That Smile

I turn around slowly, “I-I-I” I stutter.

“You what?” He asks.

Speechless, I point to the flyer on the door. His voice is creepily intimidating.

“Get off my lawn!” He yells then another voice chimes in.

“Ralph! Be nice! Sorry hon. Oh a flyer? Babysitting? Hmmm…” Assuming she is his wife, I am glad she is much nicer than her husband. Looking at them both I feel like they are too perfect for each other, too cliché. Like in those TV shows where there is a whole blonde family and the mom wears pearls and wears an apron and the two kids wear either a dress or a sweater vest.

“Y-Yes. Um, I need to raise money for a car or college. I noticed you have toddlers and I am willing to take care of them.” I swallow hard. Without looking at Ralph I can feel his eyes baring holes into my flesh.

“Please, call me Maria. Actually, tonight Ralph and I were planning on going out to dinner and--“ Ralph interrupts her.

“No we weren’t!” He barks.

“Yes we did!!” She yells angrily. She seemed so nice before.

She pats down her dress and adjusts her angry face into a sweet smile that almost gives me a toothache.

“Can you babysit tonight?” Before I can answer Maria claps her hands together. “Perfect! Let’s say around 6 o’clock?”

“Umm…” I don’t know how to respond.

“Great!” Maria says in an overly excited voice Ralph just rolls his eyes.

I cross the lawn as soon as they go inside not even noticing the two pair of green eyes watching me. I turn around and the two twins smile and wave their fingers in complete unison.

I go home and do most of my homework. Time flashes before I can notice its 6:30pm. I gasp and dash into the kitchen say goodbye to my mom and run to the next door neighbor’s house.

“Sorry I’m late.” I glance at Ralph. “I got caught up in school work.”

“Don’t ever be late again!” Maria screams. Her screech makes me shiver. “I mean, it’s okay, just try to be earlier next time.” She smiles wide. Ralph and Maria act like her outburst never happened. Ralph rolls his eyes.

Without saying goodbye they rush out if the house. They didn’t even give me any instructions.

“So…” I say looking around; afraid something might pop out and scare me. Then two little girls in white laced dresses walk in. They are exactly alike; same pale skin, white hair, green eyes and dark red lips.

They’re smile quickly turns into a creepy grin; so wide that the Joker from Batman would be scared. I shake the thought.

“What do you want to do?” I choke on my own saliva. “Board games?”

“No. We want to play a special game.” They both say in sync.

“W-What game?” They keep getting closer to me as I slowly back up.

“The one that he told us to play.” They say together.

“He? You mean your father?” I ask. Afraid of the answer might be.

“No, him.” They both point the side. I assume I’m supposed to play along with their active imaginations.

“Oh. Him. What does he look like? Is he tall? What is he wearing?” I loosen up realizing it’s just a game.

“This isn’t a game.” They both say. “He’s getting angry!”

“I never s-said it was a game.” My muscles tighten up again.

“He can read minds. You just said it was a game! Don’t lie to him or he’ll hurt you.” Then their eyes water and they look frightened.

“I’m not lying and why are you scared?”

“Because, he’s right behind you.”

I feel a deep warm breath of air. Like the feeling when someone is right behind you and they breathe down your neck. It is warm and thick so thick I can almost hear it.

I panic. I frantically look for a way to escape. The windows? Bolted. How did I not notice it before? The door! I sprint to the back door. Then boom! I’m on the ground. What did I trip over?

“Where are you going? He doesn’t want you to leave.” Their concerned faces slowly turn into those creepy smiles that the corners of their mouth reaches their eyes. Their heads cock to the side making a complete 180 degrees.

“I need to get home. I forgot something.” I say urgently.

“No, No. This is your home now. He wants you to stay with him forever.” The twins say still in unison.

“I don’t want to!” I scream. As the monster drags its invisble claws down my legs..

I gasp and I wake up in my bed. This whole thing was just a dream. My mom comes running up the stairs and her eyes are wide and bloodshot.

“What’s wrong? I heard you scream?” She is confused and frightened.

“I had this nightmare that seemed so real. I just don’t remember what it was about.”

“Good night I’m tired. See you in the morning.” My mom discloses.

She walks out and I am left in my dark room not feeling completely alone.

The next day before I go to school I see the twins outside playing hand ball.

“Hey girls.” I say.

“Hey. He was with you last night so you weren’t alone when you were sleeping.” The both say. “Before you left didn’t you enjoy playing with us?” Then they give me that Joker smile that makes my skin crawl.

I chuckle, slowly back up and walk to the bus stop. When I finally find a seat I sit down and I suddenly feel a burining pain on my legs. I roll my pants up to see claw marks all over my legs...

"How did that happen?"