Yesterday my neighbor asked me to pet-sit for them. It was a big mistake… A few years ago I put up a small website stating that I pet-sit. I made it for a small profit since my job wasn’t paying that much at the time. A few days ago someone emailed me (I added my email on the website for customers to contact me). It surprised me because I had that website up for 2 years and it was dead silent. I almost forgot about it completely. The customer’s email was, “Nob0dy.00 @ g-mail.com” I thought that was kinda strange but hey, everyone has random emails. The email said, “Hi ****!” (I censored my name for privacy) “If you’re still available, I would like you to pet-sit for me from 8pm Sunday, to 8am Monday. I have one cat and he’s vary friendly. I will pay you $120 for your troubles.” ‘WOW!!’ I thought after I read the email. The pay was more than 5x my usual charge! I instantly emailed back, “Hi there! I would love to pet-sit for your cat. I do have to go to work at 7:30am so do you think I could leave early? Otherwise I’m available, send me your address and I’ll be there!” I hit send and waited for a response. “Thanks for sitting! Unfortunately, you HAVE to stay until 8. Otherwise there will be consequences.” I got a small chill reading that last part. ‘I guess I’ll make it work’ I thought to myself. I closed my laptop and went to sleep.
The next day was the day to pet-sit. I was feeling nervous but knew everything would be okay. Well, thought. I looked at the messages one more time. The person sent another email after I went to sleep last night. It said, “I almost forgot, my address is ***********” (censored for privacy), “Have a great night and good luck…” The last part was mis-formed and I felt some regret. After I got to the house, everything seemed normal. The email also said there was a key under the doormat. I checked and found a key. I unlocked the door and went inside. Nobody was home except for a small all back cat. On the counter was a folded up piece of paper. It was a list of rules.
Rules (Follow ALL rules or there will be consequences)
1- Lock all doors and windows and keep them locked.
2- Don’t trust anyone, no one is who they say they are.
3- We will be home at 8am and we have our own key to the house, if anyone says they’re me, it’s not.
4- At exactly 3:33am you will hear a knock on a bedroom door. If it’s yours, don’t answer it. Get all of your body under the blanket and pretend to sleep. No matter what, don’t open your eyes until you hear it knock on another door. It will try to trick you so be careful.
5- If the cat seems bigger, smaller, or has red or black eyes, lock yourself in the nearest room available and don’t look at the cat. That will only make it stay longer. It will only last 5 minutes.
6- If your sleeping and hear whispering, don’t open your eyes. You won’t like what you see.
7- If you hear the cat growling and batting the air, lock him in the room covered in scratches. You don’t want to be there when it comes.
8- Don’t leave the house between 8pm and 8am, they are waiting and watching. If you do leave, run and don’t look back. Don’t bother trying to come in during those times either.
‘Wow’ I thought, after reading the paper. ‘This is such a joke’ I thought. There was no way this was real, the owners must be playing a prank on me. It wasn’t until I heard the cat growling and batting the air that I started to doubt myself. Then suddenly I heard a knock at the door and someone said, “It’s me! Open the door! I know it’s unlocked.”