{"id":132,"date":"2026-08-27T18:04:03","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T18:04:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/horrorstories.online\/?p=132"},"modified":"2026-09-03T16:29:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T16:29:17","slug":"chapter-5-grandpa-is-gone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/horrorstories.online\/index.php\/2026\/08\/27\/chapter-5-grandpa-is-gone\/","title":{"rendered":"CHAPTER 5 \u2014 GRANDPA IS GONE"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n \u2190 Previous Chapter<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/a>\n \n
\n Next chapter \u2192<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n \n \n
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After that night, I started watching every car parked outside our building. Rachel acted as if nothing had changed. But every time tires stopped on the street, her eyes went to the window.<\/p>\n \n

\u201cYou think they know you\u2019re here?\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cYou sure?\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cI\u2019m not stupid enough to let them follow me.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

I didn\u2019t answer. I\u2019d learned something about Rachel. The more certain she sounded\u2014the more frightened she usually was.<\/p>\n \n

* * *<\/p>\n \n

One afternoon Mara had to go to the hospital for test results. I went with her. Before leaving, I told Rachel: \u201cDon\u2019t open the door for anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

She rolled her eyes. \u201cI\u2019m not five.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

Forty minutes later, my security app buzzed. DEVICE OFFLINE.<\/em><\/p>\n \n

I frowned. \u201cCamera lost connection.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

Mara looked up. \u201cWi-Fi?\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cNo idea.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

I called Rachel. No answer. Again. Nothing. A cold, crawling fear moved down my back. Then she called.<\/p>\n \n

\u201cWhere were you?\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cDownstairs getting cigarettes.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cWhy didn\u2019t you answer?\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cPhone was inside.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cThe camera went offline.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cSo?\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cAnybody come by?\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

Her voice sounded normal. I tried to believe her. When Mara and I got home, the camera had reconnected by itself. No saved footage from the outage. No obvious sign that anyone had been inside.<\/p>\n \n

I asked Noah: \u201cAnybody come over today?\u201d<\/p>\n \n

Rachel answered for him. \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

I looked at him. He stared down at his toy cars. Mara looked like she might collapse from exhaustion. Lucy started crying. I let it go.<\/p>\n \n

That night, a gray sedan sat across the street for almost an hour. I watched it from behind the curtain. Then pulled the curtain shut.<\/p>\n \n

* * *<\/p>\n \n

The next morning, Rachel asked: \u201cWhen does Dad\u2019s pension hit again?\u201d<\/p>\n \n

Mara stopped pouring coffee. \u201cCan you not?\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cI\u2019m asking.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cDad isn\u2019t even buried.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cThat\u2019s because Evan won\u2019t bury him.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cKeep your voice down.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cWhy? Everybody in this apartment already knows.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

Mara said: \u201cThe kids don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

Rachel glanced at Noah. \u201cAt least one does.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

My chest tightened. \u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cNothing.\u201d She looked away. \u201cKids know when adults are hiding something.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

I didn\u2019t believe her. Then she said: \u201cNext month I get half.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

Mara\u2019s expression hardened. \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cYou don\u2019t decide that.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cThat money pays for my medication.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cWhat about me and my son?\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cYou have two hands. You can work.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

Rachel flushed. \u201cYou calling me a parasite?\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cEnough!\u201d I shouted.<\/p>\n \n

Neither of them stopped. Rachel pointed toward the refrigerator. \u201cThis apartment belonged to Dad.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cDon\u2019t drag him into this.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cHe had two children.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cSo?\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cThen everything he had belongs to both of us.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

Something furious and ugly broke loose inside me. \u201cFine.\u201d I walked toward the refrigerator. \u201cYou want to split things?\u201d<\/p>\n \n

Mara stood. \u201cEvan.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cLet\u2019s split everything.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cMoney.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cProperty.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cWhatever else is left.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

I grabbed the freezer handle. \u201cWant to split Dad too?\u201d<\/p>\n \n

I yanked the door open. Cold air rolled out. I looked inside. And stopped breathing.<\/p>\n \n

Empty. No blanket. No plastic. No Dad.<\/p>\n \n

For several panicked seconds, one impossible thought came into my head. Dad left. He got tired of hiding. Opened the door. Walked away. Then reason returned.<\/p>\n \n

\u201cWhere\u2019s Dad?\u201d<\/p>\n \n

Rachel stared. \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cWhere is he?\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cHow would I know?\u201d<\/p>\n \n

Mara had gone white. \u201cYou move him?\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cRachel?\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cNo!\u201d<\/p>\n \n

I slammed the door. Knock.<\/p>\n \n

\u201cNo one knew except us.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

A small voice came from behind me. \u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

All three of us turned. Noah stood in the hallway. I rushed over. \u201cWhat do you know?\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cTwo men came yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

Rachel went pale. \u201cWhat men?\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cOne had a black hood.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

Rachel and I looked at each other. \u201cThe other?\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cReally tall.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

My hands started shaking. \u201cHow\u2019d they get in?\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d Noah frowned. \u201cMom went downstairs. Then the little light by the door went off.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

The camera. It hadn\u2019t broken. Someone had created a blind spot.<\/p>\n \n

\u201cWhat happened after they came in?\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cThey looked for stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cWhat stuff?\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cThen?\u201d<\/p>\n \n

Noah pointed toward the refrigerator. \u201cThey found Grandpa.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

I could barely hear my own heartbeat. \u201cWhat did they do?\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cThey said Grandpa couldn\u2019t hide here anymore.\u201d He spoke as if this were perfectly ordinary. \u201cThen they took him.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cWhy didn\u2019t you tell your mom?\u201d<\/p>\n \n

Noah looked confused. \u201cYou told me not to.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

I froze. \u201cYou said if I told Mom, Grandpa would lose.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

Guilt hit me so hard it felt physical. My lie had trained a five-year-old to stay quiet while two strangers carried my father\u2019s body out of the apartment.<\/p>\n \n

* * *<\/p>\n \n

Rachel\u2019s phone buzzed. A text. She tried to hide it. I grabbed the phone.<\/p>\n \n

Give back what you took from Vince. Otherwise the next people who see your old man will be cops.<\/em><\/p>\n \n

I read it twice. Then looked at Rachel. \u201cWhat did you take?\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cNothing.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cYou\u2019re still lying?\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cGive me my phone.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cThey stole Dad\u2019s body.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cI know!\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cThen what did you take?\u201d<\/p>\n \n

Her face crumpled for the first time. \u201cRachel.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cWhat do they want?\u201d<\/p>\n \n

She looked at the empty refrigerator. Then at Noah. Finally: \u201cA ledger.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

\u201cWhat ledger?\u201d<\/p>\n \n

Her voice dropped. \u201cOne that could put a lot more than a few card rooms in trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n \n

Dad was gone. But the empty refrigerator had exposed a secret even bigger than the one we\u2019d been hiding inside it.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n \n \n

\n \n
\n \u2190 Previous Chapter<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/a>\n \n
\n Next chapter \u2192<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2190 Previous Chapter Next chapter \u2192 After that night, I started watching every car parked outside our building. Rachel acted as if nothing had changed. But every time tires stopped on the street, her eyes went to the window. \u201cYou think they know you\u2019re here?\u201d \u201cNo.\u201d \u201cYou sure?\u201d \u201cI\u2019m not stupid enough to let them Read More “CHAPTER 5 \u2014 GRANDPA IS GONE”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":124,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-https-horrorstories-online-index-php-2026-08-27-grandpa-in-the-fridge"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/horrorstories.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/horrorstories.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/horrorstories.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/horrorstories.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/horrorstories.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/horrorstories.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":197,"href":"https:\/\/horrorstories.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132\/revisions\/197"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/horrorstories.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/horrorstories.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/horrorstories.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/horrorstories.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}