I had a feeling something is wrong with that woman from the moment I saw her. I couldn’t logically explain this, there was nothing I could hold to. She looked normal, the initial conversation was quite okay and she was from an agency, not just from the street.
Or maybe my worries are just retrospective… I know now that things can go wrong. Plus there is always this small fear and uncertainty when you use the services of the professional. And this tiny feeling deep at the bottom of your heart that you’re doing a bad thing, even though everyone does that. Well, almost everyone.
The first suspicion hit me when I was already at the party.
“Hey, don’t worry, I can be really gentle and caring. Ask your friend, Robert”, I remembered her saying.
Well, Robert surely used her services, I thought. He’s almost never home, sleeping in different hotels all over Boston, so…
“Hey, imagine this”, I said approaching Robert, “we have the same babysitter.
“I beg to disagree”, he answered, “mine is sitting my kids right now”.
“You mean Maya?”, I asked surprised.
“Yeah, Maya. My kids’ babysitter”, he replied.
“Well, that’s strange”, I said, “because we finally decided with Ann to go out together and the babysitter mentioned you as her previous employer”.
“That’s impossible”, he replied. “Maya has been taking care of our kids since forever and she’s taking care of them right now. Hey, don’t worry”, he added seeing my face going pale, “some girl wanted to add to her portfolio mentioning the Vice-Minister. Take 30% off her pay for fantasizing and that’s it”, he laughed.
“Yeah, you’re probably right. And well, she is an employee of “Goodnitee” and they don’t hire random people there, so…” I started trying to convince myself I guess.
“Exactly”, said Robert. “My Maya is from the same agency. But wait”, he said taking mobile phone out of his pocket, “I’m a good friend with the owner, let me check that girl of yours”.
Robert went to the corner of the room looking for place where the noise of the party would not distract him. He talked for a minute and then waved to me to come closer.
“Listen”, he said taking the phone away from his ear, “Maria says she did not sent anyone to you today. Can you describe how she looked, or…”
I did not wait for the rest. I ran to the cloak room to get my coat not even stopping to tell Ann what is going on. I ran to the car dropping the keys to the ground and under the car like in some cheap horror flick. At least the car started at the first try.
I don’t remember the way home. I just hope I didn’t cause any accident. I speeded home thinking how big the ransom is going to be and how fast can I collect such sum.
The light in my kids room was on. Maybe it was still not too late. I rushed inside the house almost killing myself tripping over the dog and run upstairs.
I heard you can loose your mind in different ways, each more dramatic than the one before. What comes in mind is ladies swooning overwhelmed by the multitude of sensations or a face with a hateful grimace like that of Jack Nicholson in ‘The Shining’.
Have you ever seen how the lightbulb burns out? There is a soft buzz followed by a soft click and the lights go out. That’s how I lost my mind standing in the door of my kids’ bedroom.
In the middle of the room were two Ikea tables standing one next to the other and on it was the naked body of my daughter with a cut from the chest down to her abdomen. Next to the tables on one of three small chairs sat my son with his throat cut so deep that the spine was the only thing that kept the head with the rest of the body. The second chair stood empty. The babysitter sat on the third chair. She raised her head, looked at me and smiled happily, her white teeth shining among bloodsmeared mouth.
“You were right”, she said, “they are really sweet”.