‘Hello, I’m Jess I was enquiring about the add for a baby sitter.’
‘Yes. Sadly our other baby sitter had to leave. You will start on Monday. The address is number 52 Haverly Lane Newbury. Don’t be late.’
Before Jess could say anything the line went dead.
Monday came around and Jess got her dad to drop her off at the house. It was in the middle of the country. Her dad dropped her off at the front gate. She got out and her dad drove off leaving her on her own. It was a cold night and she couldn’t see the house from the black gothic Iron Gate. She noticed an intercom system. She fumbled around with her cold fingers but before she pressed any buttons the gates made a clunk and slowly, silently swung open. She started to make her way up a gravel path. Either side of it were chain fences that were rattling and swinging in the wind. She looked around behind her and saw the gates closing. The path seemed to go on forever. Then through the mist she saw the house. It was old by the look of it and had stone gargoyles on the roof staring down at her. She got to the door and knocked. Almost instantly it opened. A tall man greeted Jess.
‘Hello Jess. The children are asleep. You may watch TV and eat from the fridge.’
He walked out of the door and disappeared in his car.
Inside the house was decorated in red and black and in some rooms there was wood panelling. It was a large house and Jess took a good half hour exploring. Upstairs she came to a door with a sign on – Beth and Mike’s room. The sign had balloons painted around it. She presumed this was the children’s room so crept in. There was a night light creating a blue green glow in the room. To here left there were two beds. There were lumps indicating bodies under the cover. Suddenly she noticed a figure sitting in the corner of the room. What was it? She crept over until she was a few feet away all she could make out were its eyes. They were almost glowing. The lights suddenly came on. For a few seconds Jess couldn’t see anything but when her eyes had adjusted the figure had gone. She turned around and in the beds were still the two lumps. It must of just been a trick of the light she thought.
Jess decided to take advantage of the free food so she went to the fridge. This family certainly wasn’t vegetarian. There were plates and plates of raw meat. In fact there was nothing else. She made her way to the sitting room. There were no sofas just bare stone floors. She sat on the floor and turned on the TV. To the side of the TV there was a bowl of pork scratchings. She took a hand full and put one in her mouth where it didn’t stay for long. It tasted horrible. They must be off.
There was nothing on TV. The wind tapped a stick against the window. The clock ticked, ticked, ticked…She fell asleep.
The sun shone through the curtains casting red over the room.
The news paper fell through the door; GIRL FOUND LIMBLESS IN NEWBURY.
Lynne called the number from the ad. ‘Yeh, hi. Um I was wondering if the babysitting position is still free?’…
