10 Scary Stories (#Wattys2017)

3 - Babysitter

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.