Kayla pressed her back against the wall, her breath trapped somewhere between her ribs and her throat. The house was supposed to be empty. Sabrina had texted that morning to say she had Tommy with her. Yet now, standing in the silent hallway, Kayla heard it distinctly: a faint, unmistakable shuffle from the floor above. Not the pipes settling. Not the wind. A footstep.
Her hands trembled as she reached for her phone, her gaze fixed on the stairwell. She had entered the house only minutes before. Everything had been still and ordinary, until the slow, deliberate creak of a floorboard froze her in place. Someone was up there. Someone who had no business being there.
Kayla swallowed hard, her pulse hammering in her ears. Every instinct screamed at her not to climb those stairs. She didn’t know who to call first or what she could possibly say. All she knew was that she needed to get out, and that whatever had made that sound had been waiting in the quiet of the Reynolds’ home long before she ever arrived.
This terrifying moment was a far cry from the hope she had felt just days earlier. Kayla never imagined she would be the kind of teenager who checked neighborhood job boards between classes, but the last few months had reshaped her world. Her mother was juggling two jobs, the bills kept piling up, and college—once a distant dream—now felt like a prize she would have to wrestle for.
She tried not to reveal how much the money mattered, but she felt its absence every time her mom came home utterly drained, or when another notice arrived in the mail stamped with urgent red lettering. Kayla wanted to help. Even a little. She wanted to feel less like just another burden her mother had to shoulder.
That’s why the babysitting listing had felt like a lifeline. She had stumbled upon it late one night, scrolling through local posts while her homework sat neglected beside her. “Urgent: Babysitter needed. Flexible hours. Please message if interested. — Mark R.” It didn’t sound demanding or complicated, just like a dad who genuinely needed someone.