I needed the money. Desperately. College costs were mounting, and my parents couldn't help me. A brother with cerebral palsy and one fighting in Vietnam keep them occupied elsewhere. When Mrs. Garrison called, stuck without a sitter, I jumped at the chance. Two small boys, Michael, five, and Adam, two, were easy. A bath, ten minutes of “The Brady Bunch” and they would be out cold.

“Ma, ma! Where...

They ring me at three in the morning and I’m feeling fine. Their voices slurred and bitter. They speak a language I barely understand, the language of the three am drug hazed alcoholics. They don’t say it explicitly, they’re beyond that now. They want me to look after her, I don’t mind. Except I do. I don’t ask them where they are, I don’t pry. I expect them to be at some party at the other side o...

The fact that I found out what was going on was a mistake. It was pure coincidence that I was the only one at the house when the woman rang the bell and made an assumption about who I was.

“Is this the Andersons?” The woman was tall, gaunt, unremarkable except for her eyes that were a pale, shallow blue, flat and expressionless.

“Yes. The Andersons. Can I help you?”

The woman thrust a cardb...

I had finished my degree so, like so many other post-graduates, I was struggling to find my first job. When Mrs Harris called me for an interview at her place, I jumped for joy. The job spec required someone who could take care of her daughter, Lisa, a girl in her early teens, who suffered from a mental disorder. No previous experience required.

Mrs Harris was a very friendly lady, in her early t...

Jumping up from the couch, I hurried myself upstairs with the baby monitor flashing in my hands.I pushed through the door not a second later and picked her up in one fluid motion. I swaddled the baby in a blanket, brushed back her curly blonde sprouts, and bounced her lightly, her sobs hiccuping with every bounce.

"Shh, little Paisley," I tried to coo, but my beautiful lullaby wasn't up to pa...

I’ll be perfectly honest, this was not what I wanted to be doing on a gorgeous, balmy summer evening. But the lure of some extra cash was enticing, so here I was, on the doorstep of a total stranger.

“He’s a charmer Jasmine, and needs a babysitter, only for tonight.”

“Mom, for goodness sake,” I rolled my eyes. I’m 17, and my mom wanted to pair me off with the handsome widower she’d done some acc...

The room was cold and hostile. Two metal chairs sat on my side, and it didn’t matter how long I sat on mine, it wasn’t warming. The two men sat the other side. The white walls were scuffed, and I was trying very hard to ignore the red stain by foot.

Shaking, I looked at both men in turn.

“It was awful. Truly, truly awful.”

“We’ll need you to break each step of the story down for us, as best ...

I held Joshua in my arms as he slept in my arms. I sat on a rocking chair by his crib. He had been crying moments earlier. His cheeks are flustered from his tears, but he’s finally sleeping peacefully in my arms. I set him down in his crib and finally get some time to myself.

I’ve been working for this family for a month now. They’ve had other babysitters in the past, but it just hadn’t worked ou...

Kay had never noticed the house before. It was so conspicuous to her now, tall and ominously looming over everything on the corner of Cedar Street. She had gotten a call from the inhabitant, a woman named Mrs. Atkinson.

Kay had set up her babysitting resume just a day ago in the hopes of making a buck or two, but hadn’t expected any calls this soon into the game. Not that she was complaining.

Mr...