shhh. Shhh. Shhh.” I quieted it up like I normally did around her. She leaned down to my ear.

“I don’t know the exact details, but I will do anything to keep you safe,” Grandma whispered. I wished that I could believe her. This was beyond her. I didn’t think that she and Henry’s hoodoo could take Miranda on. I shook my head.

“You don’t understand,” I whimpered. “She’s really scary.” Grandma pulled me closer into her lap.

“And I believe you,” she said. “We can’t get up yet. We will do everything we can to protect you.”

“But…” I said.

“Shhh,” Grandma shushed me again. Nothing I would say could ever get through. She was the closest thing to a mother that I had ever had. Which was why I didn’t want Miranda to hurt her in any way.

“I don’t want you to die,” I said. Grandma looked into my eyes.

“What are you talking about?” she asked. “I am not going to die.”

“You aren’t?” I asked. She shook her head. Her hand rested atop my head.

“Yes,” she said. “I will fight to stay alive as long as I can to keep you safe. You hear me, Kinsey?” I nodded with a weak smile on my face. I wanted so badly to believe her. I really did. But deep down inside, I knew.

“Grandma,” I whimpered.

“Hm?” she asked.

“Can I stay like this for a while?” I asked. She started stroking on my hair again.

“Of course, dear,” she whispered.

“Thanks,” I said. I just stayed there in her lap. Eventually, I started to close my eyes and doze off. I don’t know how long I stay there but I felt peace around the house for the first time in a long time.