Babysitting isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be. “I got you a babysitting job for the night.” Martha’s mother, Laura piped up as she walked in the kitchen to grab a drink. Martha groaned. Her fingers clasped around a glass cup from the cabinet. “Why? You know I have plans with Katie and Sarah tonight!” She complained as she poured water from the faucet into her cup. “It’s a perfect opportunity.” Her mother chopped viciously at onions, her teeth chewing away at mint gum to keep the onion tears away.
Martha took a sip before responding to her mom’s purpose. “How” She leaned against the counter, waiting for her mom to answer her question. “I know you have been dying to get a cell phone and this would be your chance to get one.” Her mom threw the diced up onions into a plastic container, shoving it into an empty place in the fridge. Martha eyed her mom skeptically. “And phones are like $180.00, so I am going to make that in one night…please spare me mom!” Without missing a beat her mother butted in before she could walk out of the kitchen “yep. She pays very well and up front to!” A smile appeared on Martha’s face then faded as quickly as it came. Her eyes narrowed “What’s the catch?” “Huh?” Laura knitted her eyebrows together.
“It just seems too good to be true, so what is the catch?” Laura shrugged her shoulder, waving off the subject. “She must be desperate. So are you going or not?” She walked over to the table, grabbing her car keys. They jingled in front of Martha’s face. Martha twisted her lips to the side, pondering on the job offer. With a reluctant tone in her voice, she replied, “I do need the money.” Before she could change her mind, her mother pulled on her arm all the way to the car; “why the hurry?”
Martha tried to pull away but her mom’s grip was too tight. “If we’re quick enough we can get some ice cream before dropping you off.” With that being said, she didn’t resist the pull of her mother. Martha’s stomach growled at the thought of the cold dessert. Ten minutes into the drive when they arrived at the drive-thru Dairy Queen, Martha found questions waiting to burst their way out of her mind. “What can you tell me about this lady?” She asked while staring at the glowing menu board. “I’ll take a rocky road.” “I know she has two sons. One is eight, the other is ten. The younger one is an energetic little kid, the older one is really quiet,” Laura ceased her talking due to the Dairy Queen worker interrupting their conversation.
“Welcome to Dairy Queen. May I take your order?” The person on the other end sounded close to a robot from the lack of emotion in their voice. “We’ll have two rocky roads please.” Laura stuck her head out of the window. After they mumbled the price, she pulled up to the next window to pay and get their ice creams. Martha held onto both ice creams while her mom found a parking spot to sit in. “What are their names?” She asked her mom. “Uh, I don’t even remember. I think Randal and Patrick. Something like that.” She shrugged her shoulders and began to lick her ice cream some more. “How’d you meet this woman?” “We bumped into each other at the supermarket when I was going shopping for dinner stuff.” Laura paused to take a bite out of her ice cream. “At first we were talking about produce foods and then I noticed she seemed stress, so I asked her what was wrong. Her dilemma was that she didn’t have a babysitter because her last one quit last minute. That’s when you came into the conversation, she thanked me and here we are.” “You care too much sometimes!” Martha teased her mom. “Or maybe you just don’t care enough!” She took another bite of her ice cream.
“Alright let’s go. It’s babysitting time!” Laura took both empty ice cream cups and ditched it into a nearby trash can. “And what are you going to do while I am babysitting mom?” “Go out. Take a walk. Enjoy the night air, something of those sorts. Maybe I’ll find me a date.” She winked.“Ewww…gross mom.” Martha crinkled her face in disgust. The two drove the rest of the way in silence, too occupied with their own minds to even care what the other was thinking. Soon enough they pulled up in front of a two-story house. “This is the house, right?” Martha looked at her mom for an answer. Laura nodded, watching Martha walk up the cobblestone path walkway to the front door. She pressed the doorbell, a tune echoing throughout the house. A slim blonde woman opened the door warning a blue fitting dress reaching above her knees with black stilettos. “I’m Martha.” The blonde woman let her in, grabbing at her black clutch and sticking her phone in it. “I’m Carly. Randal and Patrick are in the upstairs room. They need to be in bed by nine. Number to my cell is on the fridge if you need me.”
Carly rushed her speaking while heading for the front door. Before leaving, she looked back at Martha. “Do not forget to lock the door behind me.” Her voice was stern. “Oh yeah, here is your money.” She handed over five, one hundred dollar bills which made Martha’s jaw drop almost to the floor before she put it in her pocket. Martha followed Carly. “Have a good night ma’am.” She said before she closed the door and locked it as she was ordered to do. Then she walked towards the wall clock looking at the same time 8:31 p.m. Martha walked up the stairs, guessing which room belonged to the boys. The first door on the right had a dry erase board on it with writing on it “Randal’s, and Patrick’s room” she walked in to see one of the boys with dirty blonde hair running around the room with toys in his hand. The brunette brother sat on his bed reading a book.
“Hey guys, I’m your babysitter.” Martha stood in the frame of the door. “My name is Martha!” The rowdy kid ran up to her with a huge grin on his face. “I’m Randal.” Then he pointed to his brother who sat on the bed. “That’s Patrick, he is a party pooper!” He tried to whisper but his words came out louder than expected. “Now I am sure that is not true!” “It is. All he does is sit there and read.” Randal looked over at his brother. “Maybe reading is fun to him. I like to read, does that make me a party pooper?” She placed her hands on her hips waiting for his response. He looked up at her, not knowing what to say then ran off to play with his toys again. “Bed time at nine.” She mentioned before leaving the room. She could hear the sounds of Randal’s groaning as she left the room. Martha plopped on the couch then turned on the TV with the remote. She was about to switch the channel until the news channel caught her attention. The overly botoxed women anchor spoke with the same placid expression on her face. “Another victim claimed in this murder spree that has shocked the small town of Valley Spring. This makes it victim number seventeen. Authorities suggest you stay indoors and lock any windows or doors. No suspects have been made at this time; if you have any information that will be helpful or see any suspicious activity please report it to the police. What’s your take on this story, John?” The male anchor turned towards the woman to speak, “Well, Joanna, I hope they catch the culprit. They’re sick and need to be put away for life!” “I think the thing that makes it harder to catch the person, is they don’t target certain people. They’ve attacked adults, teens, and kids.” Joanna explained. “I heard the serial killer takes at least one finger of their victims. I mean, who does that?” What would you need with a fi-“the sound of stomping down the stairs caused her to turn off the TV before the pair of feet could make it to the bottom of the stairs? “Shouldn’t you be in bed?’ Martha asked Randal who stood there wiping his eyes. “Larry won’t let me sleep.” He pouted. “Larry?” she asked “he is my friend.” “You’re imaginary friend?” He stood there looking at her with a blank expression. “Never mind, I’ll be up in a second to help you go to sleep.” Randal shook his head, understanding her words then ran up the stairs to his room.
He jumped into his bed waiting for Martha to come up and tuck him into his bed. Moments later, Martha walked into the dark room and sat on Randal’s bed. “Where’s Larry?” She asked in a hushed tone. Randal pointed behind her and she turned around to see no one there, but still spoke. “Look Larry, you need to leave Randal alone so I can help him go to sleep.’ She turned to the young boy. “Better?” “Yeah” He smiled. “Now time to help you sleep.’ She smiled down back at him and began singing a song “hush little baby don’t you cry-“but stopped when she saw a figure in the corner “who is that?” “That is Larry.” Martha stood up grabbing Randal close to her chest “get away from us!” She screamed running towards Patrick to wake him up “Patrick get up please!” He rubbed his eyes but finally woke up when he seen the situation that was in hand. “I want you guys to hide in the closet of your mom’s room when I push him okay!” They both shook their head waiting for the say. Martha pushed the man with the knife down and ran down stairs while the kids ran to the spot she told them to. While she was down stairs she dialed 911 and set the phone down, she grabbed a knife. That’s when she saw his figure in the window reflection. Martha turned around and started throwing knifes after knifes while she searched for a piece of mail to yell the address out. Finally when she found one she continued to scream out features of the man in front of her. “Blue eyes, scar on the left cheek, brown hair, white male, armed with a knife.’ Then she began to holler the addressed 1342 spring circle, 68312.” After she screamed it out about five times to make sure they heard her she ran around the house some more trying to through whatever she could at the man. She picked up a big vase and threw it at his head making him fall down on the floor.
She seen all the scary movies so she knew not to leave the body for one minute or it would be gone, so she glanced around to find something to tie him up with finally she found a wire cable and began wrapping is arms and legs up. She picked up his knife with a shirt and threw it far, far away. Finally she heard the door being kicked open “FREEZE PUT YOUR HANDS UP!” She put her hands up and nudged her head down towards the man tied up on the floor.