The Endless Hypothermia

Driving through the snow was particularly nerve-racking for Hayden Dillon. As a high school senior, she only recently received her official driver's license and driving, even on an empty road, unnerved her, let alone through unforgiving blizzards of winter that stung her skin with iciness even while wearing a warm furry coat, thick pants, fuzzy boots, and red earmuffs contrasting with her number 2 pencil colored hair. She merely approached the gates of Hartmann's Valley Community when she receives 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 doesn't have a full time job yet, in order for her to be able to completely pay off her internet bill she needs some extra cash and therefore agreed to babysit the children of her father's friend. Hayden is initially apprehensive about babysitting kids in general, she doesn't want to put up with annoying and bratty troublemakers. She doesn't hate children, she just has no desire to have her own, so if her parents want grandchildren they can rely on her brother and sister.

Hayden approaches the Carver residence, adorned with colorful neon Christmas lights, parking her car by the sidewalk without blocking the driveway. As she steps out of her car she begins to admire the snow-adorned community as she walks 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 is 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 remind 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 begins 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 ends 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 appears to be.

Hayden is also very appreciative of the warmth that spilled from their fireplace which alleviated the punishing cold she just encountered outside. She then proceeds to hang her warm coat among the countless selection of jackets on their coat rack, she won't need it anymore, and approaches the living room across the fireplace and introduces 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 a movie?” asked Drew.

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

“Jem and the Holograms” responded Raymie.

Hayden grew up watching the cartoon as a child, and was skeptical of the film version at first, she had a bad history of being disappointed at adaptations of her favorite work by Hollywood. Watching the film it's not as bad as she feared it would be but it still doesn't compare to the cartoon. The kids seem to like it however.

As the movie draws to a close the kids started to get hungry and ask Hayden for food, so that they can play a board game. Looking in the cupboards to find their favorite macaroni the power suddenly goes 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 finishes preparing their dinner, she happily agrees to sit down and eat with them as they exchange personal stories and begin to bond slowly but surely. Raymie also shows Hayden his favorite bell, a memento from his grandmother, and rings it giving off a sweet and mellow tune. After finishing up they return to the living room and play through a game of scrabble, although Drew and Raymie both beat her in the game it was only because she let them. She was liking them too much to see their heartbroken faces at losing. They spend the rest of the evening playing with toys and through their shelves of board games and Uno playing cards. Raymie also dusts 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 began to enjoy herself a bit more.

As it was getting closer to their bedtime Hayden walks them to each of their rooms. While Raymie quickly falls sound asleep wearing his favorite bell like a necklace, Drew was having trouble doing so and asks 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 begins reading the book to a giddy-looking Drew and watches her enthusiastically follow along as she tells the tale of Alice falling down the rabbit hole and encountering mythical creatures on her journey. She is only part-way through the book when Hayden realizes that Drew finally fell asleep. With a warm smile Hayden pulls up the blankets and put away the book while quietly leaving her room. This isn't so bad for her after all, she can could get used to this.

As she walks down the stairs to the living room it only takes her a few moments to realize that, excluding the sleeping kids, she is all alone. She is slightly unnerved at the realization but relaxes herself on the couch with a chocolate Popsicle and potato chips anyways. Out of boredom she decides 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's browsing through the collection she is 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 stopped by a friend's house to hang out, we might not 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”

“No thanks, 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 starts to fade in and out again after she hangs up the phone, the snow's interference is both annoying and unsettling. Hayden begins channel surfing watching various shows throughout the hours. After settling on re-runs of CSI she hears her phone ringing. Taking a look at the caller ID it just said anonymous. Out of curiosity she answers the phone call:

“Hello?”

No answer came through the other end.

“Is someone there?”

Still no response. The person then hangs up.

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

“Um, hello?”

No response, all that can be heard is raspy breaths inhaling and exhaling.

“Are you the same person that called before?”

The person continues breathing, and finally says “Little C-Connie, don't say a......word Connie, don't say”

“What?”

“We loved them, pretty Connie, sweet children”

“Mr. Carver is that you?” asked Hayden.

The call ends.

It's a stretch but she's hoping it's a familiar person calling, it couldn't be 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 dials Mr. Carver to debunk her suspicion:

“Hi Hayden, do 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 ends the call Hayden glides up the stairs and quietly looks into each of their rooms, both kids were sound asleep except Drew had dropped her doll dressed in a pink gown. Hayden gently tucks the doll in with Drew and sees her lovingly embrace it like a family member. Afterwards, Hayden carefully walks 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's a setting practically begging for someone to just break the quietness. To distract herself she grabs her laptop bag and heads 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 wasn't helping to literally be intimidated by the same house providing shelter from outside forces.

Hayden relaxes 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 needs some fresh air to work on her report. As she's typing on the computer she's interrupted by a phone call, the sound makes her skin crawl as she checks the caller ID, which says anonymous, Hayden reluctantly answers the call:

“Hello?”

No response.

“Damn it, who's calling?” demanded Hayden.

Still no response. As she's about to hang up the phone a voice finally comes through:

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

It's 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 remind me, 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 dad! 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 resumes working on her report and occasionally getting distracted by YouTube videos, a bad habit of hers. She's half-way done when she receives yet another call, with an anonymous ID, she answers the call, weary but a little more confident:

“Hello?”

Silence responds to her.

“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 ends the call, she's not putting up with any stranger's bullshit tonight anymore, someone else can deal with their crazy instead. She refuses to be threatened and made to feel unsafe in the very guest house that provides her with safety.

Hayden packs her stuff and brings them back inside. She proceeds to collapse on the couch with the TV on, she thinks about napping while she waits for the parents to come back. While an episode of a sitcom was concluding Hayden nearly falls asleep when she's startled by a knock on the door. Confused, a groggy Hayden walks up to the door to answer. Who would be at the house this late at night? She looks through the peephole and sees a cloaked figure rush towards a car parked outside. Cautious and now nervous, Hayden unlatches the stubborn hinge pin and looks outside. Before she can investigate she hears a voice call out to her: “Hey girl! Get your skinny ass over here! It's Christie”

Hayden breathed a sigh of relief, it's her good friend Christie King, buried underneath layer after layer of clothing, visible even from the car. She approaches her car and stands in front of the window:

“Who's car is this? I don't remember seeing it any time I came over”

“I stole it from my uncle” after Hayden gives her a confused look, Christie laughed and confessed:

“I'm kidding, it's my boyfriend's car, he let me borrow it to pick up some friends so we can all hang out together, this is Elise if you remember her from Biology class” answers Christie.

“I do, she used to copy off my work because her lazy ass couldn't do it herself” Responds Hayden jokingly.

“You know I'm awful at science Hayden, cut me some slack” responds Elise sarcastically “I managed to pass the class because of you”

“I can only imagine what would've happened if I didn't let you, anyway what are you doing here? I'm just babysitting the kids right now” asks Hayden.

“I was wondering if you were in the mood to come over to my boyfriend's house to chill, if you're not busy right now, I assume the kids are sleeping? I knew you would be in the community so that's why I came over”

“Well, they're asleep but I'm not comfortable leaving them alone for even a few minutes so-”

Hayden stopped mid-sentence when the girls were interrupted by the sight of a hooded figure just staring at them from across the street. Still and stationary, he just continued to stare in their direction ominously.

“What's that guy's deal? He's just staring at us” asked Elise.

“I don't know but he looks a little scary” answered Hayden.

The figure then walks down the street to where they are and as he is passing by, he gives them a threatening glare as he walks past them and disappears down the road.

“Well that was weird, should we be worried?” asked Christie.

“He didn't threaten us or attack us so for now, probably not, but man he looked angry” answered Hayden “Anyway, as I was saying, I don't want to leave the kids alone so no, I won't come over”

“Okay then, by the way remember not to miss my Christmas party girl, it's gonna be a blast!” said Christie.

“When my family dinner is over I'll make sure to stop by. Okay then, I'll see you guys later” answered Hayden as her friends said their goodbyes while driving away.

Hayden walked back inside and walks towards the couch to resume her nap. About to fall into a deep sleep she is alerted with another phone call. She's now a little concerned that she may have provoked the caller before, though she decides 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 you're looking for a good laugh!”

A raspy voice soon replies 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 has 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 decides to test her previous theory and starts 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 is 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 proceeds to pace around the open house, in front of any possible visible openings, she's 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 shakes 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 starts to wave her hand at her waist and twist and turn.

“Well? What am I doing?”

When no response comes through the phone, she breathes a small sigh of relief and is about to end the call when a voice finally comes 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 is just closing in on her along with the punishing ticking of the grandfather clock, the only other thing making noise. As if it's an out-of-body experience, Hayden rushes to every opening that could serve as an entrance and proceeds to lock all doors and close all windows, including one that's suspiciously open by the backyard patio entrance. She intentionally avoids the upstairs hallway, she doesn't want to frighten the children awake. The window at the end of the bedroom hallway is probably locked anyway.

She finally awakes from her unresponsive state after shutting herself in when she sees a silhouette approaching the front door through the stained glass window of the door. The very sight is 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 locks it. She envelops herself in the wardrobe and hides 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 hears 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 hears the door finally shut close. The suspense is 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 waits for something to happen as she occasionally heard footsteps pacing about, she hopes that the children were okay, she felt immensely guilty for leaving them behind and just prays 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 sees and hears what looks 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 are 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 are interrupted when a voice comes through her phone, which she just realizes 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:

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

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 tips over from within the confines of the folds.

Screaming in response to this was nullified when she viciously bites her tongue and covers her mouth as she bursts out of the closet and shuts it behind her. She's 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 doesn't want to figure out what it was. It takes her several seconds to awaken from the view of this sick vandalism before she's finally able to take a deep breath, she doesn't feel calmer however, she's still glared at by paintings that are now even freakier than they already were when she first saw them. Only a few seconds after escaping the closet and being distracted she hears another voice come through:

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

This voice cuts much deeper into her psyche, but not because it's coming through the phone.

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

The first thing that comes to mind is to immediately call for the police or some sort of help, but her hopes of safety are ripped from her soul when a combined weak signal from the weather and a near-dead battery rendered her phone useless. She throws it across the living room in defeat, her moment of anguish is 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 rushes up the steps instinctively to protect the children under her care and to make sure they got out of this hellhole safely. They don'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 doesn't want to frighten them with news of danger. Effortlessly looking through each of their rooms including their parents' rooms spawns a horrified reaction from her that nearly causes 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 are her responsibility, and now they are out of her sight. They could have died already and she didn't even notice 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 goes downstairs again to begin a search and avoid any impending danger when she spots something in the corner of her eye on the kitchen counter that wasn't there before. Although still frightened curiosity got the best of her and she carefully approaches the counter and examines the contents of a mysterious box, she thinks of the worst when it comes to what could be inside. She notices a note taped to the top and rips 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. 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. The anger she felt made her blood boil. She swiftly searches the drawer for a weapon and takes a kitchen knife with her. She approaches the front door and turns the knob, her rage is 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 wrestles 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 goes 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 approaches the lock and sees a puzzling and intimidating sight. It's jammed from the inside, because the creep tampered with the hinge pin and bent it in a crooked shape, it's unable to properly slide across and her strength is incapable of prying it open. Where was Cheryl when the stalker did this?

In a cesspool of conflicting emotions including rage and hysterics, Hayden turns around and walks 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 take 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 tips over that very moment and a cloaked figure proceeds to dart in her direction.

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

Hayden's reflexes are useless when this cloaked stranger ferociously tackles her to the ground and nearly snaps 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 pockets the weapon in a seemingly bottomless pit in his dark layers of the coat. Despite what felt like a bad concussion she can 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, what looks like a rope around his neck, and his long flowing coats. Only his eyes were exposed, a dull gray color mercilessly peering into her soul. He pulls out a flip-phone from the coats and tauntingly waves it at her before snapping it in half and pocketing the scraps. Hayden can only weakly glare as he envelops his leather hands around her neck and applies pressure, squeezing every bit of life right out of her.

In a sudden rush of adrenaline she punches him in the eye and proceeds to try and gouge the eyes out. The stranger violently reacts and throws her to the side as she strikes the wall with sharp recoil. He begins to blindly swing at her, knocking over and moving furniture in the process, when she takes the opportunity to grab a ceramic vase and throw it at his head, shattering in the process. His muffled screams grow angrier. She gets a head-start and runs 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 snatches one of the paintings and as he is about to grab her, she miraculously strikes 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 makes her to way to the window which she realized was thankfully unlocked. Her grand escape was immediately cut short when something struck her leg. She fell over on her hands, taking notice of excruciating pain on her leg, she looked at her right calf which had a large dark purple bruise on it. She can barely stand on that leg. She looks up and sees the stranger is now standing and is effortlessly swinging what looks like two large metal bells on each end of a thick rope. Before she can react he strikes her in the head with the swing of a bell. The stranger then picks up her defeated body and slowly carries it across the hallway.

When Hayden finally awakens from her daze she sees the direction they were heading towards, and it wasn't down the steps. It was toward the window. When she finally realizes what he's going to do she starts to thrash and kick, desperately trying to escape his grip. Her screams make no noise, incapable of making any after having been strangled. The stranger then throws 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 becomes a dark red color from the nearby redness spilling into it.

Some time later.....

“I'm sorry I accidentally locked the keys inside the car, we shouldn't be back this late” apologized Lacey.

“Don't worry about it, Hayden will understand. After all, she'll still get paid for this so I doubt she'll complain 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 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'm 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 walks up the front steps but something catches the corner of Lacey's eye before they can try to open the front door. She sees 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 refuses to open after turning the knob multiple times, he 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 proceeds to knock a few times. No one comes to the door.

“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 decides to break the door open with a kick despite Lacey's protests after spending probably a half-hour calling for them. It takes a few kicks before the stubborn door finally gives in and swings open. The couple is greeted with an ugly and worrisome view. The house is 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 scour 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 proceed 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 is beginning his search he hears something fall over in the junk closet. It could be a sign of danger, but saving the children is his top priority now so that doesn't matter. He carefully approaches it and enters, he begins to look through one side of the closet inspecting through the hanging clothes shrouding the walls and the discarded junk before he nearly trips on a bucket. As he turned around he notices the moving clothing, probably where the bucket fell from. As he cautiously approaches the other side and looks through the folds he's met with a shocking discovery. He finds both of his children lying in the corner bound with duct tape and with garbage bags over their heads. Garrett hastily rips off the bags and finds that they're still alive, much to his relief, they had torn mouth holes in their bags at some point.

“Oh thank god you're okay! It's alright now kids, your 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 echoes throughout the house scaring everybody in the closet. The three of them rush out to find the source and reason for the scream and discover a trembling Lacey helplessly staring at a gruesome sight. They all turn in the direction she's facing, and see 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 turns the kids away and covers their eyes.

“Please for the love of god don't look”