Scary Stories Editor Erik invites you to read this story about a babysitter who sucks at her job. Blogger Evan was committed to finding a classic scary story. He remembers hearing it for the first time ten years ago, and he was very scared.
By Evan Spry
One night a little girl’s parents went out for a business dinner, so they hired a babysitter to watch her.
“Can I have some ice cream?” the little girl, Holly, asked after supper.
“Sure,” said the babysitter, Beatrice. “Where’s the freezer?”
“In the basement, so are the nuts, cherries and candy and stuff.”
When babysitter Beatrice went down to the basement to get the ice cream, she looked out the window to see a little girl standing outside. This didn’t strike her as too suspicious, so she simply brushed it off.
When Beatrice handed Holly her ice cream, Holly asked, “Can I have some hot fudge on this, please?”
“Course,” was Beatrice’s quick reply.
Beatrice went back down into the basement to retrieve the fudge next to the nuts and berries. She looked back out the window to see the same little girl, this time wearing a red cape. As she trudged back upstairs, Beatrice absentmindedly wondered if the girl was playing dress-up.
“Got it,” she said to Holly, after setting the fudge in the microwave and putting the hot thick chocolate goop on the ice cream.
“Can I please have some nuts on this …?”
“Really?”
“Please?”
“Fine…” the babysitter sighed, already heading back down the stairs. As she got the nuts out of a small cabinet in the wall, she looked back out the window to see the same little girl in the red cape, only this time, holding a knife.
As babysitter Beatrice ran upstairs, she decided she was calling the police.
“Ooh. Thank you!” Holly squealed happily from her perch on her pink Disney Princess booster seat.
“Uh-I-I yeah. Hey, Holly, I need you to-“
“Oh no! Can I have a cherry on top, please?”
Not wanting to alarm Holly, Beatrice decided that she would go get the cherries, then call the police–after locking herself and Holly in the bathroom. There’s no way the little girl in the cape could get inside if the windows and doors were all locked.
After slowly descending the stairs, Beatrice opened the freezer with shaky arms.
Daring to peek out of the window, she closed her eyes before staring out.
The same little girl, in the same red cape, holding the same knife was there. Only the knife now had blood on it.
Running up the stairs, scared of what might await, Beatrice quickly checked on Holly.
Holly was dead.
Beatrice ran into the bathroom and locked the door behind her before dialing 911.
When the police arrived, the tearful mother and father were with them. The mother approached Beatrice, sobbing uncontrollably. “What happened?!”
“Oh God- I’m sorry oh God! I-I saw this little girl with this red cape and a knife outside your basement window!”
The mother said, “We-we don’t have any basement windows, only mirrors…”
Scary Stories Editor: Erik Bearman
Okay, maybe I’m too dense or too rational to get this. So was the “specter” in the house with the indulgent babysitter and little Holly? Was Holly bludgeoned to death and Beatrice didn’t see/hear any commotion during the crime? Was the girl in the cape following Beatrice the whole time, or hanging out in the basement until the cherry on top!? Also, why are the sundae fixings in the basement and not in the kitchen?
Not so much scary as puzzling. But thanks for the mental gymnastics! Boo, yourself!