That Night at Grandpa's (And Other Scary Stories)

The Red-eyed Maiden

My son killed a fly on the counter at the local ice cream shop. That is when I saw her red glowing eyes. I saw them again when she looked at the dead fly. Her tongue flicked out and rounded the side of her mouth as if she wanted to eat it. Was she looking at the fly or my son?

She turned away to begin making our order. I stood immobilized for a long time. My sons tried to alert me when our order was ready. I snapped out of my stupor when I heard them laughing. I grabbed the tray of food and led the way to a table where I could still see her.

Should I tell the boys?

Why not?

They believed me. They stared at the girl every chance they could get. They never spotted her glowing eyes. They wanted to see for themselves what color they might be. The two nicknamed her, The Red-eyed Maiden.

We finished our meal, emptied our trash, and headed for the door. The owner shouted, "Thanks for coming!" The boys headed out to the car, and as I turned back to say, "You're welcome," the girl stood at the counter grinning at my boys through the window.

Creepy.

My wife and I were to attend a banquet sponsored by my job. It was my turn to secure a sitter for Thursday and it was Monday. The usual sitters were busy that night. The last girl I called, Mal, said she could not, but suggested a friend whom she knew was not doing anything that night. She suggested I call her. I was not comfortable asking a girl I never met before to stay with our boys, but Mal said she worked with her and that she was nice. Not good enough.

Thursday came and we still had no babysitter. My wife suggested we call Mal's friend if we really wanted to go to the banquet. I really wanted to go. The food was always excellent, and they were going to have bluegrass for entertainment this year. We were to sit with friends we would laugh with, and we needed a night out.

I called her.

Mal was right. Her friend was not doing anything and said she would be over by six giving us plenty of time to make it toward the front of the line. Perfect!

The doorbell rang, and when my wife answered the door, I could tell it was Mal's friend arriving. I finished putting on my tie and sweater, and after one last look in the mirror headed for the door. I grabbed my wife's coat to help her on with it. As I moved to go out the door in front of my wife, that is when I noticed them. Our sitter had just introduced herself to the boys and turned toward me, her eyes glowing red. It was her!

As I walked out the door, I could not get the look of my boys' face out of mind--white, empty, staring faces. I think the oldest had a tear running down his face. As we drove away, I saw her pull the shades to cover her face as her tongue once again traced the rounded side of her mouth. She had been looking at my son!

I hit the brakes on the car sending my wife's head almost into the dash, which would have been unfortunate. I needed her to think. I recounted the story from the ice cream shop and then waited for her decision. She stared at me with a look I could not make out.

What does it mean? I stared back.

No points there. She told me I was being ridiculous and if we did not hurry, we would not make the front of the line. The thought of food for myself won over the boys being ate. Besides, the girl might be doing us favor. The boys had not been especially angels that week. Serves them right to be stuck with the Red-eyed Maiden from hades' ice cream shop.

I could not wait for the banquet to end. The food and music were excellent as anticipated, but I could not stop thinking about what was going on at home. Did she have them tied up? Did they have her tied up? Were they having fun? Had she eaten them yet? Did they taste mean? Was she sick?

Is she still there? I pulled up the driveway toward our house. The lights were off. It was nine-thirty. It startled me when my wife spoke. "How much should we give her, honey?"

You might want to hold that thought. As I unbuckled my seatbelt, I gave her a difficult look, one I was sure she would not make out.

She made it out.

Her door opened, and with a huff, she raced me to the door. She fumbled with her purse for the keys, and I was just about to tell her not to do anything drastic when the porch light came on. The front door opened. My wife gasped. My two boys looked at us grinning. They had fly wings and blood all over their hands and faces.

I could tell by their glowing red eyes that everything was okay.