I’m Babysitting Black-Eyed Children

Day 1: New Clients

This is some fucking bullshit. Okay so I work primarily as a babysitter but with what’s been going on I haven’t been getting any business. That was until yesterday. I got an email requesting my services to watch some kids for the weekend. I replied that I’d love to, provided their kids are healthy.

I also informed them due to the circumstances I’d need half my pay in advance. They agreed to it and said they’d drop them off at 8. I made sure to clean up before they arrived. I was getting through with vacuuming when I heard my doorbell ring. I turned off my vacuum and told them to come in.

“Hey,” I said, coming down the stairs. “Don’t worry your kids will be safe with me. I just need to know if there’s anything important I should know about….”

My voice trailed off when I saw who was inside my house. Standing in my living room was a family of four. A dad, daughter, mom, and son. All of them had deathly pale skin like they hadn’t seen The Sun in years. That wasn’t what made my blood run cold, though. It was their pitch-black eyes.

The instant I saw them I got an overwhelming urge to run out of the house. The problem was they were right at the bottom of the stairs. I thought about running back up and jumping out a window but I doubted a broken ankle would increase my chances of escape. Besides they weren’t technically doing anything to harm me. I figured my best course of action was to talk with them.

“Can I help you?” I hesitantly asked.

“I am the client you spoke with earlier,” the dad said.

“Wait, what? You guys are? But you’re….”

“Aliens, demons, monsters. We’ve heard it all,” the mom said. “I’m Eliza. This is my husband, Norman, our daughter, Louise, and our son, Abraham. Anyway, now that we’ve gotten the formalities out of the way we need you to watch our kids for five days while we take care of something.”

“Five days? But he said that it’d only be for the weekend,” I said, pointing to Norman.”And it doesn’t matter anyway. I want you all out of my home.”

I pointed to the door.

“You aren’t in any position to be making demands. If you don’t want to comply, however, we can show you what happens to our prey,” he said.

“And what would that be exactly?” I replied, trying to call his bluff.

Norman made a choking motion with his hand. Instantly I felt like a vice was crushing my windpipe.

“Okay, okay, fine,” I choked out. “I’ll watch them.”

“Good,” he said, releasing me.

I rubbed my throat.

“I want the first half of my pay, though.”

Without words, the mom reached into her purse and pulled out a large stack of one-hundred-dollar bills.

“If you do a good job there’s more where this came from,” Eliza said. “But if we come back to see so much as a scratch on either of them no hell that you can think of will compare to what we’ll do to you.”

“Yeah, got it,” I softly replied.

“Good,” Norman smiled.

His straight white teeth looked out of place in him.

“See you in five days,” he said and left with Eliza.

Words can’t describe how awkward the silence was as the kids and I looked at each other.

“So…Is there anything you guys need?”

“No, thank you. We’ll let you know if we do,” Louise said.

“Right, I’ll be in the kitchen if you do.”

For the first few hours, nothing really happened. They just sat on the couch and watched TV. That all changed around midnight. I was on my laptop when I heard one of them come into the kitchen. It turned out to be Abraham.

“Do you need anything?”

He stared at me for a couple moments with his soulless black eyes.

“We need you to take us somewhere,” he told me.

“But everything’s closed.”

“Not where we need to go. Don’t worry. It won’t take long.”

We went in my car and I began driving us out of my neighborhood.

“Where are we headed?” I asked.

“Just keep going. We’ll let you know when we’re there,” Loise said.

The place we went to turned out to be the cemetery.

“I’m afraid to ask but why are we here?” I inquired.

“Our parents gave us specific tasks to do while they were gone. The first one is here.”

“Right and what exactly is it that you are supposed to do here?”

“Follow us.”

“Can’t I wait here?”

“We need you to come. If you don’t we’ll tell our parents you hurt us.”

“But…Fine.”

I got out of my car and quietly closed the doors. We walked into the graveyard which was dimly lit by some lamps. Abraham and Louise looked around.

“There,” Abraham said, pointing to the tallest gravestone.

“What do you need from here?” I asked once we had walked to it.

Louise pointed to a shovel resting on a nearby stone.

“Dig,” she told me.

“Are you crazy? I’m not digging up someone’s grave,” I said.

Before either of them could reply we heard someone yell at us.

“What do you think you are doing?” A man called to me.

It turned out to be the groundskeeper. He was too far away to make us out completely.

“We’re just passing through,” I called back.

“Then why are you holding my shovel and why are you parked outside?”

“I thought it looked cool and kinda spooky here and the car’s not mine.”

“Really? Then I guess you won’t mind if I have it towed.”

“No, wait,” I pleaded.

“Aha so you admit it,” he smugly said.

“Okay you got me but it isn’t what you think.”

“Then what are you doing here?”

“I need to dig up this grave…”

I realized saying that didn’t help me look any better the moment the words left my mouth.

“You are doing what?” The groundskeeper asked, raising his voice. “That’s it. I’m calling the police.”

“No wait,” I said but he was already taking out his phone.

That was when Abraham and Louise began approaching him. At first, he told them that they shouldn’t be at the graveyard. When they got closer, however, he stopped talking. A look of fear came over him and he tried running away. The children began levitating off the ground like ghosts.

They flew towards the groundskeeper and caught him. Despite him being larger than them they were able to hold him down with ease. I rushed over to them to try stopping them but I was too late. When I reached them, I didn’t understand what I was seeing at first. My mind registered it, after a couple seconds, though.

Some sort of black inky substance was shooting out of the kids’ mouths. It covered the groundskeeper, making him look like a shadow with a solid presence. I could hear him screaming as he was being suffocated by it. Although, It was muffled. When he finally fell still, ending his torment the kids took the stuff off of them.

They did it by breathing it back into themselves. You know how the tape’s victims look after Samara kills them in The Ring? The groundskeeper’s face looked similar to that. The only difference being the fear that was plain in his eyes. I handled it like most people would by freaking the fuck out.

“What in the name of all that is sacred did you do to him?” I cried out.

“We stopped him from interfering by exposing him to our essence,” Abraham said.

“I don’t know what that means but now we have a corpse to deal with.”

I was on the verge of tears.

“Then it’s convenient that we are in a cemetery,” Louise said. “Now I suggest you continue with what we came here to do if you don’t want to meet the same fate as him.”

I reluctantly dragged the groundskeeper’s body to the tombstone. Then began digging.

“Happy place…I’m in my happy place, “ I sobbed as I did so.

I opened the coffin to reveal the skeleton of a man who had been buried with some golden items. This included a gold-handled dagger, a gold-framed hand mirror, and a golden pocket watch.

“Grab him and his things,” Abraham said.

“Oh come on. You want me to steal a corpse?”

“We do,” Louise said.

I sighed and picked it up. After I got it out, I threw the groundskeeper’s body in the coffin. Then put the lid over it. As I was closing it, I glanced at the inside of the lid. Disturbingly, there were some scratches on the inside of it and what I figured was dried blood. I drove us back.

Nobody said a word the entire time. I tried not to think about the fact that I had just witnessed a man get murdered and that there was a long-dead corpse in my trunk. When we got back, the kids went down into my basement with the corpse and the things we took from it. They haven’t come up in a few hours. I’ve managed to type this up in the meantime.

I’ve dealt with poorly behaved kids in my time but Abraham and Louise are a bit much for me and I have to deal with them for another four days so…. Does anyone know any tips that might help me?

Day 2: A Shopping Trip Gone Wrong

Okay, so I’ve been looking up different means of dealing with the kids and their parents. I’ve seen claims they are vampires. In that regard, I’ve tried some of the classic weaknesses associated with vampires. However, the garlic and religious symbols I put around them don’t seem to be affecting them in the slightest. It may have something to do with the fact I myself am not a religious person or maybe they aren’t vampires after all.

Granted I haven’t tried the oak stake through the heart method but I doubt I’ll get the opportunity to. The other theories I have heard are them being aliens or demons of some kind. If the former was true I wasn’t really sure what I could do to get rid of them other than cooperate and hope for the best. If they were the latter some kind of ritual might do the trick. The issue is that I don’t know which one to use.

There are lots of different rituals as it turns out and I doubt I’d be let off easily if I tried one and it didn’t work. I’m not sure what we stole from that grave is being used for. I tried going down into the basement to check. When I tried opening the door, however, I found I was unable to. No doubt this is the kids’ doing. Speaking of whom, they made me do something else tonight that I am not proud of.

This particular task required me to go to the store. Although that sounds like an easy thing to do it ended up being far more complicated than I thought it would be. The children being distrustful decided to accompany me to make sure I wouldn’t get up to any funny business. We ran into a problem. The store closed earlier than expected.

“Hey, what’s the big idea? I thought this place closes at seven. It’s only six,” I said to who I assumed was the manager or assistant manager locking the door.

“Sorry, but we’re closing early due to being short-staffed,” he replied.

“I didn’t know. Can you let me in? I only have a few things to get. It won’t take long.”

“I would but it isn’t up to me. Again sorry. We open back up at six.”

He walked by me and I was left feeling defeated. I went back to my car to let the kids know of the bad news. Needless to say, they didn’t take it well.

“Our parents gave us specific tasks to do for each day. If we don’t fulfill them they will be disappointed,” Abraham said.

“Well, I don’t see how that’s my problem. If you wanted me to go to the store you should’ve said something earlier.”

“The store being closed is not a factor in whether or not our task gets done,” Louise said.

“What do you want me to break in?”

The kids only stared in response.

“It can’t wait until tomorrow?”

They shook their heads.

“And if I don’t I’ll end up like that groundskeeper?”

They nodded and I sighed. I thought that I would have to break in. Had that been the case the store’s alarm would’ve been a pain to deal with. Luckily for me, I noticed the employee before heading back toward the store. He must have forgotten something because he unlocked the back door.

Also lucky for me, he left it ajar. I slipped inside and began searching for what I needed to get. The things I needed were some chalk, black or red candles, sea salt, and a sketchbook. While I could find these items without much trouble the issue was avoiding detection. The employee I talked with seemed to be frantically looking for something.

This was a huge pain in the ass because he was searching in the area of the store the stuff I needed was. I did my best to go unnoticed. However, that was easier said than done. I managed to get everything but sea salt. I went to the aisle that had it.

I found it on the top shelf. As I grabbed it, though I noticed something else between the bottles. I grabbed and pulled it off the shelf to find that it was a cellphone. I put two and two together and figured that it was probably what that employee was looking for. Speaking of whom he found me holding it which led to a misunderstanding.

“What the hell are you doing in here?” he asked.”I already told you we’re closed and…Is that my phone?”

“Yes, you were looking for it right?”

He nodded.

“And seeing as how I found it could you do me a favor and ring up this stuff for me?”

I handed his phone back to him and he looked at it and let out a sigh.

“Look I really appreciate you finding my phone for me but if I ring up any new items I could be fired. Besides you aren’t even supposed to be in here anyway.”

“I see. Welp, only one thing I can do then.”

I abruptly turned and began running towards the exit with the stuff I got. I heard the man curse loudly and run after me. I was able to make it out of the back door. I thought I was going to reach my car and get away scot-free. That was until I got slide-tackled by a police officer.

“You’ve got some nerve,” he told me.

“Wait, you don’t understand,” I replied, trying to reason with him.

“Oh, I understand. You thought you could steal from a store that’s already running low on shit people need. We already have enough trouble with selfish assholes who buy 100 rolls of toilet paper in bulk. We don’t need shoplifters on top of that.”

I felt him put handcuffs on me.

“Oh come on. I didn’t even take anything important and I would have paid for it,” I gritted in pain from how tight the cuffs were.

“Sure you were. Also, chalk, a sketchbook? Most people would only steal what they need in times like this. I guess you’re a dumbass on top of being a thief.”

“I already told you I’m not a thief or at least I wasn’t trying to be.”

The cop ignored my words. He planted a foot firmly on my back as he picked up the stuff I grabbed. Then he proceeded to hand it back to the employee. That was when I noticed something that made me feel the color drain from my face. The back doors of my car were open and the children were no longer in it.

“Guys, I’m telling you I need those things,” I shouted.

The cop cut me off and was telling me to shut up until the employee pointed something out to him. It was that the kids were standing before them. Their features were obscured by shadows.

“The hell are a couple of kids doing out so late?” The cop muttered.

“They’re with me,” I told him. “I’m their babysitter.”

“Is that right?” He chuckled. “Hey kids, sorry you have to see this.”

He yanked me to my feet. He then asked the employee to watch the kids while he put me in his patrol car. He yanked me to my feet and started walking me towards it. He paused when he realized the kids were coming toward us. His and the employee’s eyes grew wide when they were close enough for them to make out their features.

“May we please have that basket?” Abraham asked.

The employee attempted fleeing. When he did Louise began spewing that dark inky substance from her mouth. The cop presumably on autopilot took out his gun and tried to fire at her. She didn’t give him the chance to. The inky stuff shot towards him fast enough to surpass any bullet. I thought she was going to do what they did to that groundskeeper last night.

Instead, I saw that his eyes had become black like theirs. A stream of that inky stuff was connecting him and her like strings to a marionette. She made him raise his gun and shoot at the employee. The shots hit him in the back dead on. Then she made the cop put the gun in his mouth and pull the trigger.

I can tell you firsthand that the sight and smell of a man’s thoughts being splattered on a parking lot is not healthy for one’s mental state. Shocking, I know. I threw up on the spot. Abraham went over to the deceased employee and grabbed the basket from him. Then he and Louise went back to my car.

To make matters worse in addition to what I had just seen, it was in sight of some security cameras. Trying to explain what happened to anyone who saw the footage would have no doubt caused me more trouble. Plus some of the cameras probably caught me stealing from the store now that I think about it. I went back inside the store and located its security room and erased the footage after Abraham used the keys on the cop’s belt to unlock the cuffs I had on. I stole some cleaning supplies including drain cleaner after that.

I put the cop and employee’s bodies in my trunk and then cleaned their remains off the parking lot. When we got home, I used the drain cleaner to dispose of their bodies. The kids once again took the things we got down to the basement. In spite of what I’ve witnessed during these past couple days, I can’t help but feel a growing curiosity about what the children’s tasks are leading up to. Hopefully, I won’t have too many other corpses to dispose of in the process.

Day 3: Some Crazy Farmers

Things have not been getting any easier for me. What I had to get next were a bird and its fertile eggs. The only place I could think of near me where I could get those things was a nearby farm. I knew this would be more dangerous than my last two ventures. The reason being that when it comes to the farmers in my area their method of dealing with intruders tends to be a lot more gun-oriented.

I inquired about something from the children. Namely, if they can possess someone, why do they need me? They replied they can only do those things with a mortal anchor which I became by allowing them into my home. Apparently, it forged some kind of spiritual link between us or something along those lines. I take this to mean I need to sever this connection.

Anyway, I drove up to the farm and parked in the woods. I brought two things to help me. A burlap bag and an empty egg carton. I got out of my car and took a deep breath. Then did some stretches to loosen my body. Once that was down I began jogging up to the farm.

I located the chicken coop. My plan was pretty straightforward. It was to put a chicken in the sack and put her eggs in the carton. The coast seemed clear when I reached the coop. I was making sure to be quiet so they didn’t wake up and give me away. There was one thing I didn’t count on though, the farm dog.

In my defense, I thought it’d be asleep as well. I was wrong. Grabbing the chicken and her eggs wasn’t an issue. That was until I stepped out of the coop. I heard loud barking when I did. I turned to see the silhouette of a rottweiler standing on the porch of the farmers’ house.

I tried running but it was only moments later when I heard a loud boom and saw one of the branches of the tree in front of me snap off. I cursed and dove behind the tree. By this time the chicken had woken up and was freaking out. I knew it would only be a matter of time until she ripped through the bag. With that in mind, I made an attempt at escaping.

I failed miserably. I thought I could lose him by making my way between some of the animal pens under the cover of darkness. When I reached the other side of them, though I was hit square in the face with a shovel. I awoke sometime later from a cold splash of water to find myself tied to a chair in a barn. The farmer along with his wife who held the chicken was glaring down at me.

“Look who’s awake,” The farmer said.

“You thought you could get away with stealing one of our prized chickens and her eggs?” His wife asked.

“No,” I groggily replied. “I mean I did but I needed them. Look, if you let me go I can pay you for them.”

“Alright,” the farmer replied. “If you pay us a decent amount we’ll let ya go. How much ya got on you?”

Even though I was tied up I could still access my pockets. It was when I reached into my pockets, however, that I realized that I had left my wallet at home.

“Well um, this is awkward,” I nervously chuckled. “How about I pay you later?”

“Get the saw,” the farmer told his wife. “Chomper’s gonna have some good eatin.”

“No, please,” I begged. “I have kids waiting for me.”

“That’s what they all say.”

“Wait, what? How many times has something like this happened here?”

“Eleven. Every sorry mother fucker who thought they could come onto our farm and take what’s ours we’ve chopped up and fed to our dog and pigs.”

His wife went into the corner and got the saw.

“I’ll cut off his arms. You cut off his legs,” he said, taking it from her.

He approached me with the saw raised. Before he was able to use it on me, however, a noise like thunder was audible from outside getting steadily louder. The farmer dismissed this as an incoming storm until he and his wife realized that whatever was making it was rapidly approaching the barn. It slammed into the side of the barn, making it shake. The farmer yelled for his wife to grab her shotgun as he grabbed his.

They turned to fire at what was trying to break into the barn but were too late. Through the wall came first the horses followed by the cows and lastly the pigs in a stampede. Although they managed to fire off a couple of shots and hit some of the horses, their efforts were ultimately fruitless. They were trampled right before my eyes.

The sound of their crunching bones could be heard over the running animals. I saw the farmer and his wife’s heads get caved in under their weight. Unlike last night, though I didn’t throw up. I guess that means I’m getting used to this kind of stuff so silver lining? In the chaos of the stampede, the saw ended up being knocked towards me.

It took some maneuvering on my part but I was able to tip the chair over and reach the saw. Once I freed myself I got up and went to get another chicken and her eggs. I would have grabbed a bag to put the chicken in. However, the barn started to collapse because of all the damage the animals did to it. I didn’t have time to grab anything before I left.

When I got outside I saw that the chickens were running around. I spotted their coop which was knocked over. I went over to it and grabbed some eggs. Then put them in a bucket. As I did I noticed the animals coming back by.

They didn’t seem panicked this time. In their mouths, they held the corpses of the farmer and his wife. Both of them were taken to the pig trough. The pigs were eager to follow the other animals. Even though I didn’t see where they were taken I was pretty sure of what their remains would be used for.

Once I was done getting more eggs I grabbed a chicken that was roaming around. Keep in mind I no longer had the sack I brought and she didn’t react well to me picking her up. I was immediately met with rapid pecking to my hands and face. Somehow I was able to make it back to my car with both my eyes intact. I got inside and breathed a sigh of relief.

“How long did I take?” I asked the kids.

“A little over twenty minutes,” Abraham replied.

“And I take you guys are responsible for the farm animals freaking out?”

“That is correct. Our influence reaches far,” Louise said.

“You know you could have checked on me. If you would have possessed the farmers here it would have saved me a lot of time. I’m pretty sure that bitch broke my nose.”

I looked in the mirror and noticed it was swollen. Truth be told I didn’t feel it back there

This was probably due to adrenaline but now that I was calmed down it was starting to hurt.

“We aren’t here to do everything for you,” Abraham said. “We’re here to make sure you carry out each task. You should be thankful we lend you our help at all.”

I gave the kids a dirty look. Then turned around and started my car. The chicken was letting out clucks of protest the entire trip home. When we went back inside I handed her to the kids. Oddly enough she calmed down when they took hold of her.

“What are you going to do to her?” I asked.

“We aren’t going to sacrifice her if that’s what you’re thinking,” Louise said. “We’ll be in the basement. Do not disturb us.”

I watched them go down into it with the chicken and her eggs. Once they were gone I went to dress my injuries. Man did that pecking hurt. I swear to god I’m almost at my limit. I don’t know how much more of this I can take and I still have two days left.

Help me.

Day Four: The Flower

Another day, another pain in my ass. I woke up this morning to the kids knocking on my door. I muttered a curse word and groggily climbed out of bed.

“What do you want?” I asked after opening the door.

“It’s time for the fourth task,” Abraham said.

“And that would be?”

“We need you to get a flower,” Louise told me.

“Any particular kind of flower?”

“A Franklin tree flower.”

“I’ve never heard of that one.”

I typed the name of it on my phone.

“Oh no wait. It says it’s extremely rare. Can’t you use another kind of flower?”

“No, it has to be that one specifically,” Abraham said.

“Okay um, there’s a flower shop in town. If none are there, I don’t know what to tell you guys. Let your parents know. I’m guessing if there are some they’re probably going to be expensive due to its rarity. Wait, I have an idea. Why don’t you two just come in with me? You can possess the owner and make them give us the flower if they have it.”

“We can’t enter somewhere unless invited in, remember? “ Louise said.

“I know that. All I have to do is tell them you want to see the flower and get permission for you guys to come in.”

“It doesn’t work that way,” Abraham said. “They have to invite us in, directly. In other words, they would have to see us.”

“I didn’t see you guys when I invited you here.”

“Yes, but you were in direct contact with our father.”

“How do you guys have internet and all that stuff anyway?”

“We have a home of our own. We do it to blend in.”

“Right, wait I just got an idea. Is there any way you guys can try not to sound quite so…ominous when talking?”

“Like this?” They replied with an incredibly forced smile and tone.

“Maybe dial it back a little.”

“Is this better?” Louise asked.

Their smiles weren’t as wide and their voices were a bit softer.

“Good, let me just dial the number.”

I called the flower shop. The owner picked up and I explained to her that the kids adored flowers and wanted to ask her some questions. They asked her if she had any Franklin tree flowers. She confirmed that she did and asked if they would like to see them. They replied yes and were invited over to do so. Once that was done I thanked the owner and hung up.

“Now all we have to do is address the how do I put this? Aura of doom surrounding you guys. Any ideas?”

What I came up with was to say that the kids had phengophobia which is the fear of daylight not to be confused with photophobia which is the fear of any kind of light. Then have them wear clothes to cover their complexions. When that was done we got in my car and I drove us to the flower shop. There I parked in front of the shop window and got out of my car.

“I’ll wave to you guys when it’s time for you to come in,” I told the kids before closing the door.

I opened the door to the shop which caused a bell to ring. The owner called to me from the counter.

“Can I help you?” She asked.

“Yeah, I’m the one who talked with you on the phone earlier.”

“Oh, it’s you,” she said cheerfully. “Where are the kids?”

“They’re really shy so I wanted to make sure there weren’t too many people in here.”

“Well, you’re in luck. The store is pretty much dead right now. Why don’t you bring them in?”

I waved to the kids. They got out of the car and made their way to the front door. They had on light hoodies to cover their faces. The owner inquired about this and I mentioned the phengophobia. She told us that she understood. The kids acted as if they were going to come in but paused right outside the door.

“It’s okay,” the owner said. “You can come in.”

With that said the kids were able to enter. When they did I noticed a look of worry come over the owner’s face but only for a moment. Her cheery demeanor returned and she led us behind her shop. There we saw the tree containing the Franklin tree flowers.

“What do you think of them?” The owner asked.

“They’re really pretty,” I replied.

“Thanks, I hope you two like them.”

She looked at the kids.

“We do very much,” Abraham said.

“May we get a closer look?” Louise asked.

“Of course,” the owner replied.

The kids went over to the tree and started asking questions about the flowers. I watched and waited for one fo them to possess her. I began to grow impatient from them taking so long. At last, a good opportunity came up that they capitalized on. Abraham asked if they could hold one of the flowers. The owner replied that they couldn’t but that she could bend down one of the branches so that they could touch the flowers.

When her back was turned Louise began sprouting that inky stuff out of her mouth. The owner turned around while holding one of the branches. When she did the inky substance latched onto her face and started entering her mouth. We heard someone gasp from the doorway. We turned to see a guy standing in the doorway.

He looked from us to the owner who still had the substance entering her mouth and tried fleeing. I ran after the man and tackled him to the shop floor. I tried to get him to calm down but he wasn’t having it. He grabbed a small potted plant and attempted hitting me in the face with it. I was able to shield myself in time.

That didn’t stop my arms from hurting like hell when it shattered against them. He got up and headed for the door. As he did I noticed the plants in the store were starting to act strange. They were swaying back and forth in sync with each other. Some of them were moving towards the edges of the shelves they were on.

When the man reached the door which was by the shelves the plants slid off of them and fell on his head. The pots they were in shattered against him. I counted at least five of them that feel on his head, maybe even six. He staggered back and fell unconscious to the floor. That was when I noticed the kids and the owner were back in the shop.

“You guys did that?” I asked.

“Of course,” Abraham replied.

“I thought you guys could only do that kind of stuff with animals and people?”

“You thought wrong. We have influence over all living things within our vicinity.”

“Right well we need to do something about all this.”

I gestured toward the broken plants and the unconscious man.

“I know how we can handle this,” Abraham said.

He then went over to the man and began sprouting that inky stuff from his mouth towards him. It started covering the man as it had with the groundskeeper.

“What are you doing?” I asked. “We can’t leave a fucking corpse here. Someone will see it.”

Abraham ignored me and continued. The dark stuff completely enveloped the man and started pulling away from him. Instead of his face being contorted like the groundskeeper’s was it looked pretty much unchanged. The only thing that was different was the fact he was still alive and that his expression had changed. He looked as if every last bit of his joy had been sucked out and that’s because I’m pretty sure it was.

“What the hell did you do to him?” I asked.

“All I did was put him in a mental state where he’s too depressed to let anyone know of what he saw or to even want to speak at all for that matter,” Abraham said.

“What are you guys?”

“We’d like to know that ourselves.”

We took some of the money from the register and put them on the man. Then the kids pulled their hoods back on and Louise freed the owner from her control. She was confused about how she was back in the shop without remembering. Then she noticed the man and the mess and asked what happened. I told her that he tried stealing her flowers and her money but I managed to stop him, accidentally creating a mess in the process.

She thanked us and called the police. They arrived shortly later and arrested the man. He was too depressed to defend himself he just nodded to everything they asked him. The owner thanked us by letting us have two of the flowers from the Franklin tree. Then we left and got back in my car.

“Well, that could’ve gone better,” I said as I was driving us back home.

“What do you mean?” Louise said. “We got the flowers and nobody died this time.”

“I just saw a man get his will to live sucked out of him. Not to mention he’ll probably end up in prison for something he didn’t do. I wouldn’t say our trip to the store went smoothly.”

“No matter, we got what we needed. Besides, that man will be too depressed to care if he is locked up.”

“Thanks, you really know how to give someone peace of mind.”

We got back to my house. As usual, the kids went back down into the basement, taking the flowers with them. I went outside to cool off. I don’t know what’s worse, what happened to the groundskeeper, or what happened to the man in the shop. Either way, I’m getting no sleep tonight.

At least I only have one more day left.

The Last Day: The Ritual

I woke up once again to the children knocking on my bedroom door. I sighed and took a moment to mentally prepare myself for whatever it was they were going to have me do before opening it to Abraham and Louise’s foreboding gazes.

“Alright, where do I need to drive us today?” I asked them.

“There’s no need for that,” Abraham replied. “We need you to come down with us to your basement.”

“Really? Well, it’s about time I find out what you two have been up to down there.”

“You aren’t going down there yet,” Louise said. “We need to wait for our parents to come back. They should be here soon.”

“Finally, they’ll take you both home and I’ll be done with this.”

While I was waiting for Eliza and Norman to arrive I went downstairs to get some breakfast. As I was platting up the bacon and eggs I heard a knock at the door. I answered it to find Eliza standing on my porch.

“Hello,” Eliza said. “How have the kids been?”

“Like perfect little angels,” I replied, making no attempt to hide the heavy sarcasm in my voice. “Where’s Norman?”

“He’s in the car. Actually, can you open your garage? We brought something that we wanted to show you privately.”

I knew that what she was referring to wasn’t going to be anything good. I opened the garage and closed it once Norman was inside.

“What did you guys bring?” I asked him after he stepped out of the car.

He took me to the trunk and opened it. Inside I saw a man and woman were tied up.

“Why did you do this?” I asked, starting to panic. “Someone will probably be looking for them. Who are they anyway?”

“They did something that hurt our family,” Norman told me.

“We couldn’t have that so we tracked them down and brought them here,” Eliza said.

“I see. Well, I’m probably going to end up needing to move after this so what are you going to do to them? Ritual sacrifice?”

“No, nothing like that. We have something else in mind for them.”

The kids led us to my basement. There I was finally able to find out what the stuff I had been was being used for. The body parts of the corpse I stole were scattered inside a large pentagram made of salt with some runes drawn with chalk and the candles that were lit in it. The items I had collected were within its circumference. At its center was the chicken.

She was sitting on top of her eggs in an old basket I kept in the basement. Eliza and Norman had the people they kidnapped with them. I don’t know what they did to them before coming to my home but they seemed unable to move despite being awake. They were put in the circle with the chicken between them. Eliza, Norman, and the kids then joined hands.

“Step back please,” Norman told me.

I did as told while they began chanting. The people they kidnapped looked at me with desperation in their eyes. I could only give an apologetic shrug in response. There was no way in hell I was going to interfere knowing what this family was capable of. I know that sounds cowardly but don’t act like you would be any more effective if you were in my place.

Anyway when they started chanting the other items began levitating and rotating. Norman and the rest of his family shot the inky stuff from their mouths at the same time. It went towards the couple and enveloped them. When it did the candles’ flames began flaring up. They went so high that I’m surprised they didn’t burn my ceiling.

While the flames did no damage to my things they still gave off an intense heat. Actually saying they did no damage isn’t accurate. Even though no damage was done to things outside the pentagram the flames did affect the things inside it. That is except for the couple, the mirror, and the sketchbook. Then again they were covered in the inky stuff which made it hard to tell but the muffled screams I heard might have been some kind of indicator.

I noticed the mirror was starting to ripple. I could see the faces of two people in it, a man and a woman, presumably another couple. The black stuff stretched and covered the mirror. When it did the flames went back to normal. Eliza and the others made the black stuff go back into themselves.

However, not all of it did. A small portion of it went to the sketchbook. When it cleared I saw the man was in the mirror and the woman was in the sketchbook. The man pounded on the mirror as some shapes began moving behind him. Even though I couldn’t hear what he was saying, the pained expression he made when the shapes grabbed him spoke volumes. I glanced at the sketchbook and realized the woman didn’t have it much better.

She had a pained expression as well. The shapes surrounding her were drawn which made them easier to identify. I saw some creatures resembling Alligators, Lions, sharks, and wolves. All of them were chomping down on her. I looked at the couple’s bodies on the floor and saw they were unchanged.

“Should we burn them?” I asked.

“Burn us? Why would you do such a thing?” The man on the floor asked.

Before I could reply he and the woman sat up. Their eyes had become black like Norman’s and the others’ were. Abraham and Louise smiled.

“Anybody mind filling me in?” I asked.

“These are our grandparents,” Abraham said.

“Seriously? On your mom or dad’s side?”

“Mine,” Eliza said. “Sorry for taking so long mom and dad.”

“Oh don’t worry about it. You got us free as quickly as you could,” Eliza’s dad said.

“Who is this?” Her mom asked, referring to me.

“He’s the kids’ babysitter,” Norman told them.

“Yep that’s me,” I said. “Does this mean I’m finally done with that speaking of which?”

“Indeed you are. We just need one more thing before we leave, though. Help us get the gifts in the car.”

“Gifts?”

“Yes, as part of the ritual we needed things relating to Eliza’s parent’s interest.”

“And they like chickens?”

“Well, I happen to be a bird lover,” Eliza’s dad said to me. “Now if you would be so kind.”

He gestured towards the chicken and the other stuff in the circle. I helped gather it while avoiding the chicken who glared at me the entire time. Soon everyone was gone except for Norman and me.

“What are you going to do with these?” I asked, holding the mirror and sketchbook up.

“Let me see those.”

I handed the mirror and sketchbook over to him. He tore out the page that had the woman drawn in it and flipped it to the other side which was blank. Norman held it over the mirror. The reflection which had the man trapped inside began stretching. It latched onto the paper.

When it pulled away I saw the man was now also in a drawing similar to the woman and the mirror looked normal.

“So close yet so far. I say it’s a fitting punishment for messing with us,” Norman said. “You can keep this for a souvenir. Let it be a reminder to you of what happens to those who bring us harm. Oh, and before I forget, this is for you.”

He pulled out a large sum of cash and handed it to me. The amount he gave me almost made up for the psychological damage I’ve received. I saw him out my front door and into his car. Although I am relieved to see them go, something they said has me worried. It was that since they thought I did a good job they may want my services again. With that in mind, I am moving as soon as I can because fuck that.

One more thing before I conclude, though I feel as if I have a moral obligation to help the couple trapped in the sketch. Call me crazy but the idea of leaving them trapped in eternal torture does not help my issues mentally. In that regard, I’m open to ideas that may help them. There is one positive thing I can take away from this, however. With the money I was paid, I won’t need to work again for a little while and I really need a break from all this after you know moving and helping the couple.