One Night Babysitting

"He's upstairs in his room playing a video game. There is a TV dinner in the freezer for him. Help yourself to whatever you like. Just make sure he is in bed by 9."

"Sure thing Mrs. Smith."

Babysitting. Jenny hated it, but it was the only thing a girl her age could do to get some money. Well, not the only thing she reminded herself. It was girls like the Baxter Twins who brought themselves down to that level.

Mrs. Smith handed Jenny a piece of paper.

"That has our cell phone number on it, as well as the restaurants. But I doubt you'll need it, Alex will hardly be any trouble at all."

"Ok Mrs. Smith."

Mr. Smith looked impatiently at his watch.

"Come on Judy, we're going to be late."

They finally left. It was 6:30. Jenny sat down on their couch. She could hear talking coming from the upstairs.

The kid's probably playing one of them online games, she thinks.

His parents told her it was just best to let him play his game until he got hungry. He would then eat, watch some TV, and fall asleep. If it was true, it was going to be the easiest forty bucks she ever made.

She went into the kitchen, got a soda, and sat back down to watch some TV.

A few minutes later, she heard a yell and a crash upstairs.

She jumped off the couch and headed for the stairs, as she reached them, she saw the kid coming down them.

"What happened? Are you all right?" She asked.

He said, "Yeah. It's ok. I lost my game and kick my stand over."

"Oh. Well, I'm Jenny, your babysitter."

"A babysitter? I thought my parents would have least done me the favor of getting me a whore."

He cracked a sly grin.

"Or was that part of the deal?"

She was stunned. This was her third time babysitting. The first kid she sat for was the most energetic kid she had ever seen. The second was the most annoying, asker her millions of questions. But this, she wasn't ready to deal with this.

The shock passed her and she found her words.

"Listen kid, if you're going to speak to me that way, then you need to go straight to bed."

He laughed. "Now we're talking. I knew dad wouldn't disappoint me."

She knew she had just said the wrong thing.

"All right, go stand in the corner. And don't say another thing, or I'll call your parents."

He walked by her and slapped her ass.

She spun around and grabbed him.

"That's it. I'm calling your parents!"

She went towards the phone in the front room, as she picked it up, she felt a small, sharp pain enter the back of her right leg.

She arched her head backward to see what the pain was.

He had stabbed her with a sewing needle. She turned around to face him. He stood there, smiling at her.

"Calling them would be a bad mistake on your part, bitch."

She kicked him. She didn't even know she was doing it at the time. He stumbled back and crashed into a book shelf.

He fell to floor and started to cry.

"I was just playing a game," he said through his sobs. "Why did you kick me?"

She started to worry. Maybe he was one of those bipolar kids. Or some kind of kid with physiological problems. She wondered why the parents didn't warn her.

She kneeled down beside him.

"I kicked you because you were saying mean things. I'm sorry. Let's start over, shall we?"

He looked at her, his eyes red and watery.

"Ok Jenny. I'm sorry I said those things. Mommy took me to a doctor and he asked me a bunch of questions. I have to take a pill 3 times a day. I just took it a while ago, I guess it hasn't kicked in yet."

She nodded. That explains it. The kid is wacko. She pinched herself mentally. That wasn't nice, she thought, the kid does have some real problems. I will have to talk to Mr. And Mrs. Smith and ask why they didn't tell me.

"Come on Alex, let's get something to eat."

He looked at her, he had stopped crying.

"Good idea."

He grabbed her by the hair and pulled her head to him. He leaned up to her face and bit into her cheek.

It hurt like hell. She could feel the warm fluid that was her blood flowing down her face.

The kid jumped up, still holding her by the hair, and slammed her face into the bookcase.

She could feel pain of her nose breaking. She was scared. More scared than she had ever been.

She felt him let go of her hair and heard him run into the other room.

She slowly got to her feet. She held herself up against the wall. There was a mirror across the room from her. She could see the puncture wounds from his teeth and her broken nose.

She gathered her strength and went back to the phone.

She picked it up and brought it to the side of her face that wasn't covered in blood.

The phone was dead.

She though about bolting out the door, jumping into her car, and heading to a hospital. There she would call the cops and the psycho's parents.

She had started for the door, but stopped when she heard him call out.

"Jenny! Help me! I'm scared!"

She turned around. Was it a trick? She didn't know. She cursed the parents for not telling her about his condition. She looked around the room.

The living room had a fire place. She went over to it and picked up a poker.

She slowly went into the kitchen, holding the poker out in front of her like a sword.

She glanced around. She couldn't see him anywhere. She was sure that's where he called out from.

She heard a noise above her and started to jump out of the way, but she was too slow.

She felt something hit her head and then she knew nothing but darkness.

She woke up.

Her vision was blurry, she couldn't move, and she had a hard time breathing.

A moment later, she assessed the situation.

She was naked, tied to a chair, and duct tape was over her mouth. Her head was pounding.

She glanced down. She could see dried saliva caked on her breast. She knew the little creep had molested her.

Her vision was coming back. She looked around the room as much as she could.

To her left, there was a pile of toys. There was a plastic energy sword, like the one they used in the space movies. She knew what the kid had used it for.

Out of the corner of her, she could see a clock. It was 10:05. The parents were scheduled home in 25 minutes.

Then a horrifing though came to her mind. What if the parents knew what the psycho would do? What if the parents were freaks themselves and encouraged the boy to do this. That would explain the lack of warning.

She was more frightened now then ever. She had been in a terrifying situation once before.

When she was thirteen. Her sister's boyfriend had gotten a brand new car for his 17th birthday. Her sister wanted her to come along with them for nightly cruise. Both of their parents worked nights and it was her sister's responsibility to look after her.

She knew it was a bad idea to go with them, but she had no real choice.

Her sister and the boyfriend were having the time of their lives. The boyfriend had a six pack of beer in the car with them. The both of them had guzzled down two of the beers and her sister offered her one. Jenny refused to take a sip. The boyfriend turned around to look at her, while still driving.

"If you don't take a drink of that beer, I'll pull over and you can walk home."

She got scared and looked for some support from her sister, but her sister just laughed.

"You might not have to walk. I'm sure some nice guy will pick you and take you home. After you put his thing into your mouth and lick it like a lollipop!"

Her sister and the boyfriend laughed. He then pulled over the car.

Her sister held out the beer to her once again.

"What will it be sis?"

Jenny looked back and forth between them. She didn't know she had already begun to cry.

The boyfriend shook his head.

"It seems like she prefers to have the other thing in her mouth instead of a good beer."

He opened up his car door. Jenny heard a voice in her head. It told her to just drink the beer and then be quiet and they'll leave you alone.

Jenny grabbed the beer from her sister and took a drink. It was the most disgusting thing she had ever tasted. She grimaced and swallowed it down.

Her sister smiled at her.

"See, that wasn't so bad. You made a big deal out of nothing."

Jenny laid down on the back seat and curled up into the fetal position. She stayed that way until they got home.

They got out of the car and the boyfriend sped away.

Jenny's sister looked at her, her face drawn with anger.

"If you ever speak of this to mom or dad, I will kill you in your sleep, got it?"

Jenny nodded. She never spoke of what happened to anyone.

But now, sitting naked, tied to a chair and having been violated, she wishes she were back in that car.

What worried her now, was, she didn't know where the kid was at.

She listened to the house the best she could. She heard movement coming from the upstairs.

A shiver went down her spine, he must be looking for more toys, she thought.

The noise upstairs stopped and she saw the headlights of a car shine through the window.

The freaks are home.

She knew she was going to die. That voice inside her head started to speak.

You're Jennifer Elaine Travis. You're 16 years old. You know the situation you are in. You are not a piece of meat to be shared by this fucked-up family. You will not go down without a fight.

She though, that's great and all, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm tied to this chair.

The voice did not respond to that.

The parents walked through the door.

Mrs. Smith let out a scream and Mr. Smith ran to Jenny.

He untied her and pulled the tape off over her mouth.

He grabbed the afghan off of their couch and wrapped it around them.

Jenny was relieved. She started shaking and Mr. Smith sat her down on the couch.

"Who did this to you?" He asked.

She found she couldn't get the words out. So she pointed upstairs.

Mrs. Smith gave out a whelp as though she had been hurt. Mr. Smith looked angry and confused.

"Alex did this? How? He's never acted out before in his life."

Jenny was about to speak, but something interrupted her.

She heard what sounded like a car backfiring and then a thump.

Mrs. Smith had fallen to the floor. She had been shot in the head.

The kid was in the kitchen. He was holding a gun.

Jenny screamed. She stood up and hid behind Mr. Smith.

Mr. Smith looked at the kid dumbfounded.

"Who are you?" Those were his final words.

The kid pulled the trigger again, shooting Mr. Smith in the head.

Jenny's adrenaline kicked in. She bolted up the stairs.

As soon as she reached the top, she knew she had made another mistake. But she had to do something. Surely there was something up there that could help her.

She went into the first room she saw.

She stepped in it and let out another scream.

Laying on the floor, was the real Alex. Jenny overcame her shock and knelt beside him. She checked his pulse. He was dead.

She ran out of the room. She turned down the hall and found the parents bedroom.

She opened up the closet and searched franticly. She was hoping to find another gun or something.

And she found something she could use. A baseball bat.

She grabbed it and hid herself behind the door.

She heard the kid coming down the hall.

"I know you are up here!" He screamed. "I not done playing with you yet! There's still another cave of yours I want to explore!"

He stepped into the room.

She swung at him as hard as she could. The bat connected to his head with a sickening thud. It didn't stop her from swinging.

And after there was no possible way for the boy to be alive, she still kept swinging.

She was still hitting him when the cops had arrived. They yelled at her to throw the bat down.

She still kept swinging.

Only after they shot her, did she stop.