The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

Nonna 
by Elaine Pascale

They were packing Nonna’s things.

They were selecting the items they wanted, boxing the rest for the Salvation Army. The cousins made decisions quickly and companionably which was unusual for them.

Ginny wanted the old rocking chair that had soothed each of them through various bouts of colic and colds. John wanted the marble rolling pin and cutting board that had been the instruments behind calzones, cannolis, and cuccidati. Sue wanted the sewing kit that had made emergency repairs on stuffed animals and Carol wanted the dolls that most of the cousins found creepy.

“I don’t remember this,” Margot said, pulling an old tea kettle from behind a pile of dishes that had been stacked in the corner of the room. “God, it’s hot.” She waved her hand manically, trying to cool it after she touched the side of the kettle.

“That’s your imagination,” John said, reaching for the kettle. He tentatively touched a finger to its side. “Ouch. It is hot.”

“That’s what I said.”

Sue took a turn, placing the tea pot on the floor in front of her and gently lifting the lid. “It’s steaming. As if someone just had it on the stove.”

“Does anyone else remember it?” Margot asked. “Does anyone remember Nonna having this kettle? She had that pink rose one she used all the time…this one is…dingy and weird. What are all these engravings?” No one answered her which was usual for this group. Despite being connected by blood, they didn’t really care for each other nor did they ever cooperate well.

“Maybe we rinse it out with cold water?” Ginny suggested.

“No, we pour whatever is in there out into little cups and do a psychic reading,” Sue insisted, even though she had no inclination toward divination.

John was looking at his watch in a way that foretold his ditching his cousins for a better opportunity. He was not alone in wanting to be away from present company. With their grandmother gone, they no longer had anyone to force them together.

Margot pulled the teapot closer. “I’m the one that found it. I’ll figure out what to do with it.”

“You can’t figure out how to order French fries from the drive-thru,” Sue sneered. She then became serious. “You think it’s worth something. You want it because you think it’s worth money.”

“What’s worth money?” John stopped looking at his cell phone long enough to ask.

“Not you,” Carol answered. “You’re only sniffing around Nonna’s things in the hopes of finding something to pawn.”

“That’s not true! I loved Nonna! I spent more time with her than you four combined.”

“Whatever,” Margot interjected. “I found it and I’m keeping it. You each picked out your item; this is mine.”

“Maybe I might change my mind,” Carol said, trying to pry the teapot from Margot so she could inspect it.

“I should get it, I’m the oldest,” Ginny insisted, taking the loose spindle from the back of her rocking chair and using it to separate Carol and Margot.

John was holding his rolling pin defensively and Sue had placed sewing pins between her fingers in case any of her cousins got close enough to jab. It felt like old times.

“Stop,” Margot growled, twisting away from her cousins and spinning the kettle wildly in her struggle.

A voice came from the kettle. “It was hard for me to leave you, my little tesori.”

“Nonna?”

“Yes, it’s me. I knew you would come to divvy up my things. And I knew you would fight, as always. But, that doesn’t matter. What matters is that one of you will follow me soon.”

“What do you mean?” Ginny asked, trying to hide the chair spindle behind her back, as if that would conceal it from her ghostly grandmother.

A small chuckle came from the kettle. “It means, I won’t be alone in death much longer. One of you will come to be with me. One of my little angels.”

“Real funny, Nonna,” John grumbled.

“Since when do I joke or lie?” the kettle asked and this was true. Unlike her grandchildren, Nonna was honest and trustworthy. She spent much of her life trying to get them to see the errors in their ways.

Carol gulped. “Which one, Nonna? Which one of us dies next?”

The kettle gave a strange laugh, one that sounded nothing like their grandmother. “It seems you have weapons at your disposal. I’m going to let you decide.”

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Fiction © Copyright Elaine Pascale
Image courtesy of Pixaby.com

More from Elaine Pascale:

The Kitchen Witches

The women of Cape Cod have a story that is dying to be told. If only they could live long enough to tell it.

When Fiona Walker is contracted to write about a party attended by her social circle, her friends begin dying. She captures the competition and misery of the women around her through three different stories.

In Wishes, Melanie Voss discovers a Time Between Time where nothing that happens counts. Initially, Time Between Time is a welcome escape from a life spent watching the clock while doing chores for her family. But something sinister is in the Time Between Time and it is headed straight for Melanie.

Death and Taxes tells the story of Nashville DeCota, the Cape Capo. Nash swears that she is not the Island Impaler, nor the Tooth Snatcher, but she has just as many skeletons in her closet. When her husband, Derrick, is kidnapped, she has to come clean about her crimes if she ever wants to see him again.

Fiona tells her own story in Hazing, where she finds that the real source of evil behind the deaths of her friends is worse than she could have ever imagined.

Available on Amazon!