Her mind drifted back to that first meeting. “Welcome,” Sabrina had said, her voice pleasant but detached. The warmth in Mark’s greeting wasn’t mirrored in hers, and Kayla had felt her posture straighten instinctively. Sabrina’s gaze had lingered, evaluating, as though this arrangement was something she’d agreed to out of necessity, not comfort. Kayla had brushed the unease aside, offering a polite smile and a compliment on the house. Sabrina had nodded, distant but courteous, before Mark stepped in with a warm rundown of Tommy’s routine, expressing how grateful they were.
Now, by late afternoon, the house had fallen into a quiet stillness, almost too still. Tommy dozed on the couch under his dinosaur blanket, and Kayla used the time to tidy the kitchen, determined to make a good impression on this first real babysitting shift.
She reached for a cup near the sink when something faint caught her attention—an almost imperceptible sound from upstairs. A soft thump. Not loud, not alarming, but enough to make her glance up toward the ceiling.
She held her breath, listening. Nothing followed. No footsteps. No voices. Just silence. She exhaled slowly, convincing herself it was the house settling, and moved toward the pantry, only to stop dead. The back door was cracked open. Barely an inch, but open. A thin breeze stirred the curtain beside it. Kayla’s pulse jumped. She hadn’t touched t
hat door. She was certain.
Her gaze darted toward the stairwell again, the faint sound she’d heard suddenly replaying in her mind. Her voice came out small and tentative as she called, “Hello? Mark? Sabrina?” No response. No shifting floors. Only silence thickening around her.
After several long seconds, she forced herself to cross the kitchen. She pushed the back door shut and turned the lock carefully, trying to steady her breathing. She felt foolish for how jumpy she was, but the unease didn’t fade. It clung to her as she returned to the living room and sat beside Tommy, pretending to scroll her phone while her eyes kept drifting toward the hallway.
She checked the time repeatedly, counting down the minutes until the parents came home. When keys finally jingled at the front door, relief washed through her so quickly she almost laughed. Mark and Sabrina stepped inside, chatting casually about their workday, filling the house with a normalcy that instantly made the fear feel… exaggerated.