Full Body Chills - Why I Stopped Babysitting

Episode Date: October 23, 2019

I had an experience babysitting that scared me so bad, I had to stop forever.Why I Stopped Babysittingby: Eleni VassiliadisYou can read the original story at FullBodyChillsPodcast.comThis episode is brought to you by Simplisafe, to learn more check out simplisafe.com/fbc Looking for more chills? Follow Full Body Chills on Instagram @fullbodychillspod. Full Body Chills is an audiochuck production. Instagram: @audiochuckTwitter: @audiochuckFacebook: /audiochuckllcTikTok: @audiochuck 

Hi listeners, this is Ashley Flowers, and I want to tell you a story about why I stopped babysitting. So gather around and listen close. This is a story from my babysitting days around five years ago or so when I was 15 and desperate to save up for a car despite the fact that I didn't even have my learner's permit. I would babysit for family and then family friends. And pretty soon word of mouth was getting me calls from people I'd never even met before. People wanted to hire a babysitter that they knew wouldn't just sit from the liquor bottles in the cupboard or invite their boyfriend and girlfriend over. I was very patient as a teenager, so good with kids and far too chicken to ever properly snoop around people's houses or like

rifle through their cupboards or bedside drawers. And I'd only ever been drunk once before and I hated it so much that it put me off alcohol for a good long while. So I was the ideal babysitter. So anyways, one Friday, I get this call from a couple who had heard about me from somebody. They met someplace, I don't know. And they asked me if I was available for Sunday night. Now, this is summer break, so I was available pretty much every night of the week. My most popular nights were usually Fridays and Saturdays. And even though I was planning a sleepover with my friend Sunday, I canceled in order to sit for this couple. My rate was $50 a night, but parents were usually a bit drunk and very grateful when they got home from a night out. So they would press extra tens and twenties into

my hands insistently as I left. And mostly they would drive me home, but sometimes my mom or dad had to pick me up if the parents were drunk or the house was really far away from mine. Now, this couple that we're asking about Sunday, they said they would be out until very late and would pay me upwards of $100 for me to sit for them. They also offered to pick me up from my house to get to their place, which was about a good 40 minutes away.

And then they said they would drive me back afterwards. Now, this was thoughtful, but my dad always insisted he drive me to the house that I was sitting at to make sure that he knew where I was going to be. And he even try and meet the couple if he was able to. So Sunday was no different. And so after telling the couple I would be dropped by their place by six, I got set for the night. I never brought homework or anything with me because back then I was a good little nerd and I always did my homework as soon as I got it. What I did bring was my book, The Secret History, which is by the way,

a great read, but slightly creepy, and a bag of chips just in case there wasn't any nice food or they didn't say like, eat whatever you want. So we leave and my dad drops me off the house, waits for me to knock on the door of this like cute little house with a nice roses in the front, little garden. And once he sees the door open and me about to go in, he drives off. But the door opens and it's this old lady standing there and she goes, can I help you? And I told her who I was and why I was there. And she looked totally baffled. Then out of nowhere, a man is like running up to us about 40 or so and he's good looking, kind of like Alec Baldwin,

maybe thinner with like sharper features. But anyways, he says, sorry, my wife gave you the wrong address. Thank God I didn't miss you. And he's gesturing to his car and telling this old lady, sorry, so sorry. And she just goes inside looking totally confused. This guy goes on to tell me, you know, we used to live here and my wife always forgets our new address. Now, looking back, this is super suspicious. And if I hadn't been so naive, I would have called my dad and noped my way all the way back home. But this guy was sort of charming or something, and I didn't want to seem weird or be rude, so I got in the car. We drove for about 15 minutes, and he sort of asked about general stuff, school and like that sort of thing. And when we got to the house, which by the way, was the nicest house I'd ever seen.

It was like super modern, sort of angular architecture with this like amazing garden. His picture perfect wife was standing there outside waving. She's thin and beautiful. And she is apologizing to me as well. The same story, blah, blah, blah. And so we go inside and she tells me, our little angel is sleeping upstairs. Please don't wake her up. You just stay down here unless she cries. She's a very light sleeper. So we will be really upset if you wake her. It's going to keep us up till dawn and we just like can't have it. So I was

a little nervous because the house was so nice. Like they look super rich. They're super groomed and here I am in my like grubby sweatpants with a messy bun. They show me the living room where they had like bowls of chips and candy sitting out and then they left after once again telling me not to wake their daughter. Now, I found it strange that not only did they not want me to wake their daughter, but they hadn't even introduced me to their child. Mostly when I babysat, the kids were awake when I got there and we played and watched TV until way past their bedtime. And they would fall asleep full of pizza and asking me to tell them yet another story. The only other baby I had sat for slept most of the time, but the parents, which is my mom's cousin and her partner,

told me to check on her a few times at least and maybe like change her diaper when she needed it. So for this baby, I just sort of sat there feeling cold in this big sparsely furnished house, but they hadn't told me anything about the heating and I hadn't really thought to ask at the time. And the food that they put out, I went to go look at it and it was like salt and vinegar chips instead of plain. And they had these chocolate biscuits, but they smelled super weird. And they had candy, but candy is something I really only eat as a last resort. So luckily I had my bag of chips and I didn't touch what was there. And looking back, it's probably really lucky that I didn't. Now I decided to read because I could not figure out how to work their ridiculously large TV.

But something about the darkness and the silence of the house just left me feeling a little edgy. And I decided to see if there was anything else to eat. And so I go looking for the kitchen, which I eventually find in this giant house. There's this shiny metal fridge, which is almost completely empty aside from one single carton of milk. And the cupboards were also really empty. There were no bottles of milk, no jars of baby food, like nothing. I am freezing cold at this point and I'm seriously considering ordering takeout. So I begin to walk around the house in search of the heater. The house was very dark and most of the doors were locked, which wasn't too uncommon,

though most people just locked their bedroom door or maybe like a messy storage room or something, I decided the heater was probably upstairs. Now, on that note, I hadn't heard a peep from upstairs at this point. And I started to get a little anxious because what if something was wrong with the baby? I always check up on whoever I was babysitting as a rule about like every 20 minutes. So I made the decision that I need to go upstairs.

Now, the first weird thing was that there was a child gate or whatever it's called blocking off the stairs. So I had to climb over it. But what did they need a baby gate for if they had an infant? So I walked up and it's pitch black up there. I tried a first door and it's locked. I tried the second door and it's locked. Every single door upstairs was locked. Every single one. Which means that the baby's door was locked too. Even though I didn't know which room was hers. Like she's locked in. Now who locks an infant in their room like that? And I start to

panic and sort of realize that something's very wrong about this whole situation. And I decided to call my dad to come and wait with me. But when I go to call him, I realize that the address he had was the one of the old lady, which was like, quote, their old address. And I realized in that moment that they didn't want my dad to know where they really lived. So I start panicking even more and just kind of freeze in the dark hallway until I decide to slowly walk down the stairs, climb back over the gate as quietly as I could. And my heart's pounding at this point. And I walk to the front door and I try it, but it's been deadlocked. I'm locked inside.

I walk through the house to the back door. And again, that door is locked. I am trapped in this house. Now, I probably could have called the police at this point, but I had no address to give them. And that's when all of a sudden, I started to get this feeling like maybe I wasn't alone in the house. So with shaking hands, I went to the living room and started to pack my stuff in my backpack. And for a second, I kind of just sat on the edge of the couch wondering what to do. And I decided to try a window or something, anything.

So I tried window after window and all of them were locked too. And at this point, I swore I heard a noise from outside. And I told myself I was just being paranoid. And I thought about how bad it would look if I left a baby alone in a house and just ran off. But I didn't feel safe anymore. Like something in me felt like I was going to die. So I was standing in the living room wondering what the hell to do when I heard a faint clicking sound. It was the sound of the door being unlocked,

the back door. And I just froze. My ears are ringing. My stomach is just turning to liquid. And I heard footsteps walking slowly through the house. And I started to creep, shaking the whole way through the dark kitchen and then into the laundry room. And then I crawled into one of these big cupboards next to the washing machine, and I just sat there, trying to control my breathing so they wouldn't hear me, trying not to be sick. And then I heard footsteps walking through the house and muffled voices, and when the footsteps reached the laundry room and stopped, I thought my heart was going to pound through my chest.

The man's voice said, she must be upstairs, and I heard footsteps walk away. I was sure the wife would be waiting outside of the cupboard with a kitchen knife, but I opened it anyway, and she wasn't. I heard them both walking upstairs, so I crept quickly through the house, opened the back door, and ran. Hearing it slam behind me and knowing that they would be after me any second, I didn't even look back. I just ran through the front garden down the driveway and I climbed over the gate so quickly that I scraped up my legs but I didn't stop running. Adrenaline was

working wonders. When I got to the nearest main road I called my dad absolutely hysterical. Every car that drove past scared me and I ducked into the yard or under a tree or behind a bush because I was sure it was them looking for me. When my dad arrived, I told him the story, and I have never seen him go so white like a sheet. We went to the police and everything, but I hadn't even stopped to look at a street name when I was running away, so I had nothing to give them other than a description of the two people and their very fake names. And they had nothing to go off of. They were never able to track down the couple, even though they drove me around the suburb for hours trying to help me remember the house. I just, I couldn't.

I'd been too scared. It had been too dark. And I mean, I wish I'd been more observant, but I wasn't. What scared me most is that they still had my phone number. I mean, I never heard from them because I changed my number the next day. Well, I shouldn't say I never heard from them. Because now that I think about it, there was this one call a few months ago, actually, from an unknown number, of course. And when I picked up the phone, all I heard was a baby crying on the other end, but not a real baby, a fake cry, like one of those dolls you can buy. I guess I'm hoping it's just some kind of prank caller messing with me. But I haven't babysat since. This episode was written by Eleni Vassiliardis. It was produced and performed by me, and our theme was created by Justin Daniel.

This story was modified for audio retelling with the author's consent. So if you want to read the original version, you can go to fullbodychillspodcast.com. And be sure to come back tomorrow so I can tell you another story that will give you full body chills. Full Body Chills is an AudioChuck production. So what do you think, Chuck? Do you approve?