The babysitter

Five

It was the end of my first week, and I was ready to go home for the weekend. The whole week was spent trying to please Damian and make him stay out of trouble. Since it was summer there were no school work for the boys to do. So Damian would train or watch cartoons which he insisted were not educational and a waste of time, but I knew he secretly loved them since he actually paid attention and would smirk when it was funny. Tim just stayed in his room coming out for snacks or meals, which Alfred had to drag him out of his room.

I had just finished a load of laundry for Alfred when I started gathering my stuff to leave. It was around ten because that was Damian's bed time. I thought it was pretty late for a ten year old but I'm his parents so what was I going to go. Softly knocking on Damian's door, I heard a grumpy reply. "What?"

I opened the door to see Damian sitting on the bed, sharpening his katana. I pressed my lips together for a second then moved my eyes from the sword to his. "I'm heading out, do you need anything before I go?"

"Tch. No, Jackson. If I did, I could get it myself." He shook his head.

"Alright. But go to sleep. You need it, you're a growing boy. Good night, sleep tight." I shut the door then walked to Tim's door. I could see the light from his computer in the dark. I knocked on the door, and heard a mumble of an answer. I opened the door to find Tim hunched over a computer. "Hey, Tim?"

"Mhm?" He wasn't paying attention.

"I'm thinking about giving away all your computers." I leaned on the door frame, crossing my arms.

"Mhm."

I rolled my eyes and walked over to him. Scaring him by tapping him on the shoulder. "Hey, this safe automatically, right?"

"Yeah, why?" Tim asked. His blue eyes had deep purple bags hanging underneath.

I pushed his laptop closed and hit the small button on the corner of his computer computer. "Good."

"Hey!" Tim scurried to try to get his electronics on.

But I kept my hand on the laptop and was blocking the bottom with myself. "Good. I'm heading out, do you need anything besides sleep?"

"My computer?" He asked.

"No. You need sleep more. But I'll be back tomorrow, sleep tight." I ruffled his hair and walked out. I knew he wasn't going to go to sleep but I wasn't too comfortable to try and force him yet. Maybe in a month or so, but we met earlier this week. But until then I did the best I could.

Pulling my jacket closer to me, I stepped outside after saying goodnight to Alfred. Even in the summer Gotham was still pretty chilly at night. I slightly shivered and I stepped out of the gate. I could hear it closing behind me as I stepped out on to the side walk. As I was walking I saw this man start walking towards me. He was pretty buff and had a loosely fitting leather jacket. He had black hair and kept his gaze down, almost like there was nothing better to look at.

I sighed and rolled my eyes, thinking I would have to fight off another creep as he came up. Trying to look somewhere else, we bumped into each other. Since I wasn't expecting it and he was basically twice my weight, I was sent flying into the road. But before I could land on my ass, he caught me. I was tempted to smack him and make a run for it, but he held a pretty tight grip.

"Sorry, Doll, didn't see you there." He smirked.

I was pretty shocked to see him. He had sparkling blue eyes that held a lot of pain for just one person. He had seen way too much for him to be smirking at me. His black hair was interrupted with a streak of white the front like mine was. I could see a small scar on his cheek bone and one that came up from under his shirt. "It's fine."

He set me down on the other side of the sidewalk, far from the road, and was about to keep walking when he asked me, "Aren't you a little young to be walking around by yourself?"

"I'm nineteen." I said defensively. He put his hands up in surrender then started walking again.

I let out a sigh of relief that he wasn't trying to rape or kill me and started walking home again. I felt like I was being watched, though. Looking around the whole way home and I didn't find anyone. Sometimes I would see a shadow on a rooftop but didn't think anything of it. Finally I got home, and immediately kicked my shoes off. After a fourteen hour day, nothing feels better. I was going to sit on my mattress when I heard the fire escape creak.

My eyebrows dropped in confusion and then my hand went for my pen, a sword in disguise, and sneaked to the window. I saw movement from a small person or thing. It was really good at hiding but not well enough. It looked like a small person or a big dog. But it would be very hard for a dog to get on the sixth floor of a fire escape. Dismissing it as a kid sneaking in or out, I sighed and opened my fridge. It was empty.

Sighing, I went back to my mattress on the ground and laid down. I had no books, no tv and no money. The only thing to do was sleep, because it was free and I didn't need electricity so my bill would be a bit lower.

My mind went back to the child, maybe they were sneaking away from their abusive parent. Or they were being rebellious and sneaking out to party or drink or smoke. But something tells me that wasn't it. Their intentions were good and pure.

It almost felt nice.

1014 words

4/27/21

Does anything think they knew who the kid is? It's not creepy but more of fluff scene.

So, I always say it might be awhile since school is crazy. I have finals, projects, auditions and solos all due/happening around the same time.

Pieces Angels and Stay Safe