Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-32183198-20170602202552

Driving through the snow was particularly nerve-racking for Hayden Dillon. Being a high school senior, she had only recently received her official driver’s license and traveling even on an empty road was paranoia for her, let alone through the unforgiving blizzards of winter which stung her skin with iciness even when she wore a warm furry coat, thick pants, fuzzy boots, and red earmuffs contrasting with her plain number 2 pencil colored hair. She merely approached the gates of Hartmann’s Valley Community when she received a call from her father’s co-worker and friend Mr. Carver:

“We’re getting ready to leave, the kids are anxious to meet their new babysitter, you almost here?”

“I’m already at the front gate Mr. Carver, I’ll be there in a few minutes to babysit alright?”

“Okay, thanks again for taking this job Hayden, we really appreciate it, we really needed a night out to relax”

“ Don’t mention it”

Hayden didn’t have a full time job yet, in order for her to be able to completely pay off her internet bill she needed some extra cash and therefore agreed to babysit the children of her father’s friend. Hayden was initially apprehensive about babysitting kids in general, she didn’t want to put up with annoying and bratty troublemakers. She didn’t hate children, she just had no desire to have her own, so if her parents want grandchildren they can rely on her brother and sister.

Hayden approached the Carver residence, adorned with colorful neon Christmas lights, parking her car by the sidewalk without blocking the driveway. As she stepped out of her car she began to admire the snow-adorned community as she walked towards the house. The sight was overwhelming. The labyrinthine nature of the neighborhoods was intimidating, she could never walk through the suburban area and not get lost almost immediately. Ringing the door bell she was welcomed by Garrett and Lacey Carver with warmth and hospitality even though it was obvious they were ready to get going with their jackets covering their fancy clothing.

“Okay so we have reservation’s at Lavernia’s Kitchen for 7:30, we also planned to catch a movie at the theater afterwards. We left our numbers on the kitchen table along with the restaurant’s number just in case. If you need anything you can call us, if we don’t answer at around 9:00 we are probably at the movie theater, you can call the restaurant just to make sure okay?” Instructed Garrett

“Understood”

“It’s so convenient to be able to find a babysitter at the last minute, we needed to go out and enjoy ourselves for once, I can’t remember the last time we even went out together” said Lacey

“Oh! I almost forgot, the kids are already bathed and dressed in their pajamas, they are just watching TV in the living room, you have to prepare their food and make sure they get to bed in time, our son Raymond is just recovering from a fever so he needs his rest” finished Lacey

“I’ll make sure to do that, you won’t regret hiring me, I guarantee it”

“It’s nice to hear such, reassuring words, we’ll just go and say goodbye to the kids and we’ll be on our way” said Garrett

Both parents said their goodbyes to the kids telling them that they will be home soon and to be nice to the babysitter. They also reminded Hayden that she is welcome to eat any snack from the fridge or cupboard and went on their way.

As Hayden put down her things, she began to explore the house examining every little detail such as the silky and warm brown color of the wallpaper, the brightly colored vases that resemble a pile of candy, and the seemingly endless upstairs hallway containing everyone’s rooms which paved the way for a large window where the hallway finally ended that, although unlocked, tightly warded off the cold weather from entering. She peered outside and saw a white atmosphere vaguely concealing what looked like a metal roof, probably their patio. The Victorian style paintings in the hall were so lifelike in detail you would think that they had a soul. The house might as well have been made of glass with how delicate and loved it appeared to be.

Hayden was also very appreciative of the warmth that spilled from their fireplace which alleviated the punishing cold she just encountered outside. She then proceeded to hang her warm coat among the countless selection of jackets on their coat rack, she wouldn’t need it anymore, and approached the living room across the fireplace and introduced herself to the kids:

“Hey guys, while your parents are out for dinner I am going to be watching over you as your new babysitter, I’m Hayden Dillon”

“Hello, I’m Raymond but everyone calls me Raymie for short”

“My name is Drew, I’m his older sister”

“Nice to meet you guys”

“Do you wanna watch cartoons?” asked Drew

“Sure, what’s on TV tonight?” asked Hayden as she sat down on the couch with the children

“Just some Pokemon” responded Raymie

Hayden hadn’t actually been involved in the franchise for years whether it be the games or cards. She remembered loving it as a kid until she outgrew it for other interests. Watching it now it was much cornier than she remembered and it wasn’t too unbearable if it weren’t for the nostalgia, it was interesting for her to see the new creature designs nonetheless.

As the episode drew to a close the kids were starting to get hungry and asked Hayden for something to eat so that they can play a board game. Looking in the cupboards to find their favorite macaroni the power suddenly went out for a few seconds before returning almost immediately. The kids are startled by the sudden power outage:

“I’m scared, will the lights go out for the whole night?” asked Raymie

“Don’t be nervous, if the lights go out for a little while chances are you will already be asleep by then, and the lights in your bedroom will be off regardless”

“We could just turn on the flashlights and pretend we’re camping” suggested Drew

“That’s not so scary after all” replied Raymie

As she finished preparing their dinner, she happily agreed to sit down and eat with as they exchanged personal stories and began to bond slowly but surely. After finishing up they returned to the living room and played through a game of scrabble, although Drew and Raymie both beat her in the game it was only because she let them. She started to like too much to see their heartbroken faces at losing. They spent the rest of the evening playing with toys and through their shelves of board games and Uno playing cards. Raymie also dusted off a few more old-fashioned games that were lying around in the nearby junk closet to play with such as knuckle bones and a glass chess set. Hayden was beginning to enjoy herself a bit more.

As it was getting closer to their bedtime Hayden walked them to each of their rooms. While Raymie quickly fell sound asleep, Drew was having trouble doing so and asked for a bedtime story:

“I can’t sleep without listening to a fairy tale, can you pick one out and read it to me?”

“Okay, I’ll just look through your bookshelf and pick out your favorite story”

Alice In Wonderland was her last choice out of all the books on her shelf. She began reading the book to a giddy-looking Drew and watched her enthusiastically follow along as she told the tale of Alice falling down the rabbit hole and encountering mythical creatures on her journey. She was only part-way through the book when Hayden realized that Drew had finally fallen asleep. With a warm smile Hayden pulled up the blankets and put away the book while quietly leaving her room. This wasn’t so bad for her after all, she could could get used to this.

As she walked down the stairs to the living room it only took her a few moments to realize that, excluding the sleeping kids, she was all alone. She was slightly unnerved at the realization but relaxed herself on the couch with a chocolate Popsicle and potato chips anyways. Out of boredom she decided to look through the Blu-ray shelf, finding the typical children’s films like Finding Nemo, Cinderella, and Labyrinth along with the more grown-up films like Die Hard, Collateral, and The Silence of the Lambs. As she was browsing through the collection she was suddenly interrupted with a phone call:

“Hello?”

“Hey Hayden, it’s me Mr. Carver, we just called to check to check on things at the house, how are the kids?”

“Sound asleep, I made sure that they were fed and I kept them occupied with games until their bed-time, they were well behaved and didn’t give me a hard time”

“Oh that’s good to hear, thank you Hayden. By the way after we finished the movie we decided to stop by a friend’s house to hang out, we probably won’t be back until almost midnight, if you’re uncomfortable driving alone that late at night you’re more than welcome to stay over, we have enough room for one more person, all you would need to do is tell your parents about about it”

“No thank you, I can calmly drive back home, it isn’t that far away”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine, I promise”

“Alright then, we’ll be back home soon okay? Just sit tight”

The electricity started to fade in and out again after she hung up the phone, the snow’s interference was both annoying and unsettling. Hayden began channel surfing watching various shows throughout the hours. After settling on re-runs of CSI she heard her phone ringing. Taking a look at the caller ID it just said anonymous. Out of curiosity she answered the phone call:

“Hello?”


 * No answer *

“Is someone there?”


 * No response *


 * Click! *

She was initially confused but brushed it off as a wrong number. Hayden continued to channel surf and play on her phone until she was startled by yet another phone call from possibly the same anonymous caller again. With confusion and hesitation, she answered the call:

“Um, Hello?”


 * Raspy breathing *

“Are you the same person that called me before?”


 * Continued breathing *



“Little C-Connie, don’t say a……word Connie, don’t say” the caller finally speaks

“What?”

“We loved them, pretty Connie, sweet children”

“Mr. Carver is that you?” asked Hayden


 * Click! *

It was a stretch but she was hoping it was a familiar person calling, it couldn’t have been Mr. Carver though. He never calls with an anonymous caller ID, and even then she still doesn’t know who the hell Connie is, not someone she personally knows with that name. In a desperate attempt for an answer to the peculiar phone call she dialed Mr. Carver to debunk her suspicion:

“Hello Hayden, did you need something?”

“Mr. Carver, did you call me some minutes ago?”

“Um, no why do you ask?”

“I have an unidentified caller who repeatedly called me with no answer until he finally responded with a question asking about children, I think”

“Well, it wasn’t either of us”

“This makes me nervous, should I call the police? I don’t want to get into some serious trouble with some random creep”

“No, not yet, as long as you’re not in any real danger you shouldn’t make such a drastic move just yet, all you would be doing is just wasting their time. Listen, I most certainly think that this prank caller is just one of the neighborhood kids trying to mess with us again, this isn’t the first time it has happened. Until you feel threatened or in danger just remain calm and sit tight, we’ll be home soon”

“How could they have my number though? That part part is what creeps me out the most?” asked Hayden

“You have come to this community before to visit your friends before, it’s possible that they obtained it then when you were visiting”

“Some of my friends do have sneaky younger siblings that could have overheard me giving my number to friends, I guess I’ll give them a little scare myself next time I see them”

“Alright then, listen, before I hang up could you go check on the kids just to see if they are alright?”

“I will do just that”

“Thank you, bye” finished Garrett

As soon as he ended the call Hayden glided up the stairs and quietly looked into each of their rooms, both kids were sound asleep except Drew had dropped her doll dressed in a pink gown. Hayden gently tucked the doll in with Drew and saw her lovingly embrace it like a family member. Afterwards, Hayden carefully walked down the steps into the living room. From the atmosphere permeating the house with looming hallways, glaring portraits, and a grandfather clock being the only thing breaking the deafening silence it was a setting practically begging for someone to just fill the air with some activity to break the quietness. To distract herself she grabbed her laptop bag and headed out to the patio to work on school work bringing an electric heater with her from the living room to give her a comfortable area to concentrate in, it was not helping to literally be intimidated by the same house providing shelter from outside forces.

Hayden relaxed herself under the metal roof of the patio with the smoky air from the heater, a nice view of the foliage, plastic playground, and crystalline pool through the screen-protected walls and door, not that any bugs would be flying around in this weather anyway. She just needed some fresh air to work on her report. As she was typing on the computer she was interrupted by a phone call, the sound made her skin crawl as she checked the caller ID, which said anonymous, Hayden reluctantly answered the call:

“Hello?”

“………”

“Damn it, who’s calling?” demanded Hayden


 * No response *

As she was about to hang up the phone a voice finally came through:

“God, Hayden do you think you’re talking to your ex or something? It’s me Lindsay”

It was only her good friend Lindsay Clark, thankfully.

“Sorry, I just dropped my phone under the couch and was trying to grab it, anyway why are you so agitated? It’s only babysitting” asked Lindsay

“First off why is your caller ID private?”

“I got a new phone remember? I haven’t adjusted the ID yet”

“Okay then, as I was about to answer that isn’t why I’m worked up. It wasn’t as bad as I initially thought. I just have some creep who thought it would be hilarious to scare someone tonight with prank calls, it’s the Christmas season not Halloween for god’s sake”

“What? I used to love prank calling our neighbors for shits and giggles! It was hilarious when the crazy cat lady couldn’t figure out it was me trolling her”

“You definitely were an annoying little shit when you were younger” retorted Hayden “this is the same girl that would steal my toys and pour glitter on Megan’s hair in art class”

“Piss off Hayden!” responded Lindsay in a sarcastic tone, receiving a chuckle from Hayden “you weren’t so innocent yourself, we were awful as kids and you know it”

“Anyway what are you doing right now?” asked Lindsay

“I’m just out on the patio typing my essay for English class, the children are asleep and I have the whole house to myself until the parents come home” answered Hayden

“I guess that’s not a horrible way to spend the weekend, so the kids didn’t give you any trouble or something of the sort?”

“No actually, they were sweet and entertaining and quickly fell asleep, for once I actually enjoyed working” responded Hayden humorously

“I’m still not jealous, I get to stay in my house and binge watch Netflix shows” quipped Lindsay

“These people have Netflix too smart-ass, I could never get bored here”

“Are you sure there’s no catch? This seems too generous” questioned Lindsay

“Yes, there are no strings attached” answered Hayden

“Lucky, anyway have you studied for your chemistry project with Ms. Beckman? Remember it’s this week coming up”

“Please don’t even mention, you already know who I’m paired up with”

“Oh well, it won’t be for the whole year, just one week, you can get over it” said Lindsay

“Easy for you to say, she’s not your arch-nemesis”

“Oh cry me a river already, it won’t kill you to be within even an inch distance of her”

Hayden started receiving another call.

“Hold on a second Liz, I have another call”

“Hello?”

“Hi sweetheart it’s your dad, I just called to see how you’re doing”

“Oh thanks dad, actually I didn’t hate myself while watching the kids” said Hayden amusingly

“I didn’t think you would, Garrett is a good man so why would his kids be any different?”

“I’m sorry I was so aggravated about this dad, I was just frustrated and it was in the heat of the moment”

“It’s okay, I was exactly like you when I was your age”

“Thank you, if you’re wondering I’m just working on my essay for English class, I already fed and kept the kids occupied until their bedtimes so I’m just relaxing until their parents come home, I’m also talking to Lindsay”

“Sounds good honey, I’m proud of you, anyway I have to go now, I have to get back to my work, I’ll see you later okay? And tell Liz I said hi”

“Bye dad, I’ll make sure to tell her”

“Bye Hayden”

Hayden ended the call with her father and resumed the one with Lindsay:

“Sorry about that, my dad was just checking in on me, he also wanted to say hello to you”

“That’s fine, I’m grateful he acknowledged me. I always found your dad to be kind of hot if you ask me” teased Lindsay

“Hey watch it! That’s my dad you’re talking about not some random jock from P.E. Class!” hissed Hayden

“Wow, if you’re this annoyed right now you’d probably claw my eyes out if you caught me staring at your father’s hot ass every time I came over, by the way tell him to keep those black jeans, they make it look even sexier” joked Lindsay

“Fuck you, you already have a boyfriend to still be thinking those perverted thoughts about my own father! You know I might just claw your eyes out when you come over again” retorted Hayden. Lindsay always had a silly crush on her father, even with a boyfriend now she seemingly hasn’t grown out of it.

In a fit of laughter, Lindsay replied “I’d like to see you try, anyway I have something on the stove cooking, I’ll talk to you again on Monday alright? Bye Hayden”

“See you Monday Lindsay”

Hayden resumed working on her report and occasionally getting distracted by YouTube videos, a bad habit of hers. She was half-way done when she received yet another call, with an anonymous ID, she answered the call, weary but a little more confident:

“Hello?”

“……..”

“Are you calling me again Lindsay?”

“….Connie, you didn’t have to see this, innocent child, you’ll forget in time, run off to bed now, I’ll r-”

In frustration, Hayden immediately ended the call, she was not putting up with any stranger’s bullshit tonight anymore, someone else should deal with their crazy instead. She refuses to be threatened and made to feel unsafe in the very guest house that is to provide her with safety.

Hayden packed her stuff and brought them back inside. She proceeded to collapse on the couch with the TV on, she thought about napping while she waited for the parents to come back. While an episode of a sitcom was concluding Hayden nearly fell asleep when she was alerted with another phone call. She was now a little concerned that she may have provoked the caller, though she decided to give him a piece of her mind anyway, maybe they might leave her alone if they feel insulted:

“What the hell is your problem asshole!? Call someone else if your looking for a good laugh!”

A raspy voice soon replied after a brief pause “You misbehaved little girl, do you want me to go away forever little Connie!? Is that what you want!? I did all this for you and you only!”

Although she had to give credit where it’s due, this caller is a pretty creepy actor, they actually managed to freak her out just a little bit, she decided to test her previous theory and started to try and receive a reaction from the prank caller so they can confess who they really are:

“Jeremy you just blew your cover, you probably just got this from one of those horror movies you like to watch constantly” she taunted, maybe he would get nervous and spill the beans.

“What did you do!?” said a deep but feminine sounding voice “I-I’m sorry mother, this is my mercy, we’ll be together again” said a more masculine voice.

Hayden was admittedly starting to become more tense, this person never played around with voices prior, still she tried to pry for a confession from them:

“Jeremy, that’s not very original, just admit that you fail at this game, or I’ll tell your big brother that you’ve been scaring me today” it sounded very empty as a threat but she hoped it did something, Jeremy was only a pre-teen after all.

“Remember, God is always watching!” said a voice that sounded like an older man.

“Hmm, I call your bluff then, Timmy, if this happens to be you” she made quite an effort not to sound disturbed by what she just heard.

She then proceeded to pace around the open house, in front of any possible visible openings, she was starting to sweat a little bit and shaking, trembling as the phone barely stuck to her hands as it was slightly falling through her sweaty fingers. This caller was actually getting to her, she shook her head as she made one more effort to press on and get this person to blow their cover:

“If you happen to be watching me trying to get a glimpse of me scared, it won’t work, but I’ll test that bold attempt. What am I doing right now?”

She started to wave her hand at her waist and twist and turn.

“Well? What am I doing?”

When no response came through the phone, she breathed a small sigh of relief and was about to end the call when a voice finally came through:

“I can’t-t-t sleep without a f-f-FAIRY TALE!!!”

When just those words came through the phone, Hayden was stuck in complete paralysis, her breath ran short and she was trembling everywhere. This person was most likely stalking her this whole time, no one else could have heard those words. Does this mean the caller could have been inside the whole time? She felt the spacious house closing in on her, suffocating her. She could have a heart attack this very moment.

“What did you just say?” it took all of her strength to spit out those words.

“We could turn on flashlights and pretend we’re camping!!!” the voice said sadistically.

Hayden felt that she could just shut down and go into a medically induced coma at this point. In her state of panic this labyrinthine house was just closing in on her along with the punishing ticking of the grandfather clock, the only other thing making noise. As if it was an out-of-body experience, Hayden rushed to every opening that could serve as an entrance and proceeded to lock all doors and close all windows, included one that was suspiciously open by the backyard patio entrance. She intentionally avoided the upstairs hallway, she didn’t want to frighten the children awake. The window at the end of the bedroom hallway was probably locked anyway.

She finally awoke from her unresponsive state after shutting herself in when she saw a silhouette approaching the front door through the stained glass window of the door. The very sight was enough to break Hayden and spiral her into uncontrollable panic, staring at her possible impending doom helplessly a voice mockingly came through the phone at the same moment, she still had it in her hands:

“Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, TOCK!!!” simultaneously with the grandfather clock

At this point she stopped questioning how this person knew her surroundings and just instinctively jumped into the junk closet across the living room and tightly locked it. She enveloped herself in the wardrobe and hid until no trace of her could be seen from outside, with only one peephole through the clothes to see her surroundings, thank god this closet was spacious so that she could comfortably hide and wait until the parents arrive, a thought that finally occurred to her, why are they not here yet? For once in this entire day she was begging for them to finally come back home.

Waiting in the closet she heard the front door unlock and someone step in, sending a shock wave of dread through her body, after waiting a few minutes (or what felt like hours to her) she heard the door finally shut close. The suspense was killing her as that could have meant anything, did he finally leave after finding no one or is he waiting it out for her to carelessly appear? She impatiently waited for something to happen as she occasionally heard footsteps pacing about, she hoped that the children were okay, she felt immensely guilty for leaving them behind and just prayed for the best, though not hearing any child-like screams gives her a smidgen of hope that they are alive, this person seems too sadistic to silently kill them. Hayden’s blood froze when she saw and heard what looked like shifting clothes and a muffled voice in the clothing across from her.

She’s not alone in this closet.

All of a sudden more paranoid thoughts were running through her mind that very moment, is there more than one intruder? Have these people all been hiding in the house this whole time waiting for the perfect opportunity for an ambush? Is that why there are multiple voices on the phone calls? Her train of thoughts were interrupted when a voice came through her phone, which she just realized that she never hung up when she stuffed it into her pocket, and that means that whichever stranger was on the other end didn’t either:

“For once I might actually ENJOY WORKING!!!!”

The chance to have some sort of response was intervened with when across the closet something finally came out from the rustling clothes and muffled voices, a large shovel and bucket tipped over from within the confines of the folds.

Screaming in response to this was nullified when she viciously bit her tongue and covered her mouth as she burst out of the closet and shut it behind over. She was greeted with an ugly sight, the elegant paintings that once draped the wall had their eyes and mouths painted over in hideous designs on the glass frame with a red substance, she didn’t want to figure out what it was. It took her several seconds to awaken from the view of this sick vandalism before she was finally able to take a deep breath, she didn’t feel calmer however, she was still glared at by paintings that were now even freakier than they already were when she first saw them. Only a few seconds after escaping the closet and being distracted she heard another voice come through:

“I’m scared, will the lights go out for the whole night!?”

This voice cut much deeper into her psyche, but not because it was coming through the phone.

It came from the same space occupied by Hayden, in this very same house. Simultaneously, in an eerie coincidence, the power finally gave out and every electronic appliance died along with it, leaving Hayden petrified and blind in the complete darkness of the spacious house. Wetness was pooling in her sight that very moment.

The first thing that came to mind was to immediately call for the police or some sort of help, but her hopes of safety were ripped from her soul when a combined weak signal from the weather and a near-dead battery rendered her phone useless. She threw it across the living room in defeat, her moment of anguish was replaced with the thought of children. She hadn’t checked on their safety yet. With little concern of her surroundings and seemingly unaffected by the total darkness, Hayden rushed up the steps instinctively to protect the children under her care and to make sure they got out of this hellhole safely. They didn’t even have to know that there was danger, she could just make up a half-assed lie to get them to calmly leave the house, she didn’t want to frighten them with news of danger. Effortlessly looking through each of their rooms including their parents’ rooms spawned a horrified reaction from her that nearly caused her to collapse in the hall right then and there.

Neither child was present in their bedrooms. sleeping, hiding, not a trace of them.

These kids were her responsibility, and now they are out of her sight. They could have died already and she hadn’t even noticed the entire time she was in the backyard patio or in the junk closet or living room. She failed them and would probably not even be able to protect her own life, and if she were to live how could she face their parents and tell them that she let them die? Why would she want to live if that would be the case?

Hayden took no notice of the tears finally cascading down her face.

Still not giving up Hayden went downstairs again to begin a search and avoid any impending danger when the corner of her eye spotted something on the kitchen counter that wasn’t there before. Although still frightened curiosity got the best of her and she carefully approached the counter and examined the contents of a mysterious box, she thought of the worst when it came to what could be inside. She noticed a note taped to the top and ripped it off to read, her skin burned after she finished reading it, she felt like she was on fire:

“I just came to return some of your appliances Lacey, thanks again for letting me borrow them! I promise I’ll get my own when I throw another cocktail party so you won’t have to lend them to me ever again. Your sister, Cheryl”

She looked inside and found a mixer and a blender. The person who entered the house was not even an intruder, just a family member stopping by. She had a chance of escape and completely blew it by hiding out of her sight, she was just a few inches away from safety. Hayden could strangle a boar right now. She swiftly searched the drawer for a weapon and took a kitchen knife with her. She approached the front door and turned the knob, her rage was soon replaced with terror again as her eyes widened in surprise. No matter how much strength she put into it the door would refuse to open. In a flurry of emotions Hayden wrestled with the door knob desperately attempting to force it open but it wouldn’t even budge regardless of her strength.

After the struggle to force the door open proved futile Hayden just stood in the middle of the house entirely petrified, her mind went completely blank. Somehow this stalker had blocked the door from the other side and prevented escape. It took only a few seconds before she finally realized the true cause of the jammed door. She approached the lock and saw a puzzling and intimidating sight. It was jammed from the inside, because the creep tampered with the hinge pin and bent it in a crooked shape, it was unable to properly slide across and her strength was incapable of prying it open. Where was Cheryl when the stalker did this?

In a cesspool of conflicting emotions including rage and hysterics, Hayden turned around and walked away, weakly trying to form ideas on what to do to escape with her life and the children, wherever they may be. Her eyes then took notice, in an already vandalized room of paintings and other misplaced items, of a suspicious looking coat rack in the corner of the wall with something in particular sticking out, in which it then tipped over that very moment and a cloaked figure proceeded to dart in her direction.

Whoever this was hid among the other coats in the rack.

Hayden’s reflexes were useless when this cloaked stranger ferociously tackled her to the ground and nearly snapped her arm in half wrestling her knife out of her hand after she sliced the trench-coat and cut the skin of his waist beneath, he then pocketed the weapon in a seemingly bottomless pit in his dark layers of the coat. Despite what felt like a bad concussion she could still make out a few details of his look. This stranger was almost completely hidden with metallic muzzle covering his mouth, a fedora hat concealing his wood colored hair tied behind his neck and hidden under the coat, black gloves, and his long flowing coats. Only his eyes were exposed, a dull gray color mercilessly peering into her soul. He pulled out a flip-phone from the coats and tauntingly waved it at her before snapping it in half and pocketing the scraps. Hayden could only weakly glare as he enveloped his leather hands around her neck and applied pressure, squeezing every bit of life right out of her.

In a sudden rush of adrenaline she punched him in the eye and proceeded to try and gouge the eyes out. The stranger violently reacted and threw her to the side as she struck the wall with sharp recoil. He began to blindly swing at her, knocking over and moving furniture in the process, when she took the opportunity to grab a ceramic vase and threw it at his head, shattering in the process. His muffled screams grew angrier. She got a head-start and ran up the stairs, that window was likely her only hope of escape as he would be too bulky to carefully climb out and follow her without falling. Speeding up the steps she snatched one of the paintings and as he is about to grab her, she miraculously struck the stranger with it, shattering it to pieces. She did it by the skin of her teeth as he had caught up to her and she only had a few seconds chance to make the move.

She made her to way to the window which she realized was thankfully unlocked. Her grand escape was immediately cut short when something sliced through her back. She tumbled backwards and collapsed to the ground and began writhing in pain, something just stabbed her. The stranger drew a mute howl of agony from Hayden when he ripped out the weapon, which she saw was a glass shard from the painting she broke. The stranger plunged it into her back two more times eliciting more moans of pain, Hayden’s sight was practically blurred out by the excruciating burn of stabbing. The stranger then picked up her defeated body and slowly carried it across the hallway.

When Hayden had finally awakened from her daze she saw the direction they were heading towards, and it wasn’t down the steps. It was toward the window. When she finally realized what he was going to do she started to thrash and kick, desperately trying to escape his grip. Her screams made no noise, incapable of making any after having been strangled. The stranger then threw a resistant and retaliating Hayden threw the window, shattering it as she struck the metal roof of the patio before landing on the concrete underneath, the crystalline pool slowly becoming a dark red color from the nearby redness spilling into it.

Some time later…..

“Garrett, I’m sorry I accidentally locked the keys inside the car, we took up an unnecessary amount of extra time trying to open it. We shouldn’t be back this late” apologized Lacey.

“Don’t worry about it, Hayden will understand, after all she will still get paid for this so I doubt she’ll be complaining too much” said Garrett

“I still don’t get why she didn’t answer our call” asked Lacey

“Probably a multitude of reasons, occupied with something, dead battery, napping, it’s also worth remembering that the service is probably non-existent due to the poor weather”

“That’s probably it, well at the very least, we got to bond with our friends a little more over trying to pry open a car door” chuckled Lacey

“Yeah I guess so, I didn’t really end up liking Michelle that much more though, she can be sweet but damn she’s annoying with her constant chatter”

“Yeah, I have had to bite my tongue to stop myself from saying something to offend her or her husband, she’s a good person but she just needs to calm down!” said Lacey

“So did you like the movie? I was curious to watch Moonlight because I had seen the original play it was based on” asked Garrett

“It was pretty depressing but wow it was emotionally tense, I wouldn’t mind watching it again”

The Carvers pulled up to the driveway and stretched their sore limbs after stepping out.

“I am just ready to collapse into bed and finally get some sleep, this was a long night” said Lacey

“Oh, but I wanted to collapse into bed for a different reason” insinuated Garrett

“Hm, maybe next time, it might actually give you something to look forward to when the time comes” teased Lacey

“Aw damn, anyway I have to get the money ready to pay Hayden and send her on her way, I really appreciated what she did for us tonight”

“She’s a good girl” said Lacey

The couple walked up the front steps but something caught the corner of Lacey’s eye before they could try to open the front door. She saw a car down the driveway.

“Hey isn’t that my sister’s car? What is Cheryl doing here this late at night?” wondered Lacey.

“Maybe she finally got around to returning your stuff after a century of holding on to them” answered Garrett sarcastically.

“It took her long enough, I’ve been needing that damn blender for days, maybe she is just inside talking to Hayden”

Garrett unlocked the door but it refused to open after turning the knob multiple times, he was started to get irritated before Lacey intervened:

“Maybe it’s just locked from the inside with the pin, knock and see if anybody answers”

Garrett proceeded to knock a few times. No answer.

“Hayden? We’re back home, you can open the door know it’s locked”

No response

“Cheryl? Hayden? We’re outside please open the door?”

No answer

Out of utter confusion and eventual worry, Garrett decided to break the door open with a kick despite Lacey’s protests after spending probably a half-hour calling for them. It took a few kicks before the stubborn door finally gave in and swung open. The couple was greeted with an ugly and worrisome view. The house was completely ransacked with shattered vases, scattered furniture, and vandalized paintings. It looked like a tornado had just blown threw the house.

“Oh my god! We’re we robbed? What the hell happened!?” exclaimed Garrett in utter shock.

“Where was Hayden during all of this!? And, oh god, where are my babies!?” cried Lacey

The two scoured through the first story of the house searching for the three kids and any indication of what happened in this complete mess of a house.

“I need to find our kids, my precious babies, WHERE ARE THEY!?” cried Lacey

“Honey calm down! We’ll find them I’m sure they are probably hiding around here somewhere with Hayden”

“Upstairs bedrooms, we look there first!” demanded Lacey

The Carvers practically tripped over each other trying to climb up the steps and proceeded to turn every bedroom, including their own, upside down looking for their missing children and finding absolutely nothing. Lacey and Garrett frantically looked one more time before walking out in exhaustion and terror:

“Where are my kids? I’m not leaving my babies behind!” choked Lacey in a fit of tears.

“Okay, I have an idea, you go look and see if they are in the garage while I check the living room one more time okay?” suggested Garrett

Both parents went to search each respective location. As Garrett was beginning his search he heard something fall over in the junk closet. It could be a sign of danger, but saving the children was his top priority now so that didn’t matter. He carefully approached it and entered, he began to look through one side of the closet inspecting through the hanging clothes shrouding the walls and the discarded junk before he nearly tripped on a bucket. As he turned around he noticed the moving clothing, probably where the bucket fell from. As he cautiously approached the other side and looked through the folds he was met with a shocking discovery. He found both of his children lying in the corner bound with duct tape and with garbage bags over their heads. Garrett hastily ripped off the bags and found that they were still alive, much to his relief, they had torn mouth holes into their bags at some point.

“ Oh thank god you’re okay! It’s alright now kids, you’re parents are home, we’re going to get you out of here safely” exclaimed Garrett while tightly hugging and kissing them.

“But daddy what about the coat man? Is he gone?” asked Raymie

“Dad, is he still out there? The stranger in the big coat? I’m scared, where’s Hayden?” asked Drew

Utterly confused and a bit more frightened now than ever before, Garrett shakily asked:

“W-what are you talking about? W-who’s the coat man? Please tell me now!”

The kids had no chance to respond when an ear splitting scream echoed throughout the house scaring everybody in the closet. The three of them rushed out to find the source and reason for the scream and discovered a trembling Lacey helplessly staring at a gruesome sight. They all turned in the direction she was facing, and saw Hayden’s mangled corpse lying out in the backyard, having fallen to her death with her bodily fluids staining the pool with a deep shade of crimson.

“Oh god, please don’t look, d-don’t look at it!” said a shaken Garrett as he forcefully turned the kids away and covered their eyes.

“Please for the love of god, don’t look” 