A/N: Thanks for the reviews, guys! I haven't written anything Charmed-related since some embarrassing stories when I was in high school, so I hope I can write this one a little better for everyone, lol.
Chapter Two
I felt like the sticky makeup was still on my face later that night when I went to bed. I'd never taken makeup off before, so I'd probably missed some of it. Or maybe my face was just feeling weird from scrubbing it so much. Either way, it was making it really hard for me to fall asleep, and Phoebe snoring next to me didn't help much.
As I lay there staring up at the ceiling, I suddenly heard a noise. It started off like the normal creaking that my house makes sometimes, but it almost seemed like there was a pattern to it. I soon realized that what it sounded like was footsteps. But that couldn't be right - if someone was walking around, I would hear it out in the hallway, not above me. My heart began to beat faster as I listened. If someone was walking around above me, that would mean they were in the attic, and the attic was sealed off. I had to be hearing things, right? But my mind kept coming up with new ways to scare me. I started to wonder if someone could have climbed into the attic from a window.
I rolled over onto my side, trying to block out the thoughts. It's just the house settling, I reminded myself. I always felt better when Grams told me that. As I tried to relax, however, another sound came from above me. This time it was a loud thud. I sat straight up in bed and pulled the covers off me. There was no way the house settling could sound like this!
I jumped out of bed, opened my door, and ran as fast as I could down the hall do Grams's room. When I opened it, though, I wasn't comforted. Instead, I felt about a million times worse.
Grams wasn't there. I tried not to panic, but my first thought was that whatever was up in the attic had taken Grams with it. I ran back into my room and jumped on top of Phoebe's bed.
"Five more minutes, Grams," she groaned as I shook her.
"No, Phoebe, wake up!" I said. "Grams is gone!"
"What?" Phoebe asked. She sat up and rubbed her eyes.
"I heard a bunch of weird noises coming from the attic, so I went to get Grams. But she's not in her room!"
"You know it's just the house settling," Phoebe grumbled. "Are you really that scared of some creaking noises?"
"Well you're scared of the Woogeyman!" I reminded her.
Phoebe was about to hit me with her pillow when we heard another loud sound from above us. This time it was even stranger than the thud - it was a whooshing noise, almost like there was a storm going on up there somehow.
"Does THAT sound like the house settling?" I asked.
Phoebe's eyes were now wide open as she lowered her gaze to look at me. "Let's get Prue," she suggested. Together we jumped out of bed again and ran out into the hall.
I tried to open the door to Prue's room, but the handle wouldn't budge. She'd probably locked it to avoid us taking her stuff again. Before I could come up with any other ideas, Phoebe started banging on the door.
"Prue, open up!" she shouted.
"Shhh, it might hear you!" I said nervously.
"What might?" Phoebe asked me.
"Whatever's in the attic!" I reminded her.
"Go away!" Prue shouted at us through the door. "You guys should be asleep."
"Prue, it's about Grams," I said as quietly as I could while still making sure she could hear me.
I heard her covers rustling, followed by a clicking in the lock on her door. "What's wrong?" she said to us through-half awake eyes when she opened the door.
"She's not in her room," I began, "and..."
"Girls?"
We turned to see Grams standing in the hallway behind us.
"Grams, you're okay!" I said, rushing up to hug her. Since she hadn't been expecting it, I knocked her off balance slightly, and I heard a noise as something fell out of her bathrobe pocket.
I looked down at the floor to see a small glass bottle filled with green liquid lying on the carpet. "What's that?" I asked.
"Perfume," Grams answered as she picked it up. "Now what are you girls doing out of bed at this hour?"
"We heard noises," Phoebe explained, "coming from the attic."
"And when I went to get you, you weren't there," I added.
"Oh, girls, I was just in my bathroom," Grams said.
Phoebe turned to me. "You didn't check the bathroom?" she asked, looking annoyed.
I felt my cheeks start to heat up with embarrassment. I tried to remember if I'd looked when I'd run into Grams's room, but I'd been so scared. For some stupid reason, I couldn't remember. "I... the door was open... at least I think it was..."
"Can I go back to sleep now?" Prue asked.
"But what about the attic?" I said, still afraid.
"Oh, Piper," Grams said, putting a hand on my shoulder. "We've talked about this before. It's just your imagination playing tricks on you at night. You don't have to be scared of the sounds an old house makes. Hey, sometimes my joints creak when I move, and I don't scare you, do I?"
I smiled. "No, Grams."
"Everything's alright, sweetheart," Grams said again. "Now, try to get some sleep."
"Okay," I said. Phoebe and I walked back towards our room.
I looked up at the ceiling again and realized that I hadn't heard any noises since Grams had found us in the hallway. Before I closed the door, I glanced back out at her as she walked back to her room. Maybe I had been wrong about there being some kind of monster in the attic, I thought. Maybe it was her.
A/N: The implication, of course, is that Grams was making a potion in the attic, and that was causing all of the strange noises. Not sure if that was clear enough or not. Chapter Three coming tomorrow!