The Babysitter

Heartbeat like drums

Sander knew exactly what that meant. He learned it from a movie he secretly watched without his parents knowing. 666 was the devil's number.

"Today, we sacrifice another innocent soul. Lord Lucifer will surely forgive us for our failure last time. Victor would you please bring the soul forward." Tiffany announced.

Victor brought Sander closer to the circle.

"No...no please!" Sander begged.

But Tiffany ignored him and continued, "This soul happens to have plenty of innocence and has everything handed to him. A spoiled brat should reward our group even more than a normal one. Soon we will all be Satan's personal henchmen, and we will receive powers beyond our dreams. Now," Tiffany raised her arms in a dramatic pose, "LET THE SACRIFICE BEGIN!"

The made the group cheer and clap, even victor cheered. The sounds echoed in Sander's ears making him cry even harder than he was before. In the midst of cheering Victor's grip began to loosen a bit, making Sander dangle a bit closer to the ground. Rather than Sander trying to break away from him which would be no use, Sander quickly realized another way out. A candle was lit close to Sander's feet and was just about in his kicking distance. Quickly he kicked the candle toward himself and the candle lit the ankles of Victor's pants on fire.

"AH! YOU LITTLE SHIT!" Victor yelled out and dropped the boy out of surprise.

Everyone in the group ran toward Victor to help get the fire out while Sander ran the opposite way toward the front door.

"NO, YOU IDIOTS! GET THE BOY!" Victor yelled out of anger.

Sander grabbed the door handle and pulled as hard as he could, but it was no use. The door wouldn't open, and he looked closer to figure out why. Plain in sight there was giant locks holding the doors shut. He was trapped inside.

Sander sprinted up the stairs with Damien, Tiffany, and Kat on his tail. Sander ran into his parent's bedroom and locked the door behind him. Damien tried the doorknob then began pushing his body against the door.

Sander lifted the rug on his parent's floor to reveal a small square door. This was where Sander's family hid their safe, but it doubled as Sander's secret hiding place. The boy quickly opened the latch and hopped in next to the safe. He then grabbed reached for the carpet, but it was folded too far for him to reach. He heard the Damien's body start to break the door.

One.

Sander reached as far as he could, his hand inches away from the carpet.

C'monnn please

Two.

The door was about to break, he knew it. Sander had no other choice but to exit the hole and pull the carpet over. He crawled under the carpet and carefully closed the door behind him.

Three.

Damien broke the door down and Sander heard the three walk into the room. Sander held his breath; his heart was beating so fast and loud he thought it might give him away.

"Where the hell is he?" Tiffany growled.

"You said you knew this place like the back of your hand Moon, is there any way he could've escaped through here?" Damien asked.

"I'm not in the parent's room much so I haven't really checked. Dammit! That little prick could be anywhere." Tiffany replied.

"Well let's not talk about it, lets go find the little bedwetter. Can't be that hard." Kat said, her voice fading meaning she left the room.

Damien followed Kat agreeing with the hunt, but Tiffany stayed in the room a bit longer. Sander heard her footsteps distance away from the spot he was in. She walked to the closet, rustled clothes around, then turned to the master bathroom. Sander heard her pull the shower curtain back and stomp in anger. Her foot steps made their way to the exact spot Sander was at, she was standing on top of him.

Sander's heart beat increased. He covered his mouth, so she wouldn't hear his sharp inhales as he silently cried.

Tiffany gave up looking in the room and exited following the others to look for the boy that was under there noses. Sander waited under the floorboards for a few more minutes before carefully opening the door again. Sander crawled to the closet and just breathed.

Why is this happening? Why would Tiffany do this? How can I escape? I don't want to die.

His thoughts were racing in his head. The poor eight-year-old had no idea what to do. The only hope he was holding on to was his will to live.

He needed to call the police, but how? The only home phone they had that wasn't attached to the wall was in the study downstairs. Sander wasn't about to give up yet and he sure wasn't going to just sit in a hole waiting to be murdered. He peaked out the door frame of the bedroom. From what he could see Damien kicked every door open and was currently checking Sander's bathroom. Kat was in Sander's room and Tiffany was walking down the stairs.

He needed to wait for his opportunity to get downstairs.