Babysitting

Babysitting is a short scary story about a teenage girl who responds to an ad looking for a live-in nanny. She needs the money, but when she meets the children she is supposed to babysit, they seem a little strange.

When I dropped out of school, it wasn’t easy to find work. Nobody seemed to want to hire a girl with no qualifications. I was tired of applying for jobs advertised in newspapers and on the Internet without receiving any replies.

One day, I spotted an ad for a job that was not so tempting, but I really needed the money. The ad said they were looking for a live-in babysitter to take care of 3 young children. It said no qualifications necessary, they just required someone young, responsible and pretty.

I called the number and the phone was answered by a woman with a sweet and friendly voice. When I told her I was calling about the babysitting job, she hired me on the spot. She didn’t even want to meet me in person first, but she said she needed me to start immediately. I was delighted.

The next morning, I drove over to the house to meet the family. As soon as I got there, I saw that the house was beautiful both inside and out. You could tell that the family was wealthy. The woman and her husband greeted me with broad smiles on their faces and introduced me to their children.

There were two boys and a girl. Sebastian was 6 years old, Damian was 5 and Lenka was 4. The kids seemed to be nice, happy and friendly. They were always polite, never fought with each other and never made a mess. All they did was play alone or read a book.

The parents announced that they were going out to dinner and wouldn’t be home until late that night. They told me the children had already been fed, so all I had to do was get them ready for bed. The mother gave me a phone number and told me to call her if there was an emergency. The father told me to make myself at home and if I was hungry, he said I could take whatever I wanted from the refrigerator.

After their parents left, the children sat down on the sofa to watch TV. They were very quiet and barely said a word. During a commercial, I was feeling a bit hungry, so I went into the kitchen to make myself a snack.

As I was rummaging around in the refrigerator, I couldn’t help but notice two large jars that were stuffed in the back of the fridge. Both of them were wrapped in plain brown paper and had a rubber band sealing the rim. I wondered what on earth could be in them.

My curiosity got the better of me, so I took out one of the jars and peeled back the brown wrapper to take a little peek a little. It was full of long strips of fatty meat floating in a murky red liquid. I couldn’t tell what kind of meat it was, but it didn’t look like pork or beef.

Just as I was about to put the jar back where I found it, I heard a noise behind me. It startled me so much, I banged my head on the shelf above me. When I turned around, Sebastian was standing in the doorway, staring at me.

“Put that back,” he said. “That’s not for you.”

The look in his eyes and the tone of his voice sent chills down my spine.

“Sorry,” I muttered. “I was just looking for something to eat…”

Sebastian didn’t reply. He just stood there, staring at me. I placed the jar back in the refrigerator and shut the door. Sebastian turned around and went back into the living room. I had lost my appetite, so I went joined the children in the living room and watched cartoons with them.

I was trying not to let my imagination get the better of me when the cartoons finished and the news came on. There was a story about a teenage girl who had gone missing. The police found her decomposing head in a dumpster. They said they had no idea what had happened to the rest of her. I was afraid the grisly news story would upset the children, so I changed the channel and told them it was time for bed.

The kids didn’t complain. They just walked up the stairs in single file and went to their bedroom. I put them in their pyjamas and got them ready for bed. Then, I tucked them in, kissed them all goodnight and switched out the lights.

When I went back downstairs, I was bored and had absolutely nothing to do, so I decided to watch a movie. I looked through the family’s DVD collection, but all they had were cartoons and Disney movies. I wasn’t in the mood for any more kids stuff.

On the bottom shelf, I spotted some old VHS tapes. One of them had a strange title. It was “M Girls”. This seemed rather curious, so I decided to take a look at it. I put the videotape in the VCR and pressed play, then sat down on the sofa and made myself comfortable while the video started.

The first thing I noticed was that it was a home video. The family must have recorded it themselves. The parents and children were all laughing and looking like they were having fun. I was about to turn it off when I happened to notice someone else in the video. It was a girl who looked like she was in her late teens. It seemed like she was the previous babysitter.

She looked very familar.

It seemed like I recognized her from somewhere.

Perhaps she went to my school.

Then it finally hit me.

Oh my freaking God! I thought.

It was the missing girl from the news report.

My hands were shaking. My whole body was trembling. I just wanted to get out of there as fast as possible.

I jumped out of my seat, ejected the video and put it back in its case.

Then I remembered the jars in the refrigerator.

I had to see what was in those jars.

With a shudder, I went to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator.

Maybe I’m just over-reacting, I thought.

I reached and took out the second jar. Peeling back the brown paper wrapper, I could see long pale hunks of meat and strips of fat floating in the red liquid.

Some of the meat looked like it had skin on it… human skin.

I could also see what looked like strands of hair… long hair… human hair.

I was so scared, I felt like I was about to pee my pants.

I ripped off the rubber band that was sealing the jar and peered inside.

There was an eyeball staring back at me.

Horrified, I dropped the jar and it smashed on the kitchen floor.

I ran to the living room, put on my jacket, grabbed the videotape and stuffed it into my pocket.

When I came out to the hallway, Sebastian was standing at the foot of the stairs.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“I… I just… I just remembered,” I stammered. “I forgot something… I have to go home and get it… I’ll be back in a few minutes…”

Damian and Lenka came running down the stairs.

“You can’t go!” screeched Damian. “You can’t leave us on our own!”

“I’m calling our parents,” shouted Lenka as she picked up the phone and began dialling numbers.

Sebastian grabbed hold of my leg and wouldn’t let go.

“You have to stay!” he squealed. “We’re hungry!”

His grip was extremely tight, but I managed to shake him off and ran out the front door.

As I dashed to my car, I saw the parents pulling into the driveway. I didn’t stop for a moment. I just jumped into my car and locked all the doors.

The children were on the doorstep, screaming and crying. The mother and father got out of their car and they came running over. There was an angry look on their faces.

“What’s wrong?” they shouted. “Where are you going? Come back here!”

I didn’t answer. I just turned the key in the ignition and revved the engine.

They started banging on the windows.

I floored the accelerator and tore out of there like a bat out of hell and never looked back. I didn’t stop until I came to the police station. I told the police officers everything I knew and handed over the videotape as evidence.

The police immediately dispatched two patrol cars. By the time they arrived at the house, the parents and children were gone. They just took their car and disappeared.

The police searched the house and found the jars in the refrigerator. They also found human flesh and bones in the basement. They did tests and confirmed that these were the remains of the missing girl.

They never managed to track down the parents or the children. They’re still out there somewhere, probably living under a different name, probably still on the hunt for new victims.

If you want my advice: Be careful who you are babysitting for.