The Hearse

There was a young woman called K who lived with her parents and grandmother. The grandmother used to be a kind lady, but ever since she became bedridden a few years back her personality had changed completely, and she began to make constant complaints and snide remarks to K's mother who looked after her. Her grandmother would often say, "I know you are all hoping I die soon." Her family got fed up listening to these words that finally they began to really hope that the grandmother would die soon.

Gradually the family began to take less and less care of the grandmother, and the quality of food got worse, and as a result she became rapidly weaker as days went by. Now she couldn't move at all but became only a thing that breathed in the bed. It was obvious to anyone that she didn't have long to live.

Now K's room was on the second floor and one night when she was sleeping in there she heard a car horn suddenly blast outside. K tried to ignore it but a moment later it blasted again. The horn kept sounding that she finally gave up trying to sleep and angrily drew the curtain back to take a look outside, wondering who could be doing something so antisocial at this time of night.

What she saw made her shudder. There was a hearse parked in front of her house. She couldn't be sure whether it had people in it or not, and the engine didn't seem to be running. It was very still.

K got scared, ran back to bed and pulled the duvet over her head. She kept trembling but nothing more happened afterwards and it was very quiet throughout the rest of the night.

When the morning came K asked her parents whether they heard the car horn last night. They said no. It was hard to believe that the sound as loud as it was could go unnoticed, but they didn't look like they were lying, nor was there any reason that they should lie. She wondered then if the hearse came for her grandmother, which was the only possible explanation left. Her grandmother was, however, still "fine."

That night there was another visit from the hearse, and the night after that as well. K tried to ignore it at first but for some strange reason the horn didn't stop blasting unless K looked at the hearse from her bedroom window. Night after night the same thing happened that K was becoming very nervous from fear and dread.

On the seventh night since all this started, K's parents had to go out for the day. K wanted to go with them but someone had to stay in for the grandmother. Also because they knew that K had been mentally unstable they half forced her to stay at home and went out by themselves.

In an attempt to force fear out of her mind, K did things like watching comedy programmes on TV as much as possible. She was afraid to go near her grandmother's room and didn't even take lunch to her although it was her task to do so.

Her parents had said they would be home in the late afternoon but the night came and there was still no sign of them coming back. Soon it was past midnight, and the time when the hearse usually appeared was drawing closer and closer. But nothing was to be heard from her parents, not even one quick phone call.

Then she heard the familiar sound of the horn outside. K was downstairs at the time but she didn't dare to see it up close and went upstairs to see it from her bedroom as usual.

But what she saw from the window wasn't the usual scene.
From inside the hearse, which had normally parked still, some men in black suits got out, and they were now passing through the gate. K was totally freaked out.
Soon she heard the doorbell ring downstairs.

The doorbell kept ringing for a while, until it was replaced by light knockings that soon became louder and more urgent.
Bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang!!!
K felt she was going to die from sheer terror. A thought came into her head that maybe she had forgotten to lock the front door. The more she thought the more she became sure that she had forgotten to lock it.
K jumped up and ran downstairs at full speed.
But seconds before she could reach the front door, the phone at the bottom of the stairs started ringing.

The banging at the door still continued. K couldn't move; all she wanted to do was press her hands to her ears and scream. But instead she managed to grab the handset.
"Hello?Hello?Hello?"

"Hello. Is this Mr._'s number?"
It was a surprisingly soft voice of a man.

"This is the police. I want you to stay calm and listen. A while ago Mr and Mrs_ have met a tragic accident and passed away. I gather you are their daughter, aren't you? Hello? Hello....?"

K was too stunned to say or do anything. Strangely, the persistent banging had suddenly come to stop.
K started thinking; maybe the hearse had come to take her parents away? Not her grandmother?
Actually, was her grandmother OK?

It was then that K felt someone tap on her shoulder.
K turned around, and her grandmother, who was thought unable to move on her own, was standing right behind her.
And K's grandmother smiled to her and said,

"You are coming too."