A Horrific Fantasy

Chapter 22

Vaggie's mother was working a double shift that Saturday and as you already know, Charlie had plans, so Vaggie decided to just spend the day at home and try to work on a new painting. But try as she might, she wasn't really getting any inspiration that day. All she could do was just paint lines and splats on the canvas, she couldn't really make anything with them. She couldn't really see anything she could create in her mind. It was like she had painter's block.

She decided to take a walk outside and look around to see if there was anything that could spark inspiration. On a lovely day like this, there was bound to be something, She looked at the sun and the trees, and the sky and the birds. But nothing got her creativity working.

"Hey Vaggie!" Angel was outside too. Vaggie saw him bending down by trees and bushes, picking something apparently.

"What are you doing?" Vaggie asked as she approached him.

"Collecting." He answered.

"Collecting what? Rocks?"

"No. Pest control." In one hand he held a Wolf Spider and in the other a Preying Mantis.

"Ewww!" Vaggie cried out. "Put those down!"

"Relax babe, they're perfectly harmless."

Next he produced two containers with vents from his bag and dropped each creature into one.

"What the hell do you want those nasty things for?" Vaggie said.

"We got ants in the house and Grandma isn't comfortable spraying poison around, so I'm using Leonardo and Giuditta here to take care of the problem. They should be able to eat em all up."

"Leonardo and Giuditta?"

"Grandma loves Italian artists and Italian opera singers."

"How does she feel about spiders and mantises?"

"She doesn't mind them. They don't steal our food like ants do. Really, Grandma doesn't mind any creature as long as it doesn't bother us."

"You know it's funny, in all the months I've known you, I've never once met your grandmother."

"Would you like to meet her?"

"I've got nothing better to do."

With that said, the two teenagers started to head up to the old Victorian style, apartment house where Angel lived with his cousin and grandmother, and where Charlie lived with her foster family.

"Now I gotta warn ya babe, my grandma's a little eccentric." Angel said.

"How eccentric?" Vaggie asked.

Vaggie had heard a lot of rumors about the old woman who lived the lower apartment. Most people said that she was crazy and belonged in a home somewhere, others say she practiced witchcraft or devil worship. Vaggie wasn't sure if any of it was real but she figured Angel would say so if it was. Her mother had told her to avoid the old woman if possible, not that she viewed her as any threat but she feared that she was easily distressed and might go into a rant if you said the wrong words.

"Nothing to be afraid of." Angel said. "She just has weird beliefs."

"What, is she a wicca or a buddhist, or something?"

"No. Not like that. She's Catholic like everyone else in the family, except for Blitzo, actually we're not entirely sure what his beliefs are. Anyway, by strange beliefs I mean she actually believes in things like ghosts and witches and demons and fairies and elves and magic. That sort of thing."

"Oh..."

"But don't worry, she's harmless. I swear."

Angel knocked on the door of the building and Gina answered it, and gave her usual sweet smile to her grandson.