Pocketful of Short Stories

Not What We Thought

"Listen.. Murphy, you need... get the kids... Out of.. house. Now!"
I was driving home when my wife Lauren called me, with a shivering voice. I wasn't able to hear her because of the bad weather. But from what I heard, She wanted me to get the kids out of the house. But why?

"What are you saying? They're with Cynthia."
Cynthia was the babysitter of our three year olds. We just appointed her last month as she came to us for when she needed pocket money for college.

"Then you.. hurry!" She was screaming at me now from the other side. "She's not who we think. I saw...poster at NY police station, she-she has been charged...murdering kids... Babysits. "

I stopped the car immediately and held on to the phone tightly. What else would have been my reflex action? My wife just tells me that the babysitter we hired is a serial killer.

"W-What are you talking about!? " My voice was just a whisper.

"Don't stop Murphy please! Get the kids..... " And the line disconnected. There was no use calling her again. I hit the gas and drove as fast as I could to our house,  just a mile away. Because if what Lauren said is true then there's no time to waste.
I got a text from Lauren, a picture of the poster with Cynthia in it. With the charges of kidnapping and murdering kids and... also cannibalism. And that's when I got really worried.

Maybe I wanted to cry. But i kept driving, sweating like hell.
As soon as I stopped in front of our lawn, I jumped out of the car without having any other thoughts in mind.
  I was sweating and shivering. To my surprise, the front door was open.

"Mila! Agatha!  Where are you? "
At first, no one responded, but a few seconds later they came running down the staircase.
I couldn't tell you how relieved I was to see my daughters okay.
But behind them came Cynthia, in her usual dark, mysterious attire.

"Daddy!" Both of them jumped in joy. Ready to run to me, they were stopped by Cynthia's hand. The sight of her touching my kids disgusted me now.

"Daddy Cynthia taught us how to rip someone's heart out! Can we try it on someone please? " Mila spoke excitedly. I looked at her in surprise and then at Cynthia.

"Leave my kids alone. I know who you are. "
She wasn't surprised at all by my confrontation. Instead, she smiled.

"You won't know for sure. Anyway, it's time to do the deed, so it doesn't matter." She lifted her eyebrows and her face depicted pure evil. What time? What deed was she talking about?

I was standing near the kitchen counter with the knife stand just behind me. Mila and Agatha were not standing close to Cynthia.
I didn't know what I should have done at that moment, but all I knew was that I had to  do something.

It took all the courage in me to pick up the knife without her noticing, and without thinking any further, I threw it at her with all force.
The girls started crying, seeing her bleed.

"Why would you do that daddy? " I heard one of the girls say in between the sound of Cynthia screaming and whinning in pain, holding the knife inside her chest.

I was relieved at first, but instead of falling, her screaming turned into laughter. I couldn't believe in what I saw next. Somehow her bones started clicking, it felt more like her bones were breaking. Her eyes grew sharper and wings started to come out of her back. Black wings, like she was turning into a demon..

She pulled the knife out of her chest, looked straight into my eyes and smiled.

"Was that supposed to hurt?"
She was not what we thought she was.