17. The Babysitter

 

I kissed her; I smiled as I thought back to last night. I kissed her and she kissed me back; it was nice. She seemed pretty nervous at first but that seems to just be how she is, so sweet and shy even when I say hello. I waved at her from across the camp and she gave me a little smile as she waved in return. She and Jemma were busy collecting small bundles of fruit and water that could be carried and Chazz and I prepared to get our stuff tied down and locked inside the cars. Like that would matter considering the cars had no windows in them thanks to our little visitor our first night here.

But after seeing how scared Abby was, I realized it would be much smarter to try and get everyone out of here. Everyone had agreed that night to try and hike the distance to town and began making plans. Knox and Chazz were packing up tents, Evian was gathering some pieces of wood and taking care of the fire and Roland was packing the larger items into the cars. 

“It won’t be long before the rain,” I warned looking at the dark clouds rolling in over the mountains. “If we’re gonna hit the road soon we’d better get a move on!” That seemed to put a bit of pep in everyone’s step as the campsite began to clear a little quicker.

I did a round of the area as everyone waited for me near the top of the trail before rushing towards the front of the group. “All ready?” I asked and watched as several heads nodded towards me. I took Abby’s hand, I gotta admit I was anxious to be near her again, and together we exited the campsite heading down to the valley and the road beneath.

“I can’t believe there’s hardly any traffic in this area,” I heard Evian complain and she was right. It had been several days since anyone heard a car on the road. Actually come to think about it, I don’t think I’d EVER heard another car pass by on this route since we arrived. It was definitely interesting.

“Most people probably detour away from it because of the legend that’s associated with it.”

“That’s enough of that Knox,” I cautioned before his mouth got away from him. It was day three we were up here when Knox decided to let Roland and me in on the reason he chose this campgrounds in particular. Saying we were both pissed off would be putting it mildly. But Knox just waved us off with a laugh. He thought the stories added a bit of ‘danger’ to the whole scary camp out in the woods thing.

Roland had began to wonder if the stories were in fact true considering the amount of bad luck we’d run into and I gotta say, I was beginning to think it myself. I noticed Abby’s eyes on me and smiled in her direction hoping to avoid having to explain why I cut Knox off so briefly. “So uh, how’s uh, how’s Jemma holding up?”

She glanced over her shoulder towards her friend who was bringing up the rear with Knox and shrugged. “She’s ok I guess. She hasn’t said anything more about what she saw out in those woods but whatever it was really scared her. She did say something that had me doing a double take of sorts.”

“Oh yeah?” I asked, holding my breath because I was sure of what her next words would be.

“Uh huh, she thinks these woods might be cursed.” Dammit Knox! You had to go running your big mouth didn’t you?

“Cursed?” I asked trying to laugh it off but unsure if it came off sincere. “Why would she say that?”

“Not sure; something she discussed with Knox but she wouldn’t tell me exactly.” I winced and sorta squeezed Abby’s hand when I did. I know she felt it; I’m sure she felt it and on top of that noticed the way I stopped suddenly in my tracks. I turned to look at the others behind me, making sure we were still within close proximity and sighed. “Zach what’s going on?”

“Abby, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” We started walking again and I felt the first drops of rain touch my shoulder. Great, I thought. Looks like we’re gonna get soaked.

“Are we stopping soon?” I heard Roland yell from near the back and turned to find Evian already using the tarp of one of the tents. “It’s gonna rain hard pretty soon.”

“Just another half mile at least; we should make some progress today!” This is what I was afraid of. Up at the campsite at least we had an area designated for camping. Up at the campsite at least we had advantage of high ground from the incoming storm. And up at the campsite we at least had a restroom. It took another thirty minutes to go the half mile I’d wanted and by now the rain was coming down harder.

We pulled off to the side of the road, leaving a marker on one of the signs in case a car happened by and headed up into the trees for cover. As we were packing up earlier, I didn’t see the need to carry all of our gear so Chazz and I only rolled two tents. And with seven of us here, conditions were going to be a little cramped.

“Alright so sleeping arrangements,” I started a fire as the others tucked themselves beneath the canopy of trees to avoid the downpour as Roland, Knox and Chazz got the last tent set up. “There’s an odd man out so to speak so one of the tents will have 4 occupants.” I watched the soured faces on a few of them and smiled inwardly to myself. The idea of being crammed so tightly was not high on my ‘to do’ list either, that’s for sure.

“What I propose is this: the girls get one tent and the guys take the other, three to each tent as the 4^th body, one of the guys, will take a two hour watch to make sure the campsite remains secure. Now how does that sound?” I heard a few disgruntled moans at the idea of not being close to their ladies from Knox and Roland but eventually everyone agreed it was the smarter plan. “In that case let’s settle in and see what the night brings.”

“The children are already sleeping so you needn’t disturb them, they should sleep through the night. The number to the restaurant is near the phone with our emergency contact numbers and that of the kid’s pediatrician. If anything happens you know how to reach us,” Mr. Franklin instructed before he and his wife started out to the car. Lydia waved them off before starting into the living room.

She was expecting a phone call from her boyfriend but in the meantime decided to try and get some of her homework done. After awhile the phone rang and she excitedly jumped to answer it but there’s no one on the other end. “Hello?” she asked but was met with silence before the caller hung up.

A few more minutes passed before the phone rang again and Lydia, believing the first was a dropped call quickly answered. This time she hears a man’s voice on the end. “Mr Franklin?” she asked, straining to make out his words.

And in an unnerving tone the caller on the other end spoke, “Have you checked the children?” The call ended abruptly and Lydia sat staring at the receiver.

At first she believed it really was the children’s father calling to check up but got interrupted. Deciding to ignore it for now Lydia went back to doing her homework but again the phone rang. “Have you checked the children?” the man again asked.

“Mr. Franklin is that you?” she asked, but the caller hung up. Lydia finally decided to call the restaurant and see if the couple was having trouble with their phone. But when she asked for Mr. Franklin the hostess informed her that he and his wife had left almost an hour ago. 

Thinking the caller had to be a prank in that case, Lydia hung up with the restaurant and called the police to report the stranger calling and hanging up. “Has he threatened you?” Scott, the male dispatcher asked on the other end to which she responded no. “Well in that case there really isn’t much we can do about it. You can try contacting your phone company and having the number blocked. Otherwise I’m afraid he’ll just keep calling.”

“Thanks.” Lydia replied grimly as she hung up the phone. A few minutes passed and she felt better having not received another call. But just as she settled back into the couch with the television on, the phone chimed louder than ever. “Why haven’t you checked the children?” the voice nearly yelled with desperation in his tone.

“Who is this?” Lydia asked finally having enough, but the caller hung up again. Quickly she dialed 9-1-1and asked to speak with Scott, making the same report as before. “I’m really scared now. I think he’s out there watching me and I don’t know what to do!”

“Have you seen him?” Scott asked again to which the answer is no. “Well I’m sorry but unless he threatens physical harm the police can’t help you.” His response sent Lydia into a panic and begged him for his help; anything he could do to get the calls to stop. “Ok, I’ll see if we can maybe get a trace on the call the next time he phones you. Give me your number and home address. The next time he calls, try and keep him on the line for at least thirty seconds and we’ll try and pinpoint his exact location ok?”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome Miss…what was your name again?”

“Lydia.”

“Okay, Lydia, try and relax. If he calls back we’ll do our best to find out who this is ok?”

“Ok,” she whimpered and reluctantly hung up the phone. Lydia jumped up from her seat afraid that the caller really was watching her. Quickly moving about the house she turned out all the lights and closed the blinds on the window. As she returned to the living room the phone erupted from the side table and she screamed.

Slowly moving forward she reached out to answer and held her breath as she heard his voice. “It’s me,” he growled, sounding angrier that the times before. “Why did you turn the lights off? Are you afraid?”

“You really are watching me?” she asked feeling her heart thundering in her chest as she watched the front door, panicked about what the caller’s next move might be.

“Of course I am,” he responded after a long pause.

“Look ok, you’ve scared me, congratulations! I’m shaking now are you happy? Is that what you wanted?”

“No.”

“Then what do you want from me?” she asked chewing on her lip as his breathing echoed through the receiver.

After another long pause, he finally responded; his voice making her blood run cold. “I want your blood all over me as you’re crying out for mercy!”

Lydia slammed the phone down to the base, too terrified to move. Almost immediately it rang again, the sound making her jump. “Leave me alone!” she screamed, but it was the dispatcher calling back, his voice frighteningly urgent and serving only to heighten her fear.

“Lydia, we’ve traced the call, it’s coming from inside the house. Get out of there now!”

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