The Babysitter

Chapter One: What is wrong with you?!

*Image of Adlie*

Chapter One: What is wrong with you?!

It's strange. To look out of the windshield of my mother's car and see the house I lived in as a child. It doesn't look like it changed at all. The driveway is a small semicircle with a small brick pathway and step. The pathway is surrounded by the green scenery that paints my childhood memories the old fashioned brick house is still the stark red and white I recall, with the flowers in the front perfectly tended to. I can smell the chlorine from the pool in the backyard and wonder if the swing my father built for me when I was 5 still hangs near it.

"Wow," my mom chuckles, "It didn't change at all!"

"Mhm," I hum, unlocking the door and stepping out. I inhale deeply and exhale with a smile. I missed the warmth of Florida. We moved from Apalachicola when I was 8 so my dad could accept the job of a lifetime in France.

Now that it's just my mom and I, she wanted to be closer to my aunt. uncle, and cousins. "Do you remember how to get to your room?" she calls out, pulling our suitcases from the trunk.

"Yeah!" I call back. My room was the only room on the upper floor. I find the door with ease, and walk up the dark oak steps. The banister is still white, along with the carpeted floor and the walls. The ceiling reaches up to a tall open point with two think oak boards adding structure. I smile when I see the Edison bulb fixture my dad installed before we moved is still between the two oak boards. I place a hand under my chin as I look out the huge window to the right of the open space. It's a deep window, with the shell of a window seat. I have enough pillows and blankets to make it a functional seat.

I can't wait to hang up my lights and plants from the oak planks above, along with some vines on the small banister. My queen bed and glass desk will look perfect as well, as long as the movers don't mess anything up.

"Adlie! Come help me with the luggage!" my mom calls for me once again from the front of the house. Her room is on the first floor, along with everything else - kitchen, laundry, mudroom, lounge - but the finished basement is what I really missed compared to our Paris condo. The set up was amazing, with surround sound and a home theater. Great for movie nights or gaming.

When I exit the front door to accept my bags from my mother, I see faces I didn't expect. An old couple had lived across the street when we had lived here. Now, a boy my age sits on the step by their semicircle driveway. A younger boy the same dark curly hair as the older boy shoots a basketball at a hoop. Maybe he'll be able to offer me directions to the high school from here. I'm already registered for my senior year, now I just need to wait two weeks for the year to start. I watch the older boy tap away at his phone while his - I'm assuming brother - continues to miss his shots. He throws the ball hard and it ricochets away and towards our driveway. I leave my bags by the door to possibly introduce myself. I

I watch as he starts running to grab his ball. Then things begin to go slow motion in my mind.

I hear loud music approaching and turn to see a bright red Mustang barreling down the street. He's not going to make it to the ball and back to his driveway and in time and he seems too in the zone to notice the car. A neighbor's car is parked on the street before the entrance to my driveway, the Mustang won't see him pop back out into the street before it's too late. I start running. Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God -

My hands meet skinny shoulders and i quickly pull my entire weight backward. With an "oomph", we both fall back onto the bright gravel and stare in shock as the Mustang pops the basketball loudly. He must've dropped it when I grabbed him. I sit up, pulling the boy up next to me, "Are you okay?" I whisper, his older brother looking up in surprise at the sound.

This little boy meets my concerned eyes. God, he can't be more than 7-years-old. He looks back to the street, his brother, his ball. then me and begins to quietly cry. He nods, answering my question that he's okay and to my surprise, hugs me. I hug him back and look up when the older boy appears in front of me, looking concerned. "What just happened?" he asks, sounding very confused.

I should be nice. I should be polite. I don't know this guy or what he's like. 

But his little brother almost died because his phone was more interesting. I see red.

"How could you not have been paying attention?!" I yell at him, wrapping my arms around his brother to try and offer him comfort.

"Excuse me?" he scoffs. "He was fine!"

"Are you kidding me?! What the hell is wrong with you, he could've died!"

"Who even are you? Don't you know who I -" he starts, but I just have to interpret such an arrogant statement. 

"I don't particularly care if you're the President, Bill Gates, or God - this little boy was under your watch and he almost got run over! Get a grip on what's important!"

He steps back in surprise, blinking as though I'd slapped him across the face. Then an unfamiliar voice yells out, "Lucas! Who is that? What happened to your ball? Why are you crying?" The three of us look up and see a woman approaching. She has the same dark and curly hair as the boys, but she looks very concerned. Unlike someone.

"Mom!" the boy in my arms - Lucas - whimpers. He leaves my grasp to run to her but screeches to a halt at the edge of my driveway, fear in his eyes as he takes a step back, staring at his shoes. She quickly crosses the road and hugs, Lucas, looking at the older boy with a worried look then to me. "We haven't met," she says, very matter of fact.

"We haven't," I say with a small smile, I stand and brush my hands on my shorts before offering a hand. "I'm Adlie, my mom and I are just arriving to move in," I explain, motioning behind me.

"I'm Karlyn, these are my sons Lucas and Zachary -"

"Zach," the older boy interrupts her, but she moves on easily. "What on Earth happened here?" she asks.

"I di'n't ook," Lucas sniffles, his words all messy but intelligible, " 'as a car, I 'idn't see it, my ball 'oll'd oer 'ere, I wan aft'r it, an' an' -" he tries to finish but begins crying again. I finish for him, "I saw that he didn't see the car coming so I ran and I pulled him back. I guess he dropped the basketball because the car popped it almost as soon as I pulled him back."

"Oh God," Karlyn groans, wrapping her spare arm around Lucas, attempting to offer her frightened boy as much comfort as she can. "Thank you, for that," she says to me with a sincere look on her face. I smile and shrug in response but wince when her face turns vicious as she looks to Zach. "And what were you doing when all this was happening?!"

He takes a step back again, "I . . . uh . . . I was . . ."

She waves him off with a "tsk" like sound, then looks behind me, "Are you Adlie's mother?" Karlyn asks.

"I am, what happened?" my mother asks, walking down from our pathway to stand in the driveway with me and our new neighbors. "Your daughter just saved my little boy's life, I can't thank her enough and I want to thank you as well," Karlyn explains with a big smile.

"She did?" my mom says, sounding both confused and surprised and when Karlyn nods, she smiles at me. I smile back and accept the side hug she offers. "Well, this is quite the first day back!"

"Back?" Karlyn asks, looking down just a moment to brush some of Lucas' tears out of his face.

"We lived in this house when Adlie here was a little girl, about your little boy's age. We moved to France when Adlie's father got a great job opportunity and now we're back!" she explains.

"I see!" Karlyn says with a big smile. "Then, where is your hus -"

"Unimportant!" I interrupt, blushing when everyone's eyes turn to me. "I . . . um . . . I'll go bring my bags inside now." With that, I leave my mom to initiate a more pleasant introduction with Karlyn, Lucas, and Zach. Maybe I'll avoid Zach instead, he doesn't seem all that friendly after all.