CHAPTER ONE

A blaring alarm goes off in my ear, causing me to suddenly jolt upright. I stare blankly ahead, looking right through the wall I can barely make out in my dark room, contemplating the babysitting gig I had agreed to do. Already, my eyelids begin to grow heavy. Can I call in sick? Should I tell them I had an emergency? Can my car break down? After some time of absent-minded staring, I finally pick my phone up from beside me and turn off the cursed, god forsaken noise that sucked me out of the pleasant dream I was having. Immediately after doing so, my notifications appeared on the piercingly bright screen:

Chase Account: your balance of $7.62 was less than the $50.00 amount in your alerts settings.

I look back up from my screen, resuming the staring contest with my wall, annoyed. Damn this capitalism, I thought irritatingly.I guess I had no choice but to follow through with this weekend's fiasco. I pick my phone up again to check the time, and my eyes suddenly widened. Fuck, it's eight! I jumped out of my warm, inviting bed and rushed to turn the light on. How long have I been staring at my wall? I look down with relief to see my bags sitting nicely on the floor, packed and ready from the night before. After quickly double-checking to make sure I didn't forget my contact case or solution bottle, I threw on my leggings and cotton t-shirt, shoved my vans on my feet, and left for the door. The Smiths were set to leave at eight thirty and I lived forty-five minutes away, forcing me to skip warming up my car or obeying any speed limits. Worse, it doesn't give me any time to brush my hair or fill my eyebrows in…

After some not-so-pleasant road rage and lane-swerving, I finally make the long-awaited turn into the nice, suburban neighborhood Siri had been leading me to. Slowing my car down so as not to be obvious I was running late, I lean forward against my steering wheel to quickly scan the houses ahead of me. Cream colored house with a front-facing garage, I recited to myself, eyes darting back and forth. All the houses lined up proudly, beaming in different colors, all bright pastels with lush, well-kept lawns gleaming in the morning sunlight. Typical neighborhood for a Smith family, I couldn't help amusingly think to myself. As soon as the thought left my mind I noticed a few people gathered outside, appearing to be a family, standing on a wide driveway in front of… a cream colored house with a front-facing garage. Without thinking twice, I pulled over against the curb of the driveway, slowly coming to a park, throwing a quick look to check the clock: eight thirty-one. Not too shabby, I hailed to myself as I turned off my car. I step out of my car with a wide smile, trying desperately to hide the fact that I woke up thirty minutes ago.

"Hey, it's Haylee!" Mr. Smith beamed with a full-armed wave. "Say hello, kids!"

I turned to look at his family, the typical American bunch. His wife was a beautiful woman who you could tell took care of herself and enjoyed her occupation, despite the obvious signs of stress and tiredness around her eyes. Their two children, a high school graduate going to college and the other who looked to be maybe a slow-developing middle school boy, stood side by side. The young boy nervously waved at me with a half-smile, while his sister remained glued to her phone. Without looking up from her screen, the elder daughter let out a monotonous "hey," followed by a stern look from her mother.

"Summer," her mother pressed.

Summer looked up from her phone with a sarcastic enthusiasm and cheered "hey!" right before looking back at her mother annoyingly. After their little stare-off subsided, she turned back to me more genuinely, more present. "Sorry. Anyway, thanks for giving up your weekend to babysit my brother."

Thank you for paying me $500. "Of course!" I chipped. "Thanks for trusting me to take care of him! He'll be in good hands."

Mr. Smith's beaming pride was then slightly obscured when a look of annoyance crossed his face. "Well, you won't be the only one taking care of him. Beth's father will be here…" He paused as he shot a side-eye to his wife. "He lives here."

"Don't start, Jerry." Beth said under her breath, annoyed, without looking at her husband.

The little boy stepped forward reluctantly. "Aw, c-c'mon, guys." He pleaded. "L-let's just be happy and have a great weekend, okay?"

Aw, I thought. What a sad, cute little kid. "You must be Morty?" I asked with a warm smile, extending my hand to him. Morty turned to look at me with a nervous, optimistic smile, raising his frail arm to meet mine in a sturdy handshake.

"Yep, that's me," he blustered. "S-s-sorry about my parents. They disagree with each other a lot," he laughed as he scratched the back of his head with his other arm.

"You should see my parents," I smiled, letting go of the handshake, attempting to alleviate the child. "Yours ain't got nothing on their crazy selves."

Morty laughed anxiously, his shoulders relaxing. "Y-yeah?" He asked. "A-at least I'm not the only one."

"Not at all!" I reassured him. "So what grade are you in, Morty? Eighth?"

Sudden laughter erupted from Summer as she buckled over, her hand on her stomach. Beth calmly lifted her hand to her mouth in an attempt to hide her smile, while Jerry chuckled. Morty flushed and folded his arms, a peeved expression taking over his face.

"Aw, man." He vexed.

"He's a sophomore in high school," Summer clarified in between laughs. "He's just really small."

A sophomore? "Oh my gosh, I'm sorry!" I quickly apologized. "I'm horrible at guessing ages!" I anxiously tried to excuse, feeling horrible. Why does a high school sophomore need a babysitter? Wouldn't that make him, like, sixteen?

Beth seemed to notice my confused expression with a knowing, familiar look in her eyes. "Morty is very close with his grandfather," she smiled calmly. "So close in fact, that we're afraid if we leave Morty with him alone, he won't get any of his homework done. He's been behind in school for a while, and we'd like to make sure nothing distracts him from his studies."

So I'm really just here to make sure his grandpa doesn't distract him from his schoolwork? I began to ponder, but quickly brushed it off. Eh, every family has its own issues, I guess. Either way, I'll be leaving with $500.

"Woah, would you look at the time!" Jerry exclaimed. "We gotta get rolling!"

Summer hopped into the car without saying a word. Jerry ran a quick check on the straps holding the furniture down on their car by tugging them firmly, gave it a satisfactory pat, waved Morty and I goodbye, and got into the driver's seat. Beth walked towards me to give what I guessed was a quick hug, but as soon as she leaned in, she turned her head towards my ear.

"Please don't worry about Rick." She whispered. "Just make sure Morty focuses on his studies. Call me if you need anything." She quickly pulled back and flashed a perfect smile, switching her tone from concerned to joyous in an instant. "Have fun! You're welcome to anything in the house! Make yourself comfortable!" She turned around and hopped in the car, and a second later it began to reverse out of the driveway while Morty and I stood by the curb, waving goodbye as the car grew smaller and smaller in the distance.

Don't worry about Rick? I echoed in my head, waving as the car disappeared around the corner. What does that mean?

"W-well, looks like it's just us now," Morty chuckled nervously, turning towards me. "W-what do you want to do? All we have is a TV and a dog, I guess. He's pretty cute. N-nothing much to do, really… C'mon, I'll show you around the house." He said as he turned around and began to walk inside.

I followed behind him, taking note of how neat their walkway was kept. Everything was so… perfect. What could possibly be the issue? We stepped through the front door, and I was immediately met with the irresistible smell of clean, shampooed carpet. It was a cute, classic entrance, as if this were an open house advertised on a magazine spread for suburban living. There was a coat rack right next to the door, a staircase right across from it, a polished entryway table with small picture frames and glass bowls to hold various keys and knick-knacks, a clean wooden foyer met with smooth, freshly vacuumed carpet at the start of the living room, and bright, peach colored walls. It was a house straight out of a sitcom. As I was admiring the interior décor, a sudden ear-splitting, blistering crash screeched through the house, shaking the walls. I screamed instantaneously, thinking it was a bomb or an earthquake, and instinctively fell to the floor, holding on to anything I could find. Oh my god, I panicked. What was that? The rumbling gradually subsided until the house was completely silent again. I shot a look over at Morty. He was bewilderingly calm, not frazzled in the slightest, with even a somewhat annoyed gleam in his eye. What the hell…? Not a moment later, the sound of a door opening before slamming shut again somewhere around the corner broke the silence, followed by footsteps approaching us.

"E-everything's fine!" A man's rough, scratchy voice boomed as it grew closer. "Nothing to worry about! The coagulator just—"

He cut off. Complete silence. I slowly start to look up to find that right in front of me was a pair of black, stained, worn out shoes surrounded by the bottom of a white lab coat that was riddled with dust. I hesitatingly moved my eyes upwards to discover a long, lanky body of an older man towering over me until I was finally met with a pair of cold, dark, piercing, emotionless eyes completely shadowed by thick, dismal, furrowed brows. I froze. A sudden cold shudder enveloped me. Everything was frozen. I was paralyzed, on the floor, cowered underneath the clandestine eyes that stared me down in a scowling glare. I couldn't seem to escape them as they held my eyes locked, wide, and gaping sheepishly. I was freed when his eyes suddenly rolled.

"Aw shit, I forgot Beth hired a—burp—babysitter." He blurted before quickly turning around, lab coat swinging behind him as he disappeared around the corner, his footsteps fading until the door opened and slammed once again, leaving the house completely silent.I remained frozen on the floor, unmoving.

What…

Just then, a small, open hand extended in front of me.

"D-d-don't worry," Morty smiled feebly, helping me up. "Grandpa Rick does a lot of s-s-science and stuff; you get used to it. He doesn't bother anyone. Let's watch TV?"

I stared blankly at him.