Cintai Aku, Seperti Aku Mencintaimu

The road ahead was shrouded in mist. I kept my foot on the accelerator and soon saw the terrific so-called haunted house. I parked the car and looked at the house. This is where I was to live for the rest of my holidays. I thought about how grandad had said about how much fun he has in this old rickety house and this neighborhood. I have faith in my granddad when he says I'll have lots of fun as well..

I woke up at 6 the next day, went down the stairs and saw my grandad reading his newspaper and sipping his coffee. Good old grandad, he still hasn't changed.

“Well, good morning luna" he says to me

“Good morning grandad" I said

I got to the kitchen and made myself some toast with butter and jam. While eating, I ask my grandad

“Grandad, why do people in the neighborhood call this house a haunted house?"

“Oh those are all lies, wouldn't I know if my own house was haunted?" he casually replied.

Right after he said that, there was a slight shake in the house and grandad's face was covered in the newspaper, his shoulders hunched, he didn't usually sit like this but when the shake stopped, grandad was sitting up normally like nothing happened and asked me,

“So luna, what do you want to do today?"

“I'll just do some of my homework and then have a look around the neighborhood", I replied

“All right, but don't go too far from here because children aren't allowed to go far alone", he warns me

“Why not?", I asked

“You'll find out when you make some friends", he says

I got up and washed up our clothes, then went up to my room and did some school work and research for the coming tests in term two. I sigh as I go through the pages filled with numbers and letters, wondering what happens far away from the house.

My life in the country side with my grandad in a so-called haunted house begins.

*-*-*-*

There weren't much people that lived here and my grandad stays here alone in this somewhat big house. I wonder how lonely he feels

It was one of the reasons I had agreed to come over. I had already made out plans on how to spend my summer holidays and none of them included me going to the country side but my mom brought up the idea, making sure that I felt guilty that my grandad was staying here all alone just so I could agree to come.

If she was really guilty about her father staying in a big house in the country side alone, why didn't she just come instead?

My grandad and I weren't really close, I didn't know much about him either, he wasn't a family kind of person that was why I was really surprised he let me come stay with him, he must be really lonely.

I knew that if I came all the way from the city to come stay with a lonely, kind and loving man, I might as well make this holiday worth it so I went to search for things I could do with him.

I left my room and went to his, knocking on the door first. When I didn't get a reply, I turned the knob, opening the door slowly and I felt a little bit sad when I saw him. He was sitting on his bed, facing the window and just looking ahead silently.

"Grandad?" I called and his head snapped towards me

"Luna?" He said looking a bit shaken up "do you want something?" He asked

"Not really" I said walking into the room

"How long have you been at the door?" He asked and I shrugged

"Not long" I replied

"Did you hear anything?" He asked and I looked confusingly at him

Why was he asking so much questions? Is he hiding something?

"Uhh-- no, I didn't hear anything" I said looking suspiciously at him

"Oh okay" He said looking a little bit relieved "so why are you here?" He asked

"Can I sit?" I asked gesturing at the empty spot on the bed beside him

"Sure" He said shifting a little and I sat down

"So grandpa" I started with a wide smile "I'm going to ask you a couple of questions" I added and he looked uneasy, really uneasy.

His fingers twitched, he was looking downwards, his foot kept tapping the floor repeatedly and I frowned

"Grandad are you okay?" I asked

"I don't know anything!" He shouted "don't ask me"

Okay?

"I'm confused" I muttered "I'm just going to ask you a couple of questions about our family, nothing much, I just want us to have fun" I added, hoping it would ease the situation

"Fun?" He asked looking up at me with a wide smile and a little glint in his eyes

That wasn't creepy at all

"Yeah, fun" I answered eyeing him cautiously

"Okay" He said with a grin "let's start" He added

"Good" I said "can you cook?" I asked and he laughed

"Didn't your mom tell you?" He questioned with a laugh "I owned the kitchen" he said proudly

"Your grandma was so bad at cooking" He continued and I smiled at him "whenever she was in the kitchen, something always got burnt" he added

"Even toast" He said

"Even toast?" I asked laughing and he joined in

"Yes, even toast" He answered "and when she uses the microwave--" He paused laughing

"What happens?" I asked chuckling

"Food still doesn't come out as food" He said as we burst out laughing"we had more than one fire alarm in the house, you know, just in case her cooking chokes up one" he added and we both burst out laughing

It was so adorable, the way he talked about her with the smile on his face and that twinkle in his eye, he must have really loved her. I wonder what happened to her.

I never met my grandma, my mom never met her too and till this day, nobody knows what happened to her. My mom said the first and last time she asked my grandad about his wife, it didn't end well so she left it, saying one day, she was eventually going to find out, we all were! It was for this reason, I also never wanted to ask him about her, I cherished my life too.

It was also really confusing that there were no pictures of her anywhere, I didn't know what she looked like. My mom also told me she'd never seen any picture of her own mother, all this was really bothering.

There were alot of unanswered questions

I figured if I was going to ask about it, it definitely wasn't going to be the first day I came here, I didn't want to make an enemy of the man I came to keep company.

Maybe the trip here was eventually worth it, I was going to get the answers everyone wanted, hopefully!