The Last Babysitter

By Haley Gilbart

Author of best selling - Diary Of A Mean Girl

Have you ever been so afraid that you couldn't talk? Couldn't even scream for help? Have you ever been so afraid that you felt like you wanted to die? You would even take death with a smile just to escape from the miserable feeling? Have you ever been so afraid that you felt like you were going to shake so hard you would have a panic attack? You feel like you're having a never ending seizure? If you ever felt so afraid that you felt as if you would choke on the big lump in your throat and felt sick to your stomach, then you and me have many, many things in common.

Chapter One

My name is Harmony Daft. I'm seventeen years old and am in my senior year of High School in Franklin, Tennessee. I'm a great student and I take my school work very seriously. Once I graduate, I will be going to college for veterinary. In my free time, I like to hang out with my best friends Daisey and Talila, play soccer and volley ball, and I also like to baby-sit…

"Harmony, you have a call from the Jefferson's' down the street.", I heard my mom call from her office. She worked at home for her own business. She designed purses and shoes. Matching purses and shoes. "Hello?," I answered the phone. Lisa and Tim Jefferson wanted me to baby sit for them next week Friday. "Sure, I'll be there. What time do you want me by? Eight? Okay see you next week!" I was looking forward to next week because I've baby sat for almost the whole neighborhood, but not yet the Jeffersons.

I walked back down to my mom's office and let her know that I'm going to be at Daisey's house for a few hours. Daisey lived right down the street so it didn't take me long at all to get there. "Hey Daisey!", I called. She invited me in and we sat on her bed talking about plans for next week. "Friday? No I have to baby sit for the Jeffersons. How about Saturday?" Daisey gave me the strangest look and I asked her what was up with it. All she said was, "The Jeffersons? You're going to that…that house? Please don't go, Harmony. Please!" What was her problem? And so that was exactly what I asked her after five minutes of listening to her intense gasping. For a second, I thought she needed a paper bag to hold over her mouth to breathe into. "Harmony, don't you know that that house has been haunted for over 100 years? 100 years ago, there was a family who lived in that house. The husband died of old age and ever since then, the widowed wife heard voices telling her to leave or else…..die. She claims to have seen her husband as a ghost and felt his touch on her arm every now and then. She never left and stayed in that house until she died despite the warnings of her dead husband. Nobody dared enter that house until five years later, a family of four bought the home. Their first night there was absolutely miserable. The youngest daughter, Charlotte, had a glass doll. It was her most favorite possession. She set it on her wood chair right next to her bed. There was a horrible storm that night. The thunder boomed and the lighting struck. As soon as light poured into the room from the lighting, she heard glass clicking together and it almost sounded as if someone was playing music. The lighting struck again, and she lifted her head up to where she heard the glass clicking and saw her glass doll slowly turn her head, her eyes rolling back, as she opened her mouth and said in the voice of an elderly man, "Leave this house. If you value your life, leave this house." Charlotte ran screaming from her room to her mom and dad, but they said it was just her imagination. So she went back to bed and had a disturbing night mare about an old man coming into her room. He had an axe and stood over her bedside screaming, "Leave my house! Leave my house!" She woke up and couldn't sleep the rest of the night. She put her covers over her head and prayed it was all just a bad dream. She rocked herself back and forth whispering, "Just a dream, just a dream, just a dream," multiple times until she collapsed in exhaustion and finally fell asleep. And the worst part is….she never woke up. Neither did her family. And the only noise in the house was of a man laughing hysterically screaming, "Alone again! Alone again!"

"Daisey, I'm sure that's just a made up story to scare little kids. I'll be fine. Trust me."

"Yeah well, before you go I just want to know one thing. Am I in your will? If so, can I please have your red high heels? Prom is coming soon you know."

Chapter Two

I got back home just in time for dinner. We had a casserole with a bunch of noodles in it. My mom isn't the best cook in the world, but actually, it wasn't that bad. By the time I finished dinner, finished homework, and took my shower, it was time to get to bed. Until I fell asleep I read a baby sitting guide to prepare me for my future baby sitting jobs. Slowly, I drifted off to sleep….I was in the middle of nowhere. I looked around the deserted road and saw a green sky and looked down and realized that the road I was standing on was purple. All of a sudden I heard cackling laughter. I looked to my left, where I thought it was coming from, and saw that it was a clown. I walked over and said hello. But the clown's expression turned bitter and he screamed at me telling me to leave him alone. I backed quickly away. I was backing up until I backed up into what felt like a hard stone. I turned around to see what had stopped me and saw an old man in the form of a ghost. He had an axe in his hand and suddenly pulled me by my neck up to his level. He lifted his arm, axe in hand, put it to my neck and….BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP! I woke up to the sound of my obnoxious alarm clock and to the sound of my frantic screaming. It was Wednesday morning, time for another great day of school. I got up out of bed as I tried to shake the feeling that someone was watching me. I turned around, yet no one was there. And all I felt was a sudden gust of air. I went into the bathroom and got ready for school. I got done washing my face and after taking the washcloth off from in front of my face, I looked in the mirror and what I saw behind me was terrifying. I saw the man in my dream, laughing hysterically with the kind of grin that the rude clown wore on his face. I felt sick and ran to the toilet. I opened the toilet top and saw the face in the toilet bowl once again. I ran out of that room as fast as I could and downstairs to leave for school. As I got onto the bus and took my seat next to Talila, I told her about what Daisey said to me and what happened this morning and in my dream last night. Talila said, "I wouldn't believe Daisey. You know how she is about those types of things. She will believe anything she hears." I guess she was right, but what about this morning? Was it just my imagination? I decided to forget about it and move on with my day.

Chapter Three

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday flew by. It was finally Friday, the last day of school. Then I had the weekend to do whatever I wanted. I got ready then rushed down stairs and onto the bus. I took my seat next to Talilia and we began talking about the social studies test we had on Wednesday. I can't believe everyone thought it was so hard. It was so easy. I got an A+, but of course, for me that's no big surprise. Talila got a B+. She has good grades, but has a few C's here and there. Daisey, totally different from me and Talila, has D's and F's. But she has the best personality, aside from her being very unhealthily superstitious. The bus stopped at our high school and I walked in to see Daisey waiting for me at my locker. "I'll see you in math," Talila told me and left me and Daisey to talk. "Harmony, Hi! Are you still babysitting for the Jeffersons' tonight?" I'm almost positive she's going to bring up what she told about the house being haunted. I'll just ignore it. "Daisey, everything will be fine. I promise." But the look on Daisey's face told me that she still wasn't sure.

Twenty minutes. I was getting ready for my babysitting job. I'm really excited! Ten minutes passed, and I had ten minutes left. So I called Daisey to reassure her that everything will be ok. "Hi, is Daisey there? Sure, I'll hold on. Thank you." It took Daisey five minutes to get to the phone, so by that point I only had five minutes to talk. "Hey, Daisey. I'm leaving in five minutes. I just called to tell you that everything will be ok. And if me or my mom thought that something was wrong, then I wouldn't go. She wouldn't even let me go. I promise that I'll be fine. I have to get going now. Bye, Daisey."

All I heard was Daisey's voice yelling into the phone begging me not to go. "But, how do I know that this isn't the last goodbye?"

"Because, I said so Daisey. It's fine. Bye."

"Bye."

And then the line went dead so I hung up too and walked out the door.

"Bye, Mrs. Jefferson. I hope you two have a good night. Everything here will be fine." I walked over to the two kids I had to spend four hours with tonight. There was Jade, she's seven. And then Jace, he's six.

"What do you want to do? Do you want to read a book? Watch TV? Play a game?" All they did was stare blankly at me, and then all of a sudden Jace started bursting out into tears. This is going to be a long, long night.

By 9:00, it was time to put the kids to bed. I read them a story and they fell right asleep. I had some time to myself, so I went down to the living room and watched Mtv for a while. I fell asleep and didn't notice until I heard a loud crash outside. I looked at the clock and it said 10:25. Wow, I must have been really tired to sleep that long. I walked up to the front door where I heard the bang. I looked outside and saw nothing. As I was walking away, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a dark figure. Moving. I told myself that it was probably just an animal and forgot about it. Until I heard my cell phone vibrate. I opened it, still a little jumpy, and saw that I just got a text from a restricted number. What I saw, scared me so much I wanted to get the kids and leave. It said, 'Get out of my house. I'll kill you if you don't leave my house.' But then I figured it was just Talila trying to scare me. She likes doing that to people. I calmed down after a few minutes. I heard another crash outside and then a man humming quietly. I peered outside and saw a figure rocking back and forth and I heard humming again. And suddenly, an eerie breeze blew by and the figure disappeared. Oh my gosh, oh my gosh. I'm afraid now. I wanted to be a little girl again, covering my head with my blanket so the scary monsters wouldn't get me. And then screaming for Daddy to come and scare off the monsters. But this monster isn't imaginary, this monster is real. And Daddy isn't coming back. Daddy is dead. He can't help me now. I got another text from the same restricted number. It said, 'You're wearing a red t-shirt and dark blue jeans with sandals and you have a necklace on with a sea shell on it. Do you believe me now?' My phone rang. I answered. I heard heavy breathing, then screaming, then what sounded like metal…an…an axe. Hitting a hard surface. And then I heard, "That will be your head." In the shaky, crackly voice of an old man. The line went dead, the lights went out, and I heard a door open and the floor creak.

Chapter Four

"Who's there?," I cried. I heard him take another step forward. I remembered Jade and Jace upstairs and ran up to them. I first checked Jace's room and he wasn't in his bed. Then I ran to Jade's room and she wasn't there. I panicked and started screaming. When I stopped, I heard screaming from two little voices and banging. I ran to where it was coming from. It was in Jade's room. There's a trunk right at the foot of her bed that she kept toys in. I opened the trunk and Jade and Jace sat there with tears streaking their face, their eyes all red and puffy. I grabbed them and said we have to get out here. I turned to walk out the door and he was there. We ran to the window, but he ran faster. He closed the door and the window and locked them both. We were trapped. I realized I still had the baseball bat in my hand so I smacked him right on the head with it. He fell down so I grabbed a heavy lamp and threw it at him. He was bleeding. There was a huge crack in his head. I told the kids to go out the window and run to their neighbor's house. Now, I had to save myself. I was just out the window, while I felt a sweaty, bloody hand grabbing my ankle. "Ow! Stop it! Ple..." My voice went. I was about to say 'Please.' I tried to scream but nothing came out. All I heard was my frantic hyperventilating. He was laughing and for a second, it reminded me of the mean clown in my dream. I kicked my foot at him and my ankle slipped out of his hand. I ran out the window and it felt like my legs were numb. I had a headache and I just wanted to go home and forget this all ever happened. I was running and then all of a sudden, I slipped and fell on the mud on the ground in the pouring rain. I turned around and he was coming after me. I couldn't get up, so I crawled. It was hard to see with all of the tears in my eyes and sweat in my face. The rain was pouring even harder now and lighting struck. Then it thundered and the next thing I know I feel a hand around my neck and I'm not able to breathe. He pulled out his axe, and I couldn't even scream. He was holding it to my chest and as fast as I could, I grabbed his hand, and pointed the axe so that it landed right in his chest. I ran away as fast as I could. I was in the middle of a road that I don't know. I heard laughter behind me, so I slowly turned around and saw the evil clown from my dream. I screamed. And that was the last thing I remembered.

I woke up in a white room with flashing lights and beeping and tubes. I was in a bed. In a hospital gown. As soon as I opened my eyes, I saw my mom and she began to cry and said, "Oh my God! I thought you were dead." I couldn't speak. All of a sudden, the room went dark, I couldn't breathe, and the last thing I heard was my mom's screaming.

"NOOOOO!"