A Babysitter's Nightmare

She heard the two little kids up stairs laughing and playing with some kind of toy that was making a loud beeping noise.  She smiled to herself.  Sometimes she wished that she could be that young again.  She was secretly sad calling the kids down and making them stop.

“Harry, Alison it’s time for dinner,” she had to yell in order for the kids to hear her.  She heard loud footsteps and Alison stood before her with a feathery crown on the top of her head and little fairy wings strapped on with elastic that dusted the whole kitchen with glitter.  Also, she smiled when she saw that Alison had her moms heels on her feet which were huge on her.

In a small yet hyper voice Alison said, “ Are we having pizza tonight?”

“Why yes, we are,” she said with a smile, “but also we have some good looking carrots and broccoli that your mom made.”

“Well I don’t know why she made that,” she said with a grin, “we don’t have to eat veggies when we have a babysitter.”

“For some reason I don’t believe you,” at which Alison giggled. “Now where’s Harry?”

“Oh I don’t know.”
“But you were just playing with him,” she said with a smile on her face.

“Yeah, but then he got mad at me and wouldn’t talk or play with me.”

“Ok then let me go find him.   But you guys really shouldn’t fight so much.”

With that she headed upstairs in search of Harry.  She grudgingly made it to the top of the stairs and went into Harry’s bedroom.  She couldn’t see him.  She just thought that he was probably behind some curtain or in his closet.  She opened the closet door but couldn’t find him.  She pushed back his Star Wars bed sheets thinking that he might be under his bed.  She started getting a little anxious ⎼ a feeling that any babysitter gets when she starts to imagine the worst.

“Harry?”

She starts looking everywhere bedrooms, bathroom, downstairs, always calling out his name.  She sees Alison and reminds herself that she can’t seem nervous.

“Alison, where do you think that Harry could be?”

“I don’t know, we do have a tree house out back,” she said so innocently, without knowing the fear inside of the girl she was looking at.

“Outside? He couldn’t be,” she mumbled to herself.  “You know what Alison,” she said trying to distract her.  “We don’t want that pizza getting cold now do we, how about you grab a couple a pieces? But don’t forget the broccoli,” she flashed a quick smile and saw Alison head toward the counter with a plate in her hand.  That is what she had to do.  Being a babysitter meant that no matter what situation she was put in, that she would handle it a always make sure the kids were okay.

Quickly she slipped on her shoes and ventured into the backyard.  It had started getting dark out which just sparked her nerves even more.  Being by herself and being in charge only made her think of all the bad things that could happen if a kid went outside by himself.  Horror movie titles somehow popped into her head even if she hadn’t seen a single one of them.  She climbed up the creaky, and spider webb filled treehouse and peaked her head in.  He still wasn’t there.  But being that high up she thought she saw something.  And if she was really quiet, she could hear soft whimpers.  She saw an orange shirt under the porch of the neighbors.  She almost jumped down and ran to the porch.

“Harry!” It felt as if a weight was lifted off her shoulders.  “What’s the matter kiddo?” She was trying to keep a light and happy tone when she really felt a mix of anger and her nerves made her stutter.

“I don’t know.  Alison got mad at me and when I got upset no one was downstairs to help me.”

“I was.”

“No. I mean no one as in my mom and dad.  I started thinking that they were never going to come back and that I had to go and get them.  Please don’t tell them this happened, they will be so mad and….” he started crying again.

“Hey, it’s okay.  I have done almost the exact same thing.  And you know what?  I won’t tell if you come with me a stop your sister from eating our whole pizza,” she said with a smile.  Harry smiled too and she began helping him from underneath the porch.  Then they began walking toward the back door.