The last time I babysat, I watched someone die. I was in college, and back then babysitting was one of the best ways for me to make extra money. I’d done work-study the first semester, but the pay was really low and the hours tended to suck, and the available jobs were always the ones where you got interrupted enough that squeezing in study time at work was hard, especially once I decided to double-major and needed access to a laptop most of the time.
But babysitting, once I got a good reputation as safe, responsible and willing to work on short notice, was the best of both worlds. Better pay, shorter hours, and with younger children or stricter parents, I sometimes had two or three hours of fairly uninterrupted time while the kid slept upstairs. It wasn’t always steady work, but the flexibility made it worth it, and usually I enjoyed myself too. The kids tended to be cool for the most part, and the couple of times I ran into real brats I just didn’t go back again.
Erin was always one of my favorites. Only six, she was both slight and quiet for her age, with long brown hair framing a small-featured face dominated by sad eyes that rarely lit up except for when she was playing by herself and didn’t know you were looking. It was strange that I would like her best—there were children I had more fun with and knew better, after all. But I could tell that she liked me and that such a thing was rare for her. When I took her to the park, she would hold my hand dutifully, and when I occasionally gave her a hug, she didn’t shy away as I’d seen her do to family friends and relatives at times. Odd as it sounded, her approval made me feel special, and that in turn made her special to me.
The night of the screaming and death and terror started out very normal. Boring even. I had to study for a test the next Tuesday, but aside from that and watching t.v., I was actually kind of out of things to do. Erin had been up in her room playing when I got there at seven, and I knew not to expect her parents back until after midnight. So by a bit after eight, I decided to check in on her and see if she wanted to come down and watch a movie or something.
I could hear her whispering as I approached the cracked door, and I found myself pausing for a moment, straining to hear what she was saying.
“…no, you’re the silly one….doesn’t make sense…”
I remember frowning at that. I had a lot of experience hearing children playing, including having make-believe conversations between action figures or with some imaginary playmate. But this…it didn’t sound like that.
When someone fakes a conversation with someone else, especially when it’s a child, it doesn’t take long to see it’s them pretending. Sometimes it’s super-obvious—they do voices for both sides, for example. But even if they only do their own part, you can tell they aren’t really reacting to someone else. Everything they say is expected, following the path they’re laying out in their own imagination, often with brief pauses as they think up the next bit as they go. There’s a kind of bland joy in their voices, but it’s paired with a degree of lonely dissatisfaction, like celebrating your birthday when you’re all alone. You’re tricking yourself into believing the conceit and being happy, and it only half-works.
But Erin’s conversation was different. I could hear happiness in her voice, but something else too. Frustration maybe, or even anxiety. And it all sounded real enough that my heart sped up as I opened the door, a darker corner of my brain already picturing scenarios where some intruder has snuck into the little girl’s room.
Erin turned and gave me a gap-toothed grin. “Hey Betty!”
I looked past her to the far side of her bed. The space there was empty. “Hey, short-stack. Who’re you talking to?”
Her smile fell away as her eyes followed mine to the carpet between the window and the bed. “Just playing.”
Nodding, I stepped to the window. It was shut and locked, and there was nowhere else for anything to be other than…I swallowed. “I know it’s early, but I’m going to go ahead and do a monster check, okay?”
Erin smiled a little. “Okay.”
I held her gaze for a second. She didn’t seem scared, but she didn’t seem quite right either. More like she was preoccupied or…but no, I was making this into more than it was. Just needed to get it over with. Crouching down quickly, I looked under the bed, terrified that I’d find a man lying under there staring back at me.
But no, it was empty too aside from a couple of books and a stuffed dog. Glancing back at Erin, I forced a smile. “All clear.” Standing up, I held out my hand. “Want to come down and watch t.v.? My pizza will be here in a bit and you can have some.”
The little girl beamed and nodded before giving me a frown. “Did you get pineapple on it again?”
I snickered. “Only on half. I kept some pristine for the little princess.”
Giggling, she did a curtsy before taking my hand.
See? She’s totally fine. Peppier than normal even. You’re freaking out over nothing. Nodding to myself, I took her downstairs and we started watching some movie that was a bit scary, but didn’t seem to bother her much. The pizza came, we ate some, and I was coming back from getting us more drinks in the kitchen when I saw she wasn’t in the living room anymore.
“Erin? Where’d you go, honey?” My first thought was the bathroom, and after sitting down the drinks I headed that way. But no sign of her in the downstairs bathroom. Maybe she’d gone to the kitchen the other way and I’d missed her? Nothing there either, and no sign she’d returned to the living room when I completed my circuit of the downstairs.
I headed up to the second floor then, my heart hammering in time with my hurried steps. I was still calling out for her, less now to get her attention and more to warn her not to hide from me, as I was starting to think this was part of some prank or impromptu game she was playing. She wasn’t back in her room or her parents’, and I didn’t find her anywhere else up there either. I was heading back downstairs, already planning a more thorough search of every room and closet until I found her, when I realized that the front door was now standing wide open.
Stomach twisting, I stepped out onto the front porch and looked around. No sign of her out here either, and I was starting to run out of…no, wait. Down at the very end of the street, I saw a dim glimpse of movement at the edge of the streetlight’s glow. It was too quick and far away to say for sure it was her, but I needed to check and see.
Closing the door behind me, I sprinted off in that direction, calling out to Erin to stop if that was her. The corner was over a hundred yards away, and by the time I made the turn, I could see the figure even farther ahead, despite the fact that they weren’t running like I was. It had to be her, didn’t it? It was hard to say in the dark, and I had no idea why Erin would run off like that, but what were the odds that another person roughly her size would be roaming around on their street in the dark right when she goes missing? Gritting my teeth, I forced myself to run harder. I needed to catch up before I lost her.
This went on for three more blocks. Every time I thought I was gaining, I’d turn a corner and find her farther ahead. I knew by then that it was definitely Erin, but she never stopped or responded to my yelling between panting breaths. We were at the edge of the park now, and I felt a moment of panic as I realized I’d lost her again. There were too many trees and obstructions there between bathrooms and benches and playground equipment, and all of it was given extra weight and dimension in the lengthening shadows of the night. I just needed to…
“You need help, little lady?”
I let out a startled scream as I looked around to find a man staring at me. He looked to be in his early thirties and was wearing clothes like he’d just come from a gym. He was smiling, but there was something in his eyes I didn’t like.
Taking a step back, I shook my head. “No, I…did you see a little girl come this way?”
He chuckled. “Only girl I’ve seen is you. And you don’t look that young. Not too young anyway.” The man extended his hand. “Name’s Keith. Can I help somehow?”
I glanced at his hand and then looked around again. “No, thanks…I…I’m just babysitting this little girl and she ran out. Trying to track her down.” I glanced back at him. “Just…if you see a little girl by herself, yell, okay?” I turned away and started jogging further into the park without waiting for a response.
Five minutes later and a new level of panic was starting to set in. I hadn’t found her again, and I’d realized now I’d left my phone back in the living room. I didn’t want to risk leaving the park to go get it, but I was quickly running out of places to look. I was trying to justify another pass through before returning to the house when I heard laughter in the distance.
That was Erin laughing.
Muttering a prayer under my breath, I starting running in the direction of the sound. It was toward the center of the park, somewhere around the big fountain there. I’d been by it before, but maybe she’d been hiding or she’d just gotten there, but…My thoughts died as I reached the plaza and stared up at the fountain. It was a massive thing of carved stone, riddled with intricately carved animals and trees winding this way and that between three shrinking levels of elevated pools that flowed down into a large ground pool where people would throw coins for wishing.
And on the top level, some thirty feet up in the air, Erin sat perched on the back of a carved bear.
“Erin! Stay still, honey! What are you doing up there?” The little girl waved at me happily, but didn’t answer. I wanted to tell her to come down, but how could I? She might break her neck. And anyway… “How’d you get up there?”
She swung her feet like she was spurring the stone bear forward. “My friend put me up here. It can climb so good!” Her eyes widened excitedly. “Want me to have it bring you up here too?”
I frowned at her, my mind racing. What was she talking about? Had there been someone in her room? Had they abducted her? Why the hell had I left my phone behind? I glanced around, but didn’t see anyone. “Honey, who’s…no, where’s your friend? I don’t see them. Did they leave?” Please let them have left. I could figure out a way to get her down, just please let them have…
“No, they’re right here.” She pointed to the bottom pool, which was filled with shadows, but looked empty.
“I don’t see anyone there, Erin.”
She giggled again. “That’s okay. It sees you. It’s looking right at you.”
I felt a chill go up my spine. She kept saying “it”, not he or she. It had to be some weird imaginary friend, but then how did she get all the way up there? And what if there was something in the dark that I just couldn’t…
“Hey, so you found her.”
I jumped and turned to see the guy…Keith…standing a few feet away again. “Um, yeah. Yeah, I did.”
He was staring up at Erin now, his expression unreadable. “Huh. How’d she get all the way up there?”
I felt my heart starting to beat faster. Had he done this somehow? I looked back up at Erin. “Honey, do you know this man?”
She shook her head with a frown. “No, is he your friend?”
Beside me, the man chuckled. “I didn’t mess with your kid, honest. Just trying to be helpful. If you want me to go, I’ll go.”
I blushed and shook my head. “Shit, I’m sorry, I’m just…just kind of freaked out at the moment. Need to get her down without her breaking something.”
Keith nodded. “I see what you mean. Lots of places to slip and fall. Look, why don’t you call the cops or the fire department? They can get her down, right?”
I felt my heart sink lower. “I…I left my phone at the house.” A thought occurred to me as I looked away from Erin and back at him. “Do you think you could call 911 and…”
He’d stepped closer now, and his friendly expression had hardened into something hungry and cruel. “I was hoping you’d say that.”
I took a step back, but he was quicker, reaching out and grabbing my forearm to pull me toward him even as he wrapped his other arm around me. I yelled then, but then his hand was at my throat, his hot breath at my ear as he began to stagger walk me back toward the tall bushes at the edge of the fountain plaza.
“Keep quiet, bitch. If you give me what I want, I might not have to fuck you up too bad. Might not have to pull that kid down.”
I shot an elbow into his stomach and for a moment his grip loosened, but then he was punching me in the side of the head, once, twice, a third time, my vision blurring for a moment as he started dragging me again. I wanted to tell Erin to get away, to go run and hide or get help, but it was all too late. Maybe if I just went along with him he’d leave her alone and…
A deep scream split the night air.
My eyes instinctively turned toward the sound, and I managed to focus enough to see the water in the bottom of the fountain churning as something unseen pushed through it. Great splashes of water were flung out onto the cobblestones of the plaza as something silently charged us, ripping the man away from me so harshly that I tumbled to the ground.
Now the man was screaming, squealing shrilly as his feet danced in the air, suspended by something invisible that began to break his arms over and over like it was folding up a used drinking straw. The screams became thinner then, Keith’s workout shirt rippling as something wrapped around his chest and began to squeeze, new muffled popping sounds coming from his chest with each undulation of pressure. I stared at all of this with a combination of mute horror, satisfaction and relief, and it wasn’t until it started eating him that the unreality of it all broke through my shock enough for me to begin crawling away in terror. Huge bloody chunks would suddenly be gone, though somehow nothing made it all the way to the ground. Whatever it was that had him, it was exceedingly efficient in having its meal, and by the time I’d crawled back to the fountain, it was as though the man had never been there at all.
I looked up at Erin, keeping my voice low. “Is…is that your friend?”
She looked down over the ear of the bear and nodded. “Yeah! And he’s your friend too now!” The little girl looked past me. “Hey, get me back down, please! I did what you wanted. We need to go home and finish our pizza!”
I felt the air shift near me as something passed by, heard the quiet slosh of the water as it went back into the fountain and pulled Erin from the bear. I wanted to protest, to ask it to stop, but I was terrified, and honestly it hadn’t done anything to the little girl yet, at least that I knew of. So instead, I sat shuddering as I watched her seemingly float through the air before being placed gently down at my side. And when she offered me her hand, I took it and stood up.
“Are you sure we’re safe with it, Erin?”
She nodded. “Yeah, we are. It’s been my friend for a long time, and it looks after me. But it gets hungry sometimes, and it’s hard for me to find it something that’s okay for it to eat.”
I swallowed. We were walking back toward her house now, and it took everything I had to not scoop her up and break into a run. The image of some invisible thing pulling me back and tearing me apart was honestly the main thing that stopped me. “Eat? Like, um, people?”
Erin shrugged. “Yeah, mainly I guess. I know that sounds mean, but it only eats bad people I think. It was kinda young too when it first found me, but it’s a lot bigger now. It told me it needs to have a grown-up to protect so it can eat enough.” She giggled and looked past me. “I told you you’re being silly. I know you still love me too. I’m not mad about it, I super-swear.”
The little girl rolled her eyes at me. “It gets so sensitive about stuff. But I understand. And I want it to be happy.” She gave my hand a squeeze. “That’s why I picked you.”
I slowed down. “Picked me how?”
She grinned. “It’s going to protect you now. I don’t know if you’ll ever be able to see it or hear it, but it says that’s okay. It’ll be happy just so long as it can eat some and keep you safe.” She laughed and nodded past me. “And visit me sometimes too.”
Blinking, I stopped in the middle of the street and stared down at her. “Erin…I don’t want that. I…I mean I guess I believe you after everything, but I don’t want some invisible m…friend just hanging around all the time and occasionally eating people it thinks is bad.”
Erin was already shaking her head. “No, it won’t be like that. I mean, the hanging around part, yeah, but you can decide who it eats, so long as it gets to eat every few months. It just gets sad if it gets too hungry.” She shrugged again, her voice softer as her gaze drifted to the dark asphalt. “Besides, it being around isn’t something you pick. It picks you.”
That was ten years ago. Since then, I’ve been pretty lucky. I have a great contract job and plenty of friends, and while back in high school and freshman year of college I was kind of overweight and sickly, I haven’t had so much as a cold in the last decade and people are always asking me what diet or exercise routine I use to stay in such good shape. I don’t tell anyone about my special friend’s blessings, but I’m honest about the rest. I eat what I want, but I do run a lot.
I mainly run late at night. Through parks, rough neighborhoods, areas I’ve read about in the newspaper. Over time I’ve had to drive out farther for some of my midnight runs, but the change of scenery is actually kind of nice, even if its running past an abandoned factory or a trap house.
And honestly, this whole experience has made me feel better about humans as a race. Do you know how hard it is to find someone that will attack you? It probably feels like you could turn down any dark street and find your death, but really, most people don’t want to do more than be left alone or, at worst, talk a little shit as you jog by. It sometimes takes weeks just to find someone that will cross the line between douchebag and dinner.
Still, I must be doing a pretty good job of keeping our friend well-fed. Every time we visit Erin she tells me everything it’s saying, about how happy it is and how much it loves us. And despite being taller than me now, when Erin hugs it, her hands can’t even reach all the way around the air she’s squeezing.
Funnily enough, the shared bond with our guardian has also brought the two of us closer together. She’s two years away from college, but she’s already hinting around at going somewhere near where I move after my current work contract is done. And to be fair, I’d like her to be close too. I think we both would.
That’s why when I look at cities for the next stage of my career, I cross-check them against several different things they have to have.
Nice scenery not too far away? Check.
Good college with a safe campus? Check.
Selection of cool restaurants and affordable housing? Check.
All that and good running paths through areas with a high instances of violent crime?
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