The Babysitter

A young lady was hired as a babysitter for a family. Her employers had two children, a boy and a girl. Before going over to their house, the parents hadn’t specified the exact number of children she would be watching, so she assumed there were two more. Upon her arrival, she met the parents waiting for her in front of the house, already set to go out. They handed her a note filled with instructions to follow, and then they left.

A few minutes after they left, she went through the note, and the instructions were just three brief writings:

• The back door is already locked, so don’t worry about it
• If the kids are having trouble falling asleep, there’s cough syrup in the fridge. Give them a spoonful
• We’ve let the guard dogs out, so please stay inside until we get back

Soon after reading the note, the two kids came running downstairs in a game of tag. She had already had a long, stressful day and was not ready for this. She went to the kitchen and brought out the cough syrup. Not sure how to give it to them, she lied and told them it was a fruit drink her mom used to give her when she was little. Excited about it, they both came close for a taste. Just as instructed, she gave them a spoonful each.

She was closing the lid on the bottle when one of the kids suggested that maybe their friend upstairs might want some too. At first, she thought it was their imaginary friend, but soon she saw a child-like figure cowering behind the hallway door. To avoid having that child keep her up at night, she asked the child to come and have a taste. When the figure came into the light, she realized it was a full-grown woman, suffering from dwarfism. Confused and a bit alarmed, she gave the woman a spoonful as well.

The woman seemed to like the taste of it; she requested more and got as much as she wanted. The kids wanted the same, but the babysitter told them she would save the rest for the next morning. Still armed with the bottle, she guided them to the hall to watch a movie. They started to yawn, and soon after, the three of them fell asleep. After confirming they were asleep, the babysitter called the parents and told them how uncomfortable she felt. They asked her to keep an eye on the woman because they were coming back.

Moments later, the parents arrived with a police patrol vehicle and found the children and the older woman fast asleep. The police recognized the woman as a person with dwarfism, who had the brain development of a child. The woman had escaped from the help facility where she was admitted and had managed to sneak into many homes over the past years. She was quietly taken back to the facility. The girl on the other hand, made extra careful in her next jobs.