I look behind me to the closed front door. My Grandma and the doctor are probably still talking. I know that Grandma and the doctor think that my Grandpa is crazy. Part of me believes it too, but then there is another part of me that wants to believe, that is urging me to believe that he's not. If I found what he was looking for maybe he would go back to normal. Maybe I could fix whatever is broken inside him.
I pad across the yard, squat down and retrieve the spoon. The silver handle is cold under my fingers. The bowl of the spoon is bent backwards from being jammed too hard into the ground. I press it against my palm, straightening it back into the correct position, and then dip it into the hole my Grandpa started, using the handle to scrape at the sides. The soil comes away easy, filling the hole with new dirt. I set the spoon down, and then use my hands to scoop out the freshly dug earth.
I don't realize how long I've been digging until I look up into the sky. The sun has begun to set, splashed in hues of pinks and oranges. But the beauty is interrupted by something dim and menacing. I shiver when I see the darkness of the trees, as their shadows grow and stretch across the yard. I see shapes moving in my peripheral, but when I turn to look, there is nothing there, just large trees with their dark looming shadows. My hands are dry from where they are caked with dirt. I use the back of my arm to wipe sweat from my brow, and then rub my hands against my soiled dress.
Grandpa had said the demons would be here before nightfall, and night is already began its approach. Darkness creeps closer. The darker the sky becomes the more obscure and terrifying the surrounding forest appears. I feel panic boiling in my chest, the feeling you get at the top of the rollercoaster ride, right before it starts its fast descent downhill. I dig faster, discarding the spoon. I want to help him, I need to. Grandpa has never let me down before, even when everyone else said I was acting childish. He would chase away the monsters from under my bed, and skip over the cracks with me when he walked me to school. He never called me silly or accused me of losing my mind. And so I won't believe he is losing his. "I have to find his soul," I whisper, and with new determination I resume my task. I understand my Grandpa's obsession now, the need to tear open the ground to unearth the secrets hidden beneath the soil. My arms are sore and I'm crying from fear, pain and frustration.
I hear a snap, the cracking of a dry branch. I look into the trees, into the choking darkness. That's when I see them, two red glowing eyes, staring directly at me. I jump back startled, accidently knocking the spoon into the opened earth.f
Cling; I hear the sound of metal on glass, like the chime of a tuning fork reverberating around me.
Frantically I reach into the hole, shoving the remaining dirt aside and grasping a small glass vial in my fingers. The glass is smooth and warm as I grasp it tightly in my hand. The creature leaps out of the trees and rushes towards me. I jump to my feet and run towards the house, my legs slow and stiff from kneeling too long on the ground. I'm breathing heavily, but the sound is drowned out by the growling behind me, so loud it makes my bones rattle. 
I leap up the front steps, twisting the door handle and falling into the threshold, the screen slamming shut behind me. Both Grandma and the doctor, now sitting in the living room, jump up when they see me. My grandma's face is red and splotchy, her eyes pink and swollen.
"What have you been doing?" She cries exasperated, throwing her hands into the air.
"There's a monster!" I point to the front door, but there is nothing there. Through the screen I can only see the silhouette of the forest. There is no red eyed beast, no demon.
My Grandma just shakes her head and sinks back into the chair, clutching my Grandpa's hand between her own frail fingers.
I stumble to my feet. Grandpa is lying on the sofa, his eyes closed. The doctor whispers something into my Grandma's ear, and then heads towards the front door, stopping to gently squeeze my shoulder. "I'm sorry for your loss" he says, before stepping out into the night.
The words hit me before I have time to comprehend their meaning. I rush to Grandpa's side, hugging his stiff, lifeless body. "Please," I whisper, gently setting the vial against his chest.